Amanda Knox
| Amanda Knox | |
|---|---|
| Born |
Amanda Marie Knox July 9, 1987 Seattle, Washington, U.S. |
| Education | University of Washington |
| Occupation | Writer |
| Known for | Being the subject of a miscarriage of justice in Italy |
Amanda Marie Knox (born July 9, 1987) is an American woman who spent almost four years in an Italian prison following her conviction for the 2007 murder of Meredith Kercher, a fellow exchange student who shared her apartment. In 2015, Knox was definitively acquitted by the Supreme Court of Cassation.
Knox, then aged 20, had called the police after returning to her and Kercher's flat after spending the night with her boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, and finding Kercher's bedroom door locked and blood in the bathroom. Following an interrogation, the conduct of which is a matter of dispute, Knox implicated herself and her employer, Patrick Lumumba. Knox and Sollecito were initially accused of murdering Kercher while acting in concert with Lumumba, but Lumumba was soon released, and the known burglar Rudy Guede was arrested, after Guede's bloodstained fingerprints were found on Kercher's possessions.
Pre-trial publicity in Italian media (and repeated by other media worldwide) 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. However, Knox's conviction for committing calunnia (calumny) against Lamumba 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.
Amanda Knox grew up in West Seattle, Washington with three younger sisters. Her mother, Edda Mellas, a mathematics teacher, and her father, Curt Knox, a vice president of finance at the local Macy's, divorced when Amanda was a few years old. Her stepfather, Chris Mellas, is an information technology consultant.
Knox first travelled to Italy at the age of 15, when she visited Rome, Pisa, the Amalfi Coast, and the ruins of Pompeii on a family holiday. Her interest in the country was increased by the book Under the Tuscan Sun, a copy of which her mother gave to her.
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