Amanda Knox

Amanda Marie Knox (born July 9, 1987) is an American woman who spent almost four years in an Italian prison following the 2007 murder of Meredith Kercher, one of the women who shared her apartment, before being definitively acquitted by the Supreme Court of Cassation. Knox, then a twenty years old student, had raised the alarm after returning from spending the night with her boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito. Following an interrogation, the conduct of which is a matter of dispute, Knox implicated herself and an employer. Knox and Sollecito were initially accused of murdering Kercher while acting with the employer, but he was released and substituted for Rudy Guede after Guede's bloodstained fingerprints were found on Kercher's possessions.

Pre-trial publicity in Italian media portrayed Knox in a negative light, leading to complaints that the prosecution was using character assassination tactics. A guilty verdict at Knox's initial trial and her 26-year sentence caused international controversy, as U.S. forensic experts thought evidence at the crime scene was incompatible with her involvement. A prolonged legal process, including a successful prosecution appeal against her acquittal at a second-level trial, continued after Knox was freed in 2011. On March 27, 2015, Italy's highest court—the Supreme Court of Cassation—definitively exonerated Knox and Sollecito. Knox's conviction for Calunnia against her employer was upheld by all courts. On January 14, 2016 Knox was acquitted of Calunnia for saying she had been struck by policewomen during the interrogation.