After Italian supreme court judges overturned her conviction in the 2007 death of Meredith Kercher, Amanda Knox said she was “relieved.”
Late Friday, Italy’s supreme court overturned Knox’s 28-year prison sentence that she received in 2014. Her former Italian boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, also had his conviction overturned. He was sentenced to 25 years.
"I'm incredibly grateful for what has happened, for the justice I have received, for the support I have had from everyone. You saved my life,” Knox said at her Seattle home on Friday night, reports The Los Angeles Times. When asked if she had a message for the Kercher family, who still do not know who killed their daughter, Knox said, “Meredith was my friend ... she deserved so much in this life.”
Knox also issued a statement, saying that she was “relieved and grateful for the decision.”
“The knowledge of my innocence has given me strength in the darkest times of this ordeal. And throughout this ordeal, I have received invaluable support from family, friends, and strangers,” Knox’s statement continued. “To them, I say: Thank you from the bottom of my heart. Your kindness has sustained me. I only wish that I could thank each and every one of you in person.”
For Knox and Sollecito, this ends an eight-year debacle, with Italian courts going back and forth in its handling of the case. They were first sentenced to prison in 2009, but the verdict was reversed in 2011 and they were released. Knox went back to the U.S., where she stayed during a retrial that found her guilty again last year.
Hermann Guede was arrested in the murder due to DNA evidence and was convicted. He was sentenced to 16 years in prison.
According to the Associated Press, Friday’s decision was a surprise to Arline Kercher, Kercher’s mother. “They have been convicted twice so it is a bit odd that it should change now,” she told the U.K. Press Association.
image courtesy of Roger Wong/INFphoto.com