American college student Amanda Knox, convicted by an Italian court of killing her roommate Meredith Kercher, successfully appealed her murder conviction and was ordered immediately released from prison on Monday.

Knox, 24, nearly collapsed as the verdict was read. She has been in prison for nearly four years.

Raffaele Sollecito, Knox's former boyfriend, was also found not guilty. Knox, however, monopolized most of the headlines in Italy and abroad. 

A Perugia court found Knox and Sollecito guilty in 2009 of sexually assaulting and murdering Kercher, a British student, in the apartment shared by Knox and Kercher. Prosecutors argued Sollecito held Kercher while Knox stabbed her and another man, Rudy Guede, attempted to rape Kercher. 

"I am paying with my life for things I didn't do," Knox told the courtroom in Italian earlier on Monday as she fought back tears. "I did not kill. I did not rape... I was not there."

Sollecito told the court Monday that he and Knox were in his home the night of Kercher's murder.

"I never hurt anyone, never in my life," said Sollecito.

Rudy Guede, an Ivory Coast native and a small-time drug dealer, according to the Associated Press, was sentenced in 2008 to 16 years in prison for Kercher's murder. Guede, often described as a drifter, has exhausted the appeals in his case. His sentence was reduced from 30 years to 16 years on appeal. 

An independent review found that the police had made errors and could not conclusively tie Knox and Sollecito to the crime. 

Fox News host and columnist Judge Jeanine Pirro said the court did the right thing:

"The prosecutor also engaged in outright character assassination of Knox calling her a "she-devil"and "foxy Knoxy." Opinions about the defendant changed after the appointment of independent experts and several allegations of corruption emerged against the prosecutor."

Prosecutor Giancarlo Costagliola told the court "all clues" pointed to the Knox's and Sollecito's guilt:

"As you make your decision, I wish that you jurors feel a little bit like the parents of Meredith Kercher, a serious, studious girl whose life was taken by these two kids from good families... All clues converge toward the only possible result of finding the defendants guilty."

Was Knox initially the victim of a gross miscarriage of justice, or rather, the victim of a trial by tabloid? Share your thoughts below.

 

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