Amanda Knox Appeals Slander Conviction - East Idaho News
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Amanda Knox Appeals Slander Conviction

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GETTY W 100611 AmandaKnoxArrivesInUS?  SQUARESPACE CACHEVERSION=1328570933317Kevin Casey/AFP/Getty Images(PERUGIA, Italy) — 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, Monday.

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 years in prison to three years. 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.

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 their reasoning behind the 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.

Copyright 2012 ABC News Radio

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