Acquittal. That was the simple word American Amanda Knox and her supporters had been waiting to hear from an Italian court.
The 27-year old had her conviction overturned in absentia on Friday for the brutal 2007 killing of 21-year-old British student Meredith Kercher.
Amanda Knox was charged in brutal 2007 killing of Meredith Kercher, a British student with whom the then 20-year-old Knox shared flat
Also acquitted in the murder was her former Italian boyfriend, 31-year-old Raffaele Sollecito.
The pair each served four years in prison before their acquittal on appeal in 2014 …. Knox then returned to the US, but both were convicted again for a second time after a retrial last year.
Kercher was found stabbed to death in a house she shared with Knox in the hill town of Perugia in 2007.
The prosecution initially said Knox and Sollecito killed Kercher during a sex game that went horribly wrong.
A court later convicted the pair by arguing that the murder was the result of a domestic argument.
But lawyers for the defense argued the prosecution presented a distorted picture of the evidence.
Rudy Guede, an Ivory Coast native is serving a 16-year sentence for the crime but judges had ruled he didn’t act alone.
Knox WAS facing a prison sentence of nearly 30 years HAD her conviction and sentence been confirmed, as well as a possible extradition to Italy.
Back home in the U.S., she’s been widely seen as the victim of a botched investigation … and her supporters are hoping Friday’s ruling finally puts an end to the legal — and emotional — battle she’s been fighting for eight years.
Ventuno/AFP