Amanda Knox Takes the Stand to Defend Herself, in Italian

PERUGIA, Italy, Feb. 13, 2009 — -- Seven young girlfriends of murder victim Meredith Kercher testified in a Perugia courtroom today that accused killer Amanda Knox had been been behaving strangely and, in their words, "inappropriately."

The young women, friends who had studied and spent time together in Perugia with Kercher, provided almost identical versions of what Kercher allegedly had told them about Knox in the few weeks that they lived together and what happened after Kercher was found dead.

U.S. student Amanda Knox, 21, and her co-defendant and former boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, 24, are accused of sexually assaulting and murdering Kercher. Both say they are innocent. A third man, Ivory Coast citizen Rudy Guede, was sentenced to 30 years in jail for the same crimes in October.

Both defendants were in court today for the fourth day of the trial. Amanda Knox listened, head tilted, attentively and seemingly impassive, to all the talk of her in court today.

Dressed simply in gray jeans, a white blouse and button-down navy blue sweater, she smiled at her lawyers and her father, sitting two rows behind her. She exchanged a brief smile with Sollecito, who seemed much more relaxed than he did at earlier hearings. Very little of the day's proceedings involved Sollecito.

For the first time, the testimony was in English, allowing her father, Curt Knox, to understand the proceedings. He listened closely, occasionally taking notes.

In repeated questioning by the prosecution, the first two witnesses, Robyn Carmel Butterworth and Amy Frost, portrayed Amanda Knox as an emotionally indifferent person with what they termed odd habits.

They referred to what British student Kercher had confided to them about Amanda Knox's behavior, some of it annoying and some of it simply perplexing. They also told the court what they observed about Amanda Knox at the police station after the murder.

"Kercher talked to me about their relationship," Butterworth said in English, as an interpreter translated into Italian for the court. She complained about Amanda Knox's bathroom habits, often a complaint between roommates, Butterworth said