FLORENCE — Amanda Knox was re-convicted of slander in an Italian court on Wednesday. This occurred despite her exoneration in her British roommate’s 2007 murder case.
The court determined that Knox falsely accused the Congolese bar owner of the killing. However, she won’t serve additional jail time as her three-year sentence equates to time already served.
During the trial, Knox displayed no visible emotion when the verdict was announced. It was only her second visit to Italy since her release in 2011.
But her lawyer, Carlo della Vedova, said shortly afterward that “Amanda is very embittered.”
Knox had written on social media ahead of the hearing that she hoped to “clear my name once and for all of the false charges against me. Wish me luck.”
The slaying of 21-year-old Meredith Kercher in the idyllic hilltop town of Perugia fueled global headlines as suspicion fell on Knox, a 20-year-old exchange student from Seattle, and her new Italian boyfriend of just a week, Raffaele Sollecito.
Flip-flop verdicts over nearly eight years of legal proceedings polarized trial watchers on both sides of the Atlantic as the case was vociferously argued on social media, then in its infancy.
Knox’s retrial was set by a European court ruling that Italy violated her human rights during a long night of questioning days after Kercher’s murder, deprived of both a lawyer and a competent translator.
Moreover, Amanda Knox’s slander case highlights the complexities of high-profile legal battles. As evidence unfolded, doubts emerged about the validity of Knox’s claims, leading to her re-conviction.
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