In an interview on NBC's "Today" show, Amanda Knox declared that she will not travel to Italy for an appeals trial over the 2007 murder of her former roommate, British student Meredith Kercher.
Knox made headlines in 2007 after she was accused of murdering Kercher, whose half-naked body was discovered with more than 40 wounds and a deep gash in the throat in the apartment the two shared in Perugia in central Italy. Knox spent four years in prison for the murder before she was acquitted and released. However, Italy's highest court overturned the acquittal in March 2011, ordering a fresh appeals process, reports BBC News.
She told NBC's Matt Lauer that "common sense" told her not to return to Italy for a retrial which is set for September 30.
"It's not a possibility," said the 26-year-old American student, according to Reuters.
"I was already imprisoned as innocent person in Italy,"Knox said. "I just can't relive that."
Knox and her Italian ex-boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito were both found guilty in 2009, but acquitted on appeal in 2011.
"I thought about what it would be like to live my entire life in prison and to lose everything, to lose what I've been able to come back to and rebuild,'' she said.
"I think about it all the time. It's so scary. Everything is at stake.''
Ms Knox is not required to be present in Italy for the new appeal, due to start in Florence on 30 September.
However, if her previous conviction is confirmed, Italy would be expected to request her extradition.
Prosecutors said Kercher, who had been repeatedly stabbed, died in a sex game that went wrong. Both Knox and Sollecito maintain their innocence.
Ms Knox insists that on the night of Kercher's death she was at Mr Sollecito's flat, smoking marijuana and watching a film.
A man named Rudy Guede was convicted in a separate trial and sentenced to 16 years for the killing.
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