LOS ANGELES (AP) — Amanda Knox, the American exchange student convicted and later cleared of a murder in Italy, is offering her support to a Massachusetts woman convicted of manslaughter for encouraging her suicidal boyfriend to kill himself.

In an op-ed published Thursday in the Los Angeles Times, Knox wrote that Michelle Carter deserves sympathy and help, not a jail sentence.

Carter on Thursday was sentenced to 15 months in jail for the 2014 death of 18-year-old Conrad Roy III. Carter was then 17 and is now 20. A judge agreed to her request to remain free on bail while her state appeal...