Amanda Knox is free! After four long years, the Seattle native has been acquitted on appeal for the murder of her roommate, Meredith Kercher, and will be returning home. INSIDE EDITION reports.
Not guilty! That's the verdict on American college student Amanda Knox, who has spent the last four years in an Italian prison.
There was pandemonium in the courtroom as Knox was ordered released.
The verdict came down after seven tense hours of waiting.
A big crowd gathered in the narrow streets as a motorcade brought Knox back to court to hear her fate.
Knox entered the courtroom looking pale and tense. She became teary-eyed as she waited the last few seconds before the verdict was read.
At the end of the trial, Knox gave a dramatic final address to the court, pleading her innocence, begging to be freed.
She spoke in fluent Italian, her voice cracking with emotion. Her lawyer reached out to hold her hand.
"I am not what they say I am. I'm not a promiscuous vamp. I did not kill, I did not rape, I did not steal," she said. "I want to go home."
Knox left the court in tears to await the verdict.
All of America seemed to be waiting with her. Family and friends gathered in a hotel in Seattle where she was raised to keep vigil.
Even Donald Trump is taking an interest in the case, tweeting:
"Everyone should boycott Italy if Amanda Knox is not freed---she is totally innocent."
Nina Burleigh is the author of a book about the case, The Fatal Gift of Beauty, which argues that Knox was targeted by police because of her looks.
"How do you think Amanda came across as she stood there pleading for her life, speaking fluent Italian no less?" asked INSIDE EDITION's Paul Boyd.
"Apparently some of the jurors in this trial were in tears. They were moved to tears," Burleigh said.
But Knox looked stressed and exhausted. She seems to have aged ten years since her arrest.
"The sheen has worn off. She's not beautiful any more," said Burleigh.
Meanwhile, the family of murder victim Meredith Kercher arrived in Perugia for the verdict. Her sister Stephanie complained her family's suffering is being ignored because everyone is focusing on Knox:
"Everything [Meredith] went through, the fear, and the terror, and not knowing why, and she didn't deserve that. No one deserves that," said Stephanie.
It was the video of Knox cuddling with her boyfriend at the crime scene four years ago which was first used to portray Knox as a heartless party girl.
But home video, broadcast on Good Morning America Monday, shows a carefree American college student eager to begin her year abroad, looking forward to finding a place to live in Italy.
The video is a poignant reminder of an adventure gone horribly wrong.
The Knox family has made immediate plans to bring Amanda back to the United States.
