surprising verdict: Court says Amanda Knox free

Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecitio have been surprisingly acquitted by the Supreme Court in Italy. They were accused of murdering Meredith Kercher, the British exchange student in 2007.

Seven and a half years after the murder of a British exchange student in Italy the American Amanda Knox and her ex-boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito have been finally acquitted. The Supreme Court in Rome tipped off on Friday evening a condemnation of both to long prison terms from previous instance.
So that judicial saga comes to murder in Perugia to a total of three processes and five sentences in Italy to a surprising end. The judge in Rome judged after hours of consultation, the two defendants had not committed the crime. The 27-year-old Knox got instead a sentence of three years for defamation, but she has already served. She had falsely accused the bar owner Patrick Lumumba after the fact. This was later relieved by a witness statement. "Amanda is happy, we will ask for compensation for detention," said Knox's lawyer Carlo Dalla Vedova, who telephoned after the verdict with his client in the USA.

"I am immensely happy"

The Briton Meredith Kercher was found raped and murdered in early November 2007 in the Italian city of Perugia. Kerchers former roommate Knox and Sollecito had been advised from the beginning suspected and arrested quickly. Both had their fault but always denied. Knox, also called the "angel with eyes of ice" because of their appearance, followed the judgment of the Court of Cassation in Rome from their hometown of Seattle. Because since an acquittal from the year 2011, she is back in the United States.
The Italian Sollecito learned with his family in his native Apulia of the acquittal. "It's over. We weep for joy," his father Francesco said. Raffaele Sollecito himself declared: "I am immensely happy that same justice that sentenced me wrongly, has now given me back my dignity and my freedom."

Initially sentenced

The case had the Italian courts busy for years: In the first instance Knox and Sollecito were sentenced to long prison terms. After both were about four years in prison, they were acquitted. However, this acquittal overturned the Court of Cassation in 2013 and referred the case to an appeals court in Florence. This sentenced Knox to 28 years and six years in prison and Sollecito to 25 years, after which the defenders appealed for in front of the Court of Cassation.