An article appearing in the British Newspaper Telegraph's online edition that Amanda Knox will appear on a TV interview is inaccurate, according to Amanda Knox's stepfather, Chris Mellas, reached in Perugia, Italy by the West Seattle Herald. Such an interview would be of great interest as it would be the first time Knox would have spoken to the public since her murder conviction of her college roommate, Meredith Kercher. Knox is currently serving 26 years in prison for the murder. She is appealing that verdict.

The Telegraph's reporter, Nick Pisa, writes that Knox will appear on TV, and that one of Knox's lawyers is against it. She is scheduled to make her first public appearance June 1 when she goes on trial in the slander case, brought based on her accusation that the police hit her during questioning.

"The (Telegraph) article is trying to create a controversy out of nothing," Mellas told the West Seattle Herald by phone. "This is a non-issue because there was never a June 1 date set for an interview. There was a request for an interview, but it has been denied by the Ministry of Justice. They are in charge of making this decision, not a judge, because the case is sort of in limbo. There is currently no judge assigned. Otherwise it would be up to a judge whether Amanda would be permitted an interview.

"Pisa wrote that one of Amanda's lawyers, Luciano Ghirga, was completely against the interview and that her family was pushing for it," added Mellas.

"What really happened was that Amanda wanted to have the ability to speak for herself. As far as her family is concerned, whatever Amanda wants, big deal. Why not? We will support it. When we get a new judge, that judge will decide if an interview is permitted.

"if the judge allows it, we will not receive any money from it."

The head prosecutor, Giuliano Mignini, who prosecuted the murder trial of Ms. Kercher that landed Knox and her boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito in prison, is scheduled to prosecute a new slander case against Knox. She accused police of hitting her in the head when they first questioned her for 15 hours at the police station. Mignini was in the room during the questioning. The defense is crying foul, and believes such a trial would be unfair as Mignini is trying to pile on more years to Knox's 26-year sentence she received from his case during the verdict. He had stated publicly he wanted a life sentence for her.

Late edit

On June 1 a preliminary hearing takes place to decide whether there is enough evidence to proceed to trial. All cases in Italy have this process.

"At that pretrial, Knox's lawyers will ask that Mignini be removed along with (assistant prosecutor) Manuela Comodi, and also the Judge Claudia Matteini," said Mellas. "They have all been involved in the case. Italian law states that they cannot be involved in her cases anymore.
Italian law states that you can deal with someone only one time, then it has to be a different judge and prosecutor."