PERUGIA, Italy - American student Amanda Knox, was crying and collapsed as the verdict was read.  She was convicted by an Italian court for the 2007 murder of her roommate Meredith Kercher, and was acquitted today by an appeals court.

Her murder conviction in the 2007 slaying of her roommate Meredith Kercher was thrown out by the jury, and she was ordered immediately released from prison after nearly four years of detention.

Knox collapsed in tears after the verdict was read out Monday.

Her former boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito was also found not guilty.

Knox was found guilty by the jury of defamation of the police for statements she had made, for which she was sentenced to 3 years and fined 22,000 euros. But considering time served, she was freed.

Sobbing, Knox was escorted out of the courtroom.

Knox and Sollecito had been convicted in 2009 of sexually assaulting and murdering Kercher, who was stabbed to death in her bedroom. She was found in a pool of blood and covered by a duvet the following day.

Knox was sentenced to 26 years in prison, Sollecito to 25. Also convicted in separate proceedings was Rudy Hermann Guede, an Ivorian man. They all denied wrongdoing.

The Kercher family looked on grimly as the verdict was read out by the judge after 11 hours of deliberations by the eight-member jury.

"We are thankful that Amanda's nightmare is over," Knox's family said in a statement, read outside the court by one of Amanda's sisters. They also expressed thanks for support Amanda received from all over the world."

"And last, we are thankful for the court for having the courage to look for the truth and overturn this conviction.

"We now respectfully ask that give Amanda the privacy she needs to recover from this ordeal."

Outside the courthouse, competing protesters - some supporting Knox, some not - added their voices, with cheers as well as shouts of "Shame, shame!"

As the verdict was announced, about a dozen supporters from the group called Friends of Amanda, gathered at a downtown Seattle hotel to watch the proceedings on TV, burst into applause and cheered. They began chanting, "She's free!" and "We did it!"

Wishing Amanda all the best as her new life begins.

Suzanne Newkirk

Humanitarian