Post date: Dec 17, 2013 6:2:11 PM
R Reports - Inside this Italian courthouse, lawyers for Amanda Knox delivered a letter from the American student explaining why she was not present for her retrial.
The presiding judge read the letter in which Knox pleaded her innocence in the murder of her roommate Meredith Kercer.
PRESIDING JUDGE, ALESSANDRO NENCINI,"I am innocent. I did not kill, I did not rape, I did not steal, I did not plot or instigate. I did not kill Meredith, I did not take part in her murder. I did not have any prior knowledge of what happened that night. I was not there and had nothing to do with it."
Knox was released from an Italian prison in 2011 and returned to the U.S. after she was acquitted on appeal.
But Italy's supreme court overturned the acquittal ordering a retrial.
In the letter, Knox says she's too afraid to return to Italy.
PRESIDING JUDGE, ALESSANDRO NENCINI,
"I am not present in court because I am scared. I fear that the prosecution's line will influence the decision and will blind everyone."
A verdict in the retrial is expected in mid-January.