Amanda Knox was cleared once and for all in the 2007 murder of her British roommate, Meredith Kercher, in a stunning verdict Friday by Italy’s top court.
The verdict ends an eight-year legal roller-coaster ride, during which the brunette — known as “Foxy Knoxy” — has now twice been tried, convicted and cleared.
Knox, who has been living in Seattle, was thrilled by the news.
“I am tremendously relieved and grateful for the decision,” she said in a statement.
Speaking outside her home, she added, “Meredith was my friend. She deserved so much in this life.”
“I’m the lucky one.’’
Her lawyer, Carlo Dalla Vedova, told reporters in Rome, where the Court of Cassation ruled after 10 hours of deliberation, “At last the error has been put right by the court.”
Knox had been facing a 28-year sentence in an Italian prison — and a lengthy extradition proceeding, given her vow never to return willingly to the country.
Also cleared Friday was Knox’s co-defendant and ex-boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito.
“Yes! Yes! Yes!” Sollecito’s lawyer, Guilia Bongiorno, shouted in court as the verdict was revealed.
Meanwhile, the victim’s mother, Arline Kercher, reacted with shock.
Her daughter had been found partially nude, sexually assaulted and stabbed to death in her bedroom in the Perugia cottage she shared with Knox back in November 2007.
“They have been convicted twice, so it’s a bit odd that it should change now,” the mother said.
Knox had repeatedly insisted that she was innocent in the roomie’s brutal death.
But the then-20-year-old confessed — under duress, and in a language she barely spoke, she later explained. She admitted she was in the cottage and heard Kercher scream so loud she clasped her hands over her ears.
She also implicated an innocent acquaintance, bar owner Patrick Lumumba.
Within weeks, another man, Rudy Guede, was linked to the bloody crime scene by DNA. Guede is serving a 16-year sentence for the death.
Other DNA evidence — now discredited — linked Knox and her boyfriend to a kitchen knife found in the boyfriend’s apartment, where both insisted they spent the night of the murder having sex and smoking marijuana.
Knox’s original 2009 murder conviction was overturned on appeal in 2011, freeing her — but then that ruling was itself reversed in 2013.
A 2013 retrial resulted in the reinstatement of the 2009 conviction, now overturned for good.
Knox is engaged to rock musician and transplanted New York native Colin Sutherland.