What should Amanda Knox's parents do about the criminal charges they're facing? [View All]

They are supposed to stand trial in July in Italy on defamation charges, which carry a potential of several years of prison time. The charge is that they repeated in an interview Amanda's claim that she had been hit on the back of the head during her interrogation. Amanda is also charged for the same "crime"; and more than one journalist has been, too.

So if you were Amanda's parent, what would you do? If you go to Italy and stand trial, you could be convicted -- in fact, that seems likely, since you won't have any way of proving that what Amanda said was true. The police had audio-video taping capabilities in all the rooms at the police station, but they didn't tape Amanda's 52 hours of interrogations.

But if you don't stand trial (and get a not-guilty verdict), then you won't be able to visit your daughter as long as she's in Italy (up to another 22 years--more, if she's found guilty of defamation). And because of recent delays (the police are stonewalling the independent investigators on providing all the DNA files), Amanda's appeal likely won't end before sometime in the fall.

To complicate matters further, Amanda's parents have several other younger children.

http://www.aolnews.com/2011/02/16/amanda-knoxs-parents-are-just-the-latest-to-run-afoul-of-italy/


"I'd tell them not to ever go back to Italy," Seattle attorney Anne Bremner, a Knox family friend and founder of the Friends of Amanda organization, told AOL News today.

"But of course they probably will. Their child has been in prison for three years and faces at least 26 more years. People will die for their children, so I imagine they will go stand trial."

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In Italy, defamation is punishable with a minimum fine of 500 euros and a incarceration of six months to three years.

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"Libel shouldn't be criminal; it should be a civil complaint," Tompkins said. "Using the way it can be used in Italy just serves to inhibit journalists."

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One of Knox's other Italian lawyers, Luciano Ghirga, as well as a lawyer for Knox's former Italian boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito, who was also convicted of the Kercher murder, and several Italian newspaper and magazine journalists reportedly have either been sued or investigated for defamation.