Amanda Knox says she may return to Italy for her murder retrial

LOS ANGELES // Amanda Knox may return to Italy for a murder retrial, she said as she launched a memoir about her experience including frank details about sex, drugs and her time behind bars.
In interviews to promote the book, which also recounts how she considered suicide in jail, she said she hoped her slain former roommate Meredith Kercher's family would read it, although she has had no contact with them.
"It matters to me what Meredith's family thinks ... I really hope that the Kerchers read my book. And they don't have to believe me. I have no right to demand anything of anyone. But I hope they try," she said on Tuesday.
"I want them to know, their grief has my every respect, has the respect of my family."
The American student and her Italian former boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito were sentenced to 26 years and 25 years in prison for the killing of Kercher six years ago, allegedly in a drug-fuelled sex attack.
She was acquitted on appeal and released in 2011, returning to her native Seattle. But in March Italian authorities overturned that judgment, and ordered the 25-year-old to stand trial again.
Although most legal analysts expect Ms Knox to be tried again in absentia following the decision, the former student told USA Today in an interview she was "considering" returning to Italy.
"My lawyers have said that I don't have to and that I don't need to. I'm still considering it, to be honest," she told the newspaper.
"It's scary, the thought. But it's also important for me to say: 'This is not just happening far away from and doesn't matter to me.'
"So, somehow, I feel it's important for me to convey that. And if my presence is what is necessary to convey that, then I'll go."
Ms Knox has launched a publicity blitz in the US to promote her autobiography Waiting to be Heard for which she was reportedly paid a US$3.8-million (Dh13.9m) advance.
In the 480-page book, she describes her early life in Seattle and her decision to take a year out to live in the small Italian city of Perugia to learn Italian language and culture.
She is open about her attitude to sex, and how it was changing as she headed overseas. She had had sex with four men before her departure.
"I left for Italy having decided I needed to change that. For me, sex was emotional, and I didn't want it to be anymore.
"I hated feeling dependent on anyone else. I wanted sex to be about empowerment and pleasure, not about 'Does this person like me? Will he still like me tomorrow?'," she said.