Amanda Knox Update: Will Convicted Killer Be Exonerated?
Will Amanda Knox be exonerated, or is she doomed to remain a convicted killer? A petition is circulating by supporters of the Washington woman in an apparent last ditch effort to clear her name, according to a report on The Christian Post. The petition reportedly originated via Ground Report, which has long been a pro-Knox platform, so it’s hard to determine with any certainty if it will actually make an impact on whether or not the woman is extradited after March of the incoming year.
It’s been over seven years since Meredith Kercher was found slain in the home she shared with Amanda and a handful of other coeds. The British exchange student had been brutally slashed in a crime that Italian prosecutors have always believed to be committed by multiple people — three, to be precise. Rudy Guede, Raffaele Sollecito and Amanda Knox were all ultimately convicted on a mountain of evidence. Some of that evidence was ignored, however, by the judge that later granted Knox the appeal that allowed her to come back to the United States — where she has publicly declared she will remain, even if it means she’d be a fugitive of the law.
The division over this case is amplified by the lack of non-biased media coverage. Many Americans believe that there is absolutely no evidence against the convicted murderess, but that sentiment isn’t matched across the pond, where media coverage has acknowledged some of the numerous points of evidence that attributed to Knox’s convictions. HuffPost blogger Selene Nelson reported in September that the difference in media coverage is due to the PR firm hired by Amanda’s family to help mend her public image. Selene wrote that Knox and her PR team are to blame for Americans believing the myth that Rudy Guede (their co-defendant) was a homeless drug dealer. Even mainstream media sources have repeated the myths, referring to Guede as a drifter and career criminal from the Ivory Coast. In fact, Guede had an apartment near Sollecito’s and had lived in the area most of his life.
KPopStarz reports that famous rich guy Richard Branson has recently come under fire for tweeting what some believe to be support for Amanda. His fellow Brits have been taking him to task on Twitter over his ambiguous comments about her deserving a fair trial — when many believe she has received at least two fair trials that have both ended in her conviction. However, many people believe she’s the victim of a medieval justice system. Meanwhile, Meredith Kercher has been lost as the actual murder victim in all of the drama surrounding Amanda’s court battles.
Regardless of whether or not this new petition has any success, a decision on Amanda Knox’s freedom will be made as early as March 2015 — approximately three months from now. This may be the Seattle woman’s final chance at redeeming herself as an innocent woman who has been wrongly accused, or it may be the deciding moment that ends in her extradition back to prison, where she could spend the next 30 years of her life.
[Photo credit: Global Post]
