Amanda Knox May Be Guilty, But There Is No Evidence, Says Judge
In a surprising twist in the case of Amanda Knox, who was released from an Italian jail Monday after being previously accused of murder and sexual assault, the Italian judge ruling over her case reportedly said Thursday that Knox might be guilty after all.
Judge Claudio Pratillo Hellmann said in a televised interview that the court's verdict "is the result of the truth that was created in the proceedings," reported the Guardian.
"But the real truth may be different. They may be responsible, but the evidence is not there," he reportedly added, referring to Knox and her ex-boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito.
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Knox, an American, and her Italian ex-boyfriend were both accused of murdering British citizen, Meredith Kercher. After a nearly yearlong appeal trial followed closely by audiences in the United States and Italy, the verdict fell Monday: Knox was declared not guilty.
Hellmann uttered the comments only two days after he and his colleagues handed down a full acquittal on appeal.
"This will remain an unsolved truth. No one can say how things went," he reportedly stated Wednesday.
Knox is already back in her home in Seattle. The 24-year-old former University of Washington student and her family left Italy immediately after the verdict. Knox was reportedly overwhelmed by her release from prison.
Knox was convicted in 2009 for the murder of her roommate, Kercher, in Perugia, Italy. The British girl’s half-naked dead body was found in a pool of blood at the apartment the two students shared in November of 2007.
Knox along with her ex-boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, and Rudy Guede were all charged for the murder of Kercher in what was described by the prosecution as a drug-filled sex game gone wrong.
In the original trial, Knox was sentenced to 26 years in prison. The key evidence used to convict Knox stemmed from DNA tests that linked her to a knife that had Kercher's DNA on the blade.
The prosecution also focused on Knox's bizarre behavior following the murder of Kercher in which Knox originally blamed a bar owner for the murder and did cartwheels while being held at police headquarters for questioning.
Knox's lawyers pleaded with the jury, saying that their client had been "crucified" by the media.
In the appeals case, Knox's lawyers focused largely on an independent forensic review that determined that the DNA that used to convict Knox was flawed and could have been contaminated.
Knox's lawyers urged the jury to set Knox free if they had any doubt about the DNA evidence.
