SEOUL, South Korea -- A Minnesota woman accused of beating a University of Pittsburgh junior to death over an unwanted advance told a South Korean court on Thursday that she is innocent.

Kenzi Snider (pictured, right), an ex-Marshall University student, also said U.S. investigators coerced her into confessing that she killed Jamie Lynn Penich (pictured, left) in a Seoul motel room in March 2001.

Penich, 21, of Derry, Westmoreland County, was a student at the University of Pittsburgh. She and Snider, 21, were studying in South Korea on an exchange program.

During the trial Thursday in Seoul District Court, Snider testified that she and Penich drank and danced with American soldiers at a bar on the night of Penich's death. The students eventually returned to Penich's hotel room and Penich took a bath, Snider said.

The suspect testified that she checked on Penich to make sure she was all right, but did not go into the bathroom and did not see her, then went to her room next door and fell asleep.

That account differed from what Snider told investigators last year after her arrest in Huntington, W.Va., where Marshall is located.

According to court documents, Snider told FBI agents that Penich asked her for help taking a shower because she was drunk. They partially undressed, then began kissing and touching each other sexually, according to the court papers.

Snider said she became enraged when Penich tried to take off her pants, according to the documents. Snider struck Penich to the ground, then stomped her face, neck and chest with her shoes on, the documents said.

A weeping Snider testified Thursday that she originally denied killing Penich, but later confessed only because her questioners repeatedly told her that she was wrong. Snider then proclaimed her innocence.

The next hearing is scheduled for March 20. Prosecutors are expected to present their evidence against Snider at that time.