Trial of the Century: The Story of Amanda Knox

Guilty of the Murder of Meredith Kercher

Photo by Oli Scarff/Getty Images

Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito were convicted of the murder of Meredith Kercher on December 5, 2009. 22-year-old Knox was sentenced to 26 years in prison for faking a break-in, sexual violence, and murder. While Italians believed that it was a clean cut case of a wayward sexual predator preying on an innocent girl, Americans believed it was a great miscarriage of justice.

Lawyers in the U.S. were deeply concerned at the pre-trial publicity, believing that jurors would’ve had a preconception of Knox before they’d heard the case. Journalist Nina Burleigh, who had spent months in Perugia following the case, said that the conviction wasn’t based on solid proof but on “Anti-Americanism.” While Italians thought it was over, it was just the beginning.