Knox Supporters Weep, Cheer Upon Verdict

Tears flowed as people clapped and cheered at a gathering of Amanda Knox's friends and family in Seattle today, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer reports. Gathered around a television at the Fairmount Hotel, where they had stayed overnight, the group of more than 30 was uncertain what had happened until they heard a key word translated from Italian: "Overturned." In the bedlam, the Los Angeles Times reports, one man shouted: "Guess what, guilters: We frickin' beat 'em, man!"

Others huddled together in prayer—"remembering Meredith," said an old friend of Knox's mother, referring to murder victim Meredith Kercher. "Meredith lost her life. And we never lost sight of that. Never ever." A parent of an old Knox school chum also sounded a somber note, telling the Seattle Times that Knox would need help upon returning home: "Imagine being behind cement walls and bars for four years, and knowing you're innocent," he said. "I'm sure she's wounded." (More Amanda Knox stories.)