the Informer

Monday afternoon, amongst a courtroom filled with emotion, Amanda Knox was acquitted of the charges accusing her with the brutal murder of her roommate, Meredith Kercher in Perugia, Italy, a scenic college town.

The Knox case has been closely followed by the news media since her arrest in 2007.
The world was captivated by her story labeling Knox as Foxy-Knoxy, angelic, diabolic, witch and she-devil as well as feeding into the notion of Knox as promiscuous sex feind.

Just like Casey Anthony’s twisted case, opinions of Knox’s innocence will fill news anchors banter for weeks to come.

Even before Knox has set foot on American soil rumors of movie deals are swirling. Noted director Michael Winterbottom is planning a movie about Knox featuring Oscar-winning actor Colin Firth, as a journalist following the case. The biggest question on every media organizations mind is who is going to snag the first interview, which will probably be worth more money than most hope to see in a lifetime.

For the past four years, Knox has been fighting to get her life back. As a 20-year-old foreign exchange student studying Italian, German and creative writing, Knox with limited knowledge of the Italian language and cultural differences was swept into a swarm of controversy with all fingers pointing at her and her boyfriend at the time, Raffaele Sollecito as the guilty parties.

Rudy Guede, the third suspect, was arrested and charged with the murder of Meredith Kercher in 2008. Guede’s fingerprints and DNA were at the scene of the crime, yet the idea of a strange sexual fetish and a confession had nailed Knox and Sollecito as guilty parties, relinquishing the fact that neither Knox or Sollecito’s DNA were present at the scene.

As the announcement of Knox’s innocence was given, the hysterics Knox displayed were difficult not to have a reaction to. Knox’s emotions were at the polar end of the spectrum from Casey Anthony’s stoic approach to her verdict. The now 24-year-old Knox collapsed in tears as her fate was given.

In her final statement spoken, in Italian, Knox said, “I’m not a promiscuous vamp. I’m not violent…I have not killed, I have not raped, I was not there, I was not present…I lost a friend, in the most brutal and inexplicable way possible…

My absolute faith in the police authorities was betrayed, I’ve had to face absolutely unfair…and baseless accusations. I am paying with my life for things I did not commit.”

While the frenzy of media attention will continue to track every move Knox makes for a long time to come, Kercher’s family still seek answers to why the decision holding Knox and Sollecito guilty that was made in 2009 was reversed. The Kercher family issued a statement following the verdict through a journalist close to the family, they said, “We respect the decision of the judges but we do not understand how the decision of the first trial could be so radically overturned.”

They also expressed that the horror of the crime had been lost in a media circus and focus on Knox, according to cnn.com.

The attention will continue to swarm around Amanda Knox and opinions of her innocence or guilt will hold strong, however the most important fact for the media to focus their attention on is the life of Meredith Kercher, an innocent victim of a horrendous crime.