Italian appeal court clears Amanda Knox of murder

PERUGIA, Italy – An Italian court cleared 24-year-old American Amanda Knox and her former boyfriend of the 2007 killing of British student Meredith Kercher and ordered they be freed 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 had said was a drug-fuelled sexual assault four years ago.A whoop of joy was heard in the court as the ruling overturning their sentences was read out but Knox herself broke down and was led out sobbing and supported by police officers.’As you could see from the images, Amanda was a nervous wreck who just collapsed. She wasn’t able to say anything other than ‘thank you’ in a flood of tears,’’ one of her lawyers Maria Del Grosso told reporters.Knox was expected to return to the Perugia jail where she has been held to complete formalities before walking free but her lawyers said they did not know where she would be spending her first night of freedom.The verdict, a severe embarrassment to the Italian justice system, came after independent forensic investigators sharply criticised police scientific evidence in the original investigation, saying it was unreliable.Kercher’s half-naked body, with more than 40 wounds and a deep gash in the throat, was found in 2007 in the apartment she shared with Knox in the Umbrian hill town of Perugia where both were studying.Both Knox and Sollecito, 27, had consistently maintained their innocence throughout the original investigation and trial. A third man, Ivorian drug dealer Rudy Guede, was imprisoned for 16 years for his role in the murder.Sollecito’s father, a doctor, said the court had ‘given me back my son’.’It was obvious that he had nothing to do with the death of that poor girl,’ he said. ‘I finally allowed myself to cry.’’The court upheld a conviction against Knox for slander, after she had falsely accused barman Patrick Lumumba of the murders. It sentenced her to three years in prison, a sentence which she has now already served. – Nampa-Reuters