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Amanda Knox Verdict
The verdict of Amanda Knox was announced in the Italian court on Monday, and the 24-year-old exchange student was acquitted of murder. Free from the initial sentence of 26 years in prison, Knox is expected to return to Seattle on Tuesday with her family. The verdict was delivered one-and-a-half hours after the promised 8 p.m. deadline, an indication that the jury did not have an easy time with the decision. Knox was found guilty of slander for accusing bar owner Diya “Patrick” Lumumba of carrying out the crime. The judge set the sentence at three years, which she has already served, and ordered Knox to pay 22,000 euros.
Upon hearing the verdict reversal, Knox collapsed in tears, and wept uncontrollably as she was led back to prison by security guards to collect her belongings. The Kercher family appeared dazed as the verdict was read by the judge after nearly 11 hours of deliberations by the eight-member jury.
Outside the court, hundreds of people gathered to watch the spectacle, many of them upset by the acquittal.
Knox and her Italian boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito were freed as the Italian appeals court overturned both of their guilty verdicts for murdering Knox’s roommate Meredith Kercher in 2007. Knox and Sollecito were convicted in 2009 after a ten month long trial, each sentenced to 26 and 25 years in prison.
Prosecutors had demanded that Knox’s sentence be increased from 26 years to life, calling the murder of Kercher a senseless crime and Knox a “she-devil” as they portrayed her as a double-sided, sex-crazed party girl. Kercher’s body was wounded over 40 times with her throat slit. Kercher, 21, was stabbed to death in the apartment she shared with Knox. Prosecutors alleged the killing began like a sexual assault, while Knox and Sollecito said they spent the night at his house that night, watching a movie, smoking marijuana and having sex.