Knox To Testify In Italy Murder Trial

American to take the stand in Italy murder trial.

PERUGIA, Italy — An American suspect is expected to defend herself from charges of murder and sexual assault when she takes the stand Friday in the trial for the 2007 killing of a British student in Italy.

Perugia murder suspect Amanda Knox has "nothing to hide", her father has said, as his daughter prepares to testify in court for the first time in the trial.

Knox, 21, is accused of murdering Meredith Kercher, also 21, who was found semi-naked with her throat cut in her bedroom in the house they shared.

The court has already been told that she was killed after refusing to take part in a drug-fuelled sex game - but Knox and her former boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito, 25, also accused, deny the charges.

In an interview with US broadcaster CBS, her father Curt Knox, who has flown to Perugia from his home in Seattle, Washington, said: "Amanda has nothing to hide.

"She is nervous but she is also at the same time comfortable with what is about to happen.

"For the first time, the judge and jury will be able to hear her version of events, and they will be able to see her come across as 100% innocent.


"She will field all the questions no matter who they are from."

He added that his daughter, who went to Perugia to study, would speak in Italian so she would not be misinterpreted.

Knox has been dubbed "Angel Face" by the Italian media due to her squeaky clean appearance - but she has also been described as sex-crazed thanks to entries on social-networking websites and leaked extracts from her prison diary.

Her lawyer Luciano Ghirgha said: "Amanda will respond to everything and will leave no stone unturned.

"She is ready to speak and she will tell the truth about what happened. She did not kill her friend Meredith."

Knox attracted the attention of the police for her bizarre behaviour in the hours after the murder and for allegedly changing her story.

At one point she also told police - who minutes earlier had seen her doing the splits and handstands in a waiting room - that she had covered her ears against the screams as she vaguely "remembered Patrick Lumumba killing Meredith".

As a result of her claim bar owner Lumumba, 38, was arrested and held in custody for two weeks before being released without charge.

He is now bringing a slander case against Knox, which is running concurrently with the murder trial.

Knox will tell the court that she said what she did after stressful questioning while she was exhausted and shocked, without the presence of a lawyer or interpreter.

Last October a third defendant, Ivory Coast drifter Rudy Guede, 21, was sentenced to 30 years for killing and sexually assaulting Miss Kercher, an exchange student from Coulsdon, Surrey.

A University of Washington student accused in the 2007 killing of a British student in Italy is expected to defend herself from charges of murder and sexual assault when she takes the stand Friday.

Amanda Knox, an exchange student from Seattle, is on trial in the central Italian town of Perugia for the death of her roommate, 21-year-old Meredith Kercher.

Knox and co-defendant Raffaele Sollecito, her former Italian boyfriend, have always denied wrongdoing.

"She's a bit nervous about going on to the stand, but she's also quite confident in what she has to say and that the truth will come out during her testimony," the American's father, Curt Knox, told CBS' "Early Show" on Thursday.

"She is going to be telling the truth and answering all of the questions, and hopefully the court will see that and see that she had nothing to do with this and that she's 100 percent innocent," Knox said, speaking from Perugia.


He said that during the testimony his daughter would be speaking Italian, which she mostly learned during the year and a half she has spent in jail.

Knox lawyer Luciano Ghirga said Friday's questioning would be "long and hard" but would turn out to be in his client's favor.

"She has nothing to lose, and everything to gain," Ghirga said.

Kercher was found Nov. 2, 2007 in a pool of blood in the apartment she shared with Knox. Prosecutors allege the defendants strangled and stabbed her neck and say the Briton was killed during what began as a sex game.

Kercher's wounds were compatible with a kitchen knife the prosecution says might have been the murder weapon. The knife was found at Sollecito's house and prosecutors say Knox's DNA was found on the handle and Kercher's was found on the blade.

Knox and Sollecito, jailed since shortly after the slaying, have given conflicting statements over their whereabouts the night of the murder.

Knox initially said she was at home and implicated the Congolese owner of a bar where she worked. The man was cleared after being detained for two weeks, and Knox has since insisted she was not at home during the slaying.

Sollecito has said he was at his own apartment in Perugia, working at his computer. He said he does not remember if Knox spent the whole night with him or just part of it.

The two risk Italy's stiffest punishment, life imprisonment, if convicted of murder. The trial began in January and a verdict is expected after a summer break.

A third suspect in the case, Ivory Coast national Rudy Hermann Guede, was found guilty of murder and sexual violence and was sentenced to 30 years in prison. He was given a fast-track trial at his request, and his appeal is set to start in November. He too denies wrongdoing.

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Defense lawyers are expected to argue that the physical evidence was tainted by sloppy police work.

The case is being heard by a panel of eight judges. The trial has drawn more than 140 journalists from 86 news outlets to the courthouse in Perugia, Italy.

The presiding judge in the case, Giancarlo Massei, has barred cameras from the courtroom and said he could completely close portions of the trial dealing with the most graphic sexual assault allegations.