‘Foxy Knoxy’ Back in Italian Court To Defend Herself From Slander Charges
‘I hope to clear my name once and for all of the false charges against me,’ Amanda Knox says.
Amanda Knox, aka “Foxy Knoxy” to the British tabloids, will be back in an Italian court for the first time in more than 12 years in an effort to acquit herself of the last charge against her after she was convicted, imprisoned, and ultimately acquitted of murdering her British roommate in November of 2007 — a slander conviction for pinning it on the wrong man.
On Wednesday, Ms. Knox, will appear as a defendant at Florence’s appeals court in a civil case surrounding her accusation that her former boss, Congolese bar owner Patrick Lumumba, murdered her roommate, 21-year-old Meredith Kercher, in the apartment they shared at the Italian town of Perugia. Mr. Lumumba was subsequently arrested and spent two weeks in jail before a witness provided him with an alibi.
The slander charge against Ms. Knox, now 36, has stood through five court rulings that ultimately cleared her and her then-boyfriend, Rafaelle Sollecito, of murder in 2011, after she spent years in an Italian prison. Italy’s Cassation Court ruled in 2015 that another man, a drifter named Rudy Guede, whose DNA was at the scene, committed the crime.
Last November, a European Court of Human Rights determined that Ms. Knox’s rights had been violated when she accused Mr. Lumumba during police questioning, which took place without legal assistance or an interpreter. The court demanded a retrial after Ms. Knox appealed for the dropping of the slander conviction. A verdict in the case is expected on Wednesday.
“On June 5th, I will walk into the very same courtroom where I was reconvicted of a crime I didn’t commit, this time to defend myself yet again,” Ms. Knox said in a post on X. “I hope to clear my name once and for all of the false charges against me. Wish me luck. Crepi il lupo!”
The slander trial began on April 10. Ms. Knox had planned to appear in Italy that week but her lawyer said she remained in America to take “care of her two young children, one of whom was born recently.”