Amanda Knox
Encyclopedia
Amanda Marie Knox is an American woman who was accused of the murder of Meredith Kercher
in Perugia, Umbria, Italy
. She served 4 years of a 26-year sentence before the murder conviction was overturned on October 3, 2011. Raffaele Sollecito, Knox's boyfriend at the time of the murder, was also accused of the murder and had his conviction overturned on appeal. The jury upheld Knox's calunnia
conviction for falsely implicating bar owner Patrick Lumumba. For this Knox was sentenced to three years in prison, which she had already served, and was ordered to pay Lumumba's court costs of about 22,000 euros.
, from which she graduated in 2005. In 2005 she began studies at the University of Washington
.
, Italy, to study Italian, German, and creative writing at the University for Foreigners for one year. She shared a house with a student from England, Meredith Kercher, as well as two Italian women. In mid-October 2007 she began a romantic relationship with an Italian engineering student, Raffaele Sollecito, from Bari, Apulia, Italy
.
On November 1, 2007, Meredith Kercher was murdered in the apartment she shared with Knox. On November 6, 2007, Knox was arrested by the Italian police and, along with Sollecito, charged with the murder of Kercher. During the subsequent four year trial and appeal process she was held under cautionary detention (carcerazione preventiva) at the Capanne prison in Perugia. In 2009, Knox and Sollecito were convicted of sexual assault, murder and simulating a burglary under the first grade (primo grado) of the Italian Code of Criminal Procedure
. However, according to Italian law, she was not considered guilty until convicted in the second grade (secondo grado). During this appeal, which concluded on October 3, 2011, the original conviction was overturned, she was found innocent of the murder and she was released from prison.
as a result of her conviction for calunnia
and €40,000 as compensation for Lumumba's legal expenses he incurred to be represented at the first trial. The decision was upheld by the appeals court and Knox was sentenced to three years imprisonment, and ordered to pay a further €22,000.
In March 2010, Knox won a civil case against Fiorenza Sarzanini, author of a book about the Kercher case, Amanda e gli altri (Amanda and the Others), and her publisher for violation of her privacy and illegal publication of court documents. The book contained long excerpts from Knox's diary, as well as from witness interviews that were not in the public domain, and intimate details professing to be about Knox's sex life. Knox was awarded €40,000 in damages.
Following an investigation into Knox's statements that she was slapped by police during questioning about the murder, another case for calunnia
was opened against her on June 1, 2010 for falsely implicating police. Knox has claimed she was hit and put under pressure by police when she was questioned in the aftermath of Kercher's November 1, 2007, slaying. She said police repeatedly called her a "stupid liar". Police denied misconduct and filed charges saying Knox's comments were slanderous. The trial was adjourned until November 15, 2011. According Italian Penal Code, for this crime she can be imprisoned from two to six years.
In February 2011, Knox's parents, Curt Knox and Edda Mellas, were indicted on charges of criminal slander as a result of an interview published by The Sunday Times in 2009, in which they said their daughter "had not been given an interpreter, had not received food and water, and had been physically and verbally abused" by police officers after her arrest. They sought to have the charges dismissed on the grounds that there was no intent. On July 4, 2011, Judge Paolo Micheli resigned from the case, citing his involvement in the trial of Knox and Sollecito. Knox's parents' trial was adjourned until January 24, 2012.
After Knox was found innocent of the murder, several media outlets reported that Kercher's family were suing her for $12 million. Kercher's family have stated that the reports are incorrect and that they do not believe anyone should profit from the murder.
Knox has stated that during her time in prison she was sexually harassed and intimidated by prison officials. Knox said that a high ranking prison administrator would take her to his office alone at night and make inappropriate statements to her which left her feeling terrified. Furthermore, prison guards forced her to have unwanted sexual conversations. ABC News reported that one male guard entered Knox's cell alone and made sexual remarks to her.
While Knox was in prison, she met frequently a local lawmaker named Rocco Girlanda
. He later published a book about his conversations with Knox while she was in prison. Knox also befriended the members of a local Italian band which played at the prison three times while she was an inmate. She wrote a screenplay for one of their videos.
, founded the "Friends of Amanda", a support group to raise money and awareness.
Maria Cantwell
, United States Senator for Washington, issued a statement on 4 December 2009 that the evidence against Knox was inadequate, that she had been subjected to harsh treatment after her arrest, and that there had been negligence in the handling of the evidence. The Idaho Innocence Project
, a non-profit investigative organization dedicated to proving the innocence of wrongly convicted people through the use of DNA testing, volunteered to work for the Knox defence. On 23 May 2011, Dr Gregory Hampikian, director of the project, announced that, based on its independent investigation and review, DNA samples taken at the crime scene all pointed to Guede, and excluded Knox and Sollecito.
On 26 May 2011, 11 members of the Italian parliament, led by Rocco Girlanda
and all members of The People of Freedom
Party founded by Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi
, issued a document as an act of parliament addressed to Justice Minister Angelino Alfano
. The document criticized the evidence that resulted in the Knox/Sollecito guilty verdicts, and the extended detention to which they were subject. Girlanda also addressed a letter to President Giorgio Napolitano
, in Girlanda's capacity as president of the Italy-USA Foundation
, in which he wrote, "These distortions, not without reason, are fuelling accusations against the administration of justice in our country."
was elected in 2005.
According to Corrado Maria Daclon
, secretary general of the Italy-USA Foundation
, who became a close friend of Knox's while she was in prison and managed Knox's departure from the penitentiary to the airport, when Knox returned to her former prison after her appeal, "[a]ll the prisoners, 500 or 600 of them, started to greet Amanda from the windows, like soccer stardom." She then said goodbye to her cellmate, other prisoners, and some of the guards. The next day she flew home to Seattle. Upon her arrival, Knox gave a brief press conference in which she thanked those who had supported her and her family.
Knox wrote a letter to Corrado Maria Daclon
the day after regaining her freedom: "To hold my hand and offer support and respect throughout the obstacles and the controversy, there were Italians. There was the Italy-USA Foundation
, and many others that shared my pain and that helped me survive, with hope. I am eternally grateful for their caring hospitality and their courageous commitment. To those that wrote me, that defended me, that stood by me, that prayed for me... I am forever grateful to you."
, the press reported a number of falsehoods and distortions in their articles about the case. In order to address these perceived inaccuracies, Knox's family engaged the services of David Marriott of Gogerty Stark Marriott, a Seattle-based public relations firm.
In June 2009, due to all her televised court hearings, an Italian television poll listed Amanda Knox as a bigger personality than Carla Bruni
.
. It focuses on Knox, who is played by American actress Hayden Panettiere
. Kercher is played by the British actress Amanda Fernando Stevens. The Kercher family condemned the film and described its images as "horrific and distressing". Before the film was broadcast, lawyers for both Knox and Sollecito formally demanded that Lifetime abandon the production.
Murder of Meredith Kercher
The murder of Meredith Kercher occurred in Perugia, Italy, on 1 November 2007. Kercher, aged 21 at the time of her death, was a British university exchange student from Coulsdon, south London. She was found dead on the floor of her bedroom with stab wounds to the throat...
in Perugia, Umbria, Italy
Perugia
Perugia is the capital city of the region of Umbria in central Italy, near the River Tiber, and the capital of the province of Perugia. The city is located about north of Rome. It covers a high hilltop and part of the valleys around the area....
. She served 4 years of a 26-year sentence before the murder conviction was overturned on October 3, 2011. Raffaele Sollecito, Knox's boyfriend at the time of the murder, was also accused of the murder and had his conviction overturned on appeal. The jury upheld Knox's calunnia
Calunnia
Calunnia is a criminal offence under Article 368 of the Italian Penal Code , which states:"Anyone who with a denunciation, complaint, demand or request, even anonymously or under a false name, directs a judicial authority or other authority that has an obligation to report, to blame someone for a...
conviction for falsely implicating bar owner Patrick Lumumba. For this Knox was sentenced to three years in prison, which she had already served, and was ordered to pay Lumumba's court costs of about 22,000 euros.
Early life
Knox was born in Seattle, Washington, to Edda Mellas, a math teacher, and Curt Knox, a vice president of finance at Macy's. The couple divorced when Knox was a toddler. Knox attended Seattle Preparatory SchoolSeattle Preparatory School
Seattle Preparatory School, popularly known as Seattle Prep is a private Jesuit high school located on Capitol Hill, in Seattle. It was founded in 1891 and has maintained a long history of academic excellence. The school regularly sends many of its students to Ivy League and 'highly selective'...
, from which she graduated in 2005. In 2005 she began studies at the University of Washington
University of Washington
University of Washington is a public research university, founded in 1861 in Seattle, Washington, United States. The UW is the largest university in the Northwest and the oldest public university on the West Coast. The university has three campuses, with its largest campus in the University...
.
Meredith Kercher murder case
In 2007 Knox moved to PerugiaPerugia
Perugia is the capital city of the region of Umbria in central Italy, near the River Tiber, and the capital of the province of Perugia. The city is located about north of Rome. It covers a high hilltop and part of the valleys around the area....
, Italy, to study Italian, German, and creative writing at the University for Foreigners for one year. She shared a house with a student from England, Meredith Kercher, as well as two Italian women. In mid-October 2007 she began a romantic relationship with an Italian engineering student, Raffaele Sollecito, from Bari, Apulia, Italy
Bari
Bari is the capital city of the province of Bari and of the Apulia region, on the Adriatic Sea, in Italy. It is the second most important economic centre of mainland Southern Italy after Naples, and is well known as a port and university city, as well as the city of Saint Nicholas...
.
On November 1, 2007, Meredith Kercher was murdered in the apartment she shared with Knox. On November 6, 2007, Knox was arrested by the Italian police and, along with Sollecito, charged with the murder of Kercher. During the subsequent four year trial and appeal process she was held under cautionary detention (carcerazione preventiva) at the Capanne prison in Perugia. In 2009, Knox and Sollecito were convicted of sexual assault, murder and simulating a burglary under the first grade (primo grado) of the Italian Code of Criminal Procedure
Italian Code of Criminal Procedure
The Italian Code of Criminal Procedure contains the rules governing criminal procedure in every court in Italy.The first and initial code in the Italian Republic was established by the Fascist Government in 1930 and was kept until 1988. This code adopted an inquisitorial system...
. However, according to Italian law, she was not considered guilty until convicted in the second grade (secondo grado). During this appeal, which concluded on October 3, 2011, the original conviction was overturned, she was found innocent of the murder and she was released from prison.
Related proceedings against Knox
Knox was ordered to pay Patrick Lumumba, the man originally accused by Knox of murdering Kercher, €10,000 in restitutionRestitution
The law of restitution is the law of gains-based recovery. It is to be contrasted with the law of compensation, which is the law of loss-based recovery. Obligations to make restitution and obligations to pay compensation are each a type of legal response to events in the real world. When a court...
as a result of her conviction for calunnia
Calunnia
Calunnia is a criminal offence under Article 368 of the Italian Penal Code , which states:"Anyone who with a denunciation, complaint, demand or request, even anonymously or under a false name, directs a judicial authority or other authority that has an obligation to report, to blame someone for a...
and €40,000 as compensation for Lumumba's legal expenses he incurred to be represented at the first trial. The decision was upheld by the appeals court and Knox was sentenced to three years imprisonment, and ordered to pay a further €22,000.
In March 2010, Knox won a civil case against Fiorenza Sarzanini, author of a book about the Kercher case, Amanda e gli altri (Amanda and the Others), and her publisher for violation of her privacy and illegal publication of court documents. The book contained long excerpts from Knox's diary, as well as from witness interviews that were not in the public domain, and intimate details professing to be about Knox's sex life. Knox was awarded €40,000 in damages.
Following an investigation into Knox's statements that she was slapped by police during questioning about the murder, another case for calunnia
Calunnia
Calunnia is a criminal offence under Article 368 of the Italian Penal Code , which states:"Anyone who with a denunciation, complaint, demand or request, even anonymously or under a false name, directs a judicial authority or other authority that has an obligation to report, to blame someone for a...
was opened against her on June 1, 2010 for falsely implicating police. Knox has claimed she was hit and put under pressure by police when she was questioned in the aftermath of Kercher's November 1, 2007, slaying. She said police repeatedly called her a "stupid liar". Police denied misconduct and filed charges saying Knox's comments were slanderous. The trial was adjourned until November 15, 2011. According Italian Penal Code, for this crime she can be imprisoned from two to six years.
In February 2011, Knox's parents, Curt Knox and Edda Mellas, were indicted on charges of criminal slander as a result of an interview published by The Sunday Times in 2009, in which they said their daughter "had not been given an interpreter, had not received food and water, and had been physically and verbally abused" by police officers after her arrest. They sought to have the charges dismissed on the grounds that there was no intent. On July 4, 2011, Judge Paolo Micheli resigned from the case, citing his involvement in the trial of Knox and Sollecito. Knox's parents' trial was adjourned until January 24, 2012.
After Knox was found innocent of the murder, several media outlets reported that Kercher's family were suing her for $12 million. Kercher's family have stated that the reports are incorrect and that they do not believe anyone should profit from the murder.
Life in prison
Knox spent almost four years in jail while she waited for her first trial and appealed the initial verdict. Soon after arriving in prison, following a blood test, Knox was mistakenly told she was HIV positive. Officials prompted her to write a list of previous lovers, which they later leaked to the media.Knox has stated that during her time in prison she was sexually harassed and intimidated by prison officials. Knox said that a high ranking prison administrator would take her to his office alone at night and make inappropriate statements to her which left her feeling terrified. Furthermore, prison guards forced her to have unwanted sexual conversations. ABC News reported that one male guard entered Knox's cell alone and made sexual remarks to her.
While Knox was in prison, she met frequently a local lawmaker named Rocco Girlanda
Rocco Girlanda
Rocco Girlanda is an Italian politician, member of the Party of Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. Married, five children.He is also an entrepreneur, journalist and media proprietor...
. He later published a book about his conversations with Knox while she was in prison. Knox also befriended the members of a local Italian band which played at the prison three times while she was an inmate. She wrote a screenplay for one of their videos.
Support for Knox
In late 2008, a number of Seattle-area residents, including lawyer Anne BremnerAnne Bremner
Anne Melani Bremner is a Seattle, Washington-based trial attorney. She has performed legal work on a number of high-profile cases, including in the murder of Meredith Kercher in Italy as legal counsel and a spokesperson for the Friends of Amanda Knox, and as the lawyer for the family of Rebecca...
, founded the "Friends of Amanda", a support group to raise money and awareness.
Maria Cantwell
Maria Cantwell
Maria E. Cantwell is the junior United States Senator from the state of Washington and a member of the Democratic Party....
, United States Senator for Washington, issued a statement on 4 December 2009 that the evidence against Knox was inadequate, that she had been subjected to harsh treatment after her arrest, and that there had been negligence in the handling of the evidence. The Idaho Innocence Project
Innocence Project
An Innocence Project is one of a number of non-profit legal organizations in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand dedicated to proving the innocence of wrongly convicted people through the use of DNA testing, and to reforming the criminal justice systems to...
, a non-profit investigative organization dedicated to proving the innocence of wrongly convicted people through the use of DNA testing, volunteered to work for the Knox defence. On 23 May 2011, Dr Gregory Hampikian, director of the project, announced that, based on its independent investigation and review, DNA samples taken at the crime scene all pointed to Guede, and excluded Knox and Sollecito.
On 26 May 2011, 11 members of the Italian parliament, led by Rocco Girlanda
Rocco Girlanda
Rocco Girlanda is an Italian politician, member of the Party of Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. Married, five children.He is also an entrepreneur, journalist and media proprietor...
and all members of The People of Freedom
The People of Freedom
The People of Freedom is a centre-right political party in Italy. With the Democratic Party, it is one of the two major parties of the current Italian party system....
Party founded by Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi
Silvio Berlusconi
Silvio Berlusconi , also known as Il Cavaliere – from knighthood to the Order of Merit for Labour which he received in 1977 – is an Italian politician and businessman who served three terms as Prime Minister of Italy, from 1994 to 1995, 2001 to 2006, and 2008 to 2011. Berlusconi is also the...
, issued a document as an act of parliament addressed to Justice Minister Angelino Alfano
Angelino Alfano
Angelino Alfano is an Italian politician who served as Italy's Minister of Justice from 2008 to 2011, as part of the Berlusconi IV Cabinet...
. The document criticized the evidence that resulted in the Knox/Sollecito guilty verdicts, and the extended detention to which they were subject. Girlanda also addressed a letter to President Giorgio Napolitano
Giorgio Napolitano
Giorgio Napolitano is an Italian politician who has been the 11th President of Italy since 2006. A long-time member of the Italian Communist Party and later the Democrats of the Left, he served as President of the Chamber of Deputies from 1992 to 1994 and as Minister of the Interior from 1996 to...
, in Girlanda's capacity as president of the Italy-USA Foundation
Italy-USA Foundation
Italy–USA Foundation was established to promote the friendship between Italians and Americans plus American culture in Italy. The foundation is a non-profit organization based in Rome, Italy...
, in which he wrote, "These distortions, not without reason, are fuelling accusations against the administration of justice in our country."
Release
ANSA's news alert announcing Knox's conviction being overturned was made using the character size and style reserved for the most important events. According to Italy's national TV broadcaster, this last happened when Pope Benedict XVIPope Benedict XVI
Benedict XVI is the 265th and current Pope, by virtue of his office of Bishop of Rome, the Sovereign of the Vatican City State and the leader of the Catholic Church as well as the other 22 sui iuris Eastern Catholic Churches in full communion with the Holy See...
was elected in 2005.
According to Corrado Maria Daclon
Corrado Maria Daclon
- Biography :He was born in Milan. Since 1995 he has been professor of environmental policy and geopolitics at the Ca' Foscari University of Venice, Italy, journalist, writer, and a collaborative editorial contributor with periodicals on international energy, environmental and geopolitical issues...
, secretary general of the Italy-USA Foundation
Italy-USA Foundation
Italy–USA Foundation was established to promote the friendship between Italians and Americans plus American culture in Italy. The foundation is a non-profit organization based in Rome, Italy...
, who became a close friend of Knox's while she was in prison and managed Knox's departure from the penitentiary to the airport, when Knox returned to her former prison after her appeal, "[a]ll the prisoners, 500 or 600 of them, started to greet Amanda from the windows, like soccer stardom." She then said goodbye to her cellmate, other prisoners, and some of the guards. The next day she flew home to Seattle. Upon her arrival, Knox gave a brief press conference in which she thanked those who had supported her and her family.
Knox wrote a letter to Corrado Maria Daclon
Corrado Maria Daclon
- Biography :He was born in Milan. Since 1995 he has been professor of environmental policy and geopolitics at the Ca' Foscari University of Venice, Italy, journalist, writer, and a collaborative editorial contributor with periodicals on international energy, environmental and geopolitical issues...
the day after regaining her freedom: "To hold my hand and offer support and respect throughout the obstacles and the controversy, there were Italians. There was the Italy-USA Foundation
Italy-USA Foundation
Italy–USA Foundation was established to promote the friendship between Italians and Americans plus American culture in Italy. The foundation is a non-profit organization based in Rome, Italy...
, and many others that shared my pain and that helped me survive, with hope. I am eternally grateful for their caring hospitality and their courageous commitment. To those that wrote me, that defended me, that stood by me, that prayed for me... I am forever grateful to you."
Public image
Due to the allegations made against her, Knox became the focus of worldwide media coverage, especially in Italy, the United Kingdom and the United States. Supporters of Knox and certain members of the US media criticized Italian and British newspapers' coverage of the story as constituting character assassination and demonization. According to author Candace DempseyCandace Dempsey
Candace Dempsey is an Italian-American journalist and author living in Seattle, Washington. She has written for several newspapers in the United States, and is the author of Murder in Italy , a study of the 2007 murder of Meredith Kercher. Dempsey has reported on the Kercher investigation for CNN,...
, the press reported a number of falsehoods and distortions in their articles about the case. In order to address these perceived inaccuracies, Knox's family engaged the services of David Marriott of Gogerty Stark Marriott, a Seattle-based public relations firm.
In June 2009, due to all her televised court hearings, an Italian television poll listed Amanda Knox as a bigger personality than Carla Bruni
Carla Bruni
Carla Bruni-Sarkozy is an Italian-French songwriter, singer, actress, and former model...
.
Television film
Lifetime, an American television network, produced a television film about the case, titled Amanda Knox: Murder on Trial in ItalyAmanda Knox: Murder on Trial in Italy
Amanda Knox: Murder on Trial in Italy is a 2011 American true crime television film. It stars Hayden Panettiere as Amanda Knox, Paolo Romio as Raffaele Sollecito, Djibril Kébé as Rudy Guede and Amanda Fernando Stevens as Meredith Kercher, and first aired on the Lifetime network on February 21,...
. It focuses on Knox, who is played by American actress Hayden Panettiere
Hayden Panettiere
Hayden Leslie Panettiere is an American actress and singer, best known as cheerleader Claire Bennet on the NBC television series Heroes. She began her acting career by playing Sarah Roberts on One Life to Live , and Lizzie Spaulding on Guiding Light , before starring at age 10 as Sheryl Yoast in...
. Kercher is played by the British actress Amanda Fernando Stevens. The Kercher family condemned the film and described its images as "horrific and distressing". Before the film was broadcast, lawyers for both Knox and Sollecito formally demanded that Lifetime abandon the production.
List of documentaries on Amanda Knox
- A Long Way From Home: CBSCBSCBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
48 Hours48 Hours (TV series)48 Hours is a documentary and news program broadcast on the CBS television network since January 19, 1988. The program originally presented documentaries of various events related to a particular subject occurring within a 48-hour period, and is credited as one of the first to air a "reality show"...
documentary, broadcast in April 2008 in the United States - American Girl, Italian Nightmare: CBS 48 Hours documentary, broadcast in April 2009 in the United States,
- The Trial of Amanda Knox: NBCNBCThe National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
Dateline NBCDateline NBCDateline NBC, or Dateline, is a U.S. weekly television newsmagazine broadcast by NBC. It previously was NBC's flagship news magazine, but now focuses on true crime stories. It airs Friday at 9 p.m. EST and after football season on Sunday at 7 p.m. EST.-History:Dateline is historically notable for...
documentary, broadcast on December 4, 2009 in the United States - The Trials of Amanda Knox: The Learning Channel documentary, broadcast on March 24, 2010 in the United States
- Beyond the Headlines: Amanda Knox: Lifetime documentary, broadcast on February 21, 2011 in the United States
- Cold Blood: Life Behind Bars For Amanda Knox: Investigation Discovery Cold Blood documentary, broadcast on April 20, 2011 in the United States
- Murder Abroad: The Amanda Knox Story: CNNCNNCable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States...
CNN PresentsCNN PresentsCNN Presents is an American documentary program on CNN weekends. The program used to be replaced with CNN Special Investigations Unit, which features the same documentary format, but differs from it in a number of ways and is shorter in length....
documentary, broadcast on May 8, 2011 in the United States - Amanda Knox: The untold story, CBS 48 Hours documentary October 8, 2011 7:45 PM