Amanda Knox In review

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Edda Mellas and Curt Knox say they have never believed their daughter was guilty.


Amanda Knox has been on trial in Italy for nearly two years.

* Story Highlights
* Knox is on trial in Italy, accused of killing her British roommate, Meredith Kercher
* Italian court refused defense request to re-evaluate evidence
* Amanda Knox's parents hope that means she will be found not guilty of murder

updated 28 minutes ago

(CNN) -- Amanda Knox's parents are hopeful that an Italian court's decision not to re-evaluate the evidence against their daughter means she will be found not guilty of killing her roommate.

"We asked for the independent review because we were sure that anybody [who] independently looked at it would support our position," Edda Mellas, Knox's mother, told CNN's Larry King in an interview to air Friday night.

"Now, maybe the court decided that they don't even need that support. That our arguments have already been good enough."

Knox, of Seattle, Washington, has been in an Italian jail and on trial for nearly two years on charges that she helped murder her roommate, British student Meredith Kercher.

Knox's defense lawyers had asked the court for an independent review of the evidence, which can be requested if there is contested or contradicting evidence.

Prosecutors say a kitchen knife, allegedly the murder weapon, has Knox's DNA on the handle and Kercher's DNA on the blade. The defense disputes that, but last Friday, the court denied the request for a review.

Closing arguments in the trial are expected at the beginning of November, and Knox's parents hope a verdict will finally vindicate their daughter. Video Watch Curt Knox say why he thinks his daughter was arrested »http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/10/16/...ml#cnnSTCVideo

Her father, Curt Knox, told CNN that he thinks Amanda Knox was targeted as a suspect from the beginning.

Within days of Kercher's murder, Knox and her then-boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, were questioned and portrayed in the media as the undisputed killers.

"I believe that there was a huge mistake made very, very early on by, you know, having a -- literally a 'case closed,' you know, presentation by the police over there," he said.

Prosecutors held news conferences weeks after the killing, declaring the case solved. Knox, Sollecito and bar owner Patrick Lumumba were believed to have killed Kercher during a sexual game gone horribly awry.

Knox was criticized in newspapers and tabloids around the world for her demeanor after the killing, which included photos of her and Sollecito comforting each other as crime scene investigators looked for clues in her house.

Knox's mother told King that those headlines couldn't be further from the truth.

"You know, she's very much a person who internalizes," Mellas said. "She was extremely upset, and her roommate testified that when she found out it was Meredith that was killed, she was very upset. She cried; she did all of that. But by the time those photos were taken, it was hours later, and she was being comforted by Raffaele."

As the investigation went on, the scenario of what happened changed.

Lumumba was released because he had an airtight alibi, and DNA evidence from the crime scene soon pointed to a different suspect: Rudy Guede. Guede was sentenced to 30 years for the murder in a separate trial and is appealing the verdict.

Knox's parents believe that Guede is the sole killer, but because the prosecution hammered the idea that Knox and Sollecito were guilty, they couldn't back away from it.

"They were just too far into it, and they've been trying to press it ever since," Curt Knox said.

Knox's family and friends insist that the girl they know wouldn't kill anyone. Her parents say they never believed that she was guilty.

After the murder, Mellas said, friends and family told Knox to leave Italy -- to either come home or stay with relatives in Germany -- but Knox refused because she wanted to help find the killer and prove that she had nothing to do with it.

"Many people asked her to leave, but she said no. 'I'm going to stay. I'm going to try and help. I'm going to try and finish school,' " Mellas said.



Looking back, her parents wish Knox had left. Now, all they can do is wait -- and hope things turn out how they believe they should.

"We have to believe that what they're hearing in court -- and it's so clear that she had nothing to do with it -- then they'll come out with the right answer," Curt Knox said. "I mean, that's -- that's what we have to believe.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/10/16/...nts/index.html

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STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• Meredith Kercher was found dead with a stab wound to her neck
• Amanda Knox and former boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito on trial over murder
• Prosecutors say Knox, Sollecito and a bar owner killed Kercher during a sex game gone wrong
• Knox has denied this saying conflicting statements she made were due to police pressure

The family of Meredith Kercher say they will never get over her death.

By Hilary Whiteman
CNN
November 2, 2009 12:12 p.m. EST

London, England (CNN) -- It has been two years since the body of 21-year-old Meredith Kercher was found in the house she shared with fellow students in Perugia, Italy.

Months may have passed but her parents, John and Arline Kercher, say they are still struggling to comprehend what happened and why.

In a short statement commemorating their daughter's murder, the Kercher's said: "The two years since Meredith's death have passed very quickly. But, we still miss her more than ever."

"We can only hope now that a conclusion is reached in the next five weeks, so that we can finally dedicate ourselves to remember Meredith for the person that all of us knew and not as a victim or as a news item."

On November 2, 2007, Meredith's partially-dressed body was discovered. She had suffered a stab wound to her neck.

The case generated headlines worldwide, not least because one of the suspected murderers was a young American woman who prosecutors allege was involved with two males in a "drug-fueled sex game," which led to Kercher's death.

The trial of 22-year-old Amanda Knox and her former boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito, 25, from Italy, started in an Italian court in January and is set to draw to a close later this month.

They are accused of sexual assault and murder. Both deny all charges.

In June, Knox took the stand to deny allegations that she was at the villa she shared with Kercher the night of the murder November 1, 2007. She was with Sollecito at his house that night, she said.

She said that any conflicting statements she made to police during questioning were a result of police pressure, their suggestions, and her confused and frightened state of mind.

In the media, Knox's parents have mounted their own defense for their daughter.

Two weeks ago, they appeared on CNN's "Larry King Live" to proclaim their daughter's innocence.

Curt Knox told CNN his daughter was targeted as a suspect from the beginning.

"I believe that there was a huge mistake made very, very early on by, you know, having a -- literally -- a 'case closed,' you know, presentation by the police over there," he said.

In contrast, Kercher's parents have kept a low media profile. They have broken their silence on few occasions to express their grief.

In Britain's The Daily Mirror newspaper, John Kercher described the gut-wrenching moment he learned that the British student killed in Perugia was his daughter.

"I drop the phone. I don't believe it and think there must be a mistake. But I know it's probably true. I can't cry. I'm numb with shock," he wrote in June.

He spoke with Meredith Kercher on the phone just the day before. She called from Perugia where she studied European politics and Italian through the Erasmus program with Leeds University.

She had been in Perugia for only two months.

The family would never get over her death, her mother, Arline, said in court at the start of the trial.

"It was unbelievable, unreal and in many ways it still is -- I am still looking for her. It's not just her death, it's the nature of it, the brutality, the violence and the great sorrow it brought for everyone -- it was such a shock."

"You send your daughter away to study and she doesn't come back. We will never, ever get over it," she told the court.

On Sunday, the family held a private ceremony to remember their daughter, "as Meredith would have liked," they said in a statement from their lawyer. The congregation at the family's local church were asked to say prayers for her; afterwards the family planned to lay flowers on her grave.

They hope now, two years after the intense shock, that the conclusion of the trial will bring them some closure.

However, their pain may yet be prolonged by any subsequent appeals.

The third person charged with Kercher's murder, 22-year-old Rudy Guede from the Ivory Coast, is appealing his conviction. He was found guilty in October 2008 and sentenced to 30 years in prison. His case is due to be heard in late November.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/europe...ary/index.html

[Bailey]

By PAOLO SANTALUCIA
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER

PERUGIA, Italy -- A man appealing his conviction for murdering a British student testified Wednesday that he heard her arguing with her American roommate Amanda Knox minutes before she was slain.

Rudy Hermann Guede of Ivory Coast spoke at the opening of his appeal at a court in Perugia, saying he had tried to save Meredith Kercher after he heard a loud scream coming from her bedroom.


FILE - This Dec. 6, 2007 file photo shows Rudy Hermann Guede, an Ivory Coast native who has been detained in the slaying of British college student Meredith Kercher in Perugia central Italy, being held by Italian police officers as he arrives after his arrest in Germany to Rome's Fiumicino airport. On Wednesday, Nov. 18, 2009, an Italian court began hearing Guede's appeal against his conviction in the 2007 slaying of Kercher, for which the victim's American roommate Amanda Knox is also on trial
Guede was convicted last year in a fast-track trial and sentenced to 30 years in prison for killing the 21-year-old exchange student from Leeds, England in Italy. He has maintained his innocence.


Guede's appeals process began even as the murder trial implicating Knox, from Seattle, and her former Italian boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, continued. Knox and Sollecito, who are accused of murder and sexual violence in Kercher's slaying, deny any wrongdoing. A verdict in their trial is expected next month.

Guede told the court Wednesday that he went to the house where Kercher was killed on Nov. 1, 2007, together with Kercher, but then fell ill and went to the bathroom along with his iPod.

"Then I heard Meredith's and Amanda's voices, arguing about some money missing," he said. "I was listening to music and at one point I heard a very loud scream."

Guede said he rushed into Kercher's bedroom where he saw an unidentified man who tried to attack him. Backing down into the hallway, Guede said he heard the man say "'Let's go, there's a black man in the house.'"

Guede said he heard footsteps leaving the house and looked out of the window, where he saw a silhouette that he later identified as Knox's.

Guede said he then tried to rescue Kercher, who was lying in a pool of blood after her throat was slit. He said he took her in his arms and tried to mop up the blood with towels, but then panicked and left the house.

"Seeing Meredith in these terms was agonizing," he said. "She tried to tell me something, but I couldn't understand her. I held her hand, I asked her what had happened. ... In that moment, I entered into a state of shock" and fled.

"I want to let the Kercher family know that I did not kill or rape their little daughter," he said. "I am not the one who took her life away from them."

He added: "I don't know if I could have saved her. That's the only thing I can apologize for."

Later Wednesday, prosecutor Pietro Catalani asked the court to confirm the sentence of 30 years in jail for Guede.

"He is not credible," Catalani said, adding that wounds on Kercher's body suggest it took far longer for her to die than Guede's testimony indicated.

Proceedings were adjourned to Dec. 21, when Guede's defense lawyers will argue their case.

Guede's appeals trial is separate from that of Knox and Sollecito, and his testimony cannot be included in the proceedings against them, lawyers said. Guede took the stand during Knox and Sollecito's trial but declined to answer prosecutors' questions or offer any spontaneous testimony.

Prosecutors say Kercher was killed during what began as a sex game.

According to the prosecutors, Sollecito held Kercher by the shoulders while Knox touched her with a knife. They say Guede tried to sexually assault Kercher and then Knox fatally stabbed her in the throat.

Guede was arrested in Germany shortly after the killing on an international arrest warrant and was later extradited to Italy.

Authorities began looking for Guede after his fingerprint was found in bloodstains on Kercher's pillow, and other DNA traces were recovered on toilet paper and on the victim's body.

Defense lawyers for Knox and Sollecito are working on the theory that Guede was the sole attacker.

The 22-year-old Knox maintains she spent the night of the murder at Sollecito's house in Perugia. The 25-year-old Sollecito has said he was home working at his computer that night. He said he does not remember if Knox spent the whole night with him or just part of it.

http://www.seattlepi.com/national/11...ent_slain.html

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Did Guede's Outburst Hurt Amanda Knox's Case?

Testimony Comes Just Days Before Summations Begin in Murder Trial

By ANN WISE and NIKKI BATTISTE

PERUGIA, Italy Nov. 18, 2009


Rudy Guede of the Ivory Coast gives a thumbs-up as he sits in the appellate court in Perugia November 18, 2009. Guede, who was sentenced to 30 years in prison last year in connection with the November 2007 murder of British student Meredith Kercher, appealed the verdict. Guede along with U.S. student Amanda Knox and her former Italian boyfriend Rafaelle Sollecito are accused of the rape and murder of Kercher.
(Reuters)

Just days before lawyers will begin summations in the Amanda Knox murder case, the one person already convicted of the crime appeared in an Italian courtroom today and said he saw Knox leaving the cottage as her British roomate lay dying of a knife wound to the throat.

Rudy Guede was in the Perugia court to appeal his conviction and 30 year prison sentence in the death of Meredith Kercher.

He ended his statement by turning to the lawyer representing Kercher's family and said, "I want the Kercher family to know that I did not kill and did not rape their daughter. It was not me that took her life away."

Guede's appeal is not part of Knox's trial, but in Italy the jury is not sequestered and the Italian press has had lurid coverage of the year-long trial. It comes at a key moment in the procedings. Summations in the case begin Friday.

http://abcnews.go.com/WN/rudy-guede-...ory?id=9117060

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Amanda Knox tortured, killed roommate, prosecutor says in closing

From Hada Messia,
November 20, 2009 8:09 p.m. EST

Perugia, Italy (CNN) -- Accompanied by two smitten young men vying to impress her, a resentful Amanda Knox toyed with a knife and then plunged it into her roommate's neck, killing her, an Italian prosecutor charged in closing arguments Friday.

The November 2, 2007, death of British student Meredith Kercher occurred during a twisted sex game in which Knox taunted Kercher, and the two men -- boyfriend Rafael Sollecito and acquaintance Rudy Guede -- sexually assaulted her, prosecutor Guilano Mignini said during his seven-hour closing.

The prosecutor said Knox hated and resented Kercher and had decided the time had come to exact revenge.

Knox, 22, and Sollecito, 26, are on trial for sexual assault and murder.

Police found Kercher's bloody body under a duvet on the floor of the apartment she shared with Knox. Both deny the charges.

Mignini said Kercher died about 11:30 p.m. after she and Knox had quarreled -- either over money or Guede's presence at the house.

The prosecutor said the men pinned Kercher down by her arms while Knox played with the knife, prodding at her throat and saying, "Ah, you were pretending to be such a little saint. ... Now we are going to show you."

Knox's lawyer, Carlos Della Vedova, later told reporters, "I believe that Mignini's presentation was very suggestive, but we are in a courtroom, and proof is needed in order to convict a person."

Mignini defended his investigation, saying the criticism came from journalists, detectives, bloggers and lawyers from Italy and abroad who were seeking fame. He said police and prosecutors handled the case professionally, adding that it was time to bring the saga to a close.

Francesco Maresca, a lawyer for the Kercher family, said he was "very satisfied" with the prosecutor's argument, adding that the crimes should bring a life sentence.

Knox appeared drained as she sat in court Friday. Prosecution arguments focusing on the forensic aspects of the case will continue Saturday, and possibly into next week. Then it will be the defense's turn to make its points. The jury is due to get the case December 4.

After the court recessed, Knox's stepfather defended her against the prosecutor's strong accusations.

"She's an innocent girl looking at having to spend a lifetime in prison,"

Chris Mellas told reporters. "Of course she was upset. She had to sit there as he continued to say, 'Amanda this, Amanda that.' Yeah, it gets to you."

Police arrested Knox and Sollecito soon after Kercher's death, along with Guede, a native of the Ivory Coast who opted for a separate, fast-track trial and was convicted of murder and attempted sexual assault in October 2008.

The court sentenced Guede to 30 years in prison. He began an appeal of the verdict this week.

The key piece of evidence against Knox is a 6½-inch kitchen knife that prosecutors say was used to slit Kercher's throat.

The knife belonged to Sollecito and was found at his apartment with Knox's DNA on the handle and Kercher's DNA on the blade, according to a source close to the prosecution who did not want to be identified discussing an ongoing case.

Kercher had never been to Sollecito's apartment and wouldn't have come in contact with the knife, which shows it played a role in the murder, the source said.

Experts testifying for the defense, however, say there is no way the knife could be the murder weapon because it would not have made the wounds left on Kercher's body.

Anne Bremner, a lawyer and former prosecutor working with the group Friends of Amanda, told CNN that investigators improperly handled the knife, leading to questions about the validity of the DNA evidence.

Another defense expert, geneticist and private coroner Sarah Gino, testified that the DNA sample on the knife was too small to be definitive.

Prosecutor Mignini, however, argued that the knife was not contaminated by investigators. He said it was picked up by crime scene investigators wearing new gloves, placed in a new bag and sealed.

He challenged the defense to prove that the knife had been contaminated.

On the night Kercher was killed, Knox and Sollecito say, they were at his house watching a movie and smoking marijuana.

They admitted their recollection of events was hazy from the drugs, but both swore they went back to the house the next morning. Knox said she could not get in, so she called police.

Prosecutors also pointed to what they say is a confession by Knox, but she later said any apparent admission that she was at the scene was made when investigators told her to imagine what she might have seen had she been there.

The argument became moot when a higher court ruled the alleged confession could not be used because the statement was made without an attorney or translator present.

Kercher had been away from home for only two months when she was killed. The Leeds University student was studying European politics and Italian in Perugia.

Knox, who attended college in her home state of Washington, also was studying abroad.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/11/20/...nts/index.html

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Amanda Knox's family already has her ticket home

Story Published: Nov 21, 2009 at 6:10 PM PST
Story Updated: Nov 21, 2009 at 6:10 PM PST

By Kathi Goertzen

Video

The family of Amanda Knox is getting ready to leave for Perugia on Thanksgiving Day.

They want to be with Amanda during defense closing arguments, and for the jury deliberations and verdict.

Even though they are preparing themselves for the worst, they say they are hopeful they can bring Amanda home to Seattle.

"It'll be the best day of my life when she comes home," said Deanna Knox, Amanda's younger sister.

The two have always been very close. Amanda turned 21 in prison and Deanna is about to turn 21. The sisters are hoping to celebrate their birthdays together.

But it is an extremely anxious time. Amanda's family says they feel helpless.

"It's in somebody else's hands to make that decision, and I'm always worried about that," said Amanda's father, Curt Knox.

Her mom, Edda Mellas added, "And you know what's scary? If it goes the way it should - correctly - she'll be acquitted and she'll be out of there, but so far, none of it has gone right."

The family is choosing to focus on the possibility that Amanda will finally be acquitted and set free. They believe she will be allowed to leave immediately if she's found not guilty.

"She's out of there!" said Mellas. In fact, her parents say they've already purchased a ticket home for Amanda.

Once they're able to secure her passport or legal documents from the embassy and collect her belongings from the Cappane Prison, they would leave the country right away.

"The nightmare would be over," Mellas said.

Through tears, her father said, "it would be a good day."

In Italy, the prosecutor can appeal a not guilty verdict. The Knox family says they would not wait around for that and can see no reason why the prosecution would want to try her again after an eight-month trial that has included more than 100 witnesses.

If Knox is found guilty, her dad says the toughest part will be helping Amanda to stay strong emotionally.

"She knows she's innocent. We know she's innocent. And she's still in prison," he said. "She needs to focus on surviving that. The light at the end of the tunnel is still there. And will always be there."

Deanna Knox says every time she talks to her sister on the phone, Amanda tells her "Don't worry about it. I'm coming home eventually."

Amanda is worried that family and friends might treat her differently when she gets back. But Deanna told her, "we're family. Of course we're going to treat you the same way. I'm going to hug you then say 'let's go play pass in the backyard with a soccer ball!'"

If her sister is found guilty, Deanna said it will be heartbreaking.

"Because I don't get to hold her and see her right then in that moment, but I know she's going to be there eventually. And I can wait for her and she knows that I will."

http://www.katu.com/home/related/70652212.html

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Knox Dismisses Meredith Charges As 'Fantasy'

6:47pm UK, Saturday November 21, 2009
Nick Pisa, in Perugia

Amanda Knox has dismissed charges against her that she murdered Meredith Kercher as "pure fantasy".

The American student was speaking in court in Perugia after prosecutors had asked for a life sentence for her and her co-accused Raffaele Sollecito. Rudy Guede has already been convicted over the attack.

Giuliano Mignini also called for Knox to be given nine months in isolation and Sollecito two months as he and his colleague Manuela Comodi both stressed that irrefutable evidence pointed to the two of them being guilty of the brutal sex killing.

Meredith, 21, was found semi-naked and with her throat cut in the bedroom of her house that she shared with American Knox, 22 and two other Italian women.

Prosecutor Mignini said:''We must not forget what they are accused of and the victim - this was a murder accompanied by sexual violence for futile motives.

''A 21-year-old girl who a few days later should have gone back to London to see her ill mother who she was close to and who she should have embraced along with her father, sister and two brothers.

"'But she was not able to return and embrace her family, she was killed in an appalling manner, the only way they can be with her is at the cemetery. She was literally eliminated.''

Then turning to the jury Mr Mignini said: ''You must give to them what is expected. That is why you must give Knox life and Sollecito life.''

Mr Mignini described Knox as ''narcassitic, angry, aggressive, manipulative, transgressive, theatrical and easily given to disliking people she disagreed with or did not follow her ideals.

''She has a tendency to dominate, be obstructive and in particular we should remember her behaviour in the police station when she was seen doing the splits and cartwheel just after her friend had been murdered.''

Then turning to Sollecito he described him as ''cold, dependent and with a fear of losing the support of others.''

As he made his request Knox stared straight ahead and showed no response but after he had spoken she asked if she could address the court and speak - the first time since June.

Speaking in Italian and in an emotional voice she fought back tears and said: ''I wanted to speak the other day but I couldn't. I have to say some important things.

''This first thing is that Meredith was my friend. I did not hate her. To say that I wanted to take revenge against a person who I liked is absurd.

''Then I had no relationship with Rudy...oh mama mia...

''Everything that has been said these last two days is pure fantasy, it's nor true, I have to insist on this and that's all I want to say. Thank you.''

On Friday during the prosecution' summing up Knox had appeared uncomfortable - she cried several times and her lawyer reassuringly squeezed her hand, as Mr Mignini described how Meredith was murdered in a ''crescendo of violence.''

He said that Knox ''harbored hatred'' for Meredith and had killed her because she ''wanted revenge'' because she could not stand her ''goody goody image.''

Prosecutors have said that Knox ''dealt the fatal blow'' and stabbed Meredith in the throat while Sollecito, 25, and a third suspect Guede, 22, held her down.

The court heard the three accused had been ''fuelled by drugs and alcohol'' and had forced her to take part in the sex game because Knox was fed up with Meredith's ''saintly behaviour.''

The trial will resume next Friday, when the Kercher family lawyer will sum up. The jury is expected to retire on December 4, with a verdict expected the day after.

http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/World-News/Meredith-Kercher-Murder-Prosecutors-Want-Life-Sentences-For-Amanda-Knox-and-Raffaele-Sollecito/Article/200911315460531?lpos=World_News_News_Your_Way_Regi on_8&lid=NewsYourWay_ARTICLE_15460531_Meredith_Ker cher_Murder%3A_Prosecutors_Want_Life_Sentences_For _Amanda_Knox_and_Raffaele_Sollecito

[Bailey]

Kercher Family Looking for Repentance in College Student's Death.
By ANN WISE
PERUGIA, Italy, Nov. 27, 2009

In civil procedures today, the lawyer representing the family of strangling victim Meredith Kercher requested the equivalent of about $36 million in damages from the three people who are accused of killing her, including U.S. exchange student Amanda Knox.

n asking for what he called "symbolic" damages, the lawyer, Francesco Maresca, told the court here that he believed the case against the two young people was "crystal clear" and enough for the jury and judges to find them guilty.

"There is no room for other solutions," Maresca said.

Italian prosecutors maintain that Knox, 22, sexually molested and killed Kercher, her former roommate, in November 2007, with the help of Raffaele Sollecito, 25, Knox's one-time boyfriend, and Rudy Guede, a young drifter from the Ivory Coast.

They described Knox last week as angry and resentful, and the mastermind of a punitive sex game that ended with Kercher's death.

Guede, 22, was convicted to 30 years in prison for his role in the killing in a separate trial last year, and the judge awarded the equivalent of about $12 million in damages, a third of today's request.

All three of the accused have said they are innocent.

A civil trial in Italy occurs at the same time as the criminal trial. If the jurors and the judge find Knox guilty and award the damages requested today, she will be ordered to pay $12 million to the Kercher family. The sum would be divided among the parents and Kercher's three siblings.

Sollecito would also be liable for $12 million.

After summing up the main evidence discussed in the course of the trial, Maresca said Kercher's family was asking the court for "justice and truth" in the death of their loved one.

"The Bible says that the judge is a minister of God, and inflicts a just punishment on those who do evil ... those who causes suffering must be made to suffer by having their freedom taken," Maresca said.
Falsely Accused Man Asking for Damages

"Meredith no longer has a life and perhaps the only thing left in this case is repentance," he added. Maresca said earlier he could not explain Kercher's death. "Personally, I hope she did not die for 300 euros [about $450 that was missing from the crime scene], for no real reason, as the prosecutors indicated," Maresca told the court.

"It is devastating to think that kids this young committed such a terrible crime but that is what the evidence tells us," Maresca said.

Maresca spoke of Kercher's family, saying they "taught the whole world the elegance of silence." They have never gone on TV networks or given interviews to newspapers, he pointed out, something that "puts an abyss between them and the Knox and Sollecito clans," who Maresca said have flooded the media in defense of the two defendants.

Kercher family members are not the only civil plaintiffs in the case.

Patrick Lumumba, the former owner of a local pub who has said Knox falsely accused him of the the killing, is suing Knox for slander; an accusation that carries a heavy sentence of its own.

Knox, when interrogated at length by police in the days after the killing, said she imagined seeing Lumumba at the house when Kercher was killed. Lumumba was arrested the next morning and jailed for two weeks before being released when a witness testified he had seen Lumumba at his pub the night of the killing.

Because her statements were taken without a lawyer present, they were thrown out by a previous court. But Knox repeated a similar story in a written statement she later gave police.

Carlo Pacelli, the lawyer representing Lumumba, attacked Knox's character in no uncertain terms today, describing her as "satanical and diabolical" for blaming Lumumba for a crime he did not do.

Pacelli said Knox is a "talented and calculating liar" who deliberately framed Lumumba.

"Just a few words said by the nefarious and astute Amanda Knox to police, 'I confusedly remember that he killed her,''' Pacelli noted, "have destroyed Patrick Lumumba as a man, father and husband."

Knox's Father Not Yet Ready to Contact Kerchers

Pacelli did not put a figure to his request for damages, saying that would be requested in a separate hearing. He said the damage could not be quantified at the moment because Patrick is still suffering the consequences of being named by Knox, and is undergoing psychiatric treatment. The Italian state has awarded Lumumba $12,000 in compensation for unjust detention, although he had originally requested more than 10 times that amount.

Outside the court today, Knox's father, Curt, who had just arrived from the United States, told reporters that "once this is all over and the Kercher family see that Amanda had nothing to do with this, I want to pick up the phone and express our condolences at their loss. I can't begin to fathom the pain they must be going through but until they know Amanda had nothing to do with this, then that is a call I cannot make."

The owner of the cottage where the killing took place also requested damages: $57,000 for lost rent and the cost of renovating the house that was dubbed by many "the house of horrors" in the aftermath of the crime.

Closing arguments for the defense are scheduled to start Saturday with lawyers for suspect Sollecito. Knox's defense is scheduled to begin Tuesday.

http://abcnews.go.com/International/...ory?id=9191557

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Italian Police Decided to File Lawsuit in September 2008 After Article Appeared Online About Alleged Knox Abuse

By ANN WISE
PERUGIA, Italy, Nov. 28, 2009,

The parents of Amanda Knox arrived in Italy Thursday to support their daughter in the final days of her trial for murder, and were promptly informed by Italian authorities that they are under investigation for defamation -- allegedly for accusing police of beating Amanda.

n a June 2008 interview with the British Sunday Times newspaper, the two said that Amanda was "abused physically and verbally" by police in the course of an interrogation. They also told the Sunday Times that Amanda told them that she "was hit in the back of the head by a police officer with an open hand at least twice."

Amanda Knox's parents, who are divorced but have kept a united front during their daughter's trial, are puzzled by this latest development, and do not want it to take attention away from the trial's final days.

"Why now?" asks Edda Mellas.

"The timing is suspect since it comes 18 months after the fact and right before the end of the trial," she told ABC News outside of court today.

"We don't have the file yet, so we cannot comment on it, but in that interview we just repeated what Amanda told us, and what she herself later said in court," Mellas said.

Mellas also pointed out that "you have to name someone" in order to be accused of defamation, but they never named anyone, she said.

Police deny mistreating Knox. Defamation through the press carries a sentence of six months to three years in prison and a fine. A person without a police record is unlikely to serve prison time, however.

Prosecutors in Perugia, Italy, last week asked for life in prison for Amanda Knox, 22, and her co-defendant and former boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, 25. They are accused of sexually assaulting and murdering Knox's British roommate, Meredith Kercher, who was 21 at the time of her death.

On Friday, Kercher's family requested the equivalent of about $36 million in damages from the three people who are accused of killing her, including Knox, who would be liable for $12 million.

Kercher's body was discovered on the morning of Nov. 2, 2007, in her room in the cottage she shared with Knox and two Italian women. Kercher had multiple cuts to her throat, and died from a combination of strangulation and suffocating on her own blood.

Police Officers Decided to File Lawsuit in September 2008

A third person, Ivorian Rudy Guede, had already been convicted to 30 years in prison for his role in the murder, which prosecutors maintain was carried out by all three young people in a drug enhanced sexual encounter that escalated into murder.


Edda Mellas and Curt Knox, mother and father of U.S. murder suspect Amanda Knox, arrive at a hearing in Perugia's court, Italy, Saturday, Nov. 28, 2009. Earlier this month, prosecutors requested life sentences for American student Knox and her former Italian boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito accused of killing a young British woman in Italy. Prosecutor Giuliano Mignini asked a jury in Perugia to convict Amanda Knox and Sollecito on charges of murder and sexual violence for their alleged role in the 2007 slaying of Meredith Kercher. They deny wrongdoing.

The accusation against Curt Knox and Edda Mellas is being brought by an unspecified number of Perugia police officers, who were present at Knox's interrogation Nov. 5, 2007, four days after Kercher was killed. According to the ANSA news agency, the police officers decided to take legal action in September 2008 after the article appeared on various web sites.

Knox and Mellas told ABC News that Friday was the first time they heard about it.

Amanda Knox was in court again today in Perugia, attending one of the last hearings in her trial for murder. Neither she nor Sollecito have missed a hearing since the trial started last January.

Knox's extended family -- her parents have both remarried -- was sitting behind her. It included her father Curt and stepmother Cassandra Knox, and her mother Edda Mellas with her husband, Chris. Knox's aunt is also in Perugia.

Knox smiled at her family as she entered court, looking a little less tense than in recent days when the prosecution was making its case against her and depicting her as the knife-wielding mastermind of the murder.

Today was the first day of closing arguments for the defense, which began with Luca Maori, one of two lawyers for Raffaele Sollecito.

Maori placed the responsibility for the crime squarely on Rudy Guede, and then spent six hours rebutting the evidence presented against Sollecito by the prosecution.

"We already have the guilty person," Maori told the court, "and that is Rudy Guede. The DNA is his, as are the fingerprints, and the footprints," Maori said.

Maori defended Sollecito's character, saying he is a person friends describe as a "quiet, shy and romantic" young man.

Sollecito "is the second victim in this affair," Maori told the court.

New Evidence Presented by Sollecito Lawyer: Two Spots Found Under Kercher 'Not Tested'

Sollecito's lawyer meticulously reviewed the evidence and witness testimony presented by the prosecution, including the two main pieces of evidence investigators say put him on the scene of the crime: his DNA on the victim's bra hook and a bloody footprint police say is compatible with his foot.

He reiterated what was said repeatedly in the course of the trial: that the DNA on the bra is probably due to contaminated evidence, and the footprint, according to Maori, belongs to Guede.

Maori also introduced a new bit of evidence he says defense experts discovered: a biological substance visible on the pillow found in the victim's room, which Maori's experts believe to be semen. He said the substance was never tested by the forensic police.

"Why were the two spots visible on the pillow found under the victim not tested?" Maori asked when speaking to journalists outside the courtroom. "The crime against Kercher was sexual," Maori added, "but no one tested those stains."

In the course of the trial, investigators said no semen was found on the scene of the crime, though injuries to the victim, and the fact that she was found naked from the waist up, indicated she had been sexually assaulted. Rudy Guede's DNA was found on Kercher's body.

The trial resumes on Monday, and lawyers for Knox will make their case in closing arguments Dec. 1 and Dec. 2.

A verdict is expected on Dec. 4 or Dec. 5.

http://abcnews.go.com/International/...ory?id=9196514

[Bailey]

By Kimberly A.C. Wilson, The Oregonian
November 30, 2009, 9:20AM


American murder suspect Amanda Knox arrives for a hearing in Perugia, Italy, on Monday, Nov. 30, 2009. A lawyer for her former boyfriend painted the U.S. coed as naive, spontaneous and imprudent as she argued that both Knox and her lover were innocent the slaying of the American's British roommate. Then attorney Giulia Bongiorno compared Knox to the title character Amelie in the 2001 French movie. That is video film Knox and Raffaele Sollecito claim they were watching on the night that Meredith Kercher was fatally stabbed in the throat in 2007.

For two years, freelance reporter Andrea Vogt has covered the on-and-off-again trial of American exchange student Amanda Knox in Perugia, Italy, for The Seattle Post-Intelligencer (and seattlepi.com).

If you've followed along, you'll want to read her latest entry about... well every detail surrounding the legal circus of Foxy Knoxy. As the trial wends to its close this week, she offers historical insight on a very modern trial in an ancient city.

Amanda Knox is being tried for murder in a city where law has been practiced for more than seven centuries, yet many of the legal procedures being followed in her trial are among the world's most modern.

The murder trial of Knox, 22, of West Seattle , is part of a paradox that mirrors Italy today -- a heady mix of ancient and contemporary that sometimes meshes and other times clashes.

But claims from U.S. media that Italy's legal system is outdated or archaic have drawn criticism from lawyers, magistrates and scholars who are inside the system.
Read the full story -- including details on the Italian justice system -- here.http://www.seattlepi.com/local/412696_knox30.html

http://blog.oregonlive.com/nwheadlin...wanted_to.html

[Bailey]

Knox Described in Summations as 'Fragile and Weak' but Not 'Cunning'
By ANN WISE and NIKKI BATTISTE
PERUGIA, Italy, Nov. 30, 2009




One of Italy's most prominent defense lawyers told the jury in Amanda Knox's murder trial today that the 22-year-old student from Seattle is not "Amanda the Ripper."

Instead, attorney Giulia Bongiorno said that Knox is more like "Amelie of Seattle," referring to the lead character in the popular French movie "Amelie," about a naive young woman who tries to help people.

The description of Knox as a naive, even bizarre young woman, comes after several days of prosecution summations in which prosecutors depicted her as a vengeful woman who got her boyfriend and another man to sexually attack her "prissy" British roommate Meredith Kercher, and slit her throat Nov. 1, 2007.

Prosecutors have asked the jury to convict Knox of murder, sentence her to life in prison, including nine months of daytime solitary, and fine her $12 million.

Bongiorno, who is a member of the Italian parliament and previously successfully defended Italy's former Prime Minister Giulio Andreotti against Mafia charges, was the first of four defense lawyers to present summations in the nine-month case. The trial is expected to conclude later this week.

Bongiorno is actually representing Knox's co-defendant and former boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito, but she told the court that she was forced to defend Knox in order to defend Sollecito.

"She is a fragile and weak young girl, that is the true Amanda," Bongiorno said.

"Amanda writes that her friends think she is like Amelie because she likes the little things, like birds singing. I agree with Amanda's friends, Amanda likes to look at the world through Amelie's eyes. She is spontaneous, immediate and imprudent," the lawyer said.

Amanda Knox Described as 'a Little Bizarre and Naive'

"She is extravagant, and unusual, full of contradictions -- someone who does cartwheels in the police station," Bongiorno said, mentioning one of Knox's actions during the murder investigation that led prosecutors to suggest she was cold and uncaring.

The attorney described Knox as "a little bizarre and naive," but said, "She is not Amanda the ripper, she is the Amelie of Seattle."

Knox and Sollecito were in court today as they have been for every court session. Knox's parents, who are divorced, and two step-parents were also in court, and Knox gave them a quick smile and mouthed the words, "Are you OK?" to them.

The two defendans also seemed a bit more upbeat today, having Bongiorno on their side. During a break, Sollecito mouthed a message to Knox, asking her, "Are you OK?" Knox nodded and smiled.

Besides challenging the prosecution's description of Knox as "diabolical and malicious," Bongiorno also attacked the evidence presented by the prosecution.

She ridiculed Knox's odd confession during a grilling by detectives when she told police she had a vision she was at the house and said a bar owner she worked for, Patrick Lumumba, was at the murder scene. Knox later said she became confused because police were rough with her, called her a liar and hit her in the head.

"I find it very difficult to imagine Amanda that night, giving those statements without a lawyer," Bongiorno said. "I don't like the idea of a person who hits herself in the head as she is being questioned without a lawyer, like police said she did. At least let her hit herself in the head in front of me," she said sarcastically.

When she mentioned Lumumba, she also put herself at the scene of the murder, Bongiorno said. And when Sollecito's description of where he and Knox were that night differed somewhat, Knox did not contest it.

These are not the actions of someone who is "the evil witch, the ripper, the devil for whom lying is her daily bread."

Speaking to the jurors, Bongiorno said, "You have to interpret her, analyze her personality and you have to conclude that she is either a ripper or a confused young girl. I find it difficult to imagine her so cunning -- otherwise that night she would have defended herself, not become confused."

During a break in today's hearing, Amanda's mother, Edda Mellas, agreed with Bongiorni.

"Finally, someone has described the real Amanda. She us indeed naive, spontanous, all the words Bongiorno used. That is Amanda. She is like Amelie."

The lawyer also ripped into the evidence, focusing her defense largely on Sollecito.

Prosecutors have claimed that a bloody shoe print matched Sollecito's shoe, but investigators later admitted it was not his.

"One mistake after another leads to a judicial error," Bongiorno said. "In this case many judges made a mistake in good faith. This is a warning to you."

The kitchen knife that was found in Sollecito's home and portrayed by prosecutors as the murder weapon was also criticized, citing defense experts who testified that the blade was not compatible with Kercher's wounds.

A speck of Kercher's DNA was found on the knife, but the amount was too low to do a second test to confirm it was Kercher's DNA. 'You have to decide if too low means that the trace could be analyzed or not," she said.

Bongiorno reminded the jury that the charges claim a conspiracy to murder among Knox, Sollecito and a third man, Rudy Guede, an Ivory Coast immigrant who has already been convicted and sentenced to 30 years.

But Bongiorno asked how could the trio conspire when Sollecito and Guede had not met until the preliminary hearing of the murder charges. She dismissed prosecution witness who said they saw the two men together that night.

"If Raffaele and Rudy did not know each other, and they didn't, how could they possibly conspire together?" she asked.

In addition, Bongiorno tried to insert doubt about the prosecution's timeline of events. She said an analysis of food in Kercher's stomach suggested that Kercher died between 9:30 p.m. and 10 p.m., not between 11:30 p.m. and midnight as prosecutors claim. Computer records show that Sollecito was on his computer until 9:10 p.m.

She also attacked the prosecution's claim that Sollecito, 25, joined in on the attack in a frenzy while high on drugs.

Lawyer Defending Amanda Knox Tells Jurors to 'Doubt' Prosecution Claims

"I refuse to analyze a motive that does not exist. I want hear in the rebuttals why a young student, who had just started dating a girl, who was about to graduate, would suddenly commit such a crime," Bongiorno said.

The lawyer urged the jurors to doubt what the prosecution has told them.

"You must open yourselves to doubt, and you must go back over the trial documents. Check everything that has been said. I won't fear your decision if you study the papers," she said.

http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/AmandaKnox...ory?id=9205161

[Bailey]

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

* NEW: Prosecutor accuses defense of "lynching" police who worked on case
* Defense lawyer for Amanda Knox becomes emotional during Wednesday's closing argument
* Luciano Ghirga sobs as he tells the jury Knox is innocent and has been mistreated
* Knox, an American student, is accused of murdering her British roommate in Italy

From Hada Messia, CNN
December 2, 2009 3:21 p.m. EST

Perugia, Italy (CNN) -- A defense lawyer for Amanda Knox made an impassioned plea to the jury Wednesday as the high-profile case neared its conclusion. Knox is the American student accused of killing her British roommate, Meredith Kercher, at the villa they shared in Italy.

"We suffer at the memory of Meredith. But we look at the future of Amanda," Luciano Ghirga said in his defense summation.

"Meredith was my friend," he quoted Knox as saying, rejecting the notion that she hated her roommate, who was fatally stabbed in November 2007.

Prosecutors say Kercher died during a twisted sex game in which Knox taunted Kercher, and two men -- Knox's then-boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito, 26, and acquaintance Rudy Guede -- sexually assaulted her.

The prosecution says a knife found in Sollecito's house had Knox's DNA on the handle and Kercher's on the blade, among other pieces of evidence.

But Ghirga rejected the accusations against Knox on Wednesday.

He attacked the way police and prosecutors had treated the defendant, giving them a symbolic "red card" -- a referee's sign in soccer that a player is being expelled from the game for breaking the rules.

Ghirga concluded an emotional oration -- sobbing as he came to the end -- by asking the judge and jury to acquit Knox, because her mother asked him to request it, because her family asked it.

Knox's father, Curt, said Wednesday she had been a victim of "character assassination," and expressed hope she would be found not guilty.

Members of Kercher's family have declined repeated CNN requests for comment on the case.

But prosecutor Giuliano Mignini accused the defense of "lynching" the Italian police who worked on the case.

He defended the work of the police and the credibility of the prosecution witnesses as he responded to Ghirga's arguments Wednesday.

And he called again for life sentences for Knox and Sollecito if they are found guilty. Italy does not have the death penalty.

The jury is expected to begin deliberations on Friday, after the prosecution completes its summary.

Another Knox attorney on Tuesday said the prosecution's theory doesn't fit the facts of the case and there is not sufficient evidence to find her guilty.

Calling Knox a victim herself, Carlo della Vedova said the police had rushed to judgment following the murder, leaving Knox to fend off a myriad of false media reports regarding the crime.

The lawyer showed photos published in the media, purportedly showing the crime scene, that weren't authentic -- including a photo of the bathroom -- and said false allegations and rumors about Knox's character created a bias from the start.

Della Vedova also questioned the change in what prosecutor Mignini said was the motive for the murder.

In preliminary hearings, Mignini argued Knox, Sollecito and Guede slashed Kercher's throat during a sexual misadventure as the two men vied for Knox's attention. In recent days, Mignini has focused more on what he says was a hatred between the two roommates.

Defense lawyers have staunchly disagreed, claiming the two women were friends.

Ghirga on Wednesday said the two had gone to a chocolate festival together days before Kercher was killed.

The defense has argued that Guede, who was convicted in a separate fast-track trial and is currently appealing his conviction, was the sole killer. The defense has said there is no evidence tying the three suspects together or proving they planned Kercher's murder.

Della Vedova also focused during closing arguments on the lack of evidence tying Knox to the crime scene.

As defense lawyers have throughout the entire trial, he cast doubt on DNA evidence that prosecutors claim shows Knox's DNA on the handle of the alleged murder weapon. The defense has said the knife doesn't match Kercher's wounds or an imprint of the knife left on a bedsheet, and the DNA sample is too small to be conclusive.

During the first day of closing arguments for Knox's lawyers, della Vedova stressed to the eight-member jury that they should also keep church law in mind as they decide whether to find Knox and Sollecito guilty or not guilty.

He told the jury they needed to be "morally certain of their decision."

"If you have the minimum of doubts, you must absolve this young girl -- a girl that is merely 22 years old," he said.

Knox and Sollecito, who both deny any role in the murder, have been jailed for more than two years since they were arrested on charges of murder and sexual violence.

Their trial began in January.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/12/02/...ing/index.html

[Bailey]

Family Says Knox 'Excited' About Going Home, But 'Scared' of Conviction
By ANN WISE and MARK MOONEY
PERUGIA, Italy Dec. 3, 2009



In a tremulous voice that at times broke with emotion, Amanda Knox told jurors who will decide her fate within the next 24 hours that she felt "vulnerable" before them at this "important moment."

Knox's statement concluded her defense at the end of the 11-month long Italian murder trial that will end Friday. The six person jury and two judges who will begin deliberating Friday morning are expected to stay at it for 12 to 18 hours to have a verdict by Friday night.

The Seattle college student, who has already spent two years in jail, could be sentenced to life in prison if convicted of murdering roommate Meredith Kercher Nov. 1, 2007 with the help of two men, ex-boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito and Ivory Coast native Rudy Guede.

"I have thought in these days about what I wanted to say and I had a question, which I wrote down, that a lot of people have asked me: How can you stay so calm?" Knox said to the jury in the Italian she has improved during her years in prison. "The first thing to say, is that I am not calm."

"I am afraid of losing myself. I am afraid of being defined as something I am not, and by actions that are not mine. I am afraid of having a mask of a murderer forced on to my skin," she said with a shaky voice but with some obvious determination.

Click her for complete coverage of Amanda Knox case
http://abcnews.go.com/2020/AmandaKnox/

Referring to the two years she has already spent in jail, Knox said, "I can confess that I feel confused, sad, frustrated."

She said people have asked how she has been able to not pull her hair out, get depressed or destroy her jail cell.

"In these situations I breathe, and try to find the positive in the important moments," she said as her voice quavered. "And I know this moment is one of those moments, because in this moment... a real decision is being made about a fact. It must be understood."

Her voice broke as she continued and said to the jurors, "And I feel more in touch with you, more vulnerable in front of you. But I have faith and am sure of my knowledge."

Knox thanked several people for support over the last two years including her lawyers, "my family, my friends who are the reason... that I am able to bear it." She even thanked the prosecutors "even if they don't understand me... because they are trying to bring justice to an act that has taken someone from the world."

"The important thing now," she concluded in remarks directed at the jurors, "is that I thank you because it is your turn now and so I thank you. Okay."

Amanda Knox's Co-Defendant Says He Had No Motive for Murder

The Knox case has been heavily covered by the press since the murder occured on Nov. 1, 2007, but as the trial heads to a climax it has become intense. Journalists and cameramen jammed the small courtroom and tiny press room. Reporters shouted "Amanda, Amanda" as she entered court and so many camera flashes went off today that the courtroom was lit up.

Despite the pressure, Knox has been smiling and relaxed in recent days. Today, however, she appeared more serious as the trial nears an end and a verdict looms.

Knox's 20-year-old sister Deanna, who was in the courtroom for the last two days, told ABC News' Elizabeth Vargas in an interview to air Friday on "20/20" that her sister is torn between excitement at the prospect of going home for Christmas and fear of a conviction.

"She told me a little while ago she was really excited about the possibility that she could be flying home with us," Deanna Knox told Vargas.

At the same time, Knox is worried. "I know she's scared. She's afraid because her life is in other people's hands," her sister said.

Knox's father Curt also mentioned Knox's fears to Vargas.

"I'm sure she's going to be errified. She's going to be scared it's going to go wrong," he said. "She's innocent, sitting in jail accused of a crime she did not commit. So she is definitely scared."

Earlier, Sollecito made his final statement, telling the court that he had no motive to help kill Knox's roommate, but a prosecutor countered that a motive isn't necessary for conviction and said there is a lot of unexplained violence these days.

Sollecito, 25, was Knox's boyfriend at the time of the murder. He is accused of helping to kill Meredith Kercher in a booze and drug-fueled fury that was allegedly sparked by Kercher's criticism of Knox's cleanliness and her habit of bringing boys home. Prosecutors described Sollecito as a follower of the then-20-year-old Knox, calling him "Amanda-dependent."

Sollecito softly told the court today that he was living through an "absurd affair about which I know nothing."

"I would like to understand today, because it is not at all clear, why I should have participated in a murder," he said. "Not having found a motive to explain what made me kill, they said I was a sort of dog on a leash – Amanda-dependent.

"I had only known her [Knox] for a few days. I certainly cared for her, but they were the very first days (of our relationship) and there was no dependent relationship there. If Amanda had asked me to do something I did not agree with, I would have said no. Imagine if she asked me to do something as terrible as killing a girl," he said.

Sollecito ended his defense by saying, "I did not kill Meredith. I was not in that house that night. I hope the real murderer comes forward and confesses. I still have faith in justice. For me it represents everything. Thank you for listening to me."

It was the latest assault by the defense on what they said was an unconvincing motive, that Knox got Sollecito and uede, to help kill her "prissy" roommate who had criticized her. One prosecutor described Knox as so full vengeance that she was a "coiled spring."

Prosecutor Says Motive Not Needed for Conviction

Guede has already been convicted of taking part in the murder and has been sentenced to 30 years in prison. He is appealing his conviction.

Prosecutor Manuela Comodi concluded the prosecution's case today by saying " a motive is not necessary to prove a murder."

"The motive exists, and if you do not want to listen to it, then ok.... It is logically conceivable. But even if the court decides that the motive does not stand up, it does not mean legally that the defendants cannot be found guilty," Comodi said.

"Why did they do it? I ask myself the same thing," said Comodi. "Why do normal kids set fire to a homeless man? Why does a girl get her boyfriend to help kill her parents? Why does a mother kill her child?" she said referring to well publicized cases in Italy in recent years.

"We live in era of 'violence without a plan' for which we have no explanation," Comodi said.

Comodi zeroed in on the one piece of evidence that allegedly places Sollecito at the crime scene, a clasp torn off of Kercher's bra that has Sollecito's DNA on it. Sollecito allegedly cut it off during a sexual attack on Kercher before Knox allegedly slashed her throat with a knife.

Using a bra identical to the one Kercher wore, Comodi strapped it to a microphone and pulled it with a finger to show how Sollecito allegedly pulled it back so he could slice it off, and leave his DNA on the clasp.

Sollecito's lawyer has argued that the clasp wasn't found for 43 days and in that time Kercher's room was thoroughly searched and items moved around. During the extensive search, the crime scene and possibly the bra clasp were contaminated, they stated.

But police forensics experts can tell when evidence has been contaminated and the clasp was not contaminated, Comodi said.

She also countered the defense's claim that Knox and Sollecito did not act like killers when they called the police after finding Kercher's body.

"The perpetrator of a crime is known to give the alarm in order to avert suspicion from himself," a mechanism that does not require a criminal mind, she said.

Amanda Knox Could Face Life in Prison

Comodi closed the prosecution's case by comparing the stories of Sollecito, Knox and the prosecution to the children's story TheThree Little Pigs. Sollecito and Knox built flimsy stories of straw and sticks, she said.

"The third house, solid, and built brick on brick, is the prosecution. Not even one piece of the puzzle is missing," she said.

A lawyer for Kercher's family also spoke to the jury today, asking them to convict Knox and Sollecito of murder.

Francesco Maresca said he wanted to "remind the jury one more time that we are speaking of a victim who was just a 21-year-old girl found dead at the hands of young people of her own age."

He said that logic pointed to Knox and Sollecito as the killers who had already sexually assaulted Kercher.

"Meredith died because after having being attacked, threatened, and sexually assaulted, they had to silence her in some way, and you get that silence with death," he said.

Maresca said that after the long trial,all of the jurors doubts should have been removed.

"You must have certainties. Doubts belong to an earlier phase," he said.

If convicted of murder, Knox could face life in prison. She is simultaneously being tried in a civil suit in which prosecutors are asking for $12 million in damages for the Kercher family.

In addition, she is being tried for slander because in an odd confession during an all night interrogation she told police she had a vision of being at the crime scene that night and that a bar owner, Patrick Lumumba, was also present.

Lumumba was arrested, but later cleared. He has sued Knox for defamation. Conviction on that charge could result in a six year prison sentence.

Knox has since retracted the statement and said it was made under duress while police were treating her aggressively and even hit her on the back of her head.

ABC News' Nikki Battiste contributed to this report

http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/AmandaKnox...ory?id=9237162

[Royalpurple209]

Victim’s family ‘satisfied’ with Knox conviction

American is sentenced to 26 years for ‘07 slaying of U.K. roommate in Italy

PERUGIA, Italy - The family of a slain British woman said Saturday they were pleased with the murder conviction of American student Amanda Knox but said there was no sense of celebration.

Meredith Kercher's relatives made their first comments since a jury in Perugia, Italy, announced early Saturday that they had convicted Knox and sentenced her to 26 years in prison for the 2007 murder.

The court also convicted Knox's co-defendant and former boyfriend, Italian Raffaele Sollecito, and gave him a 25-year jail term.

"Ultimately we are pleased with the decision, pleased that we've got a decision, but it's not a time for celebration," Lyle Kercher, the victim's brother, said.

Kercher's sister, Stephanie, said the verdict "does bring a a little bit of justice, for us and for her."

"Life will never be the same without Mez," she said.

Kercher, 21, was Knox's roommate while they studied in Perugia.

Her body was found in a pool of blood with her throat slit on Nov. 2, 2007 at the apartment they shared. Prosecutors said the Leeds University student was murdered the previous night.

Knox, family react to verdict
As soon as the judge read the verdict just after midnight following some 13 hours of deliberations, Knox began weeping and murmured, “No, no,” then hugged one of her lawyers.

Minutes later, the 22-year-old Knox, who is from Seattle and the 25-year-old Sollecito, were put in police vans with sirens blaring and driven back to jail.

Prosecutors had sought life imprisonment, Italy’s stiffest sentence. Courts often give less severe punishment than what prosecutors demand.

The American’s father, Curt Knox, asked if he would fight on for his daughter, replied, with tears in his eyes: “Hell, yes.”

“This is just wrong,” her stepmother, Cassandra Knox, said, turning around immediately after hearing the verdict. Her family had insisted she was innocent and a victim of character assassination.

One of Knox’s lawyers, Luciano Ghirga, was asked if she was desperate.

“Yes, I challenge anyone not to be,” he replied.

A group of local youths who gathered outside the courthouse shouted insults and “assassin” at the Knox entourage as they walked in to hear the verdict.

The family said Knox will appeal the verdict.

In a statement, U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., blasted the Italian legal system.

"I am saddened by the verdict and I have serious questions about the Italian justice system and whether anti-Americanism tainted this trial," Cantwell said. "The prosecution did not present enough evidence for an impartial jury to conclude beyond a reasonable doubt that Ms. Knox was guilty."

"Italian jurors were not sequestered and were allowed to view highly negative news coverage about Ms. Knox," Cantwell said. The senator also cited the "harsh" treatment of Knox after her arrest and "the negligent handling of evidence by investigators."

Seattle friends, relatives react
Relatives and friends in Seattle clasped hands as they watched TV and waited for the verdict. Her uncle, Mick Huff, cried, "Oh God, no" when it was announced.

Other friends buried their faces in their hands and shook their heads.

"They didn't listen to the facts of the case," said Elisabeth Huff, Knox's grandmother. "All they did was listen to the media's lies."

Madison Paxton, a friend of Knox's, said: "They're convicting a made-up person. They they're convicting 'foxy Knoxy.' That's not Amanda."

In a statement, the family said: "We are extremely disappointed in the verdict rendered today against our daughter. ... It appears clear to us that the attacks on Amanda's character in much of the media and by the prosecution had a significant impact on the judges and jurors and apparently overshadowed the lack of evidence in the prosecution's case against her."

'Fumes of drugs'
The prosecutors contend on the night of the murder, Knox and Sollecito met at the apartment where Kercher and Knox lived. They say a fourth person was there, Rudy Hermann Guede, an Ivory Coast citizen who has been convicted in the murder and sentenced to 30 years in prison. Guede, who is appealing his conviction, says he was in the house the night of the murder but did not kill Kercher.

The prosecution says Knox and Kercher started arguing, and that Knox joined the two men in brutally attacking and sexually assaulting the Briton under "the fumes of drugs and possibly alcohol."

Throughout the trial, prosecutors depicted Knox as a promiscuous and manipulative she-devil whose personality clashed with her roommate's. They say Knox had grown to hate Kercher.

During the trial, the most intimate details of Knox's life were examined, from her lax hygiene — allegedly a point of contention with Kercher — to her sex life, even including a sex toy.

Knox said Kercher was a friend whose slaying shocked and saddened her.
Defense lawyers have described the American, who made the dean's list at the University of Washington, as a smart and cheerful woman, at one point even comparing her to film character Amelie, the innocent and dreamy girl in the 2001 French movie of the same title.

That is the film Knox and Sollecito say they were watching at his home on the night of the murder, where they say they smoked marijuana and had sex. Knox said she went home the next morning to find the door to the house open and Kercher dead.

The prosecution maintains that a 6 1/2-inch knife authorities found at Sollecito's house could be the murder weapon; they say Kercher's DNA was found on the blade and Knox's on the handle. However, defense lawyers argue the knife was too big to match Kercher's wounds and the amount of DNA collected was too small to determine with certainty whose it was.

'Violence is purposeless'
The defense maintained there was not enough evidence for a conviction and no clear motive.

However, prosecutor Manuela Comodi said violent crimes can lack a motive. "We live at a time where violence is purposeless," she told the jury.

Knox gave contradictory versions of the night of the slaying, saying at one point she was home and had to cover her ears to block out Kercher's screams and accusing a Congolese man of the killing. The man, Patrick Diya Lumumba, owns a pub in Perugia where Knox worked. He was jailed briefly but was later cleared and is seeking defamation damages from Knox.

Knox later contended that police pressure led her to initially accuse an innocent man.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/34271238/ns/world_news-europe//

[Royalpurple209]

Updated December 06, 2009

Clinton Busy But Willing to Hear Concerns on Amanda Knox Verdict

FOXNews.com

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Sunday she hasn't had a chance to look into the case of the American college student in Italy who was found guilty of murdering her British roommate.

WASHINGTON -- Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Sunday she hasn't had a chance to look into the case of the American college student in Italy who was found guilty of murdering her British roommate.

Amanda Knox of Seattle was sentenced Friday to 26 years in prison after a yearlong trial. Her co-defendant and former boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, was sentenced to 25 years.

Knox's family insists she's innocent of murdering Meredith Kercher in November 2007. They described the case as character assassination. They plan to appeal.

Sen. Maria Cantwell, a Democrat from Washington state, has said she plans to bring her concerns to Clinton, and has already approached the Italian embassy in Washington, D.C., and the U.S. ambassador in Rome.

"I am saddened by the verdict and I have serious questions about the Italian justice system and whether anti-Americanism tainted this trial,"

Cantwell said in a statement on Friday.

"The prosecution did not present enough evidence for an impartial jury to conclude beyond a reasonable doubt that Ms. Knox was guilty. Italian jurors were not sequestered and were allowed to view highly negative news coverage about Ms. Knox. Other flaws in the Italian justice system on display in this case included the harsh treatment of Ms. Knox following her arrest; negligent handling of evidence by investigators; and pending charges of misconduct against one of the prosecutors stemming from another murder trial," Cantwell said.

Clinton told ABC's "This Week" that she's been tied up with Afghanistan policy and hasn't examined the case.

"Of course, I'll meet with Senator Cantwell, or anyone who has a concern, but I can't offer any opinion about that at this time," she said.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009...-knox-verdict/