I’m not trying to start a huge fight about the Amanda Knox case, this is merely going to be a forum to discuss the events of the past 24 hours. In 2007, Amanda Knox was found guilty of killing her roommate, a British exchange student named Meredith Kercher, in what the prosecution deemed a “sadistic sex game gone awry.” Yesterday, in Italy, Amanda’s conviction was overturned, and she’s en route to her home in Seattle right now. The Knox case brought international headlines – the Italian and British press campaigned against Knox, while American coverage was more sympathetic. Here’s what went down when Knox’s conviction was overturned:

After always proclaiming her innocence, Amanda Knox finally is free.

Nearly two years after the University of Washington student – who had been studying in Perugia, Italy – was convicted of the brutal 2007 murder of her roommate, an appeals court overturned the most serious charges on Monday. Knox, who had faced a sentence of 26 years in prison, sobbed as the decision was read and gasps could be heard in the courtroom.

“Silence, please!” the judge snapped. “Silence, please!”

Officers led the crying Knox out of the courtroom as friends, family and lawyers embraced and cheered. Outside the courthouse, a crowd chanted, “Shame! Shame!” The two judges and six jurors upheld only one charge – defamation for her statements originally implicating another man in the murder. She’ll get credit for time already served in prison.

She later was seen being driven out of the prison in a black Mercedes sedan with tinted windows. Knox’s former boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, 27, will also be released. He too had been convicted of the 2007 killing and sentenced to 25 years in prison.

A Personal Plea
Knox herself took to the stand Monday morning, to declare, “I did not kill.” A major linchpin of her appeals trial stemmed from problems with the DNA evidence in the case. An independent report by forensic experts questioned the validity of tests of blood samples on a 12-inch knife allegedly used to kill Meredith Kercher, 21, in what authorities called a sadistic sex game gone awry.

Prosecutors originally presented evidence that Knox’s DNA was on the knife handle and the victim’s on the blade. The court-appointed experts didn’t question the finding of Knox’s DNA, but raised questions about that of the DNA on the blade.

Judge Claudio Pratillo Hellman in Perugia rejected a prosecution request to introduce new records on the original tests and to hear from a new witness, a ruling that hurt their case. In their closing arguments, the prosecution urged the court not to release Knox and Sollecito, but rather to extend their sentences to life behind bars.

A Controversial Character
Knox – who dubbed herself “Foxy Knoxy” on her MySpace page – was viewed from shortly after the murder as a controversial character, and the bizarre sex- and drugs-saturated murder quickly made headlines worldwide.

Police, answering a routine call about missing cell phones placed by a neighbor, found Kercher’s body Nov. 2, 2007, after forcing the locked door to her room. Blood was everywhere. Kercher, lifeless on the floor under a duvet cover, had been raped and her throat cut – possibly, theorized police, resisting an “extreme” sex game.

During her appeals trial Knox was called “witch of deception” and “a satanic, diabolic she-devil given to borderline behavior” by Carlo Pacelli, an attorney for bar owner Diya “Patrick” Lumumba, whom Knox once accused of committing the murder.

Kercher’s family also had a presence at the trial, and their lawyer showed dozens of autopsy photos showing extensive gashes and other bloody wounds. But Knox had her defenders. She’s “not bad, she’s just drawn that way,” attorney Giulia Bongiorno, Sollecito’s lawyer, told the court.

[From People]

People Mag also has a story about Amanda’s release:

After four years in an Italian jail, Amanda Knox reportedly boarded a British Airways flight with her family at Rome’s Leonardo Da Vinci Airport late Tuesday morning. They are bound for London to connect to a flight to Seattle as the 24-year samples her first taste of freedom since the murder convictions against her and onetime boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito were overturned in a Perugia court late Monday night.

Before leaving – Knox had checked out of Capanne Prison within two hours after the court decision – she thanked those “who shared my suffering and helped me survive with hope,” she said in a letter to the Italy-U.S. Foundation, which seeks to promote ties between the two countries and has supported Knox throughout her ordeal.

“Those who wrote, those who defended me,” Knox wrote. “I love you, Amanda.”

The Knox family, whose swift getaway from Italy was coordinated in part by former FBI agent Steve Moore, a longtime Knox supporter, ran into one small snag Monday night: They almost forgot to bring along Madison Paxton, Amanda’s best friend who had moved to Perugia to be closer to her friend and lend support during weekly prison visits.

What looms ahead for Amanda remains to be seen. The prosecution in the case, which had painted her as a monster and sought to extend her prison sentence from 26 years to life, says it will appeal Monday’s decision, reports the BBC, noting that it seems unlikely Knox would be extradited back to Italy from the U.S.

Monday night’s stunning decision, which followed Amanda’s taking the stand Monday morning to proclaim her innocence, is being credited to both the public outcry against Amanda’s imprisonment and key DNA evidence that was found to be unreliable.
Francesco Sollecito, Raffaele Sollecito’s father, said after the decision that he had “allowed himself some tears” and the court has “given me back my son.”

In a separate earlier trial, a third party, Rudy Guede, 24, was convicted of Kercher’s murder and sentenced to 30 years in prison. That was later reduced to 16 years.

Shortly after the decision, the Kercher family held a press conference in Perugia.

“We want to say we accept the decision but we are also looking at how a decision so certain a few years ago should be overturned,” Lyle Kercher, brother of Meredith, told reporters. “Rudy Guede’s appeal was upheld by the court and the court agreed he wasn’t acting alone. So, if those two aren’t guilty, who are the others? We’re back at Square One, and the search goes on to find out what really happened.”

[From People]

I honestly stopped following the case shortly after she was convicted, so I can’t speak to any strong beliefs I have about Knox’s guilt or innocence. I do think she knows more about Kercher’s murder than she’s admitted, but I’ve also seen and read reports about how the Italian legal system threw everything at Knox because she was a young, pretty American girl who had an active sex life. It was a legal slut-shaming, a case that was exploited for tabloid appeal.

Photos courtesy of WENN.