Case file · Corte d'assise di Perugia, Florence Court of Appeal and Supreme Court of Cassation, Italy
Amanda Marie Knox: charges, verdict and sentence
Amanda Knox was arrested in Perugia, Italy, in November 2007 and was convicted in December 2009 of murder and related charges, acquitted on appeal in 2011, convicted again at a retrial in Florence in 2014, and definitively acquitted of murder by the Supreme Court of Cassation on 27 March 2015. A separate conviction for falsely accusing another man (calunnia) was upheld in 2015. After the European Court of Human Rights found in 2019 that her rights were violated during questioning, the calunnia charge was retried and the conviction was upheld in Florence in June 2024 and confirmed by the Supreme Court of Cassation on 23 January 2025, with a three year sentence already served.
Charges and outcomes
| Charge | Outcome | Date |
|---|---|---|
| Murder and related charges1,4 | Acquitted | 27 March 2015 |
| Calunnia (slander, falsely accusing another man)2,3 | Convicted | 23 January 2025 |
Sentence
26 years for murder (2009) and 28 and a half years at the 2014 retrial, both set aside by the 2015 acquittal. Three years for calunnia, treated as already served, upheld at the June 2024 retrial and confirmed by the Supreme Court of Cassation in January 2025.
Court record, stage by stage
- arrestArrested in Perugia with Raffaele Sollecito5
- appealSupreme Court of Cassation overturned the appeal acquittals and ordered a new appeals trial5Supreme Court of Cassation
- retrialFlorence appeals court convicted Knox and Sollecito of murder at the retrial and sentenced Knox to 28 and a half years5Corte d'assise d'appello di Firenze
- appealEuropean Court of Human Rights found Italy violated her rights under Article 3 (procedural limb) and Article 6 on access to a lawyer and the conduct of the interpreter, and awarded 10,400 euros in non pecuniary damages and 8,000 euros in costs6European Court of Human Rights
- appealSupreme Court of Cassation upheld her appeal against the calunnia conviction and ordered a retrial in Florence, citing the European Court of Human Rights ruling7Supreme Court of Cassation
- retrialFlorence appellate court upheld the calunnia conviction with a three year sentence she had already served. Knox said she was sorry she had not tried harder to retract the accusation1Florence Court of Appeal
Notable rulings
- European Court of Human Rights, Knox v. Italy, application 76577/13, 24 January 2019. Italy violated Knox's rights by restricting access to a lawyer, through the interpreter's conduct during questioning, and by failing to investigate her allegations of ill treatment.6
Sources
- CNN, Amanda Knox slander conviction upheld by Italian court (5 June 2024)
- Associated Press via KFVS12, Italy's top court upholds Amanda Knox's conviction for falsely accusing innocent man of murder (23 January 2025)
- ANSA, Cassation court upholds Knox's slander conviction (24 January 2025)
- AFP via The Peninsula, Timeline of Meredith Kercher murder probe and trial (AFP) (28 March 2015)
- Associated Press via Fox News, Key dates in prosecution of Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito (AP) (27 March 2015)
- American Society of International Law, European Court of Human Rights orders Italy to compensate Amanda Knox for human rights violations (2019)
- ANSA, Knox appeal upheld, new trial for slandering bar owner set (13 October 2023)
This file describes court proceedings. It does not describe or name victims beyond the court record. Our standards.