Amanda Knox Case 2014: Meredith Kercher Roommate Wins Suit Against Italian Newspaper As Criminal Appeals Trial Looms? [VIDEO]
As she works on her appeals case to fight a January murder reconviction, Amanda Knox is able to celebrate a small victory in a civil suit she filed against an Italian newspaper.
Meredith Kercher Cause of Death Revealed?
According to Lexology.com, Knox's 2008 case against RCS Media Group was finally settled in a Milan court last month, with a judge ruling in the accused murderer's favor.
Knox had filed a civil complaint against the media group and their Milan-based daily newspaper, Corriere della Sera for publishing excerpts of her personal diary -- including the names of her sexual partners and details about her sex life and personal inclinations. These were published in two newspaper articles and a book written by the same journalist, F.S. She claimed they had exceeded the limits of freedom of information by unlawfully processing her sensitive personal data.
Amanda Knox Will Never 'Willingly Go Back' To Italy After New Murder Conviction
Though the case was initially ruled in Knox's favor back in 2008, RCS appealed the decision, arguing that the information (which was of public record) had been essential to the reporting of the events of her roommate Meredith Kercher's murder.
However, the appeals court judge has once again ruled in Knox's favor, saying that it would not be acceptable to "...lower the bar for intrusion into the personal life of individuals in proportion to the hype around the facts."
Though a specific amount was not revealed, the defendants were all jointly ordered to compensate Knox for damages and legal expenses.
Her civil victory comes on the heels of a British coroner releasing the results of a seven-year inquest into Kercher's death, which called the 21-year-old's death "clearly unnatural."
"She died, the autopsy tells us, as a result of hemorraghic shock from stab and incised wounds to the vasculature of the neck. I do conclude that she was unlawfully killed," Dr. Roy Palmer said at the time. "On the night of the first and second of November 2007 Meredith was found in her bedroom at a residence in Perugia, Italy. It was clearly an unnatural death."
Knox, her then-boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito and a third man named Rudy Guede were all arrested in connection to Kercher's death back in 2007. While Guede was convicted of murder and given a 16-year sentence, Knox and Sollecito both pleaded not guilty and served four years in an Italian prison before their convictions were overturned in 2011.
However, earlier this year, an Italian court reconvicted Knox and Sollecito in a retrial focused on DNA evidence. At this trial, Knox was sentenced to 28 years in an Italian prison, while Sollecito was sentenced to 25 years.
At the time of her reconviction, Knox said she would never willingly go back to Italy and serve her sentence.
"I'm not prepared. I will never willingly go back," she said at the time. "I'm going to fight this until the very end."
While Knox works on a second appeal on the case, she remains in the U.S. If her appeal is thrown out, Italy could seek her extradition to the country to begin serving her sentence.
ABC US News
