linkAmanda Knox Makes Emotional Plea for Freedom
American Appears in Italian Court to Appeal her Conviction to 26 Years in Prison for the Murder of her College Roommate
By ANN WISE
Dec. 11, 2010
Amanda Knox made an impassioned and emotional plea for her freedom Saturday in the Italian court where she is appealing her conviction to 26 years in prison for the murder of her college roommate, breaking into tears as she spoke of the victim, Meredith Kercher.
"I am innocent," said Knox in Italian to the new jury that is judging her along with her co-defendant and ex-boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito.
"I am innocent. Raffele is innocent. We did not kill Meredith … we are paying with our lives for a crime we did not commit," she added strongly.
"I never would have expected to find myself here," said Knox to the jury, "condemned for a crime that I did not commit … I will never get used to this broken life."
Knox stood to speak at the beginning of the second hearing of her appeal which is taking place in the same courtroom in Perugia, Italy, where she was convicted almost exactly one year ago together with Sollecito, who was sentenced to 25 years in prison.
A third person, Ivorian immigrant Rudy Guede, was also convicted for participating in Kercher's murder in a separate trial. His 30-year conviction was reduced to 16 on appeal, and he is appealing again to Italy's highest Cassation court next week.
As a defendant, Knox is allowed by Italian law to make a "spontaneous statement" when she chooses during court proceedings.
"I and [Raffaele] deserve our freedom, like everyone else in this courtroom today," Knox insisted.
Knox spoke in an emotional crescendo that turned to sobs as she addressed her words to the family of the victim, Meredith Kercher, the UK student she is accused of murdering.
"To Meredith's family, I want to say that I am very sorry she is no longer living. I cannot know how you are feeling, but I have little sisters too, and the idea of them suffering and missing [someone] forever, terrifies me," she said.
The Kerchers, who live in England, were not present in court, but Knox said she hoped her words "would reach them."
"What you are going through is unacceptable," Knox sobbed, and after a long pause added, "I am sorry that all this happened to you...it isn't right and never will be."
She said Meredith was "nice, intelligent, and friendly, it was she who showed me around Perugia. I am grateful to her and honored to have known her."
In the three years since she was arrested, this was the first time Knox has publicly expressed her sorrow to the victim's family.
Meredith Kercher's father, John, who has spoken out very rarely since Kercher's death, has criticized the Knox family recently for never having expressed their condolences to him and his family, "no letter of sympathy, no word of regret."
Francesco Maresca, the lawyer representing the Kercher's as civil plaintiffs walked out of the courtroom as Knox began her statement.
He later told reporters that he left because he "didn't want to have to listen to these affirmations which come too late, are inappropriate, and devoid of any meaning, and intended to [impress] the appeals court."
I never understood what it was about this bitch that caused portions of the U.S. media to abandon all semblance of reason and take up her cause.
Anyone who actually reviews the evidence (follow the link to the PDF attachment at the bottom of the page) as presented in its entirety in the reasoning for sentence issued by the judges in Knox's case, rather than in the distorted bits doled out my Knox's supporters and swallowed wholesale as gospel by some media outlets, could not rationally come to any other conclusion but that Knox had to be involved.
) come between us.