After 4-Year Ordeal, A Dallas Homecoming For Amanda Knox

First Released: October 4, 2011 10:47 PM EDT Credit: Landov Photos Caption Amanda Knox smiles in the Leonardo Da Vinci airport terminal in Fiumicino October 4, 2011. Amanda Knox, removed from the murder of British student Meredith Kercher, on Tuesday thanked supporters who supported her innocence as she ready to go back home towards the U . s . States after 4 years in jail. Dallas, Clean. -- Amanda Knox came back to her home town of Dallas on Tuesday and was as overcome with emotion as she would be a day earlier in Italia, when she was found innocent on murder charges after 4 years imprisonment. Appreciate being there for me personally, she tearfully informed her supporters before an audience of worldwide reporters. Im really overcome at this time, she stated in a news conference minutes after she was escorted off an english Airways flight from London. I had been searching lower in the plane, and it appeared like everything wasnt real. Knoxs existence switched around significantly Monday when an Italian appeals court put out her conviction within the sexual assault and fatal stabbing of her British roommate. On Tuesday, photos of Knox crying within the court docket following the verdict was read made an appearance around the front pages of newspapers in Italia, the U.S., Britain and round the world. Putting on a brown cardigan and black tights, together with her hair inside a ponytail, Knox sobbed in the news conference and held her moms hands as her lawyer Theodore Simon stated her acquittal unmistakably introduced around the world that they wasn't accountable for the killing of Meredith Kercher. After her parents offered their because of Knoxs lawyers and supporters, Knox spoke briefly, saying, Theyre telling me to talk in British, because Im getting issues with that. Thanks to everybody whos supported me, whos defended me, whos supported my loved ones, she stated. My familys the most crucial factor in my experience so Among the finest to visit and become together, so, appreciate being there for me personally, she stated before she and her family left for any welcome-home party at her fathers house. Knoxs acquittal, fueled by doubts over DNA evidence, stunned the sufferers family and angered the prosecution, which demands that they was among three individuals who wiped out Kercher, 21. However for Knoxs grandmother Elisabeth Huff, it had been such as the weight around the globe choose to go. All of us are as happy as possible. I cant let you know how lengthy weve been searching forward even today, Huff told The Connected Press outdoors her home in West Dallas, a good-knit community a couple of miles across Elliott Bay from downtown. Buddies and family who held spaghetti dinners, bowling occasions and concerts to boost money for Knoxs defense were thrilled to possess her home, though at Dallas-Tacoma Airport Terminal her supporters were a little presence in comparison towards the a large number of U.S. and worldwide reporters. WELCOME HOME AMANDA, browse the marquee in a record store within the neighborhood where Knox was raised. Another welcome sign was hung at her fathers house. A bar offered half-cost drinks to celebrate her acquittal. A minumum of one TV station in Washington condition monitored the progress of her flight around the air utilizing a plane-monitoring website. Knox, 24, left Perugias Capanne prison Monday evening among cheers that the companion in comparison to individuals in a soccer stadium. 100s of inmates many of them within the mens wing yelled Amanda, ciao! and Freedom! as she walked in to the central courtyard, stated Corrado Maria Daclon, mind from the Italia-US Foundation, which championed Knoxs cause. Daclon stated Knox leaped just a little for pleasure and waved towards the criminals. She was soon on her behalf way home, protected through the dim home windows of the Mercedes that brought her from the prison in the center of the evening, after which Tuesday morning to Romes Leonardo da Vinci airport terminal. She travelled from Rome to London, where she required an immediate British Airways flight to Dallas, flying business class with full-length chair and menu options including champagne, smoked fish and prawn salad. She and her family were around the planes secluded upper deck. A minimum of nine people of media organizations were aboard below, but a flight ticket attendant blocked them from climbing the steps to preserve the privacy of people. Because the plane neared Dallas, the flight crew told reporters that when the plane arrived, they would need to remain sitting while customs authorities escorted Knox and her entourage from the plane. You won't see her, the cabin crew chief stated. Following the plane arrived, Knox and her family were taken by shuttle van to undergo customs. In the airport terminal, 16-year-old Amra Plavcic shook her mind in the a large number of reporters establishing for that news conference, within sight from the gate where Knoxs plane ended up being to land. I dont think this will be significant. Its a significant amount of, stated Plavcic, who had been together with her mother waiting for a family member who had been on Knoxs flight. Knox would be a College of Washington student studying abroad in Perugia when Kercher was wiped out in 2007. Inside a letter launched hrs before she left Italia, Knox thanked individuals Italians who supported her. Individuals who authored, individuals who defended me, individuals who have been close, individuals who interceded for me personally, Knox authored, I really like you. District attorney Giuliano Mignini expressed disbelief in the innocent decisions of Knox and her former boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito. Mignini keeps that Knox, Sollecito and the other guy wiped out Kercher throughout a lurid, drug-fueled sex game. Mignini stated he'll attract Italys greatest court arrest after finding the reasoning behind the acquittals, due within 3 months. Allows wait and we'll see who had been right. The very first court or even the appeal court, Mignini told The Connected Press on Tuesday. This trial ended under unacceptable media pressure. One conviction within the slaying still stands: those of Ivory Coast native Rudy Hermann Guede, who sentence was cut to 16 years in the final appeal. His lawyer stated Tuesday he'll seek a retrial. The greatest court already has upheld Guedes conviction. It stated Guede hadn't behaved alone but didn't title Knox and Sollecito, saying it wasn't as much as a legal court to find out who his accomplices were. Kerchners family stated throughout a psychological news conference Tuesday that they are to where you started. Mondays decision clearly boosts further questions, her brother Lyle Kercher stated. If individuals two aren't the guilty parties, then who're the guilty people? he stated. Knox was sentenced to 26 years imprisonment and Sollecito received 25, however the prosecutions situation was blown apart with a DNA review purchased throughout the appeals trial that discredited crucial genetic evidence. Prosecutors maintain that Knoxs DNA was located on the handle of the kitchen knife thought to become the murder weapon, which Kerchers DNA was located on the edge. They stated Sollecitos DNA was around the clasp of Kerchers bra included in a mixture of evidence which incorporated the sufferers genetic profile. But a completely independent review purchased in the request from the defense discovered that police performing the analysis had made glaring errors. The 2 experts stated below-standard testing and possible contamination elevated doubts within the attribution of DNA traces, both around the edge as well as on the bra clasp, that was collected in the crime scene 46 days following the murder. The review was essential to tossing the convictions because no motive has emerged and witness testimony was contradictory. The greatest court will settle if any methods were violated. The hearing generally takes eventually in Rome, and accused aren't needed to go to. When the greatest court overturns the acquittal, prosecutors could be liberated to request Knoxs extradition. It might be as much as the federal government to determine whether or not to result in the formal extradition request. Copyright 2011 through the Connected Press. All Privileges Reserved. Copyright 2011 by NBC Universal, Corporation. All privileges reserved. These components might not be released, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.