Amanda Knox Appeals Slander Conviction

Amanda Knox is a free woman, but she still has one conviction clouding her life.

Knox's lawyer, Carlo Dalla Vedova, confirmed to ABC News that Knox's defense team filed an appeal of her slander conviction in Perugia, Italy today.

Knox was acquitted four months ago of the 2007 murder of her British roommate Meredith Kercher. But the appeals court upheld her conviction for falsely accusing her former boss, bar owner Patrick Lumumba, of being involved in the murder. The appeals court also increased her sentence for slander from two to three years in prison. Knox was released, however, because she had already spent four years in prison.

During Knox?s nearly 50 hour interrogation in November 2007, she was not allowed to make a phone call and claims that her Italian interrogators yelled at her and hit her head when they didn't like her answers.

Investigators also wanted to know why Knox texted Lumumba on the night of the murder the equivalent of "see you later" after Lumumba told Knox she did not need to come to work that night at his bar, Le Chic. They said the text indicated they were meeting up later that night.

At one point during the marathon grilling, Knox told police that Lumumba was at the scene of the crime.

Amanda Knox Was 'Confused and Stressed' When She Implicated Boss in Murder

Knox told police she had a "vision" that she and Lumumba were inside the cottage she shared with Kercher when Lumumba went into Kercher's room. Knox said she stayed in the kitchen where she heard screams and covered her ears.

Lumumba was arrested and jailed for two weeks, but he was freed after 11 alibis placed him at his bar that night.

Knox initially stated during her interrogation, and again after implicating Lumumba, that she was not present during the murder. She insisted she was with her boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito at his apartment the night Kercher was killed. Knox later said she made the statement regarding Lumumba because she was under extreme stress and pressure.

"Amanda was confused, stressed and pressured," Dalla Vedova said.

The Supreme Court of Italy ruled Knox's statement placing Lumumba at the apartment was inadmissible.

Lumumba has received damages as a part of his case against Knox.

Dalla Vedova added that the appeals court stated in their motivation -? the reasoning behind their decision to acquit Knox ?- that "something went wrong" during Knox's interrogation.

"She has been acquitted of murder, and she should be acquitted of slander," Dalla Vedova said.

In a separate legal case, the Perugian police involved in Knox's interrogation also accuse her of slander. During her testimony in her 2009 trial, Knox stated she was hit in the head during her interrogation. A hearing is tentatively scheduled for July.

In addition, the prosecution in Knox's case has until Feb. 16 to appeal her acquittal for murder.

Rudy Guede, a local Perugia drifter, is the lone person convicted in Kercher's murder. He is serving a 16 year prison sentence.

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  • rar  •  Monroeville, Pennsylvania  •  3 months ago
    anyone should know that "see you later" is the same as saying goodbye until whenever.
  • Junior  •  Gonzales, Texas  •  3 months ago
    dont go back ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,do not go back
    • Raiful 3 months ago
      It would be really dangerous for Amanda Knox to travel to Italy to face charges of slandering the owner of the nightclub where she worked. What a world we live in. The Italian court has already revealed the capability of imprisoning the girl for nothing, so some discretion would be in order. Her problem is the charge lodged against her parents after they came to her defense. They should all stay away and let the diplomats deal with it.
    • Cool Beans 3 months ago
      Take it easy, commas. Retard.
    • Pirogue 3 months ago
      Good advice.
  • A Yahoo! User  •  Milwaukee, Wisconsin  •  3 months ago
    May the victim and her family and friends one day have true justice and peace.
    • Rojo 3 months ago
      Amen
    • Steven D 3 months ago
      Amen. And same for Amanda Knox and Raffael Sollecito - the other victims in this case. They deserve true justice and peace, including the right to have their names fully cleared. They were completely uninvolved in the murder, as the DNA evidence proves.
    • A Yahoo! User 3 months ago
      Actually Steven D Amanda did commit perjury and caused her boss two weeks in Jail even with the 11 eye witnesses that proved it was a lie, she already admitted to this and said it was a vision, and still has not apologized sincerely for putting this man though this, she of all people should know what it feels like to be wrongly accused in put in jail, that was wrong and should stay on her record. If not her boss will never have justice and she admitted to perjury already.
  • Elizabeth G  •  Washington, District of Columbia  •  3 months ago
    I dont know what Italian law is, or any other country's law is for that matter. One thing I do know, it is not the same as the US. When you travel abroad be careful, you do not have the same rights as you do in the US. Just saying.
    • JayS 3 months ago
      Of course you don't, your problem if you break their laws.
    • Joe 3 months ago
      @ Elizabeth, what is your rights? If you commit a crime is up to the people where you committed the crime to judge you, because you broke their law.
    • Dazey 3 months ago
      No need to tell us you were saying. We can tell by the fact that you left a comment. #$%$ does 'just saying' even mean?
  • Nam Era Vet  •  Lorain, Ohio  •  3 months ago
    The general rule is that if they question you for more than about 16 hours, they can get you to say anything. Recall the boy in New York who was questioned after his father was murdered by a business partner. At some point the police asked him to describe how the murder might have taken place, just to help them out. Once he started to help them out, then, and only then, did they turned on the tape recorder. That was his "confession", and how he got put in prison. The business partner, who owed the father a lot of money, must have thought that was wonderful. Once the police decide you are guilty, or once they decide they need to find someone, anyone, to take the heat off of them, or they are just having a bad day, then you had better watch out. I know someone who stalled his motorbike at a traffic light in Lorain County, Ohio. A cop came by and gave his little motorbike a complete inspection, checked his license, etc., but could find no violations. So he gave him a ticket for going through the stop sign. After the cop left, he still couldn't get it started. Same thing with a car full of high school kids who stopped at a stop sign where the driver got a ticket for going through the stop sign. In these cases the judges often are crooked too, and side with the police. In both cases the kids lost respect for the police, judges, and the law. Sixty Minutes did a special on Sulphur, LA, where out of state drivers not violating the law are targeted. Then there is the town of Waldo in Florida, one of the most crooked places in America, where even the governor of the state was upset with what they were doing to innocent people traveling through. As for Amanda Knox, see the book about the prosecutor titled "The Monster of Florence". For another example in Lorain Ohio see "Framing Innocence."
    • Rojo 3 months ago
      That's holliwood - to much CSI TV show, people thinks they know everything !!!
    • Steve M 3 months ago
      The judges are not "crooked". Unfortunately in traffic stops the judge have to give credence to the police testimony or the entire system breaks down. Almost all traffic stops come done to one persons word against a police officer. If you look at the true concept of the law, innocent unless proven beyond a reasonable doubt, no one would ever be convicted, so in traffic court the bar is set much lower to essentially guilty until proven innocent.
    • Notre petite planete 3 months ago
      Nam, you forget that there is "strange" evidence that she failed to explain or give contractictory explanations. Typical of a liar... who knows what she was hiding.
  • Mellowdog  •  Birmingham, Alabama  •  3 months ago
    Would he have to give the money back?
    • Mary E. 3 months ago
      Hi, Justalice! I hail from Birmingham, Alabama, too. I'd like to be your friend so you could keep me posted on significant events occurring in my old home town.
  • Crazy, loco, just plane n ...  •  Sunnyvale, California  •  3 months ago
    To think these are the same morons that want an 'international court'... LMFAO!!!!!!
  • Rich  •  3 months ago
    Let it go Amanda..... Count yourself luck you made it home.....
  • Richard  •  3 months ago
    After 50 hours of interrogation, any one of us would gladly point a finger at someone else, if only for a nap.
  • Dong G.  •  3 months ago
    History, yahoo must be running out of news to report.
  • Scopedope  •  3 months ago
    I think the truth about what happened will never come out.
  • A Yahoo! User  •  3 months ago
    hey italia, i was getting used to the idea of moving there. not anymore. leave Amanda alone your legal system is a joke.
  • red, white and blue  •  3 months ago
    "See you later" - as people who speak English know - means, some time in the future. It's not specific at all. These Italians are seriously confused and, if they don't watch out, will loose this court battle..and a lot of tourism.
  • Spikey27  •  Knoxville, Tennessee  •  3 months ago
    The only slander involved is the abortion the Italian court committed in handling this case.
  • Felix  •  Dallas, Texas  •  3 months ago
    I've seen police training videos where INNOCENT people are brow-beat to the point where they confess to crimes that were later PROVEN to be innocent of. To brow-beat a young naive college student into telling the police what they wanted to hear is not evidence. I believe Knox is 100% innocent and Rudy Guede deserves DEATH by torture...not a mere 16 years which he was given for Meridith's murder...
  • roy  •  Bristol, Tennessee  •  3 months ago
    See you later means exactly that. It doesn't mean I will see you later at the time we previously planned to meet up later on tonight.
  • batman  •  Providence, Rhode Island  •  3 months ago
    like you didn't know that money can buy you off, justice or not! it never happens here in america. when the cops are stunted we have to nail somebody, innocent or not. my point is if you can't nail somebody with evidence(guilty or not) speculation, then you have to move on. hey that's all you can do!
  • TomH  •  Raleigh, North Carolina  •  3 months ago
    Pressure or no pressure, it's difficult to fathom someone accusing others around her of murder and making up crap if they are innocent.
  • Harley Creel  •  3 months ago
    If she'd been a poor kid, where would she be today?
  • Thomas G  •  Manila, Philippines  •  3 months ago
    Maybe she can go back to Italy with those CIA guys the Italians have kidnapping warrants for.