Amanda Knox Touches Down in Seattle [Updated]
[UPDATE | 5:34 p.m. P.D.T.: Amanda Knox landed in Seattle Tuesday night, marking her first trip home in four years.
Knox's British Airways flight landed at 5:00 p.m. PDT. Knox won an appeal of her 2009 murder conviction Monday. In an address to the crowd at the airport, an emotional Knox thanked supporters for their years loyalty.
"It seemed like everything wasn't real," Knox said of her flight home.
"What's important for me to say is just thank you for everyone who believed in me, defended me, supported my family. I just want to say that my family is the most important thing to me right now. I just want to be with them."]
Knox, overwhelmed by a trial that was the subject of international media attention, could be seen on the cover of a local newspaper crying. In a surprising reversal, Knox's murder conviction has been dropped and new questions have arisen in regards to her roommate's murder.
In the middle of a night, a dark vehicle led Knox out of Capanne prison and left her at Rome's Leonardo Da Vinci airport Tuesday morning.
Corrado Maria Daclon, the secretary general of the Italy-US Foundation that supports relations between the two countries commented on Knox's behavior.
"During the trip from Perugia to Rome, Amanda was serene," Daclon said.
A flight attendant on Knox's flight confirmed that she was aboard and heading to Seattle. However, no press was to come in contact with Knox and her family aboard the flight out of respect for their privacy. A press conference is going to be held in Seattle upon Knox's return.
In a letter to the Italy-US Foundation, Knox expressed nothing but gratitude.
"Those who wrote, those who defended me, those who were close, those who prayed for me," Knox wrote.
Despite the fact that Knox was the subject of countless Italian tabloids and gossip magazines, she wants to go back.
Rudy Herman Guede is now convicted of the murder, although throughout Knox's trial, prosecutors maintained that Knox, her boyfriend, and Guede had all been involved in what they called a "drug-fueled sex game."
The case against Knox quickly weakened when substantial DNA evidence was discredited.
Within minutes of the verdict being released, protesters had gathered outside of Knox's courtroom yelling things such as "murderers" and "shame."
Prosecutor Giuliano Mignini was equally surprised and angered. He has said that he will be appealing the decision to Italy's highest criminal court.
The court did, however, uphold Knox's conviction of slander for accusing bar owner Diya "Patrick" of the murder. The judge set the sentence at three years.
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Sad to say but, seems that most all proscuters will go to any lengeth to obtain a conviction and many times they withhold evidence form the defence in order to convict. This generally does not come to the attention of the defence until many years after the guilty party has be wrongly convicted. The worst thing of all is that nothing ever happens to the prosocuter.