PERUGIA, Italy — An American college student accused of murdering her British roommate in Italy testified for the first time Friday, offering an alibi for the night of the 2007 killing.
Amanda Knox, 21, said she smoked pot, had sex with her boyfriend — co-defendant Raffaele Sollecito — and fell asleep at his apartment on the night of the slaying. She said she did not return home until after her roommate was killed.
Knox alternated between fluent Italian and English during roughly six hours of testimony in a packed Perugia courtroom, where she is being tried on charges of murder and sexual assault for the slaying of 21-year-old Meredith Kercher, a British student.
Prosecutors say Kercher was killed during what began as a sex game Nov. 1, 2007.
According to the prosecutors, Sollecito held Kercher by the shoulders from behind while Knox touched her with the point of a knife. They say Rudy Hermann Guede, who was convicted of murder last year and sentenced to 30 years in prison, tried to sexually assault Kercher and then Knox fatally stabbed her in the throat.
Sollecito, 25, has said he was at his own apartment the night of Nov. 1, working at his computer. He said he does not remember whether Knox spent the whole night with him or just part of it.
On the witness stand, Knox repeated her accusations that she was beaten by police and was confused when she was questioned in the days after the killing. Police have denied any misconduct.
“They called me a stupid liar, said I was trying to protect someone. I was not trying to protect anyone,” Knox said.
Prosecutors planned to cross-examine her today.
