Amanda Knox Seeks Relief for 'a Crime I Did Not Commit'

Amanda Knox has a final shot at clearing her name of the last vestige of criminal wrongdoing when Italy's highest court on Thursday hears her appeal of a slander conviction for falsely accusing a Congolese bar owner in the 2007 murder of her British flatmate. But the innocent man she accused, Patrick Lumbumba, told reporters outside Italy's Cassation Court that he hopes the conviction stands and "stays with her for the rest of her life," per the AP. He underlined that Knox "has never apologized to me." The ruling should bring an end to a sensational 17-year legal saga that saw Knox and her Italian ex-boyfriend convicted and acquitted in flip-flop verdicts in Meredith Kercher's brutal murder, before being exonerated by the highest Cassation Court in 2015.

The slander conviction against Knox survived multiple appeals, and Knox was reconvicted on the charge in June after a European court ruling that Italy had violated her human rights cleared the way for a new trial. Knox is watching the verdict at home "confident and respectful of the justice system as she always has been. She is confident that this story will end today," defense lawyer Carlo Dalla Vedova told reporters. Knox said recently on her Labyrinths podcast that "I hate the fact that I have to live consequences for a crime I did not commit." Her defense team says she accused Lumumba, who employed her at a bar in the university town of Perugia, during a long night of questioning and under pressure from police, who they said fed her false information.

The European Court of Human Rights found that the police deprived her of a lawyer and provided a translator who acted more as a mediator. "I've been having nightmares about getting a bad verdict and just living the rest of my life with a shadow hanging over me. It's like a scarlet letter," Knox said on her podcast. Even if the high court upholds the conviction and three-year sentence, Knox does not risk any more time she jail. She has already served nearly four years during the investigation, initial murder trial, and first appeal. Knox said the aim is to clear her name of all criminal wrongdoing. "Living with a false conviction is horrific, personally, psychologically, emotionally,'' she said on the podcast. "I'm fighting it, and we'll see what happens." (More Amanda Knox stories.)