Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito Acquitted.

[BigV]

Wow.

(CBS/AP)

Last Updated 3:55 p.m. ET

PERUGIA, Italy - American student Amanda Knox, who was convicted by an Italian court for the 2007 murder of her roommate Meredith Kercher, was acquitted today by an appeals court.

Her murder conviction in the 2007 slaying of her roommate Meredith Kercher was thrown out by the jury, and she was ordered immediately released from prison.

Knox collapsed in tears after the verdict was read out Monday.

Her former boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito was also found not guilty.

Knox and Sollecito had been convicted in 2009 of sexually assaulting and murdering Kercher, who was stabbed to death in her bedroom. She was found in a pool of blood and covered by a duvet the following day.

Knox was sentenced to 26 years in prison, Sollecito to 25. Also convicted in separate proceedings was Rudy Hermann Guede, an Ivorian man. They all denied wrongdoing.