Amanda Knox's Ex-Beau Muses on 'Different Destiny' if They Hadn't Met
ROME Sept. 3, 2013— -- Amanda Knox's former boyfriend complained that his life is "on hold" as he waits for his third trial for the death of a young British woman to begin later this month.
Raffaele Sollecito will go through this trial without Knox, his former girlfriend from Seattle who has said she will not return to Italy for the proceedings, which makes the possibility of a prison sentence remote for her.
"Every tiny little day, it is constantly on my shoulder, because these trials, this kind of situation, has put my life on hold," Sollecito told the British TV program "Daybreak."
He admitted "I cannot find a normal life, a job, a career or something to focus on instead of thinking about the trial, about the documents, about what will happen, about how to pay lawyers, how to pay my bills."
Sollecito said he remained in contact with Knox since they have been freed – and were photographed together in New York in June.
"We are in touch," he said "We are friends, but nowadays my life is very different than hers because she lives with her family, with her parents. She is under United States law and rules.....She is not forced to make decisions like going back to Italy. My situation is very different because I have to stand by Italian rules."
Sollecito said, "I know that if I didn't meet her I would have a different destiny. But it doesn't change the fact that the mistakes weren't made by her."
An older-looking Sollecito, 28, wearing a somber dark jacket and shirt and no glasses spoke emotionally in fluent English about his life and judicial ordeal over the last six years.
Sollecito and Knox, now 26, were arrested in 2007 and charged with killing British student Meredith Kercher, 21, who was found dead in her bedroom in Perugia Nov. 2, 2007 in the house she shared with Knox.All three were studying in the scenic hill-town and Sollecito had only recently met Knox.
The two were initially convicted by an Italian court in December 2009 after a sensational trial. Knox was sentenced to 26 years in prison and Sollecito got 25. But two years later, they were freed when an appeals court threw out the verdict, saying DNA evidence was questionable.
In a move that surprised many in March, Italy's highest court the appeal judges had overlooked evidence and ruled that the case be retried. The new trial is scheduled to start Sept. 30 in a Florence court. Following the appellate retrial, Italy's supreme court will have to rule once again on the case for it to be a definitive judgment. This is expected to take more than a year.
Knox, who is studying in Seattle, told her lawyers last month that she had decided not to return to Italy for the retrial. By Italian law she does not have to attend and can be represented in court by her lawyers.
Both Knox and Sollecito have published books and given a number of TV interviews since they were released from jail two years ago. Sollecito hopes that the prosecutors will read his book before the next trial begins. He has made a number of appeals for funds to over the last few months to get him through his legal battle.
On air he argued that the media had twisted his actions and made the video of Knox and he kissing outside the house soon after Kercher's body had been found "feel that it was half an hour" long. Sollecito insisted that he was just trying to comfort his then girlfriend and the one or two kisses were "something caring, not something passionate."
