Updated 09:39 PM EDT, Mon, Mar 18, 2024

Amanda Knox Case: Knox Attends Oregon Innocence Project Conference

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Amanda Knox, who was convicted twice for the murder of British student Meredith Kercher, attended an Innocence Project conference in Portland, Ore. last Friday.

Knox, 26, spoke out in support of those wrongly convicted of crimes.

Knox told Fox 12 Oregon that she considers herself lucky after hearing some of the stories of wrongly convicted prisoners.

"When I was in prison there was so much sadness and so much desperation and anger and bitterness. But there's none of that here, none," said Knox. "Everyone here is just so inspiring."

There were more than 100 men and women at the event who had been exonerated for crimes they did not commit.

"This is my first time here. This is the first time I've felt brave enough," Knox said. "Coming here you automatically become vulnerable that this is what happened to you, and that is really hard to share with people. But everyone here understands. It's incredible. They're like my family."

Knox said she came to the conference to support others, and to seek support herself.

"We're all just trying to figure out life again. So many of us have not even had an adulthood without this looming overhead all of the time," Knox said.

Knox was tried in Italy for the 2007 murder of Kercher, and was convicted in 2009. She was then acquitted in 2011 and returned to her hometown of Seattle, Wash.

This year, an Italian court reinstated her guilty verdict, but she continues to insist she is innocent.

Knox spoke to people at the event such as James Kluppelberg of Illinois, who said he was wrongly convicted of murder and arson.

"There's people like me here who are released after a quarter century, or 30 years. We were truly born again because we are starting all over again," Kluppelberg said.

Knox also spoke to Ryan Ferguson at the event, who served a decade in prison for a murder he did not commit. Knox says the two have become friends since his release.

The Oregon Innocence Project is the only program in Oregon to track and investigate inmates' claims of innocence, test DNA and bring issues to court.

Knox said she didn't want the conference to focus on her; she said she wanted to focus on everyone at the conference who has moved on after "enduring years of injustice."

"I really hope that there comes a time that society will understand where we are coming from," she said. "Hopefully we don't have to come to a convention once a year just to feel accepted and understood."

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