Amanda Knox ex-boyfriend and codefendant, Raffaele Sollecito, appeared on Today Friday to talk frankly about why he has always been such a staunch defender of Amanda Knox, even through the ordeal of being convicted and then cleared only after serving four years for the murder of Knox’s roommate Meredith Kercher.
An Italian court recently overturned the ruling that set them free and has asked for a new murder trial in 2014. Amanda Knox’s attorney has already said that he won’t allow her to appear. Knox and attorney Ted Simon feel that she has no chance of a fair trial in Italy after the prosecutors spun a sensationalized tale of a sex orgy gone wrong.
Knox recently explained to a German reporter: “They wanted to see something that was not there. No matter what I did, if smiled or not, the hair was long or short, if I was wearing a T-shirt or a blouse — it was just all wrong…the judgment in the first trial was already decided before I entered the courtroom. I had no chance.”
Even though he was reportedly Amanda Knox’s boyfriend for only a week, Raffaele Sollecito found himself caught up in what is widely believed in America to be a misguided prosecution. Yet he never backed down or tried to save himself by spinning a story about Knox to cut a deal.
Appearing on Today to promote his book about the traumatic experience, Honor Bound: My Journey To Hell and Back with Amanda Knox, Sollecito explained:
“[I] cannot throw a 20-year-old innocent girl for just giving me the opportunity to live my life because I wouldn’t have ever lived a life like that…the real facts are that we are innocent…”
And, indeed, their conviction was overturned in the first place because there didn’t seem to be any evidence for the prosecution’s colorful description of the murder.
It gets even weirder… #JodiArias , OJ Simpson, and Amanda Knox ALL born on July 9th.All accused of murder.What do you make of this?
— David Otunga (@DavidOtunga) May 14, 2013
With that logic, the guy could get a job as an Italian prosecutor. By my feeble math, one in 365 or 366 people are born on July 9.
Are they all killers?
Raffaele Sollecito told Today that he will return to Italy to fight to clear his name. I think he’s a brave young man.
What do you think of Amanda Knox’s ex?
[photo of Amanda Knox being released from prison in Italy courtesy Scott335 via Wikimedia Commons]
[bloody knife photo by mipstudio via Shutterstock ]