Post date: Oct 04, 2011 12:19:18 AM
The President of the Italy-USA foundation says Amanda Knox was overjoyed by the overturn of her sentence and prison inmates chanted her name as she returned briefly to prison, for bureaucratic reasons, following the clearing of her name by a judicial panel.
PERUGIA, ITALY (OCTOBER 3, 2011) REUTERS - A free Amanda Knox left a Perugia prison on Monday evening (October 3), to an unknown location, before returning home to the United States.
The Knox family did not make any comments about where they were headed, but rumours were rife in the town which has hosted hundreds of journalists from all over the world eager to cover the final phase in the trial.
Defence lawyer Luciano Ghirga said the verdict had gone in Knox's favour once he had drawn quesions over the forensic evidence in the case.
'One of the elements of the forensic evidence caused the whole forensic evidence to be opened up, some of the witnesses changed and I think lots changed, it was like a domino affect' Ghirga said outside the prison after Amanda had been freed.
President of the Italy-USA foundation, Rocco Girlanda, who had visited Amanda many times in the Capanne prison, also saw her before and after the verdict.
'She (Amanda) hugged me and was jumping for joy' Girlanda said.
'And in prison something strange happened, when we entered and she got out of the car all of the prison inmates started calling her name 'Amanda, Amanda' out of the windows. She was really pleased and re-energised by that. We were together for an hour and a half and she still hadn't really got to grips with what had happened she just wanted to be quick in collecting all her things and getting through the procedures in order to escape' Girlanda explained.
Asked what Amanda would do now he said:
'She is going by car somewhere near Rome and tomorrow morning from Fiumicino airport she will leave with her family for the United States.'