Amanda Knox Is Back in Court — This Time For Alleged Slander. Here's Everything to Know

In 2007, Knox was convicted of killing her 21-year-old British roommate, Meredith Kercher, but after four years in prison, the murder conviction was overturned

Amanda Knox is on trial again.

In 2007, Knox and her boyfriend at the time, Raffaele Sollecito, were convicted of killing her 21-year-old British roommate, Meredith Kercher, while the two were studying abroad in Perugia, Italy.

Knox spent four years in prison, heading to court again and again to clear her name. In 2011, her's and Sollecito’s murder convictions were reversed. In 2015, the pair were officially exonerated by the Cassation Court, Italy’s highest court, PEOPLE previously reported.

However, Knox's legal troubles weren't quite over.

In 2009 while still in prison, she was convicted of slander for wrongly accusing her boss, Congolese bar owner Patrick Lumumba, of murdering Kercher, even though she quickly recanted her accusation at the time. Knox appealed the conviction and on April 10, a retrial of the case began in the Florence appeals court, the Associated Press reports.

Knox, who has gone on to become a successful podcaster and advocate for criminal justice, was not in court. She is being tried in absentia, staying in the U.S. to take “care of her two young children, one of whom was born recently,” her lawyer said, TIMEreports.

Related: Amanda Knox Found Guilty in Murder Case Retrial

In a lengthy Instagram post in October 2023, Knox, 36, who will be played by Margaret Qualley in an upcoming Hulu limited series, wrote about how she looking forward to being completely exonerated.

“I am no longer a convicted person. And I will fight with my lawyers to prove my innocence once and for all,” she wrote.

Here’s everything to know about Amanda Knox's legal battles.

Kercher's Murder and the Messy Legal Aftermath

Knox was a 20-year-old exchange student when Kercher was murdered in the apartment they shared in the university town of Perugia in November 2007.

Kercher was found in her bedroom with more than 40 stab wounds and a deep gash in her throat. She had also been sexually assaulted.

Knox and Sollecito were arrested five days later for her brutal murder. After a sensational, 11-month trial, Knox and Sollecito were convicted in Kercher's murder.

In 2011, they won an appeal and were freed and cleared of most charges.

But in a second appeals trial in 2014, Knox was once again found guilty of murdering Kercher, and sentenced to 28 1/2 years in prison. Sollecito was also found guilty and was sentenced to 25 years.

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Then, in March 2015, Italy's highest appeals court overturned the second conviction, once again exonerating Knox and Sollecito of the charges, citing “glaring errors in the underlying fabric of the sentence in question," the AP reports.

Related: Man Who Killed Meredith Kercher, Amanda Knox's Roommate in Italy, Is Freed from Prison

Rudy Guede was convicted of Kercher's murder in a separate 2008 trial and was sentenced to a reduced sentence. He was eventually released from prison in November, 2021, per The Guardian.

The Slander Conviction

In 2007, when Knox, who didn't speak Italian fluently, was questioned for 53 hours by Italian police, she accused her boss Lumumba of murdering her roommate, signing statements that police typed up, the AP reports.

She recanted the accusation in a four-page handwritten note the next day, the AP reports.

Even though she took back her accusation, police took Lumumba into custody for questioning, holding him for nearly two weeks, the AP reports.

He was finally released after someone came forward with an alibi for him, according to The Guardian.

At the time, Knox's lawyers argued that she made the accusation against Lumumba because she was under police duress and didn’t have an interpreter or legal assistance at the time, The Guardian reported.

Tried for Slander — Again

For years, Knox has wanted to clear her name of the slander conviction.

In a 2023 Instagram post, Knox wrote, “As everyone knows, on March 27th, 2015, the Court of Cassation definitively acquitted me and Raffaele Sollecito of the murder of Meredith Kercher, per non aver commesso il fatto – for not having committed the act."

The unprecedented acquittal exonerated them “on the grounds of factual innocence, citing stunning errors in the prosecution’s case and culpable omissions,” she wrote. “It was clear vindication."

Adding: “But this final ruling also upheld my conviction for slander. The Court of Cassation sentenced me to time served for the slander charge, which meant that according to the state of Italy, three of my four years of imprisonment were rightfully served. Though I was exonerated for murder, I remained wrongfully convicted of slander.”

In 2016, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ruled that her rights had been violated during her interrogation, the AP reports.

As a result, Knox appealed the slander conviction. The Court of Cassation annulled the slander conviction, CBS News reports.

Related: Years After Murder Exoneration, Amanda Knox Hosts TV Show About Women Who've Been Publicly Shamed

Last fall, the Court of Cassation ordered a retrial, acknowledging the ECHR’s ruling thanks to a 2022 reform in Italy’s code of criminal procedure, TIME reports.

The court ruled that the notes from Knox's interrogation that police typed up would be inadmissible in the retrial, CBS News reports.

Knox’s handwritten note — and whether it contains evidence of slandering Lumumba — is the only evidence that is allowed in the retrial, CBS News reports.

Related: Amanda Knox, Four Years After Acquittal: Her Life Today

Knox hopes the court rules in her favor.

“Patrick Lumumba suffered 10 days of wrongful imprisonment, and Raffaele and I nearly four years. One day in prison as an innocent person is one too many,” Knox wrote on social media.

“I am no longer a convicted person. And I will fight with my lawyers to prove my innocence once and for all,” she added.

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