14 DAY TRIAL // Amanda Knox is a free woman now and, as such, she plans to leave Italy as soon as possible and be reunited with her family in the US. A judge has just overturned the initial murder conviction, after Knox’s legal team filed an appeal, based on new DNA information in the case.
The video below shows the moment Knox is being told that she is a free woman, as the judge orders her immediate release from prison.
Shortly after the new sentence was read, which still upheld she was guilty of falsely accusing an innocent man, Amanda was escorted by police out of the courtroom, as crowds began to react to the verdict.
Outside the courthouse, where people either yelled “Disgrace, disgrace” and booed, or cheered for Amanda, her sister, Deanna, was giving the first statement since her verdict was overturned, as The Guardian informs.
“We’re thankful that Amanda’s nightmare is over. She has suffered for four years for a crime that she did not commit,” Deanna told the press, adding that Amanda had her legal team to thank for her release and the undying support she got throughout the years.
“Not only did they defend her brilliantly, but they also loved her. We are thankful for all the support we have received from all over the world – people who took the time to research the case and could see that Amanda and Raffaele were innocent,” Deanna added.
“And last, we are thankful to the court for having the courage to look for the truth and to overturn this conviction,” she said.
In 2007, Amanda’s roommate, Meredith Kercher from the UK, was found dead in her bedroom, partly undressed and covered in wounds.
Knox and boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito were arrested as main suspects in the case, but Amanda misled authorities by saying that she’d been at the house / the crime scene and had seen her former employer inside.
The man was actually innocent, and Knox stated later that she’d been forced to write the “confession” during the initial police interrogations, which lasted over 50 hours on end and saw her deprived of sleep, food and even water.
Throughout the trial, Amanda Knox claimed she was innocent.
Public reaction to the Knox trial has been divided from the onset – and continues to remain so, now that she is a free woman.
