Amanda Knox, a name synonymous with one of the most controversial legal sagas of the past two decades, has been reconvicted of slander by an Italian court. This marks another chapter in her prolonged and tumultuous legal battle stemming from the 2007 murder of her roommate, Meredith Kercher.
In a ruling on Wednesday, the Florence appeals court found Knox guilty of slander for falsely accusing her then-boss, Patrick Lumumba, of Kercher's murder. This decision comes despite Knox's claims that her statements were coerced during an intense and abusive police interrogation. Knox, who has spent years trying to clear her name, expressed her remorse in court. "I'm very sorry that I wasn't strong enough to withstand the pressure from the police," she stated, according to the BBC. "I never wanted to slander Patrick. He was my friend, he took care of me and consoled me for the loss of my friend."
Knox's legal troubles began when she was a 20-year-old exchange student in Italy. On November 1, 2007, she and her then-boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, discovered Kercher's body in their shared apartment in Perugia. Kercher had been brutally stabbed and sexually assaulted. During a grueling 53-hour interrogation, Knox implicated herself and Lumumba, the owner of a bar where she worked part-time. She later retracted these statements, claiming they were made under duress and extreme exhaustion.
Lumumba, who spent two weeks in jail and saw his business and personal life shattered, has consistently maintained his innocence. The defamation conviction against Knox was originally handed down in 2009 but was overturned last November following a ruling by the European Court of Human Rights that Knox's defense rights had been violated. However, Italian authorities reopened the case, leading to this latest conviction.
The Kercher murder case became a global media sensation, casting Knox into the spotlight as "Foxy Knoxy," a nickname that underscored her portrayal as a manipulative, unsophisticated American caught in a web of crime and intrigue. This media narrative persisted despite her eventual acquittal in 2015 by Italy's highest court, which definitively cleared her and Sollecito of the murder.
The real perpetrator, Rudy Guede, was convicted in a separate trial based on DNA evidence and served a 16-year prison sentence before his release in 2021. Despite this, public doubt about Knox's involvement lingered, fueled by her initial false accusation against Lumumba.
Knox's appearance in the Florence court was her first return to an Italian courtroom since her release in 2011. She was accompanied by her husband, Christopher Robinson, and appeared composed as the verdict was read. "Amanda is very embittered," her lawyer Carlo Dalla Vedova commented outside the courtroom, highlighting the disappointment over the unexpected outcome. Another defense lawyer, Luca Luparia Donati, confirmed plans to appeal the decision to Italy's highest court.
The case has not only impacted Knox's life but also that of Lumumba, who has struggled to rebuild his life and business in Poland. "Patrick has always been dutiful to all of the court decisions, and all the courts up until today have affirmed that Amanda Knox was a slanderer," said Lumumba's lawyer, Carlo Pacelli.
Knox, now 36 and a mother of two, has dedicated herself to advocating for criminal justice reform and fighting wrongful convictions. She hosts a true crime podcast with her husband and continues to share her story publicly. An upcoming Hulu documentary series, produced in collaboration with Monica Lewinsky, aims to shed light on her legal ordeal and its broader implications.
