Amanda Knox set to defend 16-year-old slander charge in Italy
- Amanda Knox, now 36, will face a new trial in Italy for allegedly accusing a bar owner of murder during her time as an exchange student.
- The slander charge dates back to when Knox was 16 years old, and the case has garnered significant attention over the years.
- Knox's return to court has reignited interest in her complicated legal history in Italy.
Amanda Knox, a 36-year-old American, will go to court on Wednesday. She wrongly accused a bar owner in Congo of killing her roommate when they were exchange students in Italy. In 2016, the European Court of Human Rights said her interrogation was unfair because she didn't have a lawyer or translator. Italy's highest court canceled the slander conviction in November 2023. This was the only guilty verdict left against Knox after the court cleared her of her roommate's murder nine years ago. Knox wrote a note in English taking back her accusation. This note was the only proof the court had. After many trials, Italy's highest court finally declared Knox innocent of the murder in 2015. Rudy Guede, whose DNA was found at the crime scene, got 16 years for the murder. He was released in 2021 and is being investigated for assaulting his ex-girlfriend. Knox spent four years in an Italian prison for the murder before being freed in 2015. She was sentenced to three years for falsely accusing the bar owner. Italy's highest court canceled this conviction in October and ordered a new trial in Florence. Knox hopes to clear her name from the false charges. She accused the bar owner during police questioning where she said she was mistreated. The victim, Kercher, was found half-naked and stabbed 47 times with signs of assault. The case got a lot of media attention. Knox was first sentenced to 26 years in 2009, then freed in 2011, but convicted again in 2014. Finally, in 2015, Italy's top court cleared her and her ex-boyfriend of all charges.