In spite of the impending retrial for the murder case against her set next month, Amanda Knox recently announced her engagement to her long-time friend Colin Sutherland. Last week, the 27-year-old former international exchange student in Italy confirmed that she and her Seattle musician boyfriend will tie the knot soon. 

Seattle Times broke the news about the engagement, saying that Sutherland must really love Knox since he consistently wrote letters to her while she was still in prison and he seems to be willing to be hounded by the paparazzi and media. 

However, KDramaStars reported that the public are speculating that the engagement is merely a ploy from Knox's camp to "influence public opinion." The article mentioned that several netizens turned to Twitter to express their views about Knox's engagement. One Twitter user stated that the recent engagement is merely a PR stunt to condition the mind of the public when the murder retrial begins on March 26. 

Twitter user @Velvet_Niko posted, "so predictable! I wouldn't be surprised if she gets pregnant during extradition proceedings to try influence public opinion." 

The newly engaged couple has yet to address the negative issues regarding their engagement. 

Knox met Sutherland when they were still in middle school, but they reconnected only recently when the musician moved to Seattle from New York. 

Knox gained international recognition after the Italian police placed her as one of the main suspects in the killing of her British roommate Meredith Kercher in 2007. Together with her then-boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito, Knox was found guilty of murder and was sentenced to 25 years in prison. However, an Italian appeals court reversed the decision and cleared Knox from the case, letting her return to the U.S. 

However, a retrial was called in 2014 after the Italian prosecutors discovered solid evidences that tie her to Kercher's death.