Knox pleads for mercy as murder verdict looms

PERUGIA, Oct 3, (AFP): American student Amanda Knox broke down in court and pleaded for mercy on Monday as an Italian jury retired to consider its verdict in her appeal against convictions for murder and sexual assault. "I did not kill, I did not rape, I did not steal. I wasn't there," she told jurors, adding: "I am paying with my life for a crime I did not commit." "I want to go home. I want to return to my life," she said in a statement that she had to interrupt frequently as she struggled to contain her emotion. The 24-year-old also said that her faith in Italian police had been "betrayed" and that she had been "manipulated" during her four-year legal saga. Her sister Deanna cried as Knox spoke and the judge said she could sit down if she wanted to but Knox gathered her strength and stayed standing. She entered the courtroom with her head bowed as dozens of photographers, cameramen and Knox supporters crowded in for the final day of her appeal. Knox's co-appellant Raffaele Sollecito, her boyfriend at the time of the killing, also made a statement ahead of the verdict saying: "I have never hurt anyone in my life. The accusations are completely deranged." Q