Knox: Has 'faith' in Italian judiciary

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ROME, Dec. 9 (UPI) -- U.S. college student Amanda Knox, convicted of murder by an Italian court, says she still has faith in the country's judicial system.

Knox, 22, who has indicated she will appeal the guilty verdict she drew last week in the 2007 slaying of British roommate Meredith Kercher, told an Italian politician visiting her in jail, "I still have faith in Italian justice," The Times of London reported Wednesday.

Walter Verini, a center-left deputy in the Italian parliament, said Knox also told him she felt her "rights were respected" during her trial -- a sentiment strongly at odds with critics who have said the verdict reflected "anti-Amercanism" and amounted to a "public lynching."

The Times said Verini relayed that Knox had once hoped to be home in the United States by Christmas and that she was "crazy to be freed." The politician also quoted Knox as saying, "There is only one road I have chosen to get out of here, and that is the appeal my lawyers are preparing."

An Italian court last week sentenced Knox to 26 years in prison for Kercher's slaying and sexual assault while her co-defendant and one-time Italian boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, was given 25 years.