Daily Mail Publishes Wrong Knox Verdict
In their haste to get a story about the Amanda Knox verdict up, British tabloid the Daily Mail accidentally announced Knox's appeal rejected. Knox was actually exonerated, and will soon be released. From the Mail's florid fictional article about Knox's guilt, which we assume they pre-wrote:
Amanda Knox looked stunned this evening after she dramatically lost her prison appeal against her murder conviction.
As Knox realized the enormity of what judge Hellman was saying she sank into her chair sobbing uncontrollably while her family and friends hugged each other in tears.
A few feet away Meredith's mother Arline, her sister Stephanie and brother Lyle, who had flown in especially for the verdict remained expressionless, staring straight ahead, glancing over just once at the distraught Knox family.
Prosecutors were delighted with the verdict and said that 'justice has been done' although they said on a 'human factor it was sad two young people would be spending years in jail'.
Following the verdict Knox and Sollecito were taken out of court escorted by prison guards and into a waiting van which took her back to her cell at Capanne jail near Perugia and him to Terni jail, 60 miles away.
Both will be put on a suicide watch for the next few days as psychological assessments are made on each of them but this is usual practice for long term prisoners.
Before acquitting Knox of murdering former roommate Meredith Kercher, the judge pronounced that Knox guilty of a slander charge against an Italian bartender. (The punishment is a fine.) Blogger Malcolm Coles notes that several outlets initially mistook this to mean that Knox was guilty of the murder charge. [Malcolm Coles via Alex Leo, Original Daily Mail article, Updated Daily Mail article, h/t Caty Enders]