[Faline]

Amanda Knox was sensationally released from prison this evening after an appeal court overturned her murder conviction - sparking chaotic scenes as her family erupted with joy.
There were screams in court as Knox, 24, hugged her parents Curt and Edda Mellas - as just feet away the family of Meredith Kercher looked on stunned.
The American has served four years of a 26-year prison sentence after being found guilty in 2009 of the brutal sex murder of Meredith, 21, who was found semi naked with her throat cut in her bedroom of the house she shared in Perugia, Italy.



Computer studies graduate Raffaele Sollecito, 27, her ex lover who had also been accused of carrying out the murder with her was also freed and there were emotional scenes as he hugged his delighted father Francesco.
The decision means that Knox will now almost certainly walk into a $1million deal with an American TV network as all the main stations have been frantically trying to secure rights to her first interview.
But although she and her family may well be delighted with the decision of judge Claudio Pratillo Hellman and his jury of five women and one man it means the heartbroken Kercher family still have no clear picture of what happened to their daughter.
Her heartbroken mother Arline, sister Stephanie and brother John, shook their heads in disbelief and hugged each other for comfort, not even raising their eyes to look at the jubilant Knox camp.
At the first trial two years ago Knox and Sollecito had been convicted after the court heard they had carried out the crime with the aid of a third man Ivory Coast drifter Rudy Guede, 24.
The appeal however overturned this and ruled that he carried out on his own but key to the verdict was an independent court ordered report into hotly disputed DNA evidence.
Two forensic professors from Rome’s La Sapienza University Carla Vecchiotti and Stefano Conti had poured scorn on the original police forensic investigation of the crime scene producing a damning conclusion of techniques and methods used.
Key to the case was a 12ins kitchen knife retrieved in Sollecito’s flat and on which the original trial heard was found DNA from Meredith on the blade and that of Knox on the handle.
Prosecutors confusingly said it was 'not incompatible' with the murder weapon – which has never been found – while defence teams argued it was too big to have caused the wounds on Meredith’s throat.

In addition the report also said that no blood was found on it and the DNA of Meredith was so low is should be ruled inadmissible – in fact there was such a small amount it could not even be retested.
They were also critical of results reached from tests on a clasp from Meredith’ s bloodied bra which was not collected from the murder scene and analyzed until 46 days after Meredith was killed.
To highlight the farcical way police carried out the investigation the experts showed footage of the way the forensic officers collected the evidence and there was gasps of amazement as more than 50 errors were pointed out.
The team was seen picking up the clasp with dirty gloves – instead of tweezers – and then placing it in a plastic bag when the recognized international procedure is a paper one.
They were then seen handing it to each other from glove to glove, placing it back on the floor in a different place from where it was found and then picking it up again.
Professors Conti and Vecchiotti said that this also made it highly likely that it had been contaminated and then they also revealed how they had been unable to retest the clasp because it had rotted away after being wrongly kept in the forensic lab in Rome.

Prosecutors lame arguments that the experts had no professional experience and that their findings were unqualified and unreliable, were ignored by the judge and jury.
Today prosecutors said they would appeal the decision and take the case to the Supreme Court in Rome but in the meantime Knox and Sollecito will be free and they do not even have to show up for the case.
The Supreme Court judges will simply examine all the documentary evidence and see if there is a valid point of law which can be used to overturn the appeal court’s ruling.
If they do not find any cause then the decision to release her will be confirmed while if they do find a justifiable reason then the case will be sent for a fresh trial leaving open the possibility of an extradition request from Italy for Knox.
Meredith, from Coulsdon, Surrey, was in Perugia as part of her Leeds University course and had only been in Italy for two months before she was killed in November 2007.
Initially prosecutor Mignini had described the murder as a Satanic ritual but his bizarre theory changed several times from a sex game gone wrong, botched break in or a jealous row.
Eventually in closing arguments he stuck simply to the all encompassing view that it was a 'senseless killing, without a motive' and which had led to him asking for the maximum life penalty.

Questions about the reliability of the verdict were raised during the original trial with many agreeing that the case would not have even come to court in Britain as it was based on half baked theories and a clearly botched investigation.
Mignini himself prosecuted the case despite the fact he was convicted last year of abuse of office after it emerged that he had illegally wiretapped journalists and police officers while investigating the 'Monster of Florence' serial killer.
He was given a 16-month jail sentence but as he is appealing he was still allowed to continue and tonight/last night there were reports that the Ministry of Justice in Rome was to investigate the whole case.

[bdjackass318]

too bad for the family of Merideth Kercher but they the prosecution had shit for evidence against Knox. she should of never been convicted in the first place

[Wildrice]

'bout time.

[Smackeddie]

lets just wait and see what this silly bint says in her books...... she was freed by a PR agency. and not a jury... the un-paralleled media coverage inside and outside the courtroom has massively swayed this verdict. all in all a complete pisspot of a court case. may i remind you, she lied from beginning to end.

[kizzcee007]

Originally Posted by Wildrice ↗

'bout time.

I concur

[Mr.Goodbar]

shitty police work. Who will ever know the truth now.

Shitty police work pisses me off

[kellyhound]

To highlight the farcical way police carried out the investigation the experts showed footage of the way the forensic officers collected the evidence and there was gasps of amazement as more than 50 errors were pointed out.
The team was seen picking up the clasp with dirty gloves – instead of tweezers – and then placing it in a plastic bag when the recognized international procedure is a paper one.
They were then seen handing it to each other from glove to glove, placing it back on the floor in a different place from where it was found and then picking it up again.

fucking nOOb idiots. Now we never know what really happened.

[gatagato]

Originally Posted by Mr.Goodbar ↗

shitty police work. Who will ever know the truth now.

Shitty police work pisses me off

THAT is why she's free mate. :( I HOPE i't just a matter of bad training&ignorance, but i can't swear: in Italy, justice is the only thing that still works, sloooooowly like some handicapped turtle, but it works, otherwise people like Berlusconi would NOT be so much concerned about it:
maybe it's the only thing I'm still proud of my my country.
Now a woman is breathing the fresh air of the freedom: guilty? innocent? She only knows it.
The fact is that there was a REASONABLE DOUBT, hence, judges had no choice. Their decision may be questionale but according to italian laws, was right, or better, the only possible.

[Mr.Goodbar]

Originally Posted by gatagato ↗

THAT is why she's free mate.

No, that is why she was imprisoned in the first place! Shitty evidence based on flawed DNA and police procedure.
She is out because her lawyers were able to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that she was not guilty.
Justice system still seems to work in Italy and maybe the president will get a taste.

Ok the other point is that Amanda Knox is a stupid lying bitch.
Initially she blamed the whole thing on her boss and bar owner Patrick Lumumba. Nasty bitch even if she was stressed. By all accounts Patrick Lumumba is a nice guy and family man and didn't need to be caught up in this shit.

Amanda Knox was convicted of defamation for the lie and she served 3 years for it (time served) and she also had to pay a fine of €22,000.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...hs-murder.html

"She was angry I was firing her and wanted revenge," he says. "By the end, she hated me. But I don't even think she's evil.

To be evil you have to have a soul. "Amanda doesn't. She's empty; dead inside. She's the ultimate actress, able to switch her emotions on and off in an instant. I don't believe a word she says. Everything that comes out of her mouth is a lie. But those lies have stained me for ever.

"She tried to play the race card. She thought that by pointing the finger at a black person she'd distract attention from herself. She used me as a scapegoat.

"I've never had so much as a fine for not paying a bus ticket before. But now I've been branded a cold-blooded murderer."

[collaredgirl65]

Terrible that a killer may never be found due to the police mismanaging evidence.