[size=150]Is Amanda Knox really guilty?[/size]
Amanda Marie Knox (born July 9, 1987) is an American woman who, in 2009, was convicted of the murder of Meredith Kercher in Perugia, Umbria, Italy. She served four years of a 26-year sentence before the murder conviction was overturned on October 3, 2011. However, on March 26, 2013, Knox’s acquittal was overturned by the Italian Supreme Court, sending the case back to the lower court for reconsideration. Raffaele Sollecito, Knox’s boyfriend at the time of the murder, was also found guilty of the murder but had his conviction overturned by an appeal; this decision was likewise reversed on March 26, 2013.[2][3][4][5] The jury upheld Knox’s calunnia conviction for falsely implicating bar owner Patrick Lumumba. For this Knox was sentenced to three years in prison, which she had already served, and was ordered to pay Lumumba’s court costs of about 22,000 euros.[6] Knox’s retrial on the charge of murder began, with Knox herself in absentia, on September 30, 2013. On January 30, 2014 Knox lost the appeal of her conviction at that retrial: the lower court’s guilty verdict was affirmed sentencing her to 28 years in prison.[7]
Early life
Knox was born in Seattle, Washington, to Edda Mellas, a math teacher, and Curt Knox, a vice president of finance at Macy’s. The couple divorced when Knox was a toddler. Knox grew up in West Seattle, attended Explorer West Middle School, and Seattle Preparatory High School,[8] from which she graduated in 2005. In 2005 she began studies at the University of Washington.[9]
Meredith Kercher murder case
Main article: Murder of Meredith Kercher
In 2007, Knox moved to Perugia, Italy, to study Italian, German, and creative writing at the University for Foreigners for one year.[9][10] She shared a house with Meredith Kercher, a student from England, as well as two Italian women.[9] In mid-October 2007 she began a romantic relationship with an Italian engineering student, Raffaele Sollecito, from Bari, Apulia.[9]
On November 1, 2007, Meredith Kercher was murdered in the apartment she shared with Knox. The autopsy concluded that she had been attacked by more than one person.[11] On November 6, 2007, Knox was arrested by the Italian police and, along with Sollecito, charged with the murder of Kercher. During the subsequent four-year trial and appeal process she was held under cautionary detention (carcerazione preventiva) at the Capanne prison in Perugia. In 2009, Knox and Sollecito were convicted of sexual assault, murder and simulating a burglary at the first level (primo grado) of trial (see Italian Criminal Procedure). However, according to Italian law, she would not be considered guilty until the verdict was confirmed by higher courts.[12] During her appeal at the second level (secondo grado) of trial, which concluded on October 3, 2011, the original conviction was overturned, she was found innocent of the murder and she was released from prison.[13][14] However, on March 26, 2013, the Italian Court of Cassation overturned Knox’s acquittal and ordered a retrial at an appellate court in Florence.[15]
Related legal proceedings
Knox was ordered to pay Patrick Lumumba, the man originally accused by Knox of murdering Kercher, €10,000 in restitution as a result of her conviction for calunnia and €40,000 as compensation for Lumumba’s legal expenses he incurred to be represented at the first trial.[16][17] The decision was upheld by the appeals court and Knox was sentenced to three years imprisonment, and ordered to pay a further €22,000.[6][18]
Shortly before her trial, Knox had begun legal action against Fiorenza Sarzanini, the author of Amanda e gli altri (“Amanda and the Others”), a best-selling book about her that had been published in Italy. The book included accounts of events as imagined or invented by Sarzanini, witness transcripts not in the public domain, long excerpts from Knox’s private journals, which Sarzanini had somehow obtained, and intimate details professing to be about Knox’s sex life. Lawyers for Knox said that the book had “reported in a prurient manner, aimed solely at arousing the morbid imagination of readers.”[19][20][21] According to US legal commentator Kendal Coffrey, “In this country we would say, with this kind of media exposure, you could not get a fair trial”.[22] In March 2010, Knox won her civil case against Sarzanini and her publisher for violation of her privacy and illegal publication of court documents. Knox was awarded €40,000 in damages.[20]
Following an investigation into Knox’s statements that she had been slapped by police during questioning about the murder, another case for calunnia was opened against her on June 1, 2010, for falsely implicating police. Knox has claimed she had been hit and put under pressure by police while being questioned in the aftermath of Kercher’s murder on November 1, 2007. She said police repeatedly called her a “stupid liar”. Police denied misconduct and filed charges saying Knox’s comments were slanderous.[23] The trial was adjourned until November 15, 2011. The Italian penal code stipulates two to six years’ imprisonment for this crime.
In February 2011, Knox’s parents, Curt Knox and Edda Mellas, were indicted on charges of criminal slander as a result of an interview published by The Sunday Times in 2009, in which they said their daughter “had not been given an interpreter, had not received food and water, and had been physically and verbally abused” by police officers after her arrest.[24] They sought to have the charges dismissed on the grounds that there was no intent.[25] On July 4, 2011, Judge Paolo Micheli resigned from the case, citing his involvement in the trial of Knox and Sollecito. Knox’s parents’ trial was adjourned until January 24, 2012.[24]
After Knox was found innocent of the murder, several media outlets reported that Kercher’s family were suing her for $12 million. Kercher’s family have stated that the reports are incorrect and that they do not believe anyone should profit from the murder.[26]
