Amanda Knox

American involved in famous criminal case, she was initially convicted of homicide by an Italian court and later cleared of murder charges on appeal. Knox was a student in Perugia, Italy when her roommate, Meredith Kercher from the UK, was killed on November 1, 2007. As the dramatic investigation unfolded, Knox was accused of being responsible for Kercher's brutal stabbing death. The prosecutors painted a grim picture of Knox as a party girl who wanted Kercher to be involved in sex games at a party. Knox reportedly enlisted the help of her boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, and another man, Rudy Hermann Guede. She had met Sollecito in October 2007; both men were also convicted. Knox's trial began January 16, 2009 and was covered extensively by US, British and Italian media for the nearly full year that it took to obtain a verdict. The jury handed down its guilty verdict on December 4, 2009, and she was sentenced to 26 years in prison for murder and sexual assault. She and her parents have protested that she did not receive a fair trial andsteadily maintained her innocence. A year later she was granted the right to an appeal. Hearings and reviews of her case began in November 2010. The case captured media and public attention in both the US, Italy and elsewhere. On October 3, 2011, she and Sollecito were cleared of murder and assault charges. The court upheld a charge of slander since Knox had initially accused her former boss of the murder but the three year sentence for that charge was deemed already served. Knox was immediately released from custody and able to return to the US with her joyful family. Link to Wikipedia biography