Those who think she is innocent, I count myself among them, are heartened to see the experts challenge the lousy evidence presented at the first trial.

My family moved to Italy for six months. I sent my children to Italian public elementary school. Years later, the same year Knox traveled to Perugia for study abroad, my daughter enrolled in the University of Bologna. This may sound funny, but being a young college student from Seattle, the exact same age as Knox, made my daughter seem kind of scary, which is, of course, ridiculous.

ALBERTO PIZZOLI/AFP/GETTY IMAGES

Amanda Knox

I do not know Knox or her family, but I believe the charges against her are bogus. No, not because she is a Seattleite. Nothing like that. Because she had no reason to kill her roommate. And the evidence seemed so flaky.

I have many dear friends back where we lived in a tiny town called Strada. I thought I understood Italians, but this case really bothered me. By now, she has spent too many years of her young life behind bars.