Advertisement

Kercher family lawyer tells Knox to 'act like a defendant'

Amanda Knox, right, and her mother Edda, smile at a crowd of supporters during a news conference held at the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport near Seattle, Washington on October 4, 2011. Knox arrived in the United States after departing Rome's Leonardo da Vinci airport,. Knox's life turned around dramatically when an Italian appeals court threw out her conviction in the sexual assault and fatal stabbing of her British roommate. UPI Photo/Jim Bryant
Amanda Knox, right, and her mother Edda, smile at a crowd of supporters during a news conference held at the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport near Seattle, Washington on October 4, 2011. Knox arrived in the United States after departing Rome's Leonardo da Vinci airport,. Knox's life turned around dramatically when an Italian appeals court threw out her conviction in the sexual assault and fatal stabbing of her British roommate. UPI Photo/Jim Bryant | License Photo

FLORENCE, Italy, Jan. 9 (UPI) -- The lawyer for the family of a British woman killed in Italy in 2007 said former student Amanda Knox should "act as a defendant" and quit making statements.

Knox, along with former boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito, is on trial for a second time in the 2007 death of Meredith Kercher, with whom Knox shared an apartment when they were exchange students in Perugia.

Advertisement

In an article published Thursday in the daily La Repubblica, Knox said she wanted to tell Kercher's family directly she had nothing to do with her death, Italy's ANSA news agency said.

"This is the moment to act like a defendant. She must stop making [public] statements," attorney Francesco Maresca said.

Knox lives in Seattle, opting not to attend the retrial in Florence.

Knox and Sollecito were convicted in Kercher's death in 2009, but acquitted on appeal two years later. In 2013, the Court of Cassation, Italy's top court, overturned the appeal ruling and ordered a new appeals-level trial.

The prosecution has asked for a 30-year jail sentence for Knox and 26 years for Sollecito in this latest trial.

Advertisement

Sollecito's lawyers made closing statements on Thursday. ANSA said rebuttal is scheduled for Jan. 20 and a decision likely will be announced Jan. 30.

Knox's lawyers have said she is following the trial from her home in Seattle. In the La Repubblica article, Knox said if she were convicted again, she would be a "fugitive," intimating she would not return to Italy.

Latest Headlines