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In Book, Knox Takes Case to Court of Public Opinion In Book, Knox Takes Case to Court of Public Opinion
(about 4 hours later)
While imprisoned in Italy for four years in the murder of her roommate, Amanda Knox fended off sexual harassment from guards and an overture from a cellmate. On the night of the killing, she was smoking marijuana and watching a movie with her Italian boyfriend. And those infamous cartwheels that Ms. Knox reportedly performed in the police station never happened. While imprisoned in Italy for four years over the murder of her roommate, Amanda Knox fended off sexual harassment from guards and an overture from a cellmate. On the night of the killing, she was smoking marijuana and watching a movie with her Italian boyfriend. And those infamous cartwheels that Ms. Knox reportedly performed in the police station never happened.
Those assertions are among the many in “Waiting to Be Heard,” the long-awaited memoir that is Ms. Knox’s most extensive public testimony since she was convicted, and then acquitted, of killing her 21-year-old British roommate, Meredith Kercher.Those assertions are among the many in “Waiting to Be Heard,” the long-awaited memoir that is Ms. Knox’s most extensive public testimony since she was convicted, and then acquitted, of killing her 21-year-old British roommate, Meredith Kercher.
“Until now I have personally never contributed to any public discussion of the case or of what happened to me,” Ms. Knox, 25, wrote in an author’s note at the end of the book. “While I was incarcerated, my attention was focused on the trial and the day-to-day challenges of life in prison. Now that I am free, I’ve finally found myself in a position to respond to everyone’s questions. This memoir is about setting the record straight.” “Until now I have personally never contributed to any public discussion of the case or of what happened to me,” Ms. Knox, 25, wrote in an author’s note at the end of the book. “Now that I am free, I’ve finally found myself in a position to respond to everyone’s questions. This memoir is about setting the record straight.”
On the morning of Nov. 2, 2007, Ms. Kercher was found semi-naked, her throat slit, wrapped in a duvet and left in her bedroom in their villa in the picturesque town of Perugia. Ms. Knox, a college student from Seattle who was spending her junior year abroad, and her boyfriend at the time, Raffaele Sollecito, were accused by Italian prosecutors of killing Ms. Kercher in a sexual escapade gone wrong, along with Rudy Guede, an Ivory Coast native who was eventually convicted of Ms. Kercher’s sexual assault and murder. On the morning of Nov. 2, 2007, Ms. Kercher was found seminaked, her throat slit, wrapped in a duvet and left in her bedroom in their villa in the picturesque town of Perugia. Ms. Knox, a college student from Seattle who was spending her junior year abroad, and her boyfriend at the time, Raffaele Sollecito, were accused by Italian prosecutors of killing Ms. Kercher in a sexual escapade gone wrong, along with Rudy Guede, an Ivory Coast native who was eventually convicted of Ms. Kercher’s sexual assault and murder.
An appeals court acquitted Ms. Knox and Mr. Sollecito two years after their original conviction, and they were released. But in March, Italy’s highest court overturned that decision, ordering a new trial sometime in the next year.An appeals court acquitted Ms. Knox and Mr. Sollecito two years after their original conviction, and they were released. But in March, Italy’s highest court overturned that decision, ordering a new trial sometime in the next year.
A copy of Ms. Knox’s book, which is scheduled for release on April 30, was obtained by The New York Times. The memoir prompted a highly competitive auction early last year, with seven publishers bidding on it and Ms. Knox receiving a reported $4 million advance from HarperCollins. Publishers were convinced that the intense publicity the case received, with its lurid details and the courtroom spectacle of two Italian trials, would make the book a big seller.A copy of Ms. Knox’s book, which is scheduled for release on April 30, was obtained by The New York Times. The memoir prompted a highly competitive auction early last year, with seven publishers bidding on it and Ms. Knox receiving a reported $4 million advance from HarperCollins. Publishers were convinced that the intense publicity the case received, with its lurid details and the courtroom spectacle of two Italian trials, would make the book a big seller.
In 463 pages, Ms. Knox recounts her darkest moments in prison — at one point, she writes, she imagined committing suicide by suffocating herself with a garbage bag — as well as her routines there. She says she practiced Italian, wrote letters to family and friends and read books by Dostoyevsky and Umberto Eco. While saying she was the victim of bias and mistreatment by Italian authorities, Ms. Knox also writes that her own mistakes contributed to her conviction. She admits to being naïve, sometimes inappropriate and odd, too proud to admit when her halting knowledge of Italian failed her. During the investigation, she followed the directions of the Italian police “like a lost, pathetic child,” she recalled.
Ms. Knox exhaustively lays out her defense, describing her whereabouts on the night that her roommate was killed. She says that she and Mr. Sollecito were smoking marijuana, reading a Harry Potter book aloud in German and watching the film “Amélie” at his apartment. (“Around our house, marijuana was as common as pasta,” Ms. Knox wrote, recalling that one of her roommates taught her how to roll a joint properly.)  In 463 pages, Ms. Knox recounts her darkest moments in prison — at one point, she writes, she imagined committing suicide by suffocating herself with a garbage bag — as well as her routines there. She says she practiced Italian, wrote letters to family and friends, and read books by Dostoyevsky and Umberto Eco.
Ms. Knox exhaustively lays out her defense, describing her whereabouts on the night that her roommate was killed. She says that she and Mr. Sollecito were smoking marijuana, reading a Harry Potter book aloud in German and watching the film “Amélie” at his apartment. (“Around our house, marijuana was as common as pasta,” Ms. Knox wrote, recalling that one of her roommates taught her how to roll a joint properly.)
She pointed to the Italian prosecutors who she said willfully ignored and manipulated evidence while they clung to the theory that she and Mr. Sollecito were responsible for Ms. Kercher’s death. A conversation with her mother from prison was distorted to help place her at the scene of the crime and promptly leaked to a British newspaper, she writes.She pointed to the Italian prosecutors who she said willfully ignored and manipulated evidence while they clung to the theory that she and Mr. Sollecito were responsible for Ms. Kercher’s death. A conversation with her mother from prison was distorted to help place her at the scene of the crime and promptly leaked to a British newspaper, she writes.
Prosecutors were just as adamant in making their case, presenting DNA and forensic evidence in court that they said proved her guilt. According to Ms. Knox’s account, the police interrogated her for hours and sporadically slapped her on the back of her head. Eventually they goaded her into signing a statement that implicated her and an innocent man, Patrick Lumumba, her boss at a bar where she worked.
According to Ms. Knox’s account, the police interrogated her for hours and sporadically slapped her on the back of her head. Her requests to use the bathroom were denied. Eventually they goaded her into signing a statement that implicated herself and an innocent man, Patrick Lumumba, her boss at a bar where she worked.
Confused and panicking after being taken to prison, Ms. Knox asked to make a phone call. “The guard looked at me like I’d asked for caviar and prosecco,” she wrote.Confused and panicking after being taken to prison, Ms. Knox asked to make a phone call. “The guard looked at me like I’d asked for caviar and prosecco,” she wrote.
But Ms. Knox also said that her own mistakes contributed to her conviction. She admits to being naïve, sometimes inappropriate and odd, too proud to admit when her halting knowledge of Italian failed her. During the investigation, she followed the directions of the Italian police “like a lost, pathetic child,” she recalled. Ms. Knox tries to explain some of the unusual behavior she displayed. In one highly publicized incident, after the body of Ms. Kercher was discovered, Ms. Knox stood outside the villa and repeatedly kissed Mr. Sollecito, drawing suspicion from the police. Watching the clip later, Ms. Knox said she remembered feeling “young and scared, in need of comfort.”
In one highly publicized incident that Ms. Knox discusses in the book, after the body of Ms. Kercher was discovered in her bedroom, Ms. Knox stood outside the villa and repeatedly kissed Mr. Sollecito, drawing suspicion from the police. “Later, people would say that our kisses were flirtatious — evidence of our guilt,” she wrote. “Later, people would say that our kisses were flirtatious — evidence of our guilt,” she wrote.
At the police station, while Ms. Kercher’s British friends huddled together in grief, Ms. Knox wrote that she paced the hallways, dry-eyed, slamming the heel of her palm against her own forehead in anger. At the police station, while Ms. Kercher’s British friends huddled together in grief, Ms. Knox wrote that she paced the hallways, dry-eyed, slamming the heel of her palm against her forehead in anger.
“First I showed not enough emotion; then I showed too much,” she wrote. “It’s as if any good will others had toward me was seeping out like a slow leak from a tire, without my even realizing it.” “First I showed not enough emotion; then I showed too much,” she wrote. Later, a journal entry from that day, in which Ms. Knox wrote that she would “really like to say that I could kill for a pizza but it just doesn’t seem right,” would make her appear even more suspicious. In the book, she dismissed it as “gallows humor.”
Later, a journal entry from that day, in which Ms. Knox wrote that she would “really like to say that I could kill for a pizza but it just doesn’t seem right,” would make her appear even more suspicious. In the book, she dismissed it as “gallows humor.”
“The words in my journal were taken literally, and they damned me,” she wrote. “It was a situation I would find myself in again and again.”“The words in my journal were taken literally, and they damned me,” she wrote. “It was a situation I would find myself in again and again.”
Book publishers from major publishing houses who met with Ms. Knox last year said they were dazzled by her charm, intelligence and forthright demeanor. HarperCollins, a News Corporation subsidiary, eventually secured the rights to publish the book in a deal brokered by the Washington lawyer Robert B. Barnett. Since her return from Italy, Ms. Knox has been living in Seattle and studying creative writing, the book notes. Executives from major publishing houses who met with Ms. Knox last year said they were dazzled by her charm, intelligence and forthright demeanor. HarperCollins, a News Corporation subsidiary, eventually secured the rights in a deal brokered by the Washington lawyer Robert B. Barnett.
Whether Ms. Knox can win over the book-buying public is another matter.Whether Ms. Knox can win over the book-buying public is another matter.
Will she come across as an innocent abroad, a naïve college student ensnared by a medieval Italian legal system? Or, as she has been portrayed in the Italian and British press, a cunning seductress who engineered the brutal killing of her roommate?Will she come across as an innocent abroad, a naïve college student ensnared by a medieval Italian legal system? Or, as she has been portrayed in the Italian and British press, a cunning seductress who engineered the brutal killing of her roommate?
Ms. Knox has scarcely spoken in public, and her first high-profile interview, with Diane Sawyer of ABC News, is scheduled to appear on the book’s publication date.   Ms. Knox has scarcely spoken in public, and her first high-profile interview, with Diane Sawyer of ABC News, is scheduled to appear on the book’s publication date.
Ms. Knox has been living in Seattle and studying creative writing, the book notes. While much of Ms. Knox’s book recounts her imprisonment and legal battles, she also writes about returning to life outside of prison walls.
Racing down the highway from Perugia to Rome in a chauffeured car after her release, Ms. Knox’s mother, Edda Mellas, handed her a touch-screen BlackBerry so she could call some family members.
 “I hadn’t picked up a cellphone in years, and never a touch-screen,” Ms. Knox wrote. “This device was as good as sci-fi to me.”