Amanda Knox freed by Italian appeals court

After four years in prison, Amanda Knox  walked free on Monday. The 24-year-old American woman, and her former boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, were  convicted of murdering her roommate, Meredith Kercher in 2009. Sollecito’s conviction was also overturned by an Italian appeals court in Perugia. The story of sex, drug-using, exchange students, and murder became a media sensation around the world. The prosecution’s case against Knox was derided as based on  circumstantial  evidence doubted by independent experts. Journalist  Nina Burleigh  says the Amanda Knox case shouldn’t just dismissed  as tabloid fodder. Much of the case, she insists, is about cultural misunderstandings between the U.S. and Italy. Burleigh  is a contributing editor at Salon.com and Elle Magazine and author of “The Fatal Gift of Beauty: The Trials of Amanda Knox.”