It came like a thief in the night as most everybody never saw it coming - both on the prosecution and the defense side - but it's official, on the 27th of March 2015 Amanda Knox is a free woman. The Court of Cassation, Italy's highest court, ruling with finality found her not guilty of the murder in 2007 of Meredith Kercher, her former board mate, overturning a recent conviction by a lower court and sending the Kercher family in total shock and disbelief.
It was no walk in the park for Knox, a 27-year-old American from Seattle Washington who has spent four years in an Italian prison along with her ex-boyfriend Raffaelle Sollecito in a series of trials that saw her ping-pong from Italy to the US and back. Not only has the controversial decision stemmed speculations of a possible extradition power struggle between the two countries, it has brought to the fore the merits of a seemingly fickle Italian court system which has not pinned down the murderer to the eight-year murder saga - even to this day.
Free at Last
As it is widely considered the final ruling on her, nullifying all the other three decisions made after the murder and ending the appeals process, Amanda Knox has all the reasons to celebrate.
And she did - saying she was "tremendously relieved and grateful" after the acquittal, reports BBC.
So should Raffaelle Sollecito facing the same circumstances.
However, the same cannot be applied to the Kerchers.
Arline Kercher, mother of the slain student British Meredith Kercher, is caught flat-footed by the court's reversal.
She detailed, "I am a bit surprised, and very shocked, but that is about it at the moment. They have been convicted twice, so it's a bit odd that it should change now."
Further the distraught mother elaborated, "I can't see how evidence that was once deemed evidence is now no longer thought to be evidence. I am still shocked." according to MailOnline.
To note, Meredith Kercher, a 21-year old student from Coulsdon, Surrey was sexually assaulted and stabbed to death in 2007 right in the apartment she shared with Knox while studying in Perugia, Italy.
A Modern Day Witch-hunt
But all the legal mangling and twisting that would rival an Alfred Hitchcock thriller could only be characteristic of the improved Italian court system.
It puts forward how the Italian system - being largely based on the Inquisitorial system of search for truth - is an exhaustive process that makes sure only the guilty would face punishment.
Unlike the US, for instance where a verdict can never be appealed except on procedural grounds, the Italians have their jury's reasoning given in writing making it possible grounds for overturning an appeal.
The result: a series of contradictory decisions that at the onset would seem to make the Italian System hilarious.
Even with lack of forensic evidence (i.e., DNA) that she attacked Kercher on the night of the murder, Knox was found guilty in 2009. All told, she has spent almost four years in an Italian prison before an appeal trial freed her in October 2011, sending her back to the US and giving her a shot at a normal life.
But Italy beckoned once again in 2014 as the year saw her handed a 28-year prison sentence courtesy of the appeal trial acting upon orders by the Supreme Court.
Thanks to the Italian System which finds a guilty verdict on a serious case not definitive unless all appeals process were exhausted, Knox and Sollecito were still largely free - a freedom granted with finality by the latest Cassation Court's ruling.
One thing's certain, even with all the media circus that has made Amanda Knox a global household name and even with all the latest developments, one question is still begging for an answer: Who killed Meredith Kercher?
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