World Headlines
Amanda Knox Released, While Kerchers Cry
By Tommy Garrett
Oct 4, 2011 - 1:44:25 PM

Amanda Knox Headed Back Home To The U.S.

PERUGIA, Italy—Just hours after an Italian court found Seattle, Washington native Amanda Knox not guilty of the murder of British case, that has lasted close to four years. Kercher’s father said that the student and her fellow roommate Meredith Kercher, Knox was quickly on her way back home where her community celebrated her acquittal in the decision was “ludicrous” in his opinion, and he maintains that Knox had something to do with his daughter’s brutal murder. However, a two-judge panel and jury of six disagreed, and ordered her release from the Perugia prison Knox has remained since 2007.

Knox, now 24, sobbed as the panel of judges delivered their verdict in a courtroom, ruling that she and Raffaele Sollecito should have their convictions overturned and ending a lengthy legal saga throughout which both maintained their innocence.

During the case, prosecutors had claimed the pair and Rudy Guede, an Ivory Coast-born illegal immigrant of Italy, pressured Kercher into participating in a drug-fuelled sex game which culminated in murder. Guede, who was jailed for 16 years, is now the only person convicted over the killing, leaving Kercher’s family disappointed, but willing to accept the verdict.

Following her formal release from the Perugia prison where she has spent the past four years, Knox spent the night with her family in Rome. Later on Tuesday, she will board a scheduled flight back to her home city of Seattle, where she will receive a hero’s welcome. Her neighbors in Seattle always believed Amanda was innocent, and the young girl who flew from the United States to attend college in Italy will forever be changed by the drama surrounding her life since the murder of her roommate four years ago.

Though the Italian press has always portrayed Amanda Knox as a sex-crazed temptress and murderer, her return to the United States leaves her future even more uncertain. Perhaps Amanda can face the public in a paid interview about her life over the last few years, and perhaps even a book deal will be in the works. However, the emotional toll that has been taken on her, whether truly innocent or guilty as the prosecutors and Kercher’s family believes she is, her confinement and lack of freedom will possibly require the young woman to enter some type of mental health therapy.

John Kercher said in the media, “There were 47 wounds on Meredith and two knives used. One person couldn't possibly have done that. What happens now? Does that mean the police need to look for more killers? It makes a mockery of the original trial. We are all shocked, we could understand them reducing the sentence but completely freeing them, wow.” He asked that the press also remember his daughter, Meredith, who lost her life at the age of 21-years old, and she will never be able to go on with her life.

If Americans have been mystified over the years and frustrated with the American legal system, perhaps everyone needs a course in Italy’s legal system, which at times in this case saw prosecutors and defense attorneys walking around the courtroom sipping drinks and discussing all sorts of issues, while the death of a young woman seemed secondary to them, and the possible destruction of another girls’ life, who this court years later finally found not guilty of homicide.