December 4, 2009 8:52 PM
- Text
Knox Sticks To Sex, Drugs Story
(CBS/AP)
An American student charged with murdering her British roommate in 2007 told an Italian court Saturday that a "crescendo" of police pressure led her to finger an innocent man in the case.
Amanda Knox, of Seattle, cross-examined by prosecutors on her second day on the witness stand, said a policewoman had hit her twice on the head during an interrogation after 21-year-old Meredith Kercher was found dead.
Saturday "may have been (her) last appearance to speak in her own defense," observes CBS News correspondent Allen Pizzey.
Knox, 21, and Italian co-defendant Raffaele Sollecito, her ex-boyfriend, are accused of murder and sexual violence in the slaying of Kercher, who was found in a pool of blood Nov. 2, 2007 in the apartment she shared with the American in the central Italian town of Perugia.
Knox had taken the stand for the first time Friday and said she spent the night of the killing at Sollecito's apartment. Prosecutors say Knox, Sollecito and a third suspect convicted in a separate trial went to Kercher's home the night of the murder and killed the Briton in what began as a sex game.
But, reports Pizzey, Knox on Saturday "maintained her alibi that she and (Sollecito) smoked marijuana and had sex in his apartment on the night of the murder."
Pizzey says Knox "appeared slightly rattled by the relentless questioning, and her lawyer intervened to help out, prompting protests from the prosecution. But Knox did not waiver from the position she took when she first spoke in court (Friday) — that she was pressured and harshly treated by the police during her initial interrogation."
Knox's father, Curt Knox, told CBS News her performance on the stand will help prove her innocence. "She was looking that judge directly in the eyes and providing him the answers," Knox said. "And I think, you know, if you were an individual that was lying, you wouldn't be doing that."
Knox claimed Saturday that police pressure caused her initially to accuse Diya "Patrick" Lumumba, a Congolese man who owns a pub in Perugia, of being the culprit. Lumumba was jailed briefly in the case, but was later cleared and is seeking defamation damages from Knox.
Police have denied any improper behavior, but Knox repeated her claim Saturday when questioned by lead prosecutor Giuliano Mignini.
"It was always a crescendo," she said recalling her early questioning sessions. "When I said I was with Raffaele all the time, they told me I was a liar. I was scared, I thought: Maybe they are right."
Knox answered questions confidently and in a steady voice, sitting at the witness stand with a prison guard behind her. Though she had an interpreter next to her, the American spoke in fluent Italian, which she mostly learned in the year-and-a-half she has spent in jail.
Knox said interrogators "wanted a name" and that a policewoman hit her twice on the head.
"Do you remember? Do you remember? And then, boom! On the head," Knox said, mimicking the slap in court. "I went: 'Mamma mia!' And then again, another boom!"
It was that pressure that made her come up with Lumumba's name, she said.
"It didn't hurt, but it frightened me," she said.
Knox and Sollecito have been jailed since shortly after the slaying. Sollecito, 25, has said he was at his own apartment the entire night of Nov. 1, mainly working at his computer. He said he does not remember if Knox spent the whole night with him or just part of it. The two have said they could not remember events clearly because they had taken drugs.
Prosecutors say Kercher came home after an evening with friends on Nov. 1, and soon after opened the door to Knox, Sollecito and Rudy Hermann Guede, who was convicted of murder last year and sentenced to 30 years in prison. Guede, who denies wrongdoing, was given a fast-track trial at his request.
According to the prosecutors, Sollecito held Kercher by the shoulders from behind while Knox touched her with the point of a knife. They say Guede, an Ivory Coast national, tried to sexually assault Kercher and then Knox fatally stabbed her in the throat.
Prosecutors maintain a kitchen knife found at Sollecito's apartment is compatible with Kercher's wounds, and has the Briton's DNA on the blade and Knox's on the handle.
The trial began in January and a verdict is expected after a summer break. Knox and Sollecito could face Italy's stiffest punishment, life imprisonment, if convicted of murder.
Amanda Knox, of Seattle, cross-examined by prosecutors on her second day on the witness stand, said a policewoman had hit her twice on the head during an interrogation after 21-year-old Meredith Kercher was found dead.
Saturday "may have been (her) last appearance to speak in her own defense," observes CBS News correspondent Allen Pizzey.
Knox, 21, and Italian co-defendant Raffaele Sollecito, her ex-boyfriend, are accused of murder and sexual violence in the slaying of Kercher, who was found in a pool of blood Nov. 2, 2007 in the apartment she shared with the American in the central Italian town of Perugia.
Knox had taken the stand for the first time Friday and said she spent the night of the killing at Sollecito's apartment. Prosecutors say Knox, Sollecito and a third suspect convicted in a separate trial went to Kercher's home the night of the murder and killed the Briton in what began as a sex game.
But, reports Pizzey, Knox on Saturday "maintained her alibi that she and (Sollecito) smoked marijuana and had sex in his apartment on the night of the murder."
Pizzey says Knox "appeared slightly rattled by the relentless questioning, and her lawyer intervened to help out, prompting protests from the prosecution. But Knox did not waiver from the position she took when she first spoke in court (Friday) — that she was pressured and harshly treated by the police during her initial interrogation."
Knox's father, Curt Knox, told CBS News her performance on the stand will help prove her innocence. "She was looking that judge directly in the eyes and providing him the answers," Knox said. "And I think, you know, if you were an individual that was lying, you wouldn't be doing that."
Knox claimed Saturday that police pressure caused her initially to accuse Diya "Patrick" Lumumba, a Congolese man who owns a pub in Perugia, of being the culprit. Lumumba was jailed briefly in the case, but was later cleared and is seeking defamation damages from Knox.
Police have denied any improper behavior, but Knox repeated her claim Saturday when questioned by lead prosecutor Giuliano Mignini.
"It was always a crescendo," she said recalling her early questioning sessions. "When I said I was with Raffaele all the time, they told me I was a liar. I was scared, I thought: Maybe they are right."
Knox answered questions confidently and in a steady voice, sitting at the witness stand with a prison guard behind her. Though she had an interpreter next to her, the American spoke in fluent Italian, which she mostly learned in the year-and-a-half she has spent in jail.
Knox said interrogators "wanted a name" and that a policewoman hit her twice on the head.
"Do you remember? Do you remember? And then, boom! On the head," Knox said, mimicking the slap in court. "I went: 'Mamma mia!' And then again, another boom!"
It was that pressure that made her come up with Lumumba's name, she said.
"It didn't hurt, but it frightened me," she said.
Knox and Sollecito have been jailed since shortly after the slaying. Sollecito, 25, has said he was at his own apartment the entire night of Nov. 1, mainly working at his computer. He said he does not remember if Knox spent the whole night with him or just part of it. The two have said they could not remember events clearly because they had taken drugs.
Prosecutors say Kercher came home after an evening with friends on Nov. 1, and soon after opened the door to Knox, Sollecito and Rudy Hermann Guede, who was convicted of murder last year and sentenced to 30 years in prison. Guede, who denies wrongdoing, was given a fast-track trial at his request.
According to the prosecutors, Sollecito held Kercher by the shoulders from behind while Knox touched her with the point of a knife. They say Guede, an Ivory Coast national, tried to sexually assault Kercher and then Knox fatally stabbed her in the throat.
Prosecutors maintain a kitchen knife found at Sollecito's apartment is compatible with Kercher's wounds, and has the Briton's DNA on the blade and Knox's on the handle.
The trial began in January and a verdict is expected after a summer break. Knox and Sollecito could face Italy's stiffest punishment, life imprisonment, if convicted of murder.
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