Amanda Knox Vigil: Supporters Cheer As Knox Found Not Guilty

SEATTLE -- Once it was clear that Amanda Knox's Italian murder conviction was overturned, her supporters in Seattle burst into cheers, threw their hands in the air and began to cry in joy.

"She's free," Tom Rochelle repeated as the translation of the Italian judge's words came across TV Monday.

Surrounded by news cameras, the dozen or so supporters began hugging each other at a downtown hotel suite. The celebration marked four years of uncertainty for friends and supporters of Knox's family.

In its ruling, the Italian appeals court also cleared Knox's co-defendant, Raffaele Sollecito, of murder in Meredith Kercher's death. Kercher, 21, shared an apartment with Knox when they were both students in Perugia. She was stabbed to death in her bedroom.

Knox and Sollecito, her former boyfriend from Italy, were convicted of murdering Kercher in 2009. Knox was sentenced to 26 years in prison, Sollecito to 25. Also convicted in separate proceedings was Rudy Hermann Guede, a drifter and native of the Ivory Coast.

Knox and Sollecito denied wrongdoing and the appeals court ultimately agreed.

Supporters also expressed sympathy for the Kercher family.

"This is primarily a sad occasion," said Tom Wright, one of the main organizers of the Friends of Amanda group, after the verdict. "They lost their daughter. We'll keep them in our prayers."

Knox grew up in Seattle, attending a private Jesuit high school before going to the University of Washington.

Friends of Amanda formed shortly after Knox was arrested for murder in 2007. With Italy nine hours ahead of Seattle, the group rented a suite and waited through the night for the court's ruling.

Friends of Amanda is made up of parents of her high school classmates, her friends from college and high school, and sympathizers from around the country. Some never met the young Seattle woman, including Rochelle, who joined the group two years ago after learning about Knox in the news.

From trips to Italy to sending Knox books, the group has been a pillar of support for the family.

Kellanne Henry is friends with Edda Mellas, Knox's mother, and has visited the family in Italy.

"It's the first night in four years that (Edda) is going to know her daughter is safe," said Henry, holding crumpled tissues in her hand. "That was a really overwhelming thought for me."

Some of the people gathered for Knox wore T-shirts that said "Free Amanda and Raffaele." Photographs of Knox, Sollecito and Kercher, illuminated by candles, were set up in the suite.

"It's unreal," John Lange, Knox's former teacher, kept repeating after the verdict was read.

Lange remembers Knox as the modest drama student who played an orphan in the high school's production of "Annie."

"There's the person you know and there's the widely varying depictions of her character largely wrong, and upsetting to those of us who know her," Lange said earlier in the day.

Wright spent the last minutes leading to the verdict writing a speech, pending a verdict. When asked, he said his words didn't anticipate that the conviction would not be overturned.

"It was inconceivable for me that she wasn't coming home," Wright said.

Loading Slideshow

• Meredith Kercher Found Dead

  Nov. 2, 2007: Meredith Kercher (pictured) was found dead in her Perugia apartment. It was determined she died the night before. Nov. 6: Amanda Knox, Kercher's American roommate was arrested with her then-boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito and Diya Lumumba, who owned the pub where Knox worked. The latter was released from jail due to lack of evidence on Nov. 20.

• Kercher and Knox in Perugia, Italy

  This is the house in Perugia, a university town in central Italy, where Kercher and Knox lived. Witnesses said the two roommates had a falling out over a number of issues, including Knox's sanitary habits, alleged thefts of cash and her alleged habit of bringing "strange men" back to the home.

• Amanda Knox Arrested

  In this Sept. 16, 2008 file photo, then murder suspect Amanda Knox is escorted by Italian penitentiary police officers from Perugia's court after a hearing, central Italy. Knox was arrested on Nov. 6, 2007 with her then-boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito and the owner of the pub she worked at. She and Sollecito were indicted on murder and sexual assault charges in October, 2008.

• Raffaele Sollecito

  This Nov. 2, 2007 file photo shows Italian student Raffaele Sollecito outside the rented house where 21-year-old British student Meredith Kercher was found dead on Nov 1, in Perugia, Italy.

• Rudy Hermann Guede

  Dec. 6, 2007: Rudy Hermann Guede, center, a drifter from the Ivory Coast, was extradited from Germany and jailed. He was convicted in a separate trial and sentenced to 30 years in prison. An appeals court upheld the conviction on Dec. 22, 2009, but his term was reduced to 16 years.

• Knox, Sollecito Murder Trial

  June 26, 2009: Murder suspect Raffaele Sollecito is escorted by a penitentiary police officer as he arrives for a hearing in the Meredith Kercher murder trial, in Perugia, Italy.

• Amanda Knox Testifimony

  June 13, 2009: Amanda Knox testifies at the sitting of the Meredith Kercher murder trial at the Perugia courthouse in Perugia, Italy.

• Guilty Conviction

  Dec. 4, 2009: Court finds both Knox and Sollecito (pictured) guilty of murder and sexual assault. They are convicted to 26 and 25 years respectively.

• Arline Kercher

  December, 2009: Arline Kercher, the victim's mother, wipes her eyes during a news conference following the guilty verdict.

• Amanda Knox Guilty

  The Italian newspaper Corriere dell' Umbria carries news of the convictions of Knox and Sollecito. The case made headlines in both countries, but for different reasons: In the U.S., it was seen by legal experts as deeply flawed. But in Italy, Knox was viewed as harboring a secret dark side and was largely presumed guilty.

• Amanda Knox Guilty

  December, 2009: Knox's father, Curt, and her sister Deanna leave an Italian prison in Capanne after visiting Amanda. The family insisted she was innocent. "We will take this as far as we have to take this, because she is walking out of there totally free of anything related to this," Curt Knox later told The Seattle Times.

• Amanda Knox Appeal

  April, 2010: Knox's attorneys argued in their appeal that the forensic and DNA evidence in the case was mishandled and inconclusive. They also contend that prosecutors failed to come up with a motive and that the conviction was based on false hypotheses.

• Amanda Knox Appeal

  June 1, 2010: Knox appears in a Perugia court for a preliminary hearing on charges she slandered Italian police. She claims police beat her during questioning in Kercher's death. Knox's parents were charged with libel for repeating their daughter's allegations.

• Appeals Trial

  Nov. 24, 2010: Knox, 23, appealed her conviction and 26-year prison sentence for Kercher's murder. The trial for her and Sollecito opened in Parugia. Here, she appears with her lawyer, Carlo Dalla Vedova, at a Jan. 22 hearing.

• Amanda Knox Accuser Testifies in Court

  Rudy Geude, already convicted separately for his part in Meredith Kercher's death, is now pointing the finger at Knox and her boyfriend.

• Edda Mellas and Curt Knox

  Feb. 15, 2011: Knox's parents, Edda Mellas and Curt Knox, were indicted on slander charges. The pair faced sentences to up to three years in prison if convicted.

• Amanda Knox Appeal

  A 2 image combo shows Amanda Knox entering the Perugia court in these May 21, 2011, left, and Feb. 14, 2009 file photos. Two years ago, as she waited to know whether she'd be found guilty of murdering her British roommate, Amanda Knox was so confident she thought she'd be flying home within hours. She never did. Still behind bars, still waiting for a verdict, this time by an appeals court, the American is a changed woman, family and friends say, more mature, more wary of people around her, increasingly anxious as the moment of truth approaches. The transformation is apparent from the outside. Gone is the Beatles sweater, the confident demeanor, the irreverent smile. Now 24, Knox is conservatively dressed, pale and thinner. (AP Photo/Stefano Medici/Files)

• Amanda Knox Acquitted

  Oct. 3, 2011: Amanda Knox breaks in tears after hearing the verdict that overturns her conviction and acquits her of murdering her British roommate Meredith Kercher, at the Perugia court. Italian appeals court threw out Amanda Knox's murder conviction and ordered the young American freed after nearly four years in prison for the death of her British roommate. Knox collapsed in tears after the verdict overturning her 2009 conviction was read out. Her co-defendant, Italian Raffaele Sollecito, also was cleared.

• Amanda Knox Goes Free After Conviction Reversed

  The 24 year-old American who spent four years in an Italian prison had her murder conviction reversed by an appeals court, that questioned evidence and ordered immediate release. Within hours, she was heading home to Washington State. Tim Minton says reasonable doubt cuts both ways.

• Amanda Knox Memoir Due in 2013

  After an intense bidding war, HarperCollins has struck a deal with Amanda Knox to tell her story.

• Amanda Knox to Face Retrial

  March 26, 2013: Italy's highest criminal court overturned Amanda Knox's acquittal in the killing of her British roommate and ordered a new trial, prolonging a case that has become a cause celebre in the United States.

Comments

[Meldy1]

03:00 AM on 10/05/2011

Shame on Italy,for mishandling this case.There was only a residue of flour on that knife that Amanda used to cut bread!not one DNA against her..nunca,nul,nothing!!!!!!!!!!thank God for the expertised.....not in her room,NOTHING!it all belong to the real killer Guede!!!!To reduced his sentence of 30 he mentioned some lies about Amanda...Amanda was convicted of hearsays only.....Shame on Italy...I will share this comment around Italy in Italian....to set the records straight.......................................Poor Italian men and women are all working here in nearby Monaco as cleaners,help,gardeners,drivers,etc's....

[Christopher Koulouris]

09:53 AM on 10/04/2011

Ultimately one has to wonder if Ms Knox had to go through it all over again how she would navigate the terrain, whether she is on some level complicit to the murder of her ex room mate or not, but perhaps none of this really matters anymore as her life is now steered from one wild extreme to another extreme, from one jail house to that of another kind of jailhouse- that of the public at large and a pandering media. At least this time she’ll stand to make millions, of course it will be interesting to note a lapse in her conscience, but then again she could just have been a good girl caught at the wrong place at the wrong time, but you will have to wait for the movie before you completely find out if Ms Knox is who she says she is….

http://scallywagandvagabond.com/2011/10/amanda-knox-media-screen-siren-let-off-the-hook/

[gen230]

09:03 AM on 10/04/2011

This case has obviously divided opinions with many readers. Whether or not we believe Ms. Knox to be guilty or innocent is, technically, irrelevant. She has been found innocent in a court of law (the only place, really, where such things can be decided). For Ms. Knox, I wish her a safe return to the United States and hope that she can recoup some of the peace that has been denied her these last few years. To the family of Ms. Kercher, I extend my deepest sympathies and fervently hope that the truth of the horrible crime will soon be laid bare and that any other guilty party (parties) would be brought to the justice they so richly deserve.

[RU Mad II]

08:08 AM on 10/04/2011

Only in America do people cheer for murderers. Troy Davis and now Amanda Knox.

Twisted times we live in.

[Nancy Babcock]

07:46 PM on 10/04/2011

Perhaps those doing the cheering in these cases are not the ones who are twisted.

[RU Mad II]

11:08 PM on 10/04/2011

Nice... got any proof of that or is it simply your opinion?

[hywford]

05:48 AM on 10/04/2011

The news is incomplete: she was not acquitted of all charges. She was sentenced to three years for libel: at the beginning of investigations involved an African boy she knew who was proven innocent, which he said serious things. His lawyer in the appeal process is a senator with strong connections and fascist sympathies. The American press has hidden many of the facts that reside in the files, as the pressures on the court. While there is a camera that has filmed the killing, there are many elements of this strange cocktail of drugs, sadism, and rare games that many American students abroad, pampered in their homes and pandering by the embassy, ​​made ​​almost with impunity. In short, the only convicted of complicity in the murder was an African basketball player who was adopted as a child - not a homeless man - who was a witness ... and he was not convicted as an accomplice as executor, but from whom? only the victim, he, and boyfriends were at the site of the crime ... In Italy, people are laughing with the sentence, but with sarcasm. She may be an inocent, but not seems. There are very few countries willing to prosecute and even less to condemn an American ... Impunity is a smack. I sincerely hope that she is innocent.

[RobertFromMN]

07:13 AM on 10/04/2011

She was prosecuted. She was sentenced. She served two years of the sentence for a crime she did not commit. That is on top of the two years she served in jail prior to the conviction. Thankfully, the jury took another look at the FACTS and exonerated her and Raffaele.
The notion of Patrick Lumumba as a suspect was suggested to Amanda by the police. Her command of the Italian language at this time was poor. She was being questioned without an attorney present, in violation of Italian law. She was being threatened and repeatedly slapped in the head. Food and water was withheld. Interrogations are usually recorded. Suspiciously, Amanda's was not. After an eight hour overnight interrogation (and after 43 hours of interrogation over five days) she broke and gave them what THEY wanted. THEY suspected Lumumba. They are really the ones who should be paying Lumumba, and they should have to compensate Amanda and Raffaele as well.

[shallots]

08:28 AM on 10/04/2011

I agree. I wonder if she'll continue some kind of relationship/friendship with Raffaele. Knox deserved a lot fo support but I'd like to know more about what he went through. They didn't show his family or supporters and there hasn't been much focus on his ordeal. What a nightmare. None of us can be 100% sure but I'd hate to be in a situation of being interrogated in a foreign country. I live in an Asian country where prosecutors have a 90%-plus conviction rate. How do they do it? Why, they force suspects to confess! It's a catch-22. You want to be cooperative. But it can turn ugly any time during questioning I imagine. And then you're stuck. I wouldn't last eight hours I don't think. Not without training and preparation. Not in a foreign country where you don't know your rights.

[hywford]

03:54 AM on 10/07/2011

As I wrote, I hope she is inocent one. And even if she were guilty, surely the procedure was not completely clear. But, first, the popular jury convicted her in first grade. Second, the right to appeal is automatic in Italy, while not in the U.S. where a judge decides whether or not you can appeal. Third, in Italy there is no death penalty, fortunately. Fourth, thanks to several errors processual, it was opened a gap for the appeal. Fifth, although the sentence falls for Amanda and her boyfriend, his accomplice was sentenced to 16 years and fans of Amanda in Seattle did not say anything to defend it? She was released and the rest fuck it? In these, surely unjust years, how many death row inmates with sentences were dubious in the U.S. and many of Amanda's fans have protested? Amanda, after suffering a legal injustice, will protest when someone, perhaps a black, latin or poor, receive the injection? This sentence was not an authentic product of a thirst for justice, but political pressure. I hope that America protest when the government also ordered to kill people with their drones, people who have not been tried by any impartial tribunal ... and that, unfortunately, happens every day in total indifference ... Hip, hip, Amanda!, I would say the same for many others.

[Rita Khanna]

02:21 AM on 10/04/2011

Strange that most Americans think she is innocent and most Brits think she is guilty..
One of them is not right and thus it is conclusive that emotions do form a bias.

[clearthinker2008]

06:53 AM on 10/04/2011

You make it seem like you're saying something clever, of emotions contribute to bias. That is why we have courts, because really it doesn't matter who thinks she's guilty or who thinks she's innocent except those making the decision in courtrooms or whatever they are called elsewhere.

[RobertFromMN]

07:17 AM on 10/04/2011

Look at the way the British tabloids sensationalized this tragedy and the way they smeared and slandered Amanda. (In Britain, the tabloids are widely read and taken much more seriously than they are in America.) That is the real explanation for the divergent opinions.
But hey... gotta sell papers! Right?

[mlcpacker]

01:34 AM on 10/04/2011

Party when she is safe on US soil !

[shan91910]

01:32 AM on 10/04/2011

I am so sincerely happy for Amanda, her family, friends, and her supporters. You are all in my prayers as well as the Kercher family. The truth always seems to come out as it did today. Long overdue INNOCENCE! Amanda, there will be many people who will send bad reponses, letters, etc. You keep your head up high and know that there are many many more who believed in you and support you.

[manroj1]

01:19 AM on 10/04/2011

Wonder how many marriage proposals she has gotten so far? Quite a few, I'll bet.

[Marcus8]

01:06 AM on 10/04/2011

I feel sorry for all people that are convicted of a crime they didn't do, many have paid with their life. If I were a judge, I wouldn't convict Charley Manson of a crime he didn't do.....

[coolhandfreak]

12:47 AM on 10/04/2011

BOGUS OR TAINTED FORENSICS = LACK OF FOUNDATION FOR A GUILTY VERDICT.

[mashort815]

12:46 AM on 10/04/2011

Glad to hear that her supporters are happy. But -- did she do it ??

[goserenee1]

12:38 AM on 10/04/2011

The police seemed to screw this up from the begining. The DNA evidence and everything else seeemed to be gathered at such a late time that none of it should have been allowed, she was wrongly convicted to begin with and spent four years of her life in prison for it. What a shame!

[loyalist1]

12:38 AM on 10/04/2011

Hopefully Amanda will maintain some communication with the police to solve this crime.

A roommate with her throat slashed.......Amanda should have some clues, don't you think?

[Marcus8]

01:07 AM on 10/04/2011

The man who did it is Rudy Guede, he's serving time in prison for it, please read about the case......

[lovelybunchofcoconuts]

03:17 AM on 10/04/2011

Rudy Guede fled the country, was caught in Germany, confessed, (and plea bargained his sentence down by accusing the two innocents). His DNA was all over the murder scene, including inside MK. He confessed to his cellmate that the two had nothing to do with the murder. So I don't think any more clues are needed, really.

[coolhandfreak]

12:28 AM on 10/04/2011

Case that came apart at the seams when it's forensic underpinnings turned out to be bogus science. There is no question that the evidence was tainted or manipulated. Regardless of whether you think she had some culpability there was so much doubt cast by the foundational evidence that the verdict had to be flipped.