Knox Murder Trial Kicks Off in Italy

Amanda Knox was smiling as she settled in to begin trial for the 2007 murder of British student Meredith Kercher, proceedings that, despite the prosecution’s objections, will be public. The judge in Perugia, Italy, denied a request for a closed-door hearing, but did banish live TV cameras, and said some parts of the trial may be held in private, the Guardian reports.

Knox, 21, studiously avoided looking at Raffaele Sollecito, her 24-year-old ex-boyfriend and co-defendant, but did turn to wave at her uncle and aunt, who said Knox remained in good spirits despite 14 months in Italian jail. Print journalists, meanwhile, piled into the steel cage used for dangerous inmates, in protest of being afforded no room in the public seating. (More Amanda Knox stories.)