American student Amanda Knox walked free from an Italian court on Monday after an appeals jury threw out her murder conviction in the slaying of her British roommate Meredith Kercher four years ago. Seattle-native Knox was in tears after a jury threw out the convictions that would have seen her spend 26 years behind bars and her alleged accomplice, Italian Raffaele Sollecito 25 years. The pair were convicted of the murder in 2009. “I did not kill; I did not rape; I did not steal; I was not there,” Knox said to the court in Italian. “I am innocent, Raffaele is innocent and we deserve our freedom because we didn't do anything wrong.” In December 2009, Knox and her ex-boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito were convicted of the murder of Kercher. The three were students in the Italian town of Perugia. “I lost a friend in the most brutal and inexplicable manner possible, my faith in the police was betrayed, I had to cope with unjust accusations and I am paying with my life for things that I did not do,” she said. The murder case has garnered a lot of media attention around the world and has drawn the attendance of over 400 journalists present in the courtroom on Monday. Knox has often been depicted by the media as a young, drug abusing party girl who murdered her roommate in cold blood with no reason. Knox and Sollecito were both arrested on November 6 in 2007. Kercher's body was found four days prior, semi-naked with her throat slit. In 2009, the court ruled Kercher had been murdered during a sexual assault. The defendants have denied involvement in her murder. BM
