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The Criminal Slander Case
Judge Anna Maria Sacco's motivation document finding Amanda guilty of slander in the Florence Court of Appeals, submitted on 08/09/24 for the 06/05/24 verdict, in original Italian.
Click here to download the document
Judge Monica Boni's motivation document upholding Judge Anna Maria Sacco's finding of guilt of slander at the Florence Court of Appeals, submitted on April 7th, 2025, in original Italian
Click here to download the document
Amanda’s slander case arose from coerced statements she signed during an intense and highly manipulative police interrogation following the 2007 murder of her roommate, Meredith Kercher.
The police were already looking for a black suspect due to some fibers found at the crime scene that they at first identified as “African hairs.” Then they found a text message on Amanda’s phone written to her boss, Patrick Lumumba, a Congolese immigrant, on the night of the murder. It read “Certo. Ci vediamo più tardi, buona serata.” This was her attempt to translate the English idiom “See you later” into Italian, but the Italian police misinterpreted this as her making a literal appointment to meet Patrick later that night. They became convinced in that instant that Patrick was the black man they were looking for, that he had murdered Meredith Kercher, and that Amanda was covering for him. From this point on, the interrogation became a relentless pursuit of a confession, and Amanda was badgered, screamed at, threatened, and slapped until she gave into the pressure to implicate herself and Patrick Lumumba in the crime.
She recanted hours later in a written statement. Nonetheless, she was charged and convicted of callunia (criminal slander) for having signed the original coerced statements. When she was definitively acquitted of murder in 2015, the Court of Cassation upheld her slander charge, and sentenced her to 3 years time served.
She appealed this ruling in 2019 to the European Court of Human Rights, which ruled in her favor, and sanctioned Italy for having violated her rights to a lawyer during that interrogation. Then in 2023, with the help of the Italy Innocence Project, she used this ruling from the European court to sue Italy to overturn her slander conviction. They did so in late 2023, but sent the case back to the appellate court in Florence for retrial.
On June 5th, 2024, she was convicted of this charge yet again. She appealed once more to the Court of Cassation.
On January 23rd 2025, Amanda received the final verdict denying her appeal to overturn the criminal slander conviction.
Read the recantation note which was the sole piece of evidence used to convict Amanda of knowingly and willfully lying about Patrick Lumumba's presence at the scene of the crime.
My Last Trial by Amanda Knox
Read Amanda's article in The Atlantic in the immediate aftermath of the slander appeal verdict.
Judge Anna Maria Sacco's motivation document finding Amanda guilty of slander in the Florence Court of Appeals, submitted on 08/09/24 for the 06/05/24 verdict, in original Italian.
Click here to download the document
Judge Monica Boni's motivation document upholding Judge Anna Maria Sacco's finding of guilt of slander at the Florence Court of Appeals, submitted on April 7th, 2025, in original Italian
Click here to download the document
Amanda’s slander case arose from coerced statements she signed during an intense and highly manipulative police interrogation following the 2007 murder of her roommate, Meredith Kercher.
The police were already looking for a black suspect due to some fibers found at the crime scene that they at first identified as “African hairs.” Then they found a text message on Amanda’s phone written to her boss, Patrick Lumumba, a Congolese immigrant, on the night of the murder. It read “Certo. Ci vediamo più tardi, buona serata.” This was her attempt to translate the English idiom “See you later” into Italian, but the Italian police misinterpreted this as her making a literal appointment to meet Patrick later that night. They became convinced in that instant that Patrick was the black man they were looking for, that he had murdered Meredith Kercher, and that Amanda was covering for him. From this point on, the interrogation became a relentless pursuit of a confession, and Amanda was badgered, screamed at, threatened, and slapped until she gave into the pressure to implicate herself and Patrick Lumumba in the crime.
She recanted hours later in a written statement. Nonetheless, she was charged and convicted of callunia (criminal slander) for having signed the original coerced statements. When she was definitively acquitted of murder in 2015, the Court of Cassation upheld her slander charge, and sentenced her to 3 years time served.
She appealed this ruling in 2019 to the European Court of Human Rights, which ruled in her favor, and sanctioned Italy for having violated her rights to a lawyer during that interrogation. Then in 2023, with the help of the Italy Innocence Project, she used this ruling from the European court to sue Italy to overturn her slander conviction. They did so in late 2023, but sent the case back to the appellate court in Florence for retrial.
On June 5th, 2024, she was convicted of this charge yet again. She appealed once more to the Court of Cassation.
On January 23rd 2025, Amanda received the final verdict denying her appeal to overturn the criminal slander conviction.
Read the recantation note which was the sole piece of evidence used to convict Amanda of knowingly and willfully lying about Patrick Lumumba's presence at the scene of the crime.
My Last Trial by Amanda Knox
Read Amanda's article in The Atlantic in the immediate aftermath of the slander appeal verdict.
Listen to these podcast episodes to get the full story on the slander case:
Labyrinths Ep 79 - Still on Trial in Italy
17 years after her arrest in 2007, Amanda is still, somehow, on trial in Italy... Her conviction for criminal slander was overturned in October, 2023, and she was sent back for retrial. What exactly led to this charge in the first place? What will the scope of this new trial be?
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Labyrinths Ep. 93 - Injustice in Florence Part 1
On June 5th, 2024, Amanda arrived at a courtroom in Florence, Italy, to defend herself against a charge of criminal slander stretching back to 2007. In this impromptu episode, recorded from the road, Chris lays out the background of this case, and Amanda shares her pre-trial jitters, and her immediate reflections after hearing the verdict.
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Labyrinths Ep. 93.5 - Injustice in Florence Part 2
After a night's sleep, Amanda has further reflections on what it's like to still be battling for her innocence 17 years after she was first arrested.
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Labyrinths Ep. 99 - Injustice in Florence Part 3
On June 5th, 2024, Amanda was reconvicted of criminal slander in Italy. On August 8th, the Italian Court of Appeals in Florence finally released their motivation document explaining their reasoning for finding Amanda guilty. Chris and Amanda examine the illogic of their reasoning, and reflect on how it feels to be bringing this case yet again to Italy's highest court.
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Labyrinths Ep. 114 - Slander Verdict
Today Italy’s highest court upheld Amanda’s wrongful conviction for slander. With raw emotion, she reflects on the implications of the ruling, her ongoing battle for justice, and the weight of being wrongly convicted.
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