Amanda Knox to perform with Exoneree Band at Illinois Innocence Project fundraiser

Steven Spearie, State Journal-Register
·2 min read
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Amanda Knox attends a cocktail for the opening of the Innocence Project conference in Modena, Italy, on June 13, 2019.
Amanda Knox attends a cocktail for the opening of the Innocence Project conference in Modena, Italy, on June 13, 2019.
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Amanda Knox, who made international headlines in a murder case in Italy in which she maintained her innocence, will perform Saturday with the Exoneree Band at the Illinois Innocence Project's fundraiser at Danenberger Family Vineyards in New Berlin.

Knox had been scheduled to be part of the "Defenders of the Innocent" event in May 2020, but that was thwarted by COVID-19. Knox did a livestream event that December.

The Illinois Innocence Project, which is housed at the University of Illinois Springfield, will present its 2022 “Defender of the Innocent” awards to House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch, State Sen. Elgie Sims Jr. and Springfield attorney Randy Witter.

More:Marking wrongful convictions, exoneree says the fight continues

The project also will present its first “Angel of Justice” award to exoneree Angel Gonzalez of Waukegan, who spent nearly 21 years in prison. His convictions on sexual assault and kidnapping were vacated with the project's assistance in 2015.

Knox, an American college student studying abroad, and her then-boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, were convicted in 2009 for the 2007 slaying of Meredith Kercher, Knox’s British roommate.

Knox received a 26-year sentence. In 2011, the murder convictions were overturned.

In March 2013, Italy’s Supreme Court ruled that Knox and Sollecito had to stand trial again. Knox was tried and convicted in absentia in early 2014.

The high court overturned the convictions in March 2015 and closed the case.

Rudy Guede, a drug dealer from the Ivory Coast, was sentenced to 30 years in prison for the murder of Kercher. Guede’s sentence was later reduced to 16 years on appeal.

The Exoneree Band is comprised of six members who were wrongfully convicted of other persons' crimes.
The Exoneree Band is comprised of six members who were wrongfully convicted of other persons' crimes.

Knox occasionally performs vocals with the band, whose members collectively lost over 100 years of their lives to wrongful imprisonment.

The Illinois Innocence Project will recognize passage of Illinois’ historic “juvenile deception” bill, which became the nation’s first law to ban law enforcement from lying to youth under age 18 during interrogation. The bill, signed into law July 2021, was the result of the combined efforts of IIP, the Innocence Project, the Office of Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx and the Center on Wrongful Convictions.

Doors open at 5:30 p.m. Saturday with the program beginning at 6:30 p.m.

Tickets are $100. Registration for the event is required and closes on Thursday. For more information, visit the Defenders of the Innocent website.

Contact Steven Spearie at 217-622-1788, sspearie@sj-r.com or twitter.com/@StevenSpearie.

This article originally appeared on State Journal-Register: Amanda Knox will perfrom with Exoneree Band in New Berlin, Illinois