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Nancy Grace

Amanda Knox Freed

Aired October 03, 2011 - 20:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AMANDA KNOX, DEFENDANT (through translator): I am innocent. I am innocent.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): On behalf of the Italian people, the associate court of appeal in Perugia...

KNOX (through translator): I haven`t murdered. I haven`t raped. I haven`t stolen.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): So we have overturned. So Amanda Knox is freed, and Raffaele Sollecito, as well.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): Silence, please! Silence, please!

KNOX (through translator): I want to go back home. I want to go back to my life.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Amanda Knox...

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The American college student accused in this murder of her roommate.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Meredith Kercher.

KNOX (through translator): I wasn`t there. I wasn`t present at the crime.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): They are acquitted of charges A, B, C, D, and with regard to E.

KNOX (through translator): I had to face charges that were totally unfair, without any basis. And I am paying with my life for something I haven`t done.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Meredith has been murdered and I`ve always wanted justice for her.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Lifeless body was found half naked, lying in a pool of blood.

KNOX (through translator): I am not what they say I am -- perverse, violent. I insist that after four desperate years, I insist my innocence is innocence because it is true!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JANE VELEZ-MITCHELL, GUEST HOST: Good evening. I`m Jane Velez- Mitchell, in for Nancy Grace. After an emotional, tearful plea to a jury in an Italian courtroom, American coed Amanda Knox walks free.

Straight out to Jean Casarez. What an extraordinary, emotional day. What can you tell us about Amanda`s whereabouts?

JEAN CASAREZ, "IN SESSION": Well, Jane, the appellate jury overturned the judgments against Amanda Knox on, number one, the homicide of Meredith Kercher, number two, the possession of the weapon, which would be the knife, the sexual assault of the victim, interfering with a crime scene and theft. All of those judgments overturned by this jury.

She was convicted of the lesser charge of defamation of a club owner at a bar because she had implicated him in the murder. But she was released because of time served.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: This was an extraordinary day in Italy and all over the United States, particularly in Seattle, where there are so many supporters of Amanda Knox -- Amanda Knox. That is her home town.

Let`s go to Casey McNerthney, reporter with Seattlepi.com. You were with the Knox family and friends when this extraordinary decision came down. What was the reaction in Seattle, Casey?

CASEY MCNERTHNEY, SEATTLEPI.COM: Jane, it was pretty emotional. There was just a lot of tension in the room. You could really feel it. And then there was a little delay when people tried to understand exactly what the translator was saying. And then once the word "overturned" came through, there was a lot of emotion in the room and it was just a very intense atmosphere.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: I want to go to Anne Bremner, my dear friend and a spokesperson for the Friends of Amanda Knox. Anne Bremner, she is reportedly going to Rome, and then she`s going to get on a plane tomorrow and go back to Seattle. But the prosecution in Italy can appeal. And my understanding is they are going to appeal. So if they do appeal and the high court rules against Amanda, will the Italian authorities come after her in Seattle and try to extradite her back?

ANNE BREMNER, ATTORNEY, SPOKESPERSON FOR "FRIENDS OF AMANDA": Like deja vu all over again, right, Jane? And Jane, I want to tell you, you know, on behalf of the friends of Amanda Knox and the family, you`ve been so great on this story and so insightful and so supportive.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Thank you.

BREMNER: Thank you. It`s a great day today. And yes, I mean, the -- so she gets all the way back to Seattle, and then the long arm of Mignini, the prosecutor, who`s been convicted of abuse of office, you know, comes back out to grab her back to Italy. But the fact is, I think we all know that an extradition grant from Seattle -- it`s such a remote possibility. She`s got to get out of Italy and get out fast.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: We are going to go now live to Perugia, Italy, where all of this is going down. Paula Newton, CNN correspondent, is outside the prison. Paula, paint the scene. Where is Amanda right now?

PAULA NEWTON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Jane, she is certainly not here in prison. This was her home for almost four years, but once she arrived here after that ruling, it took her less than an hour to get in there, get her things. She was escorted out with two cars and went on to see her family.

What was so striking about it was, of course, the tension, but she still seemed quite sullen as she was leaving. And Jane, she was alone. She didn`t have her lawyers with her. She didn`t have her family with her. And she went off to, as you say, meet her family close to Rome right now, Jane.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, I want to go to -- the calls are stacking up. Everybody`s so excited about this decision. Denise, Illinois -- your question or thought, Denise?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi, Jane. How are you?

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Hi. Fine, thank you.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Good to talk to you. I never got through before.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: What`s your question or thought, Denise?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My question is that -- why was this prosecutor allowed to continue? Because he was in so much trouble already.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, I think you`re asking an excellent question. I want to throw it out to Paul Ciolino, a private investigator, consultant for CBS News. You went to Italy to investigate this case. The prosecutor in this case -- it`s like a bad horror movie. This guy has an obsession with ritualistic, Satanic sexual crimes and seems to read that into every crime he prosecutes. I`m talking about this guy right here. And you see him there in the sort of -- well, renaissance outfit, whatever you want to call it. That`s what they wear in court.

This guy has been in trouble for basically concocting stories, has he not, Paul?

PAUL CIOLINO, PRIVATE INVESTIGATOR, CBS NEWS CONSULTANT: Jane, he is a convicted felon under Italian law. He prosecuted this case as an indicted prosecutor for abuse of office, illegal wiretaps, terrorizing the media. This guy a joke. He is a horror story. He`s got strong anti- American sentiments. Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito bore the brunt of him for the last four years. This case should have never been indicted. They should have never been arrested. They weren`t there, didn`t do it, didn`t know anything about it.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: And Paul, did he appeal to that anti-American sentiment? I had understood that at some points in this trial of Amanda Knox, people started showing up at the courtroom wearing the colors of Italy, that this became very politicized, Paul.

CIOLINO: Yes, you know, listen, we`re paying -- Amanda paid for the sins since the end of World War II in this country. We`ve had 62 changes of government in Italy since the end of World War II. A lot of them have been crackpot governments. Mignini is a micro-ism (ph) of that crackpot- ness.

This case -- nowhere in the world would she have ever been arrested or indicted. There was no physical evidence. There was no eyewitnesses. There was nothing to place this kid at that homicide scene. Didn`t know about it, didn`t know the guy who actually did the murder, had nothing to do with him. There was never a text, a phone call, an e-mail between her and her boyfriend and this guy. They had nothing do with this crime.

This was clear from day one. This indictment, this wrongful imprisonment, illegal imprisonment, was the imagination of an out-of- control prosecutor who should be relieved from office and jailed for his sins.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: And part of the problem was that they already got a guy. They have a guy behind bars whose name is Rudy Guede. He is a drifter from the Ivory Coast and a purported drug dealer. And his prints and his DNA were all over the place. They convicted him. And at one point, he said, Well, I saw Amanda, who was the roommate of the victim, leaving the area.

And then they -- they sweep her up, along with her Italian boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, when they`ve already got one person that they believe is actually responsible for crime.

I don`t really understand why they felt the need to bring Amanda Knox into this when they already had a suspect, Jason Oshins, defense attorney.

JASON OSHINS, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Well, I -- Jane, good to be with you. I think the reason that they did that is because the defendant himself, the guy who`s in prison, Rudy, Rudy Guede, I think perhaps he saw a vision of himself cooperating with the prosecution, and I think it fulfilled the prosecution`s model of getting the dirty American.

Perhaps they didn`t like how she reacted at the crime scene. Whatever it was, I don`t think it was good police work. I think it was all supposition, and a lot of it was based on the prosecutor`s sentiments.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, she did do some bizarre things. And we celebrate her being released, but we have to acknowledge that she did some things that kind of raised eyebrows. Rupa Mikkilineni, you`re an investigative reporter-producer. What were some of the things -- I`d heard about she did cartwheels and there was a lingerie shopping trip. Tell us about that.

RUPA MIKKILINENI, INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER: Well, right, Jane. I mean, even before Rudy Guede was identified and his DNA was identified at the scene, in fact, she had actually done cartwheels -- let`s start with the fact that she was making out with her boyfriend outside of the crime scene when police arrived. It starts with that.

The next day, even after she discovered or they discovered and she learned that her roommate`s dead body was found in the apartment, she was at Victoria`s Secret buying lingerie, smooching with her boyfriend. Then the third day, she and her boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, were called in for questioning. And as she was waiting while her boyfriend was being questioned, she was doing cartwheels, doing splits. This was not a girl that was acting at all normally, like if a friend of hers had been murdered so brutally, and particularly a young woman that she lived with.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, didn`t they admit that on the night of the -- the night of the killing, they said that they were over at Raffaele`s house smoking pot. So maybe that had a little something do with their bizarre behavior.

William July, Ph.D. psychologist, if you`re off smoking pot while somebody`s getting murdered and then you get dragged into the crime and accused of being involved, if you`re smoking pot, your reactions are not necessarily going to be very rational?

WILLIAM JULY, PSYCHOLOGIST, FMR. POLICE OFFICER: If you`re smoking pot, your reactions aren`t going to be rational, and it depend on how long the timespan was and whether or not the effects of the drug had worn off. Certainly, that behavior that you mentioned was behavior of interest and it`s unusual.

But it -- people do different things when under extremely stressful conditions. And some people laugh under stress. Some people cry. Some people make jokes. So it`s really hard for someone who -- outside, looking from the outside, looking in, to know what different people are going to do when they`re under extremely stressful situations.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: And Amanda has been behind bars for about four years. So how is she going to fare now, being released with all this fanfare, with media from all over the world converging and following her wherever she goes? And is she going to sell her story? Is she going to do an exclusive interview? We`ve heard talk that maybe she`s going to come back to the United States and do an exclusive interview. It`s all very fascinating speculation. What`s the future hold for Amanda Knox?

Meantime, it is week three of season 13 of "Dancing With the Stars," and our very own Nancy Grace dancing for the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. And tonight, she is doing the waltz. So be sure to vote. You can vote multiple times for Nancy and her dancing partner, Tristan MacManus. And everybody here at the Nancy Grace show, of course, says, Good luck, Nancy. You can do it! You can win this thing! We know it!

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): Knox, Amanda, is free and Sollecito, Raffaele, as well.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Foxy Knoxy free.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Meredith has been murdered, and I`ve always wanted justice for her.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It`s easy to overlook the victim of the murder.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Meredith seems to be forgotten in this.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Her roommate, British student Meredith Kercher.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She was beautiful. She was friendly. She was nice.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A bright 21-year-old student.

KNOX (through translator): I`m not escaping the truth and I`ve never tried to escape the truth.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A horrific night of sex, drugs and murder.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The body of Meredith Kercher was found half naked, drenched in blood.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I`ve always wanted justice for her.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Will the police re-open the investigation?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They have to find out who actually killed Meredith.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Amanda now being released will clearly be very upsetting to the Kercher family.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We are thankful for the support we have received from all over the world, people who took the time to research the case and could see that Amanda and Raffaele were innocent. And last, we are thankful to the court for having the courage to look for the truth and to overturn this conviction. We now respectfully ask you to give Amanda and the rest of our family our privacy that we need to recover from this horrible ordeal. Thank you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Breaking news tonight. I`m Jane Velez-Mitchell, in for Nancy Grace. The young lady you`re looking at there free after four years of hell, four years of incarceration after she was convicted of taking part in a sex game, as part of a ritualistic Satanic -- God only knows what because it was all made up. And now finally, the prosecutor has seen his story, his fantasy about this girl, thrown out. Sensible minds have prevailed and she is free.

I want to go straight out to Perugia, Italy, where our own CNN correspondent Paula Newton is monitoring the situation. Paula, what`s the scene there? What was the reaction when she was freed, from the people of Italy?

NEWTON: Very, very divided. You know, when this incident happened, many were convinced that Amanda Knox and her former boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, were guilty. Since then, opinion is much more divided. The scene outside the courtroom a bit crazy, many applauding this ruling, others saying that it was a humiliation for Italy that these two were set free.

Here in the prison, though, with all that cheering going on -- Amanda Knox even in this prison had a lot of fans here, a lot of friends, and they cheered her acquittal. And that`s the way she left this prison tonight, Jane.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: All right. Maury, Idaho. Your question or thought, Maury?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, first off, thank you for taking my call. And you know, I`m glad I did my grand tour 50 years ago because this poor girl -- I feel like she just had a target on her back. And the whole thing was so made up. What I want to know from Anne Bremner, perhaps, is if they try and re-extradite her from our country back to Italy, does Amanda Knox have any rights for wrongful imprisonment against this prosecutor and his department of the government?

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Excellent question! Anne Bremner?

BREMNER: Yes?

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Excellent question.

BREMNER: You know, it is an excellent question, for which I thank you. And you know, she does have some of those rights. She also has a right with respect to defamation, speaking of defamation, in going after some of these U.K. tabloids and others that just went after her and called her a "she devil" and "foxy Knoxy," just like the prosecutor did.

But you know what? At the end of the day, I don`t think Amanda is that kind of girl. I think she wants privacy and wants to move on with her life. But there has to be some justice here for her. How do you get paid back for four years of your life when you`re 19?

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Yes. I want to go back out to Paula Newton, who is live in Perugia, Italy, where this is all going down. What about this twisted prosecutor who has been in trouble before for, oh, creating cases out of blog posts? He reads a blog posts and then he comes up with a theory of a crime. And he`s gotten in trouble. Is he going to pay for this fiasco?

NEWTON: Well, there`s certainly many people asking questions about the way he conducted this case. But having said that, Jane, we tried to confine ourselves to this case and this case alone. Unfortunately, because of all the details in these other cases, it depends on who you listen to exactly how it all went down for him in those other cases.

But Jane, even if you look at this case, many of us, the journalists covering this for a few years, had off-the-record discussions with the prosecutor that, Mr. Mignini, that I thought were a bit inappropriate, certainly nothing like I`d ever get back home. And the bottom line, Jane...

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Like what?

NEWTON: ... is that said to me right after the last -- well, he said to me right after the last verdict, Look, I still don`t know what went on that night, but I know that Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito killed her. I know. But he`s still admitting to me that he`s not quite sure what went on. That to me was incredible. I don`t think I`d ever see that happening back home. And that was just the long conversation, albeit long with me.

They spoke to many journalists on both sides here, and that made it very difficult to really parse out the evidence that was conclusive from fabrications or theories on the part of the prosecution.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Absolutely incredible emotional scenes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Amanda Knox, 24 years old, after four years in prison is now about to become a free woman.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was just astonishing. Amanda Knox`s parents, of course, so euphoric at that decision. There were whoops and chants.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We`ll hear the wailing of that siren once again as they are taken back to the prison. But this time, it will be, of course, for the last time.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Jane Velez-Mitchell, filling in for Nancy Grace. Amanda Knox walks free in Italy, overturning her conviction for not only murder but also sexual assault, a crazy case where she was accused of being a part of a ritualistic sex game that went wrong, and a lot of critics saying the prosecutor just made it up, looking at blogs and an overactive imagination.

I want to go out to Rupa Mikkilineni. And she`s an investigative reporter who has studied the so-called evidence, but it`s very controversial. What do you know?

MIKKILINENI: Jane, it`s very controversial, and it can be very confusing at times. But what it comes down to is that the DNA evidence -- the defense managed to shed some doubt on the DNA evidence that the prosecutors convicted Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito on in 2009.

And here`s how they did it. They claimed -- the two key pieces of evidence was the knife found in the Sollecito`s -- excuse me -- Sollecito`s kitchen. It was a kitchen knife which had Amanda Knox`s DNA on the handle, and supposedly, Meredith Kercher`s DNA, blood DNA, on the tip of the knife.

Now, this knife had been scrubbed down with bleach, so whatever was found on the tip of that knife was a very small amount of DNA. Now, defense attorneys claim that that DNA was not above par, to the proper DNA standards. So they requested another test. Now, unfortunately, there wasn`t enough DNA to do a secondary test, so that DNA information or evidence was thrown out. And then you`ve got the...

VELEZ-MITCHELL: All right, now...

MIKKILINENI: ... bra clasp...

(CROSSTALK)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Yes, I was going to ask -- yes, the bra clasp was another winner. Dr. Vincent DiMaio, former chief medical examiner and forensic pathologist -- OK, they found a bra clasp from Meredith Kercher, the victim, but it was left at the crime scene for six weeks before it was collected. So does that basically throw out the DNA of Amanda`s boyfriend that was found on it?

DR. VINCENT DIMAIO, FMR. CHIEF MEDICAL EXAMINER: Yes because there`s gross contamination. They had movies showing the officers just discarding material on the floor, piles of material on the floor. So there would have been gross contamination. You can`t consider DNA transfer.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And that says it all right there, tears of joy as Amanda Knox is free!

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Amanda Knox is free. She is going back to the jail. She will be processed. And our indication, she`s going to be let out!

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Amanda Knox`s final hope for freedom.

AMANDA KNOX, FREED FROM ITALIAN PRISON (Through Translator): After four desperate years -- I insist my innocence.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: American college student.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She could barely speak.

KNOX (Through Translator): I am innocent. I had to face charges that were totally unfair, without any basis.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Locked up for murder.

KNOX (Through Translator): I did not kill -- I respect life and people. I did not rape. I am paying with my life for something I haven`t done. I was not there. Wasn`t present at the crime.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: She has said what she really wants is to get on a plane and go home.

KNOX (Through Translator): We deserve freedom.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Now have been announced freed.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Amanda Knox will walk free.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Silence, please. Silence, please.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Her conviction overturned.

KNOX (Through Translator): They are chanting shame, shame.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JANE VELEZ-MITCHELL, HLN HOST: Good evening. I`m Jane Velez-Mitchell in for Nancy Grace.

She`s a free woman, Amanda Knox freed. This is huge breaking news tonight. This Seattle based college student basically went to Perugia, Italy, to have a wonderful year abroad and found herself sucked just into this horrific nightmare. That`s what she described that living accused and then later convicted not just of murder but of sexual assault, of possession of a weapon, the list went on and on and on.

She was stuck behind bars for about four years. And then appeal and a jury in Italy, a jury hears the appeal, not just judges, a jury composed of six individuals plus two judges. It`s an interesting system, very different from our own, and Amanda Knox made a final appeal in fluent Italian hoping to appeal to this jury saying, please let me go.

Let`s listen to her and then we`re going to go out live to Italy. But first listen to Amanda Knox begging for the rest of her life.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KNOX (Through Translator): I am the same person that I was four years ago, exactly the same person. The only thing that now separates me from four years ago is my suffering. In four years I`ve lost my friends and the most terrible and unexplainable way.

My trust in the authorities and the police has been damaged. I had to face charges that were totally unfair, without any basis. And I am paying with my life for something I haven`t done.

Meredith has been murdered and I`ve always wanted justice for her. I`m not escaping the truth and I`ve never tried to escape the truth. I insist on the truth. I insist that after four desperate years I insist my innocence is innocence because it is true. And it must be defended and recognized.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: That dramatic speech worked and tonight Amanda Knox out of prison, a free woman.

We want to go out to Perugia, Italy, live to Paula Newton, CNN correspondent, who was there outside the prison.

Where is she now? And I understand that her dream, the first thing she wanted to do was lie in an open field of grass, lie down in some grass, Paula?

PAULA NEWTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT, OUTSIDE PRISON FROM PERUGIA, ITALY: That`s what she said. I mean all around me this is a concrete structure building, premises. This is where she spent the last four years. She wants to see her family and she wants to be able to see, taste, touch that freedom.

Right now she left this prison a few hours ago on her own, remarkably, with a car escorting her. We believe she`s with her family at a hotel, close to that airport in Rome and they will try and board the first flight out of Italy and then connect on to Seattle.

But, yes, she was apparently, we`re told by people who saw her in there, very confident today, had been packing up her things, already prepared to go. So just imagine, Jane, if she got into that courtroom and heard something other than the fact that she`d be free.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Part of the whole scandal surrounding this case was that the European media began calling her foxy Knoxy, Jean Casarez, and alluding to her as some sort of loose, wild woman.

How did that come about and why was that according to her family so terribly unfair?

JEAN CASAREZ, LEGAL CORRESPONDENT, "IN SESSION": It was like a domino effect, right? You know I think it probably stemmed from the bra of the victim being one of the pieces of evidence in all of this.

But, you know, as we talk about the prosecutor, let`s not forget about the Italian police because they interrogated her for 14 hours. She said they hit her. That they yelled at her. They wouldn`t let her have food or water. And finally they asked her to just envision a scenario where she was at the house and what could have happened. And after 14 hours she did give a scenario and that laid into everything including her arrest.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, I would like to go to international criminal defense attorney Michael Griffith. What I find so horrifying about this case is that this prosecutor is known for making up stories, particularly stories with a ritualistic sex bent and he did it again and yet he was allowed to proceed.

MICHAEL GRIFFITH, INTERNATIONAL LAW ATTORNEY/CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY (via phone): Well, Jane --

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Michael Griffith?

GRIFFITH: There are devious prosecutors all over the world. I`ve represented Americans in over three dozen countries with my -- from the International Legal Defense Council and if I were -- if I was there the parents of Amanda Knox I would not be sitting in an airport hotel. I would have her in a car and I would be going up to the Monaco border where there are no checkpoints because with a prosecutor like this, there is an appeals court they could conceivably maybe get a stop order.

She now got a civil judgment against her where, you know, you can get a body attachment in certain areas, you have to put up a bond or to put you in jail. I would get her out of Italy assist as possible which is not a good idea to be in an airport hotel and go to the airport.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, Anne Brenner, you`re a spokesperson for Friends of Amanda Knox. Do you think it`s a risk that she`s spending the night in Italy, apparently headed to Rome and from there tomorrow she will go to Seattle.

Do you think she should do what Michael suggested, head for the border?

ANNE BREMNER, DEFENSE ATTORNEY AND SPOKESPERSON FOR FRIENDS OF AMANDA: Well, my advice all along is get out of Italy. With all the logistics, all the worldwide press they are trying to do this in a systematic fashion and get her out of Italy. I mean an -- but you know that was all logistics, all the rules, and everything else. They`re trying to do this in a kind of systematic passion and get out of Italy.

A hence the flight rather than a car. But you know I think it`s good advice to heed because there`s other defamation cases have been made against Amanda, her parents, their own "People" magazine in Italy and it`s just time to get out.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: All right. Nicole, Missouri, your question or thought, Nicole.

NICOLE, CALLER FROM MISSOURI: Hi. Thank you for taking my call. I`m wondering if Amanda or Raffaele have any recourse against the Italian government for false imprisonment?

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Jason Oshins, defense attorney, what do you think?

JASON OSHINS, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Well, you know, there`s always the -- you know, The Hague in perhaps bringing a -- you know, a case there, an international tribunal. I mean it`s used for so many other weapons, you know, against leaders around the world.

I don`t know if it rises to that level. I think clearly it was prosecutorial misconduct. But you know that might be something that options might be developed. But she`s right, Anne is right, she`s got to get out of there as soon as she can.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, we heard Paula Newton, CNN correspondent, who is in Perugia, Italy, say that she talked to this prosecutor and he says, I don`t know what happened inside that house. And yet he is arguing ferociously, ferociously, Paul Ciolino, investigative -- private investigator who went to Italy to investigate this case, he is arguing as if he saw a film that this was a sex game gone wrong and accusing this young woman of sexually assaulting her female roommate.

PAUL CIOLINO, PRIVATE INVESTIGATOR, CONSULTANT FOR CBS NEWS, INVESTIGATED CASE IN ITALY: Jane, this guy got his theory of the case from a psychic, a well-known Italian psychic. She got her theory of the case from a priest who`s been dead since 1984. This is the law this guy is practicing. He gets his advice from a psychic. He gets his theory of the case from a psychic. And then he goes to court and he makes the facts fit his theory.

There has never been any evidence in this case, not one bit indicating that Raffaele and Amanda were involved in this thing. It was horrendously investigated and by the way there was no purchasing of underwear except her underwear was kept at a crime scene and she bought it like in a dollar store.

There isn`t a Victoria Secret within 100 miles of Perugia. But these kids --

VELEZ-MITCHELL: But -- go ahead.

CIOLINO: -- had nothing to do with this ever. There was never a case. There was never a physical evidence. No witnesses. Nothing. This was a created fantasy by this prosecutor and he`s done this before to an American named Doug Preston who`s a very famous "New York Times" bestselling author.

This isn`t round one. This rodeo has been played over before in Italy many years ago and Preston wrote about it in a book and Preston came to us early on in this case and was ferocious in his defense of Amanda because he knew what kind of man we were dealing with there.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Basically he went out to write a book on another murder and found himself accused of possibly being a murderer and had to flee the country. It`s extraordinary.

It`s also week three of season 13 of "Dancing with the Stars" and our very own Nancy Grace is dancing for the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. And tonight she is going to be doing the waltz so be sure to vote.

You can vote multiple times for Nancy and her dancing partner Tristan MacManus. And everybody here at the NANCY GRACE show says, of course.

Good luck, Nancy. You can win this thing, we know it.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Amanda Knox is free.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Today she was determined to speak for herself.

KNOX (Through Translator): I am not what they say I am. Perverse, violent. I respect life and people.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Very questionable forensic.

KNOX (Through Translator): I haven`t done the things that they are suggesting I have done. I know I didn`t kill Meredith. I haven`t murdered. I haven`t raped.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: They are acquitted of charges A, B, C, D and with regard to E.

KNOX (Through Translator): I haven`t stolen. I wasn`t there.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: So Amanda Knox is freed and Raffaele Sollecito as well.

KNOX (Through Translator): I wasn`t present.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Amanda Knox innocent of this terrible crime.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Jane Velez-Mitchell in for Nancy Grace tonight. Breaking news. Amanda Knox free but she is still in Italy even though her conviction for murder and sexual assault of a roommate in Perugia, Italy has been overturned and she could leave the country tonight and some folks here on NANCY GRACE, some experts saying she should high-tail it out of the country because she is dealing with a prosecutor who has his sights set on her and may want to exact some kind of revenge.

I want to go out to Rupa Mikkilineni, investigative reporter and producer.

Rupa, she didn`t do herself any favors, let`s be real, when she did implicate a bar owner in this crime, a bar owner who later turned out to have an alibi. Tell us about it.

RUPA MIKKILINENI, NANCY GRACE PRODUCER: That`s right, Jane. And this is what the defamation charges are about. She was convicted of defamation because she lied to police when she was first brought in for questioning and said not only -- well, we don`t know if this is a lie or not. This part of it. But she says she does remember being in the house when Meredith Kercher was murdered. She heard her scream and she pointed the finger at her former boss, this bar owner, where she was a barmaid. His name is Lumumba. And he had a strong alibi which police discovered three weeks later.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: I want to go to Dr. William July, psychologist, because I can kind of understand Amanda in the sense that, hey, when you`re in college and you`re off on your junior abroad or one of these abroad programs, you`re kind of living sort of an ideal life where you might get a little lost in the clouds.

She still has that quality when she was released. She said the first thing she wanted to do was lie in an open green field. She`s a little sort of poetic. Could that have worked against her where I guess she didn`t see the -- how it might have been misconstrued that she was making out with her boyfriend after she found out that her friend and roommate had been killed?

WILLIAM JULY, PH.D., PSYCHOLOGIST; FORMER POLICE OFFICER, AUTHOR, "BEHAVIOR OF INTEREST": Certainly, Jane. The awareness that we have of how we look -- how we look and appear to others and how our behavior is interpreted is very important. And one lesson that we could all learn from this is to think about how we look to other people and how we manage our impressions, because a lot of people when they are in a situation like a legal trial they think the best thing are the justice is going to automatically prevail. But that does not what always happen. And you do have to be aware of how you manage your image.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: OK. We have somebody on the phone. Ed in Washington who says he knows the family of Amanda Knox.

Ed, what are your thoughts?

ED, CALLER FROM WASHINGTON: I was so excited I started to cry when I found out. I couldn`t believe it. I`ve actually known Curt here for the last couple of years and have talked to him quite a bit about this. You talk about a 20-year-old and thrown into a situation that is unbelievable. She`s overseas for the first time, very bright girl.

Just think about when we were all 20 years old. We didn`t know everything about the world. You know and a lot of things came new. And she experienced a lot very quickly. I think that this situation that she went through, which was very, very traumatic, I don`t think that she was ever guilty.

I think that she was asked what you think could have happened and I think you guys need to go back over that. It wasn`t what happened, what you think could have happened when you talked about what you just talked about.

What I`m concerned about, though, is the debt that the family is in. And she couldn`t have a better support than Curt Knox. I`ll tell you what, she is such a lucky girl and I think she`s going to come out of this OK. But I am worried about the family and the tremendous debt they`ve now endured by being in that legal system.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, Anne Brenner, as tragic as the loss of four years of your life at this age is, they`ve got to be obviously thrilled and just they are thrilled, you can see it in every image, in every frame and every sound of screaming and happy that they are filled with joy.

But aren`t there opportunities now for Amanda Knox when she gets back to the United States, there`s speculation she`s going to do an exclusive interview? She can certainly write a book. She might be able to sell movie rights.

Isn`t there a way for her to recoup some money so that she can help her family heal?

BREMNER: Well, she could. But I don`t know, really, Jane, if that`s what she`s going to do. I don`t know if she`s really that kind of girl. She`s kind of naive but a little bit of a hippie girl. Very sweet. A great person. But what she -- she wants to come home and be private. There`s -- we have Amandadefensefund.org where there`s been a lot of donations but not enough. Her grandma is in debt $250,000 with a loan. Her parents millions. You know credit cards maxed out. You know mortgaged up to here because she was in Italy, wrongfully convicted, you know, and held for four years.

And so this is something -- your caller was great. I think there were a lot of tears in Seattle, a lot of tears in Amanda`s family, a lot of tears with Friends of Amanda Knox including what Paul Ciolino, one of our groups, was with us tonight, and he`s doing a wonderful job. But, you know what? This was expensive in more ways than one.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, Paul Ciolino, private investigator, Anne is holding the cards close to the vest and that`s what the good attorney does. But do you see any opportunities for her? We`ve heard the speculation that she is going to do an exclusive interview when she returns to the United States. What do you know?

CIOLINO: Well, I would tell you she`s probably on a jet right now that belongs to a news network and it`s not yours. She`s -- Amanda better gets busy, is what she better do, because that family is drowning in debt. And she does have a lot of opportunities now. And I believe after she decompresses and has some time, believe me, the offers are rolling in.

Her biggest problem is going to be picking which ones to do. What are the good people have talked, what books to write. What movie deals. There`s going to be opportunities for her and there should be.

But I want to mention something. I`ve gotten over 13 people off of death row in my career. Many people don`t get this opportunity.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Good for you.

CIOLINO: So we`re very lucky.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Yes.

CIOLINO: That Amanda does have this opportunity and had she not been young, Caucasian and very attractive, there wouldn`t be a lot of suitors. So they are fortunate that they do have an opportunity to recoup some of this.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: You`re right. There are a lot of people who are falsely convicted who are there, who are forgotten because they don`t have the appeal, the sex appeal. And that`s true, that is a problem that there are a lot of innocent people who were forgotten and it`s a nice reminder.

Francine, North Carolina. Your question or thought.

FRANCINE, CALLER FROM NORTH CAROLINA: Hi. I just want to say that it`s just really absurd that Americans going to other countries, and when a criminal act is committed, we really are held liable for a lot of the -- just because we were here or there, in the vicinity, and when someone that`s not American, they automatically get extradited back to their country. I don`t understand how it all works.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, you know, you`re absolutely right. And I think when we`re in a foreign country, we kind of think we`re safe, we`re on vacation, or we`re studying abroad, and the rules don`t apply, we don`t have to be worried, we don`t have to be careful.

I know I had that feeling when I was a junior in college and I took my junior year abroad in Mexico, and you forget, yes, you`re in a foreign country. That doesn`t mean that the rules don`t apply. You have to be careful. And it`s a lesson for all young Americans out there.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: In 2009 when the guilty verdicts came down by the Knox family, they thought she was going to get off.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: What a scene inside the courthouse in Perugia, Italy.

DEANNA KNOX, AMANDA KNOX`S SISTER: People who took the time to research the case and could see that Amanda and Raffaele were innocent.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: The evidence, the emotional appeals appear to have cut through to the jury.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All turned on the evidence, right? That`s what eventually freed her, the fact that the evidence didn`t really line up in this case and now she`s going home.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Amanda Knox is free. We go straight out to Perugia, Italy where all of this has gone down, to Paula Newton, CNN correspondent.

You want to talk about the victim here, Meredith Kercher. Let`s not forget about her.

NEWTON: How could you forget? You know during this whole presentation in fact the family, Meredith Kercher`s family, his defense lawyer, showed the brutal photographs.

Jane, it was unbelievable. You know this woman was stabbed more than 40 times, she was left to die in her own pool of blood. Her family, Jane, completely stunned in court today when they heard the verdict. Her sister started crying. We had heard from them before this ruling, and they said that they agreed with the first verdict, but they did say that they would respect the views of the Italian justice system.

And I have to say, Jane, through all of this, and they are suffering the most through this, they have shown incredible dignity and composure.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: And our hearts go out to them. In Britain, this is called the Kercher case, not the Amanda Knox case. And of course, our hearts go out to the family of this young woman who died a horrible death.

Tonight, let`s stop to remember Army Sergeant Keith Coe, 30 years old, Auburn Dale, Florida. Killed in Iraq. He was awarded the Bronze Star, the Purple Heart, the Army Achievement Medal. Remembered for his jokes and living life to the fullest. Keith took his family on one last trip to Hawaii before his death, the same place where he and his wife married.

He leaves behind his mother, Wanda, his brother, Matt, two sisters, Sabrina and Nicole. His widow Katrina, and four children.

Keith Coe, a true American hero.

Thank you to all our guests and thanks to you at home. Before we go tonight, we want to wish a very happy birthday to one of our HLN stars, Adrian. He loves his hometown NBA team, the Atlanta Hawks.

Happy birthday, Adrian. Way to go.

See you tomorrow night. 8:00 sharp Eastern. Right here, same channel. Until then, have a fabulous evening. All right. And of course vote for Nancy.

You can do it, Nancy.

END