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Amanda Knox Speaks Out After Man Who Killed Meredith Kercher Is Released From Prison
Rudy Guede will be allowed to serve out the rest of his sentence by doing community service, 12 years after being convicted in the 2007 killing of Amanda Knox's study-abroad roommate, Meredith Kercher.
The man who committed the murder that wrongly landed Amanda Knox behind bars in Italy for years has been released from prison, prompting the exonerated American to express her frustration.
"I do know that many, many, many people have suffered a great deal because of what he did and I continue ... to be shocked that he is the forgotten killer," Knox told "Good Morning America" about the release of Rudy Guede, 12 years after his sentencing for the 2007 killing of her study-abroad roommate Meredith Kercher. "The one who was quietly tucked away, convicted of a lesser crime and does not have to live with the burden of being forever associated with Meredith's death."
Guede, 34, was allowed earlier this month by an Italian court to finish out the rest of his sentence with community service, ABC News reports.
Knox and her then-boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito were infamously accused of murdering Kercher, a British student that she had been living with in Perugia. Both went through a tumultuous series of convictions and acquittals before Italy’s highest court acquitted them both of Kercher’s murder for a final time in 2015. By that point, Knox had spent about four years behind bars.
Guede was convicted of the murder and sexual assault of Kercher in 2008 and sentenced to 30 years, but it was ultimately reduced to 16 years. Guede received a partial release in 2017 so he could attend school, according to ABC News. He has been volunteering for a Catholic charity. His sentence was supposed to end in 2022.
Knox was the subject of salacious and intense media coverage in Italy and around the world as her saga unfolded; she was once dubbed “Foxy Knoxy” during her ignominious time in the spotlight. She now hosts a podcast called “The Truth About True Crime" and a web series called “The Scarlet Letter Reports,” in which she chats with other women who have been sexualized by the media.
She told “Good Morning America” that the "burden" of what Guede did has landed on her, due to the media mess that occurred after the murder.
"I am the one who has been condemned to live with his infamy," she said. "And while I can't say that I wish him suffering or imprisonment, I do wish that he had been fully held accountable for what he did and that he acknowledged what he did, and I don't know if that will ever happen."
She added, "The only reason you know I exist is because [of] what he did, and that is a grave injustice.”
