Knox 'ready' to testify in coed slay trial

PERUGIA, Italy, June 10 (UPI) -- U.S. college student Amanda Knox, accused of slaying her British roommate Meredith Kercher in Italy, is ready to testify, Knox's aunt says.

"She's ready," Knox's aunt, Chris Hagge, told the U.S. Web site SeattlePI.com, which reported Wednesday that Knox is expected to take the witness stand in her murder trial Friday and Saturday.

On trial with the University of Washington student is her Italian ex-boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, 25. Both are accused of the 2007 strangling, stabbing and suffocating death of Kercher, a British foreign exchange student who was sharing a cottage with Knox in Perguia, Italy. Prosecutors say Knox, Sollecito and another man killed Kercher when she refused to participate in a drug-fueled sex game.

The Web site reported that Knox could speak in either English or Italian during her highly anticipated testimony, with her attorneys saying she will decide at the last minute.

Italian officials say security will be beefed up to handle an influx of foreign journalists and public spectators wanting to attend the trial during Knox's testimony.