Coed's father praises her testimony

PERUGIA, Italy, June 15 (UPI) -- Amanda Knox's clear testimony should help persuade an Italian jury she did not kill her British roommate, Curt Knox said of his daughter.

"Hopefully, people realize she's just a normal college student and not this 'dark angel' character portrayed in the media," said Curt Knox, a Seattle resident who traveled to Italy for his daughter's trial.

Amanda Knox is charged with first-degree murder in the Nov. 5, 2007 killing of Meredith Kercher, her roommate in Perugia, Italy. She was arrested just one month into her year abroad from the University of Washington in Seattle.

The 21-year-old, who has pleaded innocent, testified Friday and Saturday in a sensational trial that has been compared to Italy's version of the O.J. Simpson case, The Seattle Times reported Monday.

"I can't tell you how proud I was of her, how she handled herself in what might be considered a life-and-death situation," her father said in a telephone interview with the Times.

Knox is charged along with her ex-boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, of killing Kercher in a sex-game gone bad. Rudy Guede, a third defendant, already has been convicted.