Amanda Knox was scheduled to return to the United States Tuesday after she and ex-boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito were acquitted of the 2007 murder of her British housemate, Meredith Kercher. Emotions eurpted in the courtroom after the rulling was read out in Perugia`s 14th-century courthouse on Monday.
An Italian Court overturned the murder conviction from 2007, when Seattle-native Knox and Italian Sollecito were convicted of murdering Kercher, while studying abroad in Italy. However, despite her acquittal Knox was charged with defamation, for which she will be fined, however the four years she has already spent in an Italian prison covers any time for that charge.
Earlier Knox had appealed to the court in an emotional speech saying that she was paying with her life for things that she didn't do. Knox said in a final statement, “I want to go home”.
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As the verdict was announced, Knox broke into tears with her sister Deanna Knox, and mother, Edda Mellas.
U.S. student Amanda Knox reacts after hearing the verdict during her appeal trial session in Perugia October 3, 2011. An Italian court cleared 24-year-old Knox and her former boyfriend of murdering British student Meredith Kercher in 2007 and ordered them to be set free on Monday after nearly four years in prison for a crime they always denied committing. Seattle native Knox and Italian computer student Raffaele Sollecito, had appealed against a 2009 verdict that found them guilty of murdering 21-year-old Kercher during what prosecutors said was a drug-fuelled sexual assault four years ago. | (Photo: Reuters)
“Amanda’s nightmare is over,” Deanna Knox, said to reporters after the ruling.
Amanda Knox's sister Deanna (R) and her mother Edda react as they hear the verdict during her appeal trial in Perugia October 3, 2011. An Italian court cleared 24-year-old American Amanda Knox and her former boyfriend of murdering British student Meredith Kercher in 2007 and ordered them to be set free on Monday after nearly four years in prison for a crime they always denied committing. Seattle native Knox and Italian computer student Raffaele Sollecito, had appealed against a 2009 verdict that found them guilty of murdering 21-year-old Kercher during what prosecutors said was a drug-fuelled sexual assault four years ago | (Photo: Reuters)
Both Knox, 24, and Sollecito, 27, were released from Perguria prison on Monday evening. Knox is due to fly to the U.S. on a flight departing Rome Tuesday morning, according to la Repubblica newspaper.
Raffaele Sollecito smiles after the verdict was read during his appeal trial in Perugia October 3, 2011. An Italian court cleared 24-year-old American Amanda Knox and her former boyfriend Sollecito of murdering British student Meredith Kercher in 2007 and ordered them to be set free on Monday after nearly four years in prison for a crime they always denied committing. Seattle native Knox and Italian computer student Sollecito, had appealed against a 2009 verdict that found them guilty of murdering 21-year-old Kercher during what prosecutors said was a drug-fuelled sexual assault four years ago. | (Photo: Reuters)
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