What a way to kick of SuperBowl Weekend for Amanda Knox, as she has now vowed to fight her conviction for the murder of British student Meredith Kerch. She says she will fight the conviction “until the very end” and said she “will never go willingly” back to Italy.
Speaking on ABC’s “Good Morning America,” Knox said news of the guilty verdict “really has hit me like a train.”
“I did not expect this to happen. I really expected so much better from the Italian justice system,” she said. “They found me innocent before. How can they say that it’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt?”
An appeals court found Knox and her former boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, guilty of murder in the Italian city of Florence after a retrial.
Her attorney, Ted Simon, told CNN’s “New Day” that he had been in touch with Knox and her family all day as they awaited the court’s decision.
“It was terrible news,” he said. “She understands more than anyone that a wrongful conviction is unjust, not just for the accused but for the victim, their family, as well as society, and she feels this very personally.”
Knox’s conviction has raised questions about her possible extradition to Italy to serve her 28½-year sentence, handed down in absentia, since she has been in the United States throughout the retrial.
But Simon said it was too early to talk about extradition since there is still an appeals process to go through, which will probably last another year.
Citing privacy and confidentiality issues, State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf declined to say whether Italy has requested Knox be extradited.
Knox, 26, told ABC she would fight every step of the way.
“I will never go willingly back to the place where I — I’m gonna fight this until the very end,” she said.
Asked how she was coping with the situation, her attorney highlighted her strength of character.
“While she accepted that very difficult news, she has rebounded. She has shown great resilience and fortitude. And with a great deal of family support, they’re going to go forward and appeal what we would characterize as a completely unjust conviction,” Simon said.
The attorney argued there was “no evidence” implicating his client in the murder and never had been, adding that it was “incomprehensible” that the court had found her guilty.
Amanda Knox Says She will fight murder conviction, won’t ‘go willingly’ to Italy was originally published on praiserichmond.com
