Today, after spending 4 excruciating years behind bars in Perugia, Italy, and with the unbearable prospect of spending the rest of their lives locked up for a heinous crime they did not commit, Amanda Knox, and her former boyfriend, Rafaelle Sollecito, were at last acquitted and set free by an Italian appeals court which, in their decision overturning the convictions, vehemently repudiated the prosecution's baseless, slanderous, and malicious accusations against the innocent Amanda and Rafaelle that threatened to destroy their lives.
My mother, sister, and I have been emotionally invested in this case from the beginning -- first, because of our Italian roots (my father was raised and spent much of his adult life there, and my mother still has family who live there) and because the event took place in Perugia, where Jennie and I -- like Amanda -- went to study Italian at the Universita' per Stranieri during our first years in college at Bryn Mawr. Somewhat forebodingly, at the urging of our mother, Jennie and I left Perugia after only a couple of weeks, and instead, spent the remainder of our summer abroad in our father's hometown of Riva Del Garda at the base of the Dolomite Mountains in Northern Italy.
Like most who heard about the brutal murder of Meredith Kercher in late 2007, and subsequently the strange behavior of the young couple who were seen comforting each other outside the apartment Amanda and Meredith shared, we were initially taken in by the sensational reports that were coming from Italy, which portrayed Amanda and Rafaelle as something more sinister than young lovers. But, as we followed the case more closely, and learned about Amanda's merciless and coercive 48 hour nonstop interrogation by the Perugian police, in which she was was asked by investigators to, in effect, imagine a scenario in which she were present inside the apartment as the crime was taking place, as well as about the ruthless and corrupt prosecutor named Guiliano Mannini who had a decades' long history of building prosecutorial cases against innocent defendants who had nothing whatsoever to do with the crimes they were accused of committing, we soon became absolutely convinced that neither Amanda nor her co-defendant, Rafaelle, were remotely connected in any way to the killing.
Our belief in their innocence was further confirmed by the fact that none of Amanda or Raffaele's DNA were found anywhere in the room where Meredith lost her life, and that another man, a drifter named Rudy Guede, who attempted to flee to Germany after the murder, was shortly thereafter apprehended and convicted of the crime since his DNA was found all over the room where Meredith was killed. Furthermore, the unwavering loyality and determination of Amanda's family and friends through her arrest, to her conviction, and finally throughout her appeal, firmly testified to the fact that a girl raised and beloved by such a close-knit, generous group of people could never have even conceived of killing an insect -- let alone another young woman who was, by all accounts, not only her roommate, but her friend.
Still, prosecutor Mannini (despite being himself indicted on corruption charges during Amanda's first trial) with the inital aid of the Italian media throughout the first trial, deliberately ignored the blaring lack of evidence and set out to paint Amanda and Rafaelle as deplorable human beings deserving of a life sentence, complete with months upon years of daytime solitary confinement. Mannini's perverse pleasure in prosecuting the two young people (going so far as to say, "Lucky for Amanda, we don't have the death penalty in Italy!'') and sending them away for the rest of their lives, rather than admitting his own mistakes, combined with the Italian media's sensational coverage of the original trial which depicted Amanda as wild and promiscous, and lead to the unjust conviction of both her and Rafaelle two years ago, made us lose faith in our ancestrial homeland. We were crushed by the news late in 2009 that Amanda and Raffaele had been found guilty and sentenced to 26 years in prison.
But today, following an emotional, and at times painful, 10 minute statement from Amanda in which she articulated in fluent Italian throuh tears and short breaths that she "insists on the truth -- that she and Rafaelle are innocent -- a truth which must be recognized and defended," and following another equally compelling statement from Rafaelle, in which he declared that "Amanda is a sweet, beautiful, and shining person" and pleaded with the judges to set them free, our devastation, and, more pressingly, the devastation and torment endured by Amanda, Rafaelle, and their respective families, came to a just end.
While we still mourn for the senseless loss of Meredith Kercher for whom justice would not have been served had two more innocent young people's lives been stolen from them, and our thoughts and prayers go out to her family who will never have a chance to bring their daughter home, we are so grateful and overwhelmed with joy at this vindicating outcome for Amanda and Rafaelle. We pray that Amanda can now return to her life in peace and that she can enjoy every moment of her newfound freedom with her family back home in Seattle.
First, though, Amanda needs to take care of herself -- start eating and sleeping again, and perhaps see a doctor to be checked for her physical health -- because she looks truly ghostly and worn out. She needs to feel the grass under her feet (as she told her father in the days leading up to this decision), the sun on her pale face, and recuperate at home with her loved ones. She needs to step "outside the window," so to speak, and rediscover the hope for life she once had before her self-described "suffering" began on that dreadful day in November 2007. I pray that God will bless her in her recovery.
ABBIAMO VINTO, CARA AMANDA!!
Chronicle of Video Segment Links:
Today Show Report on Amanda's Plea to the Court:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/44754352#44754352
Corriere Della Sera: Amanda's Full Statement to the Court:
http://video.corriere.it/dichiarazioni-amanda/90c39d46-eda7-11e0-8721-690dea02417b
Corriere Della Sera: Rafaelle's Full Statement to the Court:
http://video.corriere.it/dichiarazioni-spontanee-raffaele/b1955b40-eda2-11e0-8721-690dea02417b
CNN Translation of Amanda's Full Statement to the Court:
http://www.cnn.com/video/?/video/world/2011/10/03/knox-sot-full-statement.cnn
MSNBC: Amanda and Rafaelle's Conviction is Overturned
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/44762140#44762140
MSNBC: Interview with Amanda's Italian Lawyer after Ruling
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/44769088#44769088
Full Press Conference of Amanda's U.S. Return:
CNN Video --
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SvB3LHz8_mM
3News --
http://www.3news.co.nz/Full-press-conference-Amanda-Knox-returns-to-US-thanks-
CNN: Amanda's Parents Speak at Press Conference
http://www.cnn.com/video/?/video/bestoftv/2011/10/04/ac-knox-arrival-parents.cnn#/video/bestoftv/2011/10/04/ac-knox-arrival-parents.cnn
CNN: Amanda Speaks at Press Conference
http://www.cnn.com/video/?/video/us/2011/10/04/sot-wa-amanda-knox-arrival.cnn#/video/us/2011/10/04/sot-wa-amanda-knox-arrival.cnn
CBS 48 Hours Mystery -- Amanda Knox: The Untold Story
http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=7383976n&tag=contentMain;contentAux
CBS 48 Hours Mystery Extra -- Curt Knox Interview
http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=7383954n&tag=segementExtraScroller;housing
NBC Today: Why the Court Cleared Amanda Knox
http://worldnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/12/15/9470253-revealed-why-court-cleared-amanda-knox#.TyDcNELvhtQ.facebook
Print News/Opinion Stories Links:
The New York Times: Amanda Knox Freed after Appeal
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/04/world/europe/amanda-knox-defends-herself-in-italian-court.html?_r=1&hp
The New York Times: Lessons from the Amanda Knox Case
http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/10/03/justice-in-perugia/
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