Amanda Knox Accuses Bar Owner in Roommate's Murder Case

In a significant legal development, Amanda Knox has been reconvicted of slander by an Italian appeals court, stemming from her 2007 accusations against Congolese bar owner Patrick Lumumba in the murder of her British housemate, Meredith Kercher. This conviction, announced on Friday, is the only remaining legal blemish on Knox's record, despite her earlier exoneration from the murder charge. Knox had traveled to Florence in June with hopes of clearing her name, but the court's decision reaffirmed the validity of her slander conviction based on a hand-written memo she submitted. The Florence appellate court focused solely on Knox's handwritten document, which was the only evidence reviewed after Italy’s supreme court dismissed two signed statements that Knox had made under duress. The court noted that Knox's memo contained “objective details of the crime of slander,” despite her attempts to retract her earlier accusations against Lumumba. In her memo, Knox expressed doubt about the truthfulness of her statements, attributing them to the stress and exhaustion she experienced during a prolonged police interrogation. Knox's legal team, led by lawyer Carlo Dalla Vedova, announced plans to appeal the ruling to Italy’s highest court. Dalla Vedova criticized the appellate court's reasoning, suggesting it undermined the findings of the European Court of Human Rights, which had previously ordered Italy to compensate Knox for violations of her rights during the interrogation process. The case, which has captivated international attention, began with the brutal murder of Kercher in Perugia, leading to a series of controversial verdicts over nearly eight years. Knox and her then-boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, were ultimately exonerated by Italy’s highest court in 2015, but the legal saga continues to haunt Knox.