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Amanda Knox: The Controversial Case That Divided the World · The conspiracy

0:00
Speaker 1: It began as a dream. A 20-year-old college student from
0:03
Speaker 1: Seattle boards a plane for Italy, chasing language, culture, and independence.
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Speaker 1: A semester abroad in the picturesque hilltop town of Perugia.
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Speaker 1: She expected pasta, books, and adventure. But what she found
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Speaker 1: was something else entirely. Because just weeks into her stay,
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Speaker 1: Amanda Knox would find herself at the center of an
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Speaker 1: international firestorm. And her roommate, Miranda Kircher, was found brutally murdered.
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Speaker 1: And Amanda was suddenly thrust into the role of a suspect.
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Speaker 1: Then seductress, and then killer. And the media devoured it,
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Speaker 1: and the prosecutors leaned into it. And soon, the entire
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Speaker 1: world knew her name. But behind the headlines, the devilish nicknames,
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Speaker 1: and the courtroom theatrics, was a case that raised a
0:45
Speaker 1: bigger question. Questions about justice, truth, and the stories we
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Speaker 1: choose to believe in. So this is not just a
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Speaker 1: story of murder. It's a story of what happens when
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Speaker 1: a flawed investigation, a global press machine, and the court
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Speaker 1: of public opinion collide at the expense of real people,
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Speaker 1: real lives, and real justice. This is the case of
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Speaker 1: Amanda Knox. Crime, conspiracy, cults, serial killers, and murder, all
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Speaker 1: things that I love to consume, and I know you
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Speaker 1: do too, you sick, twisted, beautiful, intellectually minded freak! And
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Speaker 1: today we're getting into a controversial case, a conspiratorial case,
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Speaker 1: to say the least. So without further ado, let's unbuckle
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Speaker 1: our seatbelts, go Mach 5 down the highway, slam on
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Speaker 1: the brakes, and bust through this windshield into this controversial
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Speaker 1: case together. So Amanda Knox was born on July 9th,
1:48
Speaker 1: 1987 in Seattle, Washington. And she was the eldest of
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Speaker 1: two daughters born to Kurt Knox and Etta Melas. And
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Speaker 1: their other daughter's name was Deanna. And she later would
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Speaker 1: have two half sisters as well, Ashley and Delaney. Stability,
2:02
Speaker 1: her parents worked to provide her after their divorce. And
2:04
Speaker 1: Amanda grew up middle-class in West Seattle. And she would
2:08
Speaker 1: go back and forth between homes of her parents, who
2:11
Speaker 1: did remain on friendly terms. And in this supportive environment,
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Speaker 1: Amanda grew up outgoing and smart and even a bit quirky.
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Speaker 1: She loved sports, especially soccer. It was like her passion.
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Speaker 1: And so much so that her quirk, which was clever
2:24
Speaker 1: footwork on the field, gave her the nickname Foxy. Foxy
2:28
Speaker 1: Noxy from her teammates when she was younger. And that
2:30
Speaker 1: nickname would come back in the future, but we are
2:32
Speaker 1: not even close to there yet. And it was for
2:34
Speaker 1: a completely different reason. But friends and family remember Amanda
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Speaker 1: as very fun-loving and friendly when she was younger, yet
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Speaker 1: kind of naive about harsher realities of the world. And
2:45
Speaker 1: she would attend a very rigorous prep school in Seattle.
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Speaker 1: And there she would perform in school plays and was
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Speaker 1: known for some goofy behavior like bursting into song in
2:54
Speaker 1: the halls. And a high school friend would even recall
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Speaker 1: that she's not crazy and she's not stupid. However, her
3:00
Speaker 1: thoughts get muddled, noting that Amanda could be vulnerable to
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Speaker 1: confusion and seemingly didn't have a full grasp of reality
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Speaker 1: in certain moments. Whatever that means right now, we don't
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Speaker 1: really know, but we'll get into it. But despite the ditzy,
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Speaker 1: outwardly demeanor, Amanda was intelligent. She earned good grades, and
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Speaker 1: she even made the Dean's List when she went to
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Speaker 1: the University of Washington. And relatives described the college-aged Amanda
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Speaker 1: as outgoing and unwary. Someone with a very adventurous spirit
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Speaker 1: who lacked some street smarts about the dangers of life.
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Speaker 1: Kind of thinking she's invincible at this point, but you know,
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Speaker 1: a lot of us do around that age. I know
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Speaker 1: I did. Very stupid. Very stupid as a late teenager.
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Speaker 1: Oh my goodness. And her stepfather, Chris, worried that Amanda's
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Speaker 1: trusting nature and naive outlook might be problematic when she
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Speaker 1: ventured out on her own. And during these formative years,
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Speaker 1: Amanda would develop a relationship that would shape her path.
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Speaker 1: Because in addition to soccer and theater, she had a
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Speaker 1: love for language and writing. And she studied German, Italian,
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Speaker 1: and creative writing. So while pursuing a degree in linguistics
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Speaker 1: at the University of Washington, she had dreams of traveling
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Speaker 1: and immersing herself into foreign languages. So the seed of
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Speaker 1: her Italy dream had been planted actually on a family
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Speaker 1: vacation she took there at the age of 15. And
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Speaker 1: it only grew in time. And by her late teens,
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Speaker 1: Amanda was determined to experience life abroad. So she would
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Speaker 1: work part-time jobs to fund a year of study in Italy.
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Speaker 1: And her family would support her goal, though Chris cautioned
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Speaker 1: that she might not be ready for such a big
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Speaker 1: adventure just yet. But Amanda's mind was completely set. And
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Speaker 1: she would go to Italy and immerse herself in a
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Speaker 1: new culture and carve out her own story. So by 2007,
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Speaker 1: Amanda Knox was 20 years old. And she was ready
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Speaker 1: to spread her wings beyond Seattle, and Italy called her name.
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Speaker 1: Because she had fell in love with the country and
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Speaker 1: culture when she was 15 and visited. Between the art
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Speaker 1: history and the language, the idea of Italy just captivated her.
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Speaker 1: So Amanda would arrange to spend an academic year in
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Speaker 1: Italy to refine her Italian and seek adventure. And when
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Speaker 1: choosing a destination, she skipped tourist heavy cities like Rome
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Speaker 1: or Florence, and she would end up picking Perugia, which
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Speaker 1: is a smaller university town. And Perugia had a significant
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Speaker 1: student population and just this authentic Italian charm, which was
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Speaker 1: exactly what Amanda was looking for in order to experience
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Speaker 1: the real Italy. Because she told her friends that she
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Speaker 1: wanted to be somewhere where she could really mingle with
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Speaker 1: the locals and not just other Americans. So Perugia, with
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Speaker 1: its medieval cobblestone alleyways and vibrant student scene, just seemed perfect.
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Speaker 1: And it was set against a lush hilltop backdrop, and
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Speaker 1: the city was known for its youthful energy. And thousands
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Speaker 1: of foreign students would flock there each year, and in
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Speaker 1: September of 2007, Amanda would become one of them. And
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Speaker 1: almost immediately, she was completely enchanted by the atmosphere in
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Speaker 1: the city. Because Perugia had century-old architecture and lively cafe culture,
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Speaker 1: and Amanda pulled her luggage over the stone streets, and
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Speaker 1: it just felt like stepping into a dream. And she
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Speaker 1: would even write her family about her excitement, saying, the
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Speaker 1: endless steps and street wind like a maze. And she
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Speaker 1: just had this feeling that adventure was just around every
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Speaker 1: corner there. So Amanda's arrival in Perugia just marked a
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Speaker 1: new chapter in her life. So she would enroll in
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Speaker 1: a university for foreigners, and then she would set about
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Speaker 1: finding work and housing. And she ended up moving into
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Speaker 1: a large, palestone cottage at Via della Pergola, sharing the
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Speaker 1: ground floor flat with other students. And her roommates would
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Speaker 1: be three other women. Two were Italian trainee lawyers in
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Speaker 1: their late 20s, and then there was Meredith. Kircher. So
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Speaker 1: Meredith Susanna Kara Kircher, affectionately known as Mez to all
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Speaker 1: of her friends, was born on December 28th, 1985 in
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Speaker 1: South Wark, South London, and raised in Colesden. And she
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Speaker 1: attended the Old Palace School in Croydon, where her interest
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Speaker 1: in the Italian language and culture first took root. And
6:46
Speaker 1: after participating in a school exchange program, she returned to
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Speaker 1: Italy at 15 to spend a summer with a host
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Speaker 1: family in the town of Sessa Arunca. So she went
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Speaker 1: to Italy just like Amanda did when she was 15.
6:57
Speaker 1: Also apologies if I'm saying stuff wrong. I'm looking up
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Speaker 1: the pronunciations, but there's a good chance I'm butchering this.
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Speaker 1: So I apologize to the Italians out there. And Meredith
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Speaker 1: would later enroll in the University of Leeds, studying European
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Speaker 1: politics and Italian. And she would work various jobs to
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Speaker 1: support herself, including a barmaid, a tour guide, and promotional work.
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Speaker 1: And she even briefly appeared in a 2004 music video
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Speaker 1: for Christian Leontio's song, Some Say. So ambitious and driven,
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Speaker 1: Meredith just hoped that one day she could work for
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Speaker 1: the European Union or pursue a career in journalism. And
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Speaker 1: in October of 2007, Meredith would move to Italy and
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Speaker 1: attend the University of Perugia, taking courses in modern history,
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Speaker 1: political theory, and cinema history. And those who knew her
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Speaker 1: described her as bright, compassionate, funny, and very well-liked among
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Speaker 1: her peers. So Meredith, Amanda, and the two other girls
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Speaker 1: would be flatmates in Perugia. And it was at this
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Speaker 1: point that Amanda was trying to find a job, and
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Speaker 1: she actually would find a job, and she would be
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Speaker 1: hired as a bartender. And it would be at a
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Speaker 1: local bar called Le Chic, and it would be owned
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Speaker 1: by Diopatric Lamamba. So juggling classes in Italian and shifts
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Speaker 1: at the bar and the thrill of a newfound freedom,
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Speaker 1: Amanda settled into her life in Perugia with enthusiasm. But
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Speaker 1: little did she know that these mundane details would soon
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Speaker 1: become central in a tragedy that grabbed global headlines. So
8:17
Speaker 1: in Perugia, Amanda eagerly embraced a social life that was
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Speaker 1: full of new friendships as it was a new experience.
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Speaker 1: And one of the first bonds that Amanda formed was
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Speaker 1: with her roommate, Meredith Kircher. So thrown together by circumstance,
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Speaker 1: the two women would actually get along really well. Because
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Speaker 1: Meredith was warm, witty, and very studious, and she already
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Speaker 1: had a very tight-knit group of British friends in Perugia,
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Speaker 1: but they wouldn't see Amanda much. Because Amanda was more
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Speaker 1: interested in mingling with the local Italians. But still, the
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Speaker 1: roommates made an effort to spend some time together. So
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Speaker 1: they would cook dinners in their shared kitchen, and they
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Speaker 1: even indulged their sweet tooth in Perugia's Euro chocolate festival,
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Speaker 1: wandering the stalls of the city's very famous chocolate fair
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Speaker 1: as autumn set in. And later on, after all the
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Speaker 1: stuff that happened, Amanda's mom would say that there was
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Speaker 1: never any bad blood between the girls that she knew of.
9:03
Speaker 1: saying that they got along great. And beyond her friendly
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Speaker 1: relationship with Meredith, Amanda built some social circles in Perugia,
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Speaker 1: because she was the type to strike up a conversation
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Speaker 1: with anyone. And she found herself hanging out with a
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Speaker 1: mix of people, because as we know, Amanda preferred the
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Speaker 1: company of Italians over sticking with English-speaking people. because she really,
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Speaker 1: really wanted to immerse herself and learn Italian. And her
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Speaker 1: free spirit of nature made her make friends really easily.
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Speaker 1: And one acquaintance was Rudy Guade, a young man originally
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Speaker 1: from the Ivory Coast who had been informally adopted in
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Speaker 1: Perugia's scene. And Amanda and Meredith would meet Rudy only
9:36
Speaker 1: a couple of times to the guys who lived in
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Speaker 1: the apartment below theirs. And in one casual gathering in mid-October,
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Speaker 1: Amanda and Meredith went downstairs to their neighbors and wound
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Speaker 1: up in a late night hang sesh with Rudy. But
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Speaker 1: Meredith would eventually leave for bed around 4.30 a.m. with
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Speaker 1: Amanda following behind her. And Rudy would crash on the
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Speaker 1: couch that night. And these encounters were ordinary in student
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Speaker 1: life in Perugia. And nothing about Rudy particularly strange. stood
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Speaker 1: out at the time, other than he seemed undisciplined, preferring
10:03
Speaker 1: to spend all of his time just playing video games.
10:05
Speaker 1: And he was even discovered by police in an abandoned
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Speaker 1: house with a knife at one point. But a far
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Speaker 1: more significant person in Amanda's life was Raphael Sollecito. So
10:15
Speaker 1: on October 25th, 2007, Amanda and Meredith went to a
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Speaker 1: classical music concert at Perugia's university. And there, amidst the crowd,
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Speaker 1: Amanda would strike up a conversation with someone, and that
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Speaker 1: someone was Raphael. And he was a shy 23-year-old Italian
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Speaker 1: who was studying computer science. And sparks began to fly immediately.
10:33
Speaker 1: And that very night, their connection would turn intimate. And soon,
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Speaker 1: Amanda and Rafael would be inseparable, spending almost all of
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Speaker 1: their free time together. And she began staying over at
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Speaker 1: Rafael's apartment nearly every night after they met. And Rafael
10:47
Speaker 1: had a small flat that was about a five minute
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Speaker 1: walk away from Villa de la Pergola, which is where
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Speaker 1: Amanda stayed with her roommates. And the relationship was just
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Speaker 1: a whirlwind, with intensity typical in young love. And later on,
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Speaker 1: Raphael would admit that Amanda was actually only his second
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Speaker 1: girlfriend ever, and that he was somewhat inexperienced with love
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Speaker 1: at this point. But he fell quickly for her. And Meredith,
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Speaker 1: her roommate, had actually started dating an Italian young man
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Speaker 1: who lived downstairs, Giacomo Salenzi. And Amanda's lifestyle in Italy
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Speaker 1: was that of any college student abroad. Equal parts responsibility
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Speaker 1: and fun. So by day, she went to class, studied
11:21
Speaker 1: Italian grammar, and earned pocket money serving drinks at Le Chic.
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Speaker 1: And by night, she socialized with a diverse set of friends.
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Speaker 1: And obviously her boyfriend. And she was known to be
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Speaker 1: very open with her sexuality and engaged in some casual
11:33
Speaker 1: s * * *. And there was some drinking and
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Speaker 1: cannabis use as well. And Amanda would even later note
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Speaker 1: that in her house, pot was just as common as pasta.
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Speaker 1: But it was all within the realm of what one
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Speaker 1: might expect in a college age youth flat. Amanda was
11:46
Speaker 1: by no means a very heavy drug user or wildly
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Speaker 1: promiscuous as later portrayed. She was just a free-spirited 20-year-old
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Speaker 1: exploring her freedom. And none of it really seemed ominous
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Speaker 1: or out of the ordinary for a study abroad student
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Speaker 1: in 2007. So in those early autumn weeks, Amanda was,
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Speaker 1: by all appearances, just simply living the dream. Studying in
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Speaker 1: a beautiful Italian town, falling in love, and forging new friendships.
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Speaker 1: But her ordinary rhythms of student life were about to
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Speaker 1: collide with an unimaginable horror on the night after Halloween.
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Speaker 1: November 1st, 2007 was All Saints Day, which was a
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Speaker 1: public holiday in Italy. And many of Perugia's students, including
12:24
Speaker 1: Amanda's Italian roommates and the young man that lived downstairs,
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Speaker 1: had left town for the long weekend. And the Via
12:29
Speaker 1: della Pergola house was quieter than usual, occupied that evening
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Speaker 1: only by Meredith and, briefly, Amanda. So during the daytime,
12:36
Speaker 1: Amanda and Meredith just went about their regular routines. to allegedly,
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Speaker 1: at 4 p.m., Meredith cross paths with Amanda and Raphael
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Speaker 1: in the kitchen of the cottage before heading out. And
12:46
Speaker 1: that evening, Meredith would actually join her friends for pizza
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Speaker 1: and ice cream. And she would leave the gathering at
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Speaker 1: about 9 p.m., yawning and saying that she was exhausted
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Speaker 1: and heading home to get some sleep. And Amanda, meanwhile,
12:57
Speaker 1: had originally planned to work a shift at Le Chic
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Speaker 1: that night. But early that evening, her boss, Patrick Lumumba,
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Speaker 1: sent her a text message saying just not to come in.
13:05
Speaker 1: So with an unexpected free night, Amanda opted to spend
13:08
Speaker 1: the night with Raphael, her boyfriend, at his apartment. And
13:10
Speaker 1: according to what both she and Raphael later told the police,
13:14
Speaker 1: they just spent a lazy night together in. They smoked
13:16
Speaker 1: a bit of marijuana, watched a French film called Emily,
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Speaker 1: and slept together. And this is the alibi Amanda Knox
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Speaker 1: would stand by. That she was at her boyfriend's flat,
13:25
Speaker 1: all night long, though it would be fiercely disputed by
13:28
Speaker 1: prosecutors later on. So what transpired back at the cottage
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Speaker 1: on Via della Pergola 7 during the late hours of
13:35
Speaker 1: November 1st remains a matter of conjecture and controversy. But
13:39
Speaker 1: what is tragically certain is that Meredith Kircher never made
13:43
Speaker 1: it out of her bedroom alive. So sometime after 9 p.m.
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Speaker 1: that Meredith would make it back to her house. And
13:49
Speaker 1: the house at this point should have been empty because
13:51
Speaker 1: Amanda was at Raphael's and her other roommates were out
13:53
Speaker 1: of town for the weekend. So at some point, Meredith
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Speaker 1: would come home and an assailant or assailants would attack Meredith.
14:00
Speaker 1: And in the darkness of Meredith's room, a violent struggle
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Speaker 1: would take place. And the rest of the world, including
14:06
Speaker 1: Amanda Knox, allegedly, would not learn of Meredith's fate until
14:09
Speaker 1: the following day. And this was a day that would
14:11
Speaker 1: reveal a very, very grisly scene. And it would turn
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Speaker 1: Amanda's life completely upside down. So for Amanda Knox, November 2nd,
14:21
Speaker 1: 2007 would begin like any other lazy morning. Amanda and
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Speaker 1: Raphael would wake up and they would make their way
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Speaker 1: back to Amanda's apartment around noon. And upon her arrival,
14:29
Speaker 1: she would find a very concerning situation. She would find
14:32
Speaker 1: that the door was open. And when she walked into
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Speaker 1: the bathroom that she shared with Meredith, Amanda would be
14:38
Speaker 1: startled to see drops of blood in the sink and
14:41
Speaker 1: on the faucet. And there was also a suspicious smudge
14:44
Speaker 1: of blood on the bath mat shaped somewhat like a foot.
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Speaker 1: So Amanda would later describe being puzzled, but not immediately
14:50
Speaker 1: panicked at this point. Because the blood spots were small
14:53
Speaker 1: enough that she wondered if perhaps someone had accidentally cut themselves,
14:57
Speaker 1: or maybe that it might have even been menstrual blood.
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Speaker 1: But a window in one of the other roommate's rooms
15:01
Speaker 1: was found broken with glass on the floor. And then
15:03
Speaker 1: she would notice that someone had also left feces in
15:06
Speaker 1: the toilet. But still, Amanda did not yet imagine that
15:08
Speaker 1: anything truly dire had happened. So obviously they would be
15:12
Speaker 1: looking for Meredith at this point because she's supposed to
15:14
Speaker 1: be in the apartment. So they would go to her door,
15:16
Speaker 1: but it was locked. So they would repeatedly knock on
15:19
Speaker 1: the door, but no one would answer. And they heard
15:21
Speaker 1: no sound coming from inside. So Amanda would try calling
15:24
Speaker 1: both of Meredith's phone shortly after noon, but she did
15:27
Speaker 1: not answer, which was highly unusual for Meredith. And that's
15:30
Speaker 1: what she would call one of her other roommates, Philomena,
15:33
Speaker 1: explaining the situation and expressing her worry for Meredith. And
15:36
Speaker 1: Philomena said she would return to the apartment immediately. And
15:39
Speaker 1: then it was at 1247 that Amanda would call her mother,
15:42
Speaker 1: who urged her to contact the police. And at 1251,
15:46
Speaker 1: Raphael contacted the police. And it was around that exact
15:49
Speaker 1: time that two telecommunications investigators had arrived. But it wasn't
15:52
Speaker 1: in response to Amanda's call, but it was because a
15:55
Speaker 1: neighbor had reported finding Meredith's phone tossed into the yard.
15:58
Speaker 1: The neighbor's yard, that is. So by seeming coincidence, the
16:01
Speaker 1: authorities were actually at the house now trying to return
16:03
Speaker 1: the lost phone, completely unaware that they were just about
16:06
Speaker 1: to stumble on a horrific crime scene. So Amanda and
16:09
Speaker 1: Raphael would greet the police and talk to them about
16:11
Speaker 1: the very worrying situation. And they, along with Philomena, requested
16:14
Speaker 1: that the police break down Meredith's door. So they would
16:17
Speaker 1: do so, and what they saw elicited screams and utter chaos.
16:21
Speaker 1: Because Meredith's lifeless body was on the floor, covered by
16:24
Speaker 1: a blanket, soaked in blood. A lake of blood is
16:27
Speaker 1: how one investigator would describe the scene. Because she had
16:30
Speaker 1: been stabbed multiple times. And a bloody necklace of shallow
16:34
Speaker 1: knife wounds encircled her neck. Cuts that seemed to suggest
16:38
Speaker 1: the attacker tried to force her into compliance. And finally,
16:41
Speaker 1: her throat was slashed so deep that a major artery
16:44
Speaker 1: was severed. And the coroner determined that Meredith died from
16:47
Speaker 1: catastrophic blood loss and asphyxiation, and that her death was
16:51
Speaker 1: not instantaneous, and that she was probably laying bleeding out
16:55
Speaker 1: for several minutes before she passed away. And evidence indicated
16:58
Speaker 1: signs of S.A. and or at least sexual activity before
17:02
Speaker 1: her death. It was just a horrifyingly cruel end for
17:05
Speaker 1: a young woman who just a few hours earlier had
17:08
Speaker 1: been hanging out and laughing with friends while eating pizza
17:10
Speaker 1: and ice cream. So in the aftermath of finding out
17:13
Speaker 1: Meredith had passed away, Amanda's behavior did not fit the
17:16
Speaker 1: mold of a distraught, hysterical roommate, at least not in
17:20
Speaker 1: the eyes of the Italian police or the public. So
17:23
Speaker 1: in the police station a short time after, as officers
17:25
Speaker 1: began taking statements from witnesses, Amanda's demeanor continued to raise eyebrows.
17:30
Speaker 1: And Chief Inspector Monica Napoleone, head of Perugia's murder squad,
17:35
Speaker 1: later testified that Amanda and Raphael, quote, appeared completely indifferent
17:39
Speaker 1: to everything while waiting at the station. And they would
17:42
Speaker 1: be seen sat, cuddling, whispering to each other, even making
17:46
Speaker 1: faces and writing notes to each other. And even at
17:48
Speaker 1: one point, a detective glanced over only to see Amanda
17:51
Speaker 1: casually perform a cartwheel and the splits right there in
17:56
Speaker 1: the hall. Tone deaf to say the least. And Napoleone
17:59
Speaker 1: would say, quote unquote, it was strange to everybody. Just
18:03
Speaker 1: describing this whole situation in complete disbelief. And the couple's
18:07
Speaker 1: conduct was so notably out of place that it immediately
18:10
Speaker 1: planted seeds of suspicion in the authorities' minds. And as
18:14
Speaker 1: the day went on, Amanda's responses kind of oscillated. And
18:17
Speaker 1: she would break down at one point, because she would
18:20
Speaker 1: collapse to the floor when police brought her back to
18:23
Speaker 1: the cottage that evening. But by then, the damage was
18:26
Speaker 1: already done in terms of perception. And the Italian media
18:29
Speaker 1: had already caught wind of the kissing couple at the
18:31
Speaker 1: crime scene, and the rumor of Amanda's odd behavior spread
18:34
Speaker 1: like wildfire. So within hours of Meredith's body being discovered,
18:38
Speaker 1: a narrative was already forming. And that narrative was that
18:41
Speaker 1: Amanda Knox was behaving in the way that was not
18:44
Speaker 1: normal for an innocent girl. And this narrative would soon
18:48
Speaker 1: explode into a full-blown character assassination in the press. But
18:53
Speaker 1: in the meantime, November 2nd and 3rd, Amanda was still
18:55
Speaker 1: technically just a witness. And she would spend the nights
18:58
Speaker 1: at Raphael's flat, now also as a potential suspect's home.
19:01
Speaker 1: And in a decision that would later harm haunt her.
19:05
Speaker 1: The very next day, Amanda and Raphael would go to
19:07
Speaker 1: a fancy clothing store and purchase lingerie. And she alleged
19:11
Speaker 1: that this purchase was because all of her items were
19:14
Speaker 1: locked in the house as the investigation was taking place.
19:17
Speaker 1: So she needed new underwear. And a CCTV camera would
19:20
Speaker 1: catch the couple in the store where they would tenderly
19:22
Speaker 1: embrace and Raphael would joke, we can have w *
19:25
Speaker 1: * ks tonight. It's just all so bad. It all
19:29
Speaker 1: looks so bad. And the shop owner was just stunned
19:32
Speaker 1: to see Amanda's face on the news later, saying, how
19:35
Speaker 1: could these two be buying thongs and laughing just a
19:38
Speaker 1: day after Meredith's murder? And he would mention the incident
19:41
Speaker 1: to the police who obtained the security tape, and they
19:44
Speaker 1: would give it to Giuliano Mignini, who was the prosecutor.
19:47
Speaker 1: And before long, that footage of Amanda and Raphael kissing
19:50
Speaker 1: and giggling over panties made its way to every TV
19:54
Speaker 1: screen in Italy. And the public's reaction was swift and merciless.
19:59
Speaker 1: So Amanda Knox was already guilty in the court of
20:02
Speaker 1: public opinion. Guilty not necessarily of actual murder, but just
20:06
Speaker 1: a shocking lack. of morals and just, you know, common
20:10
Speaker 1: sense and empathy. So these early perceptions, fair or not,
20:14
Speaker 1: just kind of set the stage for what was to
20:16
Speaker 1: come next. Because the police had an absolutely brutal murder
20:19
Speaker 1: on their hands, and now two young people who, in
20:22
Speaker 1: their eyes, were acting very, very strangely, given the circumstances.
20:27
Speaker 1: So in the days immediately following Meredith Kircher's murder, Italian
20:30
Speaker 1: authorities undertook a sprawling investigation and they would quickly hone
20:34
Speaker 1: in on Amanda and Raphael as prime suspects without any
20:38
Speaker 1: evidence at this point at all, just purely based on
20:41
Speaker 1: how they were acting at this point. But to the
20:43
Speaker 1: Perugia police, Several things didn't add up at this point
20:46
Speaker 1: because there was the break-in and the authorities at this
20:49
Speaker 1: point were saying it was probably staged because the broken
20:52
Speaker 1: window appeared suspiciously fake in their eyes and the inconsistencies
20:56
Speaker 1: they perceived in Amanda and Raphael's accounts on that morning.
21:00
Speaker 1: And most of all, the couple's bizarre calmness and scrutiny. Which,
21:04
Speaker 1: I mean, we're talking all circumstantial at this point and
21:08
Speaker 1: everybody Everyone reacts differently to when people die. And sometimes
21:13
Speaker 1: it's very off-putting. And sometimes that can mean that they're guilty,
21:17
Speaker 1: but sometimes it just means they're tone deaf and stupid
21:21
Speaker 1: and a bit just dumb and just not thinking clearly
21:25
Speaker 1: or just lack empathy enough. Completely. But at this point,
21:29
Speaker 1: everyone was like, these people absolutely did it. And it
21:34
Speaker 1: was very difficult to see otherwise, even though they don't
21:37
Speaker 1: have a lot to go off of at this point.
21:39
Speaker 1: So from November 2nd onward, Amanda was kept under close watch.
21:43
Speaker 1: And she was asked to come to the police station
21:45
Speaker 1: repeatedly to give witness statements. And as these sessions went on,
21:49
Speaker 1: their tone grew sharper. Because investigators were openly skeptical of
21:54
Speaker 1: the alibi Amanda and Raphael had provided. And Raphael, at
21:57
Speaker 1: one point, even wavered in his testimony, telling police that
22:01
Speaker 1: he wasn't sure if Amanda had actually been with him
22:04
Speaker 1: the whole time, which is suspicious. And such hints of
22:07
Speaker 1: doubt only intensified the pressure on Amanda. But a critical
22:10
Speaker 1: turning point would come on the night of November 5th, 2007,
22:13
Speaker 1: when police would call in Amanda and Raphael for another
22:16
Speaker 1: round of questioning. But this time, it was at police headquarters,
22:20
Speaker 1: and this time was far more aggressive. So over the
22:23
Speaker 1: course of the night and into the early morning of
22:25
Speaker 1: November 6th, Amanda was subjected to interrogation that lasted several hours,
22:30
Speaker 1: and mostly in Italian, and without a lawyer present. present.
22:35
Speaker 1: So just complete whatever you think, whatever you're thinking of
22:39
Speaker 1: Amanda right now or Raphael, not fair, not okay, no
22:44
Speaker 1: matter who this is. And she would actually request a
22:46
Speaker 1: lawyer during this interrogation, but they said it would make
22:49
Speaker 1: things a lot worse. So threatening the witness. Not good either.
22:54
Speaker 1: But what exactly transpired in the interrogation room is a
22:58
Speaker 1: matter of dispute to this day. And Amanda, who at
23:00
Speaker 1: this point was a 20-year-old foreigner far from home, later
23:03
Speaker 1: claimed that the police used classic heavy-handed tactics, which included
23:08
Speaker 1: isolating her, shouting rapid-fire questions in a different language sometimes even,
23:13
Speaker 1: and even slapped her on the back of the head
23:16
Speaker 1: when she didn't produce the answers that they wanted. What'd
23:19
Speaker 1: you get? No matter what you think of anybody right now,
23:21
Speaker 1: that is bad practice. Very bad practice. If true, that is,
23:26
Speaker 1: because we don't know for sure. But Chief Inspector Napoleone
23:30
Speaker 1: would vehemently deny any physical that took place during these
23:34
Speaker 1: investigations and just said, She was treated very well, absolutely
23:39
Speaker 1: no violence. But by Amanda's account, she was exhausted, confused,
23:43
Speaker 1: and very, very scared. And she felt berated, threatened, lied to,
23:47
Speaker 1: and slapped. Until reality itself felt blurred. But what's certain
23:52
Speaker 1: is that in the early morning hours of November 6th,
23:55
Speaker 1: Amanda buckled under the pressure and gave a wildly damning
23:59
Speaker 1: statement to the police. And in what she described later
24:02
Speaker 1: as induced coercion, Amanda would tell the interrogators this story.
24:07
Speaker 1: She would say that she was in the cottage when
24:09
Speaker 1: Meredith was killed. And specifically, she incriminated her own boss,
24:13
Speaker 1: Patrick Lumumba, claiming that Patrick was with Meredith in Meredith's
24:17
Speaker 1: bedroom that night. And Amanda said she herself covered her
24:22
Speaker 1: ears to drown out the screams as Patrick attacked Meredith.
24:26
Speaker 1: And this statement effectively placed Amanda at the crime scene
24:30
Speaker 1: as a witness and as an accomplice and was as
24:33
Speaker 1: close to confession as the police had been seeking. So
24:36
Speaker 1: in these statements Amanda had implicated Patrick Lumumba and herself
24:40
Speaker 1: by proximity, although notably she repeatedly claimed her innocence in
24:44
Speaker 1: the whole situation. So now we're in really mucky, muddy waters.
24:48
Speaker 1: So still, the implication was clear, because now she was
24:52
Speaker 1: a self-professed eyewitness to the murder. Not good. But Amanda
24:58
Speaker 1: would later recant this tale almost immediately, explaining that it
25:02
Speaker 1: had been completely coerced. But by then, the damage was
25:05
Speaker 1: already done. So on November 6, 2007, based on Amanda's
25:09
Speaker 1: confession and the investigation hunches that were developed, the police
25:13
Speaker 1: moved swiftly to make arrests. So in the early morning,
25:16
Speaker 1: Amanda Knox, Raphael and Patrick were all arrested and taken
25:21
Speaker 1: into custody. And the authorities announced to the media almost
25:23
Speaker 1: immediately that the case was now virtually solved. And in
25:26
Speaker 1: the initial theory, the motive was some kind of sexual violence.
25:31
Speaker 1: And police would tell reporters that they believed Meredith was
25:34
Speaker 1: murdered because she refused to participate in violent sexual activity
25:38
Speaker 1: orchestrated by Amanda, Raphael, and Patrick. And they would point
25:43
Speaker 1: to Amanda's breakdown and confession as evidence. And the tabloid
25:47
Speaker 1: press in Italy and Britain immediately ran with this narrative,
25:51
Speaker 1: just painting this trio as a sordid sex game cult
25:55
Speaker 1: gone wrong. When at this point, they really actually didn't
25:58
Speaker 1: know any of that. It was just kind of a
25:59
Speaker 1: made-up thing. And Amanda Knox's mugshot was just splashed on
26:03
Speaker 1: papers alongside shocking headlines. So overnight, she became an infamous,
26:08
Speaker 1: barbaric ringleader of a horrific crime. It was just a
26:12
Speaker 1: very sensational story, something that media would just eat the
26:15
Speaker 1: f * * * out of. Because it was an
26:17
Speaker 1: American femme fatale and her Italian lover and this African
26:21
Speaker 1: bar owner committing this sacrificial sex murder. And it would
26:24
Speaker 1: just spread like wildfire. However, the case police thought that
26:28
Speaker 1: they had would soon begin to unravel. Because for one,
26:32
Speaker 1: Patrick Lumumba had an ironclad alibi. Because on the night
26:37
Speaker 1: of November 1st, he was working at his bar, Le Chic,
26:41
Speaker 1: which was full. of customers and several witnesses that saw
26:45
Speaker 1: him there all night. And within two weeks, it was
26:48
Speaker 1: very clear that Patrick could not have been at the
26:50
Speaker 1: murder scene and he would vehemently deny any sort of involvement.
26:54
Speaker 1: And the mamba was fully exonerated and released when police
26:57
Speaker 1: confirmed this alibi and found zero evidence placing him at
27:01
Speaker 1: the crime scene. And Amanda's accusation of this innocent man,
27:05
Speaker 1: whether a panicked false memory or a deliberate lie, now
27:09
Speaker 1: formed the basis for a separate charge against her, which
27:13
Speaker 1: was criminal slander. Just digging that hole. Digging that hole
27:17
Speaker 1: for herself right now. But more importantly, the collapse of
27:19
Speaker 1: the case against LaMumba cast a really dark cloud over
27:23
Speaker 1: the police investigation in a whole. Because if Amanda's confession
27:26
Speaker 1: had pointed to the wrong man, how reliable were any
27:30
Speaker 1: of her statements? And under what circumstances had they been obtained?
27:34
Speaker 1: Now people were asking questions. And for Amanda, the aftermath
27:37
Speaker 1: of the interrogation was devastating because she found herself in
27:40
Speaker 1: a holding cell, realizing that she had implicated herself in
27:43
Speaker 1: a murder she insisted she didn't commit. And even after
27:46
Speaker 1: retracting her confession, it was too late and the authorities
27:50
Speaker 1: would keep pressing forward because they did believe that Amanda
27:53
Speaker 1: had told the truth during that interrogation. And now they
27:56
Speaker 1: would just kind of construct their own theory around it.
27:59
Speaker 1: And they would just kind of like shift to La
28:00
Speaker 1: Mamba out of that theory now that it was proven
28:03
Speaker 1: that he was not there. So soon a fourth suspect
28:06
Speaker 1: would emerge from forensic evidence. Yeah, we haven't even gotten evidence,
28:09
Speaker 1: like actual evidence yet. Just a really weird confession. And
28:13
Speaker 1: the evidence would bring forth 20-year-old Rudy, the guy that
28:16
Speaker 1: was acquaintances with Amanda and Meredith, whose bloody fingerprints and
28:21
Speaker 1: DNA were identified on Meredith's belongings. So on November 20th, 2007,
28:26
Speaker 1: Rudy would be arrested in Germany, where he had fled
28:29
Speaker 1: and he was extradited to Italy. And with Rudy in
28:32
Speaker 1: the picture now, prosecutors altered the narrative, which was that
28:35
Speaker 1: now they contended that Amanda, Raphael, and Rudy together had
28:40
Speaker 1: assaulted Meredith, in a drug-fueled escalation of some sexual game.
28:45
Speaker 1: And it was an extreme theory. But lead prosecutor Giuliano
28:49
Speaker 1: would believe it. And he would even toy with the
28:52
Speaker 1: outlandish ideas of satanic rituals and orgies, a motive he
28:57
Speaker 1: invoked in past cases.
28:59
Speaker 2: Just.
29:00
Speaker 1: made up stuff that actually had nothing to do with
29:02
Speaker 1: the case even a little bit. And Giuliano, the lead prosecutor,
29:05
Speaker 1: would see Amanda as a central figure. And that was
29:08
Speaker 1: that Amanda was the instigator who just hated her roommate
29:12
Speaker 1: and that led these men to attack her. And over
29:15
Speaker 1: the next year, Amanda would sit in prison awaiting trial.
29:18
Speaker 1: And this is when serious questions about the entire investigation
29:22
Speaker 1: would begin to surface. Because it had become apparent at
29:24
Speaker 1: this point that Amanda's interrogation had not been recorded. Again,
29:28
Speaker 1: Bad practice. And no lawyer was present. Bad practice. And
29:33
Speaker 1: she was a very scared foreign student who had been
29:36
Speaker 1: awake all night. Just the perfect conditions for a false confession, allegedly.
29:41
Speaker 1: And her claim of being slapped by police, whether true
29:45
Speaker 1: or not, underscored the coercive atmosphere. One writer would note that, quote,'
29:50
Speaker 1: Knox spent four years in prison largely for a failure
29:53
Speaker 1: to grieve in the way,' people expected due to that
29:57
Speaker 1: core statement rather than any hard evidence. But in Italy,
30:01
Speaker 1: investigation just forged on, just absolutely convinced that Amanda and
30:06
Speaker 1: Raphael were guilty alongside Rudy. And the stage was just
30:10
Speaker 1: set for a very long and strenuous legal battle. one
30:13
Speaker 1: that would expose very deep flaws in the case against Amanda.
30:17
Speaker 1: But not before it nearly cost her decades of freedom.
30:20
Speaker 1: So as Amanda Knox's case proceeded to trial, it became
30:23
Speaker 1: increasingly clear that the prosecution's narrative was built on very
30:27
Speaker 1: shaky ground, because observers and eventually Italian judges identified numerous
30:32
Speaker 1: problems within the case, from forensic blunders to blatant character
30:36
Speaker 1: assassination of Amanda in the media and the courtroom. And
30:40
Speaker 1: then there was the forensic flaws, which was the physical
30:43
Speaker 1: evidence used to implicate Amanda and Raphael turned out to
30:46
Speaker 1: be alarmingly scant and deeply flawed. Because despite the crime
30:50
Speaker 1: scene being extraordinarily bloody, investigators failed to find any of
30:55
Speaker 1: Amanda's DNA in Meredith's bedroom, where we know the murder happened.
30:59
Speaker 1: And this is something that the 2015 Supreme Court of
31:02
Speaker 1: cassation ruling would underscore. Saying that there was quote, complete
31:07
Speaker 1: lack of biological traces connecting Knox to the crime. Instead,
31:11
Speaker 1: the DNA evidence pointed directly and overwhelmingly toward Rudy because
31:16
Speaker 1: his DNA was found on and inside Meredith's body and
31:21
Speaker 1: in multiple bloodstains inside of the room. So how then
31:24
Speaker 1: do you tie Amanda to the murder? And that was
31:27
Speaker 1: the big question. But the prosecution would hang its hat
31:30
Speaker 1: on two key pieces of forensic evidence. And that was
31:33
Speaker 1: a kitchen knife and a bra clasp. Because the knife
31:37
Speaker 1: retrieved from Raphael's kitchen was claimed to be the murder weapon.
31:42
Speaker 1: Because on its blade, forensic analyst Dr. Patrizia Stefanoni reported
31:47
Speaker 1: finding a minute trace of DNA that appeared to match Meredith's.
31:52
Speaker 1: And on its handle, DNA matching Amanda Knox. And this
31:57
Speaker 1: sounded damning until it was scrutinized in detail. Because in 2011,
32:02
Speaker 1: independent experts from Rome's Sapienza University reexamined the knife evidence
32:07
Speaker 1: and demolished its credibility. Because they found that traces of
32:11
Speaker 1: Meredith's DNA on the blade was so low in quantity
32:16
Speaker 1: that it was impossible to obtain a reliable profile at all.
32:19
Speaker 1: In fact, it was likely contamination, which wasn't a clear
32:23
Speaker 1: signal at all. And they claimed that Stefanoni had not
32:26
Speaker 1: followed standard international DNA protocols and actually made errors in
32:30
Speaker 1: analysis and did not properly back up the evidence that
32:33
Speaker 1: she ended up giving in the courtroom. And even the
32:35
Speaker 1: timing of it was very, very suspect because police claimed
32:39
Speaker 1: this large kitchen knife produced the wounds on Meredith. But later,
32:42
Speaker 1: analysis showed that the knife's dimensions didn't match some of
32:46
Speaker 1: the biggest injuries at all. And the second piece was
32:49
Speaker 1: the bra clasp. And this was a metal hook from
32:52
Speaker 1: the back of Meredith's bra that had been cut off
32:54
Speaker 1: during the attack. And it was collected from the crime
32:56
Speaker 1: scene 46 days after the murder. having been overlooked initially
33:00
Speaker 1: and left on the floor at the time. But when
33:02
Speaker 1: finally tested, the clasps showed a mixture of DNA, including
33:05
Speaker 1: a profile attributed to Raphael. And prosecutors would argue that
33:09
Speaker 1: Raphael was in Meredith's room and participated in this assault.
33:13
Speaker 1: But here too, independent experts uncovered major issues, because the
33:17
Speaker 1: DNA on it was mixed and very complex. Because given
33:20
Speaker 1: the long delay and very sloppy handling, the experts testify
33:24
Speaker 1: that the bra clasp was likely contaminated and could not
33:27
Speaker 1: be considered as reliable evidence. In fact, every single one
33:32
Speaker 1: of the prosecution's forensic claims fell under severe doubt, when
33:36
Speaker 1: examined more closely. And the independent review just destroyed Stefanoni's work,
33:40
Speaker 1: calling the knife and bra clasp DNA evidence just completely
33:44
Speaker 1: worthless in providing anything. And in the end, the crime
33:47
Speaker 1: scene itself never yielded any reliable footprints, fingerprints, or DNA
33:51
Speaker 1: from Amanda or Raphael, whereas Rudy's presence was indisputable. And
33:56
Speaker 1: the Italian Supreme Court would later note how illogical it
33:59
Speaker 1: was to propose that Amanda and Raphael somehow selectively cleaned
34:03
Speaker 1: the crime scene of their own traces while leaving Rudy's everywhere.
34:08
Speaker 1: A scenario that the judges would call, quote, impossible. So
34:11
Speaker 1: in short, the forensic case against Amanda Knox and Raphael
34:15
Speaker 1: was deeply and irreparably flawed. So with hard evidence completely lacking,
34:20
Speaker 1: the prosecution and the media leaned heavily on attacking Amanda
34:24
Speaker 1: Knox's character, because that's what they had. Turning the trial
34:27
Speaker 1: at times into a spectacle of personal slurs and moral judgment.
34:32
Speaker 1: So from the outset, Amanda became a victim of sensationalist portrayal,
34:36
Speaker 1: and the tabloids would dub her Foxy Noxy, the childhood
34:40
Speaker 1: nickname that we were talking about before, if you remember,
34:42
Speaker 1: and would just run with the tales of her alleged promiscuity,
34:46
Speaker 1: drug use, and occult practices. And the media seized on
34:50
Speaker 1: every salacious detail. Between a vibrator being found in her belongings,
34:55
Speaker 1: to her every single gesture, from kissing Raphael to her
35:00
Speaker 1: courtroom attire. And Italian prosecutors and lawyers actively fed on
35:04
Speaker 1: this narrative. And in the courtroom, prosecutor Giuliano described Amanda
35:09
Speaker 1: as a s * * t. and drug-crazed instigator. And
35:12
Speaker 1: during one hearing, a lawyer for Patrick Lumumba, who Amanda
35:15
Speaker 1: had wrongly accused, launched into a scathing denunciation of Knox,
35:20
Speaker 1: calling her a diabolical, satanic, demonic she-devil in front of
35:25
Speaker 1: the jury. I mean, yes. That's a bit rough. Again,
35:30
Speaker 1: I don't know anything, but they're really leaning into it,
35:33
Speaker 1: needless to say. And these words were so extreme that
35:36
Speaker 1: they would make international headlines. It was a character assassination
35:39
Speaker 1: in the most literal sense, painting Amanda as a cartoonish villain.
35:44
Speaker 1: And in essence, much of the case against Amanda just
35:46
Speaker 1: became about Amanda. Between her personality, her behavior, her perceived
35:51
Speaker 1: moral character, rather than actual concrete facts or any evidence
35:55
Speaker 1: at all. And the blurring of the lines between evidence
35:58
Speaker 1: and character was just wildly condemned. And Amanda's father, Kurt Knox,
36:02
Speaker 1: called the media onslaught and the prosecuting tactics as, quote,
36:06
Speaker 1: character assassination. And the result was that by the time
36:09
Speaker 1: Amanda's trial started, she faced not only legal charges, but
36:13
Speaker 1: a public image so poisoned that many assumed her guilt
36:16
Speaker 1: before it even started. And just because of what they
36:19
Speaker 1: were told in the tabloids. So together, the faulty forensics
36:22
Speaker 1: and the character attacks nearly ensured a wrongful conviction. Allegedly.
36:27
Speaker 1: So the first trial was held in Perugia in 2009
36:30
Speaker 1: and ended in a resounding defeat for Amanda and her co-defendant, Raphael.
36:35
Speaker 1: So after nearly a year of hearings on December 5th, 2009,
36:39
Speaker 1: the jury found both of them guilty of Meredith Kircher's murder.
36:43
Speaker 1: And in addition to the murder conviction, Amanda was also
36:46
Speaker 1: found guilty of slander for falsely implicating Patrick Lumumba. And
36:50
Speaker 1: the court would sentence Amanda to 26 years in prison
36:53
Speaker 1: and Raphael to 25. So in the verdict, the judges
36:56
Speaker 1: accepted the prosecution's sensational theory that Amanda, Raphael, and Rudy,
37:01
Speaker 1: who by then had been separately trialed because there was
37:04
Speaker 1: so much forensic evidence, had jointly assaulted Meredith in a
37:07
Speaker 1: drug-fueled sexual assault that spiraled into murder. And the verdict
37:12
Speaker 1: would just land like a thunderbolt amid a blaze of
37:15
Speaker 1: media coverage. And as the judge read the sentence, Amanda
37:17
Speaker 1: Knox broke down sobbing in the courtroom and her family
37:21
Speaker 1: having flown to Italy for the verdict reacted with tears
37:24
Speaker 1: and just outrage because her family condemned the decision as
37:29
Speaker 1: a failure of Italian judicial system. And it's worth noting
37:32
Speaker 1: that Rudy, tried separately in a fast-track procedure, had been
37:35
Speaker 1: convicted earlier and given a 30-year sentence, later reduced on
37:39
Speaker 1: appeal to 16 years, for his role in the murder.
37:42
Speaker 1: But by the end of 2009, the official line in
37:45
Speaker 1: Italy was that all three assailants, Amanda, Raphael, and Rudy,
37:49
Speaker 1: were convicted and put behind bars. And in Perugia, and
37:52
Speaker 1: in much of the British press, there was satisfaction that
37:55
Speaker 1: justice for Meredith had been achieved. Yet doubts lingered internationally,
38:00
Speaker 1: because many in the American media and some Italian observers
38:04
Speaker 1: questioned the verdict, pointing to the lack of hard evidence
38:07
Speaker 1: and the apparent biases. Because Amanda Knox and Raphael steadfastly
38:12
Speaker 1: maintained their innocence and immediately appealed the conviction, as is
38:16
Speaker 1: their right in the Italian system. And the next chapter
38:18
Speaker 1: would come in 2011 with the appeal trials. And in Italy,
38:22
Speaker 1: an appeal is not just a review, but it's essentially
38:25
Speaker 1: a second trial where new evidence can be introduced. And
38:28
Speaker 1: Amanda's appeal was heard in Perugia in a new trial.
38:32
Speaker 1: And throughout 2011, Amanda's team methodically attacked the weaknesses in
38:36
Speaker 1: the case. And the appealant court also allowed more discussion
38:40
Speaker 1: of how the initial investigation might have gone wrong because
38:43
Speaker 1: of the media pressure that swirled the case. And then finally,
38:46
Speaker 1: on October 3rd, 2011, the appeal court delivered a stunning ruling.
38:51
Speaker 1: Amanda and Raphael's convictions of murder were overturned. I'm really
38:55
Speaker 1: overwhelmed right now. So after four years in prison, Amanda
39:00
Speaker 1: was declared not guilty of the murder of Meredith Kircher
39:03
Speaker 1: due to the lack of evidence. and she would be
39:05
Speaker 1: immediately released from custody. So Amanda would be quickly ushered out,
39:09
Speaker 1: and within a day, she was on a plane back
39:11
Speaker 1: home to Seattle. And in a tearful statement in the
39:14
Speaker 1: Seattle airport, a dazed Amanda thanked those who believed in
39:17
Speaker 1: her and supported her family, saying she was overwhelmed. My
39:21
Speaker 1: family is the most important thing to me right now.
39:27
Speaker 1: They're reminding me to speak in English.
39:28
Speaker 2: Because I'm having problems with that.
39:33
Speaker 1: I'm really overwhelmed right now.
39:35
Speaker 2: I was looking down from the airplane and it seemed
39:39
Speaker 2: like everything wasn't real.
39:40
Speaker 1: And for Amanda's family and supporters, it was a moment
39:43
Speaker 1: of great joy, just the end of a nightmare. However,
39:46
Speaker 1: the appeal at court did uphold one aspect, and that
39:49
Speaker 1: was that the slander conviction of accusing Patrick Lumumba would
39:53
Speaker 1: remain in place. And they would give a three-year sentence,
39:55
Speaker 1: but Amanda had already served four by then, so she
39:58
Speaker 1: was done. But still, by late 2011, Amanda Knox and
40:02
Speaker 1: Raphael were effectively free and exonerated in the eyes of
40:05
Speaker 1: the court. Yet the saga was not over. Because in
40:09
Speaker 1: an unexpected twist that many outside Italy found hard to comprehend,
40:14
Speaker 1: the case went to the Italian Supreme Court and came
40:17
Speaker 1: back again. So in March of 2013, Italy's highest court
40:21
Speaker 1: reviewed the prosecution's appeal of the acquittal. And stunning Amanda
40:25
Speaker 1: and her supporters, the Court of Cassation overturned the 2011
40:29
Speaker 1: acquittal and ordered a new appellate trial. And this meant
40:34
Speaker 1: that Amanda, currently safe in the US, and Raphael, who
40:37
Speaker 1: was still in Italy, were once again defendants facing murder charges.
40:42
Speaker 1: And the retrial would take place in Florence in 2013
40:44
Speaker 1: to 2014. And Amanda, knowing that the U.S. would likely
40:48
Speaker 1: not extradite her if she was reconvicted, chose to not
40:51
Speaker 1: return to Italy for the proceedings. And she would remain
40:54
Speaker 1: in Seattle, effectively being tried in absent. And Raphael, however,
40:58
Speaker 1: would appear in court, which would have been, I imagine,
41:01
Speaker 1: very agonizing without Amanda by his side. And in January
41:05
Speaker 1: of 2014, the Florence court would deliver its decision. And
41:08
Speaker 1: they would actually reinstate the guilty verdicts, reconvicting Amanda and
41:13
Speaker 1: Raphael of Meredith's murder. was an insane, insane rollercoaster. And
41:20
Speaker 1: in the next iteration, they even increased Amanda's sentence to
41:23
Speaker 1: 28 and a half years, factoring in the slander charge,
41:26
Speaker 1: while Raphael's was confirmed around 25 years. And the Florence
41:30
Speaker 1: judges just essentially doubled down on the original theory, apparently
41:33
Speaker 1: unmoved by the doubts that were raised earlier. It was
41:35
Speaker 1: as if this seesaw of Italian justice had swung back hard.
41:39
Speaker 1: And Amanda, receiving this news from across the ocean, said
41:42
Speaker 1: she was frightened and saddened, but, quote, will never go
41:46
Speaker 1: willingly back to Italy to serve such a sentence. And Raphael,
41:50
Speaker 1: who had surrendered his passport, faced the real prospect of
41:53
Speaker 1: prison again. But they would once again appeal. And then finally,
41:56
Speaker 1: in March of 2015, the case would reach its definite conclusion.
42:01
Speaker 1: And the Italian Supreme Court took up Amanda and Raphael's
42:04
Speaker 1: final appeal of the Florence conviction. And on March 27th, 2015,
42:09
Speaker 1: in a highly anticipated ruling, the Supreme Court annulled the
42:12
Speaker 1: convictions once and for all. definitively acquitting amanda knox and
42:17
Speaker 1: raphael of the murder and this was the legal end
42:20
Speaker 1: of it under the italian law a supreme court acquittal
42:22
Speaker 1: is final and cannot be retried and amanda who was
42:25
Speaker 1: 27 by then was full of joy and she would
42:28
Speaker 1: say that i'm grateful to have my life back so
42:31
Speaker 1: after seven and a half years two convictions two acquittals
42:34
Speaker 1: and one retrial amanda knox was finally irrevocably free And
42:38
Speaker 1: the Supreme Court's full reasoning was released a few months later.
42:41
Speaker 1: And it amounted to a very harsh rebuke of the
42:44
Speaker 1: prosecution's case. And the high court cited, quote, stunning flaws
42:48
Speaker 1: that had led to wrongful accusations. And the justices noted that, quote,
42:53
Speaker 1: lack of any biological trace of Amanda or Raphael at
42:57
Speaker 1: the crime scene and criticized lower courts for buying into a, quote,
43:00
Speaker 1: theory of complicity without evidence suggesting motives like Amanda's supposed
43:05
Speaker 1: resentment of Meredith that were never proven. And they flatly
43:08
Speaker 1: rejected the idea entirely that the scene had been selectively
43:12
Speaker 1: clean of Amanda Knox's traces as illogical and literally impossible.
43:17
Speaker 1: And the Supreme Court acknowledged that media sensationalism and pressure
43:21
Speaker 1: had led to a, quote, Which was a situation that
43:30
Speaker 1: certainly did no favors for a fair investigation. And in
43:33
Speaker 1: the end, the court concluded that aside from Rudy, whose
43:36
Speaker 1: guilt was unquestioned, there was no reliable evidence that Amanda
43:40
Speaker 1: or Raphael had participated in the crime at all. And
43:42
Speaker 1: the only crime that Amanda remained convicted of was the
43:45
Speaker 1: slander of Patrick Lumumba. but she had already served four
43:48
Speaker 1: years of time in an Italian prison. So the final
43:50
Speaker 1: exoneration was just a moment of immense relief and validation
43:54
Speaker 1: of Amanda and her family. And Amanda would say, quote,
43:57
Speaker 1: Meredith was my friend. She deserved so much in this life.
44:01
Speaker 1: And in saying that, she was really trying to return
44:03
Speaker 1: focus to the victim of whose life was actually taken
44:07
Speaker 1: during this crime. Because I also can't imagine how Meredith's
44:09
Speaker 1: family's feeling during all of this. Like everything's, the attention
44:12
Speaker 1: is just, on Amanda, and I imagine they just want
44:14
Speaker 1: justice done. But also, their daughter, whose life was lost,
44:19
Speaker 1: is now completely overshadowed by Amanda. But it's just a
44:23
Speaker 1: case in which sensationalism and the judicial system clashed, and
44:28
Speaker 1: the victim was kind of overshadowed. So I just want
44:31
Speaker 1: to put my heart out there to Meredith's family and
44:34
Speaker 1: know that she is the real victim in this case.
44:36
Speaker 1: But the long legal saga had concluded, but there were repercussions.
44:41
Speaker 1: Because when Amanda Knox stepped off the plane onto Seattle
44:44
Speaker 1: soil in October of 2011, she was a 24-year-old who
44:47
Speaker 1: had spent the past four years behind bars in a
44:50
Speaker 1: foreign country and just thrust into a spotlight she never wanted.
44:54
Speaker 1: And her priority was just to simply reclaim a semblance
44:57
Speaker 1: of normal life. And once she kind of got reused
45:00
Speaker 1: to being home again, she re-enrolled in the University of
45:03
Speaker 1: Washington to finish her bachelor's degree. She also began to
45:06
Speaker 1: explore her voice through the writing process of everything that
45:09
Speaker 1: she had been through. And in 2013, she would even
45:12
Speaker 1: go on to publish a memoir, Waiting to be Heard,
45:15
Speaker 1: which became a New York bestseller. And the book, for
45:17
Speaker 1: which she reportedly received $ 4 million advance for, detailed the
45:21
Speaker 1: version of events and the ordeal of prison. But much
45:24
Speaker 1: of the proceeds just went towards paying off the massive
45:27
Speaker 1: legal debts her family had accumulated over those years. So
45:30
Speaker 1: for the first time, Amanda was able to publicly tell
45:32
Speaker 1: her story in her own words. And the release was
45:34
Speaker 1: accompanied by a very high-profile interview on ABC with Diane Sawyer,
45:38
Speaker 1: during which Amanda, composed yet emotional, reiterated her innocence and
45:42
Speaker 1: described how... quote unquote surreal the whole saga had been.
45:46
Speaker 2: I was in the courtroom when they were calling me
45:49
Speaker 2: a devil. It's one thing to be called certain things
45:51
Speaker 2: in the media and then it's another thing to be
45:53
Speaker 2: sitting in a courtroom fighting for your life while people
45:57
Speaker 2: are calling you a devil.
45:59
Speaker 1: And she would also be interviewed by Good Morning America.
46:02
Speaker 1: And as the years went on, Amanda carved out a
46:04
Speaker 1: new identity, transforming from a tabloid figure into an advocate
46:08
Speaker 1: and a writer. And she began to work as a
46:10
Speaker 1: freelance journalist. And she also became increasingly involved in the
46:13
Speaker 1: Innocence Project movement and other advocacy groups for wrongfully convicted people. Notably,
46:18
Speaker 1: in June of 2019, Amanda returned to Italy for the
46:22
Speaker 1: first time. And that was because she was invited to
46:24
Speaker 1: speak at the Criminal Justice Festival in in Modena for
46:27
Speaker 1: Italy's Innocence Project. And in 2016, Netflix would release a
46:31
Speaker 1: well-received documentary titled Amanda Knox, which featured candid interviews with Amanda, Raphael,
46:37
Speaker 1: and other people from the case. And the film offered
46:39
Speaker 1: a more nuanced view of the case and examined how
46:41
Speaker 1: media narratives can diverge from reality. And the opening line
46:45
Speaker 1: of the documentary famously has Amanda looking into the camera
46:48
Speaker 1: and saying, quote, either I'm a psychopath in sheep's clothing,
46:51
Speaker 1: or I... And it challenged viewers to question the caricature
46:56
Speaker 1: that had been built around her. And in 2017, she
46:59
Speaker 1: would take on a role in a TV series called
47:01
Speaker 1: The Scarlet Letter Reports. And eventually she would find love
47:05
Speaker 1: again and she would become engaged to her actual childhood friend.
47:08
Speaker 1: But the engagement would end amicably. And then a couple
47:10
Speaker 1: of years later, she would meet Christian Robinson, who was
47:13
Speaker 1: an author. And in 2018, Amanda and Chris would quietly elope.
47:17
Speaker 1: And in recent years, Amanda and Chris have welcomed two
47:20
Speaker 1: children into the world with a daughter named Eureka, born
47:23
Speaker 1: in 2021, and a son named Echo, born in 2023.
47:26
Speaker 1: And motherhood has apparently been a very joyful chapter for Amanda.
47:31
Speaker 1: And she often shares on social media glimpses of her
47:33
Speaker 1: family life. So she's built a career as a writer, podcaster,
47:37
Speaker 1: and public speaker, and has, by and large, succeeded in
47:40
Speaker 1: rebuilding herself beyond the tabloid's headlines. And while for some
47:43
Speaker 1: the name Amanda Knox will forever be tied to a
47:47
Speaker 1: notorious murder case, those who follow her work today see
47:50
Speaker 1: a person who has fought to reclaim her narrative and
47:53
Speaker 1: to help others in the process. And through it all,
47:55
Speaker 1: she expresses her gratitude that she is alive and able
47:59
Speaker 1: to make a difference. And while Italy's justice system initially
48:02
Speaker 1: stumbled in Amanda's case, it did not emerge unchanged. And
48:05
Speaker 1: the intense scrutiny spurred some reflections of reform within Italy.
48:09
Speaker 1: One concrete reform regarding police interrogations, partially in response to
48:13
Speaker 1: Amanda's case. Italian authorities introduced measures to record suspects' interrogations
48:18
Speaker 1: on video. In fact, interrogations must be fully documented through
48:22
Speaker 1: audio and audio-visual recording now. But the implementation of this
48:25
Speaker 1: requirement varies. Furthermore, the Knox ordeal prompted Italian police and
48:29
Speaker 1: prosecutors to reconsider media relations. And this case has also
48:33
Speaker 1: indirectly bolstered calls for international cooperation and standards in forensic science.
48:38
Speaker 1: It was basically just a giant wake-up call for Italy.
48:41
Speaker 1: But there are some people that still believe she and
48:44
Speaker 1: Raphael are guilty, even though they were acquitted. And that's
48:47
Speaker 1: not up for me to decide. You can decide whatever
48:50
Speaker 1: you want. I'm just giving you the facts of the case, alright? But,
48:53
Speaker 1: at the end of the day, Meredith lost her life,
48:55
Speaker 1: and again, my heart goes out to that family. And
48:58
Speaker 1: Amanda has made the most of her life after being acquitted, so...
49:02
Speaker 1: I wish all the best. And that is the end
49:04
Speaker 1: of the video. If you want to give me other
49:06
Speaker 1: cases to deep dive, let me know down below. I
49:09
Speaker 1: always read your comments. And until next time, please be
49:13
Speaker 1: safe and I will see you beautiful face in the
49:15
Speaker 1: next video. All right, bye.