Convicted killer claims innocence
Source: Agencies |
December 12, 2010, Sunday
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CONVICTED murderer Amanda Knox broke into tears as she made an address to an appeals court in Italy, saying yesterday she is the innocent victim of an "enormous mistake" and that her life had been "broken" by three years in jail.
In a powerful 20-minute address to the court, the 23-year-old American reached out to the family of Meredith Kercher, the British girl she was convicted of killing and sexually assaulting in 2007 when they were roommates on a student exchange program in Perugia.
Knox denied being the "dangerous, diabolical, uncaring, violent" person described by the prosecution.
Last year, Knox was convicted and sentenced to 26 years in prison. Also convicted of the same charges was Raffaele Sollecito, an Italian who is Knox's ex-boyfriend. He was sentenced to 25 years in prison. Both deny wrongdoing, and have appealed the verdict.
The appeals trial formally opened last month but that hearing was immediately adjourned. With yesterday's hearing, the new proceedings got into full swing.
"I am innocent. Raffaele is innocent. We did not kill Meredith," said Knox, speaking Italian, and her voice breaking. "It doesn't do justice to Meredith and her loved ones to take our lives from us."
Silence fell on the courtroom as Knox started speaking, with her step-father Chris Mellas and her university friend Madison Paxton in attendance. Paxton, who was crying during her friend's speech, said later she had never been "so proud of anybody in my life."
The victim's father, John Kercher, wrote a piece in Britain's Daily Mail that said: "Since that act of horrific violence, Knox, it seems, has been accorded the status of a minor celebrity."
Kercher wrote that Knox's parents "have never expressed their condolences to our family for our grievous loss."
In a powerful 20-minute address to the court, the 23-year-old American reached out to the family of Meredith Kercher, the British girl she was convicted of killing and sexually assaulting in 2007 when they were roommates on a student exchange program in Perugia.
Knox denied being the "dangerous, diabolical, uncaring, violent" person described by the prosecution.
Last year, Knox was convicted and sentenced to 26 years in prison. Also convicted of the same charges was Raffaele Sollecito, an Italian who is Knox's ex-boyfriend. He was sentenced to 25 years in prison. Both deny wrongdoing, and have appealed the verdict.
The appeals trial formally opened last month but that hearing was immediately adjourned. With yesterday's hearing, the new proceedings got into full swing.
"I am innocent. Raffaele is innocent. We did not kill Meredith," said Knox, speaking Italian, and her voice breaking. "It doesn't do justice to Meredith and her loved ones to take our lives from us."
Silence fell on the courtroom as Knox started speaking, with her step-father Chris Mellas and her university friend Madison Paxton in attendance. Paxton, who was crying during her friend's speech, said later she had never been "so proud of anybody in my life."
The victim's father, John Kercher, wrote a piece in Britain's Daily Mail that said: "Since that act of horrific violence, Knox, it seems, has been accorded the status of a minor celebrity."
Kercher wrote that Knox's parents "have never expressed their condolences to our family for our grievous loss."
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