Amanda Knox Appeals Slander Conviction From Murder Case
Amanda Knox has launched an appeal against her slander conviction for falsely accusing a bar owner for involvement in the death of Meredith Kercher, her spokesman revealed on Monday.
The Seattle native has been keeping a low profile since she was released from Italian jail in October of last year and cleared of charges in Kercher's murder. Kercher was found dead with multiple stab wounds in the Italian apartment the two students shared in 2007.
A long-standing trial in Italy sought to bring to light the events that happened on the night of Kercher's death, and initially the court found Knox and her then-boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, guilty of being directly involved in what appeared to be a sex-game gone wrong.
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In the fall of 2011, however, the conviction was overturned, and Ivory Coast-born drifter Rudy Guede was declared responsible for Kercher's death and sentenced to 30 years, which was later reduced to 16 years in prison.
During the trial, however, Knox accused bar owner Diya "Patrick" Lumumba of involvement in the slaying, The Associated Press reported, with the accusation leading to his imprisonment for over two weeks. Lumumba was later released for lack of evidence.
Knox was convicted of slander, but she later claimed that she had been "manipulated" by the police into providing a suspect. Her spokesman, Dave Marriott, said that he is unsure of when the Italian court would take up her appeal.
Although Knox has mostly avoided the news headlines in the months after she left Italy, she stirred a bit of controversy when she was spotted out partying on Halloween last year, on the eve of the four-year anniversary of Kercher's death.
After considering offers for media interviews, Knox later reached a book deal with President Barack Obama's book agent for a future release on her side of the story of the murder trial.
"This is a case I have followed from day one and never, not even for a moment, have I doubted the innocence of Raffaele Sollecito and Amanda Knox," said President of Seattle-based Martin Literary Management Sharlene Martin, who offered Knox the book deal.
