Seattle chickie still in denial. Appeals her sentence... In Italy.
Uke said
2:18 PM, 09/23/11
This one's been an ongoing trial, and after a series of denials, conspiracy theories, and convictions for three supposed 'co-conspirators,' she's still in jail.
My gut says the whole bunch are guilty. But whaddo I know. I wasn't there...
Amanda Knox arrives at the courthouse for the appeal trial in Perugia, Italy, Friday, Sept. 23, 2011. Prosecutors began closing arguments in a bid to uphold the murder conviction of American student Amanda Knox in the 2007 slaying of her roommate, with Knox's family hopeful that a review of DNA evidence during the long appeals trial will lead to her release. A verdict is expected in early October, after the defense, the victim's family and probably Knox herself make their case. (AP Photo - Stefano Medici)
Knox trial: Italian prosecutors sum up their case
ALESSANDRA RIZZO
From Associated Press
September 23, 2011 4:24 PM EDT
PERUGIA, Italy (AP) Italian prosecutors urged an appeals court Friday to uphold the murder conviction of Amanda Knox despite what they called a media campaign in support of the American student, asking the jurors to think instead of the young victim whose life was brutally ended.
In the first round of closing arguments that took seven hours Friday, the prosecutors summed up circumstantial evidence, testimony and other clues they believe point solely to Knox and Raffaele Sollecito. They sought to move past a recent independent review of genetic evidence, which cast doubt on key traces used to link the defendants to the murder and dealt a significant blow to the prosecution's case.
"All clues converge toward the only possible result of finding the defendants guilty," Prosecutor Giancarlo Costagliola said.
Prosecutors will wrap up their arguments Saturday. They could seek stiffer sentences, including life imprisonment or ask the court to uphold the current jail terms. A verdict is expected at the end of September or early October.
Knox and Sollecito were convicted of sexually assaulting and murdering Knox's British roommate, Meredith Kercher, on the night of Nov. 1, 2007, when they were all students in Perugia. Knox was sentenced to 26 years in prison; Sollecito to 25. Both deny wrongdoing and have appealed the lower court's verdict in December 2009.
Speaking in a packed courtroom, the prosecutors sought to focus the jury's attention on Kercher and her family's pain, against a backdrop of what they described as media fascination with the photogenic Knox.
Costagliola urged the jurors to try and "feel a little bit like the parents of Meredith Kercher." Another prosecutor, Giuliano Mignini, said he will never forget Kercher's wide open eyes when he inspected the crime scene. He then juxtaposed gruesome photos from the murder with a snapshot of the defendants kissing shortly after Kercher's body was found.
"The victim has sunk into an absolute and shameful oblivion, made more intolerable by the media's morbid exaltation of the two people sitting on the defendant's bench," Mignini said. He urged jurors not to be deceived by the defendants' clean-cut appearances, saying "there's a dark side in all of us."
The prosecutors argue that the 21-year-old Kercher was the victim of a drug-fueled sex assault. In the first trial, the prosecutors had sought life sentences Italy's stiffest punishment. Like the defendant, they have also appealed the lower court's verdict, as they can in Italy.
On Friday, the prosecutors reviewed their case in great detail: bloody footprints found in the house that are compatible with those of the defendants, cell phone activity and witness testimony that appear to contradict the defendant's alibi that they spent the night at Sollecito's house and stayed there until about 10 a.m. the day after the murder, and a staged burglary at the house of the murder aimed at sidetracking the investigation.
They reminded the court that Knox initially gave contradicting accounts on the night of the murder, at one point accusing a Congolese man who was briefly arrested as a result of that claim, and later cleared. Knox maintains she acted under police pressure when she was questioned in the aftermath of the killing.
The prosecutors also addressed the results of an independent review of DNA evidence, which said much of the genetic evidence used to convict Knox and Sollecito was faulty.
In the first trial, prosecutors maintained that Knox's DNA was found on the handle of a kitchen knife believed to be the murder weapon, and that Kercher's DNA was found on the blade. They said Sollecito's DNA was on the clasp of Kercher's bra as part of a mix of evidence that also included the victim's genetic profile.
The independent review, carried out by two court-appointed experts, challenged both findings. It said police had made glaring errors in evidence-collecting and that below-standard testing and possible contamination raised doubts over the attribution of DNA traces, both on the blade and on the bra clasp, which was collected from the crime scene several weeks after the murder.
The review boosted Knox's chances and gave hope to her family that the 24-year-old might be freed after four years behind bars. Without a clear motive and decisive witnesses, DNA emerged as a crucial element in the case.
But the prosecutors tried to play down the significance of the review, insisting it was sketchy and superficial and telling the court there was more to their case.
"It's not just about the clasp and the knife," Mignini said. Speaking of the risk of contamination, he said the review failed to back up the claim: "Contamination of what? With what? When? How?" he asked.
Mignini, who served as prosecutor in the first trial, resurrected some of the prosecution's case from then, mentioning Knox's purported promiscuity, the presence of a vibrator in the house, her use of drugs and her supposed tensions with Kercher.
Gesticulating, using sarcastic comments and making citations in Latin and French, Mignini appeared to capture the jurors' attention despite his lengthy exposition. Nearby, a tense, worn-out looking Knox watched attentively.
"I'm sure today it was stressful for her. Listening to people tell a bunch of lies about her is difficult," said Knox's mother, Edda Mellas, who flew to Italy on Thursday for the final stretch of the proceedings. "But we know we have to go through this part to get to the end."
"I don't think they presented anything that contradicts anything," Mellas added.
A lawyer for Sollecito, Giulia Bongiorno, told reporters that, weakened by the results of the review, the prosecution was merely "rehashing old clues, feeble and inconsistent arguments."
Mignini reserved some of his toughest words for Knox's character, which he described as "insensitive and lacking affection" in the aftermath of the murder, and called her a liar. But he also spoke harshly of the supposed role of the media, which he said was intent on discrediting the Italian judicial system.
Mignini said the prosecution was "subjected to systematic denigration of a political and media nature." He denounced the "armchair detectives who give their opinions from remarkable superficiality and approximation from 5,000 kilometers (3,000 miles), 10,000 kilometers (more than 6,000 miles) away."
"The trial must be held here, in this courtroom," Mignini told the jurors. "This lobbying, this media and political circus, this heavy interference, forget all of it!"
With young and attractive defendants and tales of sex and drugs, the case has captivated audiences worldwide, drawing international media to Perugia since the beginning. On Friday, as the appeals trial draws to a close, the underground courtroom was packed with cameras, reporters and scores of curious residents.
A third person, Rudy Hermann Guede of the Ivory Coast, also has been convicted of Kercher's murder in a separate proceeding. Italy's highest criminal court has upheld Guede's conviction and his 16-year-prison sentence. Guede denies wrongdoing, though he admits he was in the house.
The prosecutors noted that Guede himself testified months ago that he believes Knox and Sollecito killed Kercher. They pointed out that Italy's highest court said in its ruling that Guede had not acted alone.
However, the court's ruling does not name Knox and Sollecito as Guede's accomplices.
Curiously, the prosecution's call not to forget the victim was similar to what Curt Knox said on the eve of their summations.
"What's lost out of this thing is the Kercher family and the loss of their daughter Meredith," Knox told The Associated Press in an interview Thursday.
"We have not personally reached out yet because I would like them to know that Amanda had nothing to do with the loss of their daughter," he said. "And until they know that Amanda had nothing to do with it, I'm not certain how they would accept our heartfelt condolences for the loss of their daughter."
The Kerchers are expected to travel to Perugia for the verdict.
(This version corrects to Knox's instead of Kercher's in 18th paragraph.)
Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
-- Edited by Uke on Friday 23rd of September 2011 02:21:30 PM
Uke said
12:49 PM, 10/02/11
Amanda Knox the she-devil or the innocent? Foxy Knoxy's day of judgement
Amanda Knox was Sunday putting the finishing touches to a speech which could make the difference between her being acquitted of murdering Meredith Kercher or spending the next two decades behind bars.
The speech that could set her free: Amanda Knox is set to plead for her release on MondayPhoto: REUTERS/Alessandro Bianchi
Knox will read out the declaration in court in Perugia this morning, shortly before six jurors retire to deliberate on whether to quash or uphold her 26-year sentence for killing Miss Kercher, a Leeds University student, in what prosecutors said was a frenzied attack during a group sex game.
Brutal murder: Knox is accused of killing her British flatmate Meredith Kercher, right
Knox, who attended Mass in the prison chapel yesterday, has been described by those around her as "hopeful". Her co-accused, Raffaele Sollecito, is also appealing against his 25-year sentence for murder and sexual assault and is awaiting his fate.
Knox and Sollecito were found guilty of murdering Miss Kercher, 21, from Coulsdon in Surrey, at the end of a year-long trial in Dec 2009. The exchange student was found dead, with her throat cut, in the house she shared with Knox in the university town of Perugia on November 2, 2007.
Now Knox is appealing her convictions. If she is acquitted, she is set to get on the first plane back to the US. However the jury could uphold her sentence or even increase it to life. The six jurors five women and one man and two judges will have to choose between the two wildly differing images that have been presented of the young American.
Was she, as prosecutors claim, a promiscuous vamp - a "she-devil as one prosecutor claimed whose jealousy of Miss Kercher turned into a sadistic, murderous rage? They say her DNA was on the murder weapon, she had no alibi, witnesses had placed her at the scene, and she herself had confessed to being in the house on the night of the murder.
Or was she, as the defence contends, a naive, innocent abroad who became unwittingly entangled in a miscarriage of justice exacerbated by trans-Atlantic cultural misunderstandings? Legal experts have said the conviction would never have been passed in a British or American court.
During the appeal, much of the evidence was undermined: independent experts claimed the DNA evidence was tainted and insufficient, witnesses proved unreliable, and Knox's confession was presented as having been given under duress. Knox's family and friends say the image portrayed by prosecutors bears no resemblance to reality. They describe her as an intelligent, studious girl who became an A-grade undergraduate at the University of Washington.
Her alleged accomplices were Sollecito, a bespectacled computer studies graduate who had only been her boyfriend for a few days, and Rudy Guede, a drifter who was born in the Ivory Coast but grew up in Italy.
After being found guilty of sexual assault and murder in a separate trial, he was sentenced to 30 years in prison, which on appeal was reduced to 16.
In the four years since the crime in the walled university town of Perugia, the story of "Foxy Knoxy" has been broadcast around the world, though her parents have insisted over and over that she earned the nickname for her skills on the football pitch as a teenager.
Knox listed her interests on her MySpace page two weeks before the murder interests that included "good wine", "drinking tea", "yoga on a rainy day", "rollercoasters" and "Harry Potter". But the wholesome image began to unravel within hours of Miss Kercher being found dead. As police and forensics experts descended on the hillside cottage, Knox and Sollecito hugged and kissed outside, throwing furtive glances at TV cameras and newspaper photographers. A few days later, Knox performed cartwheels and did the splits in a police station in Perugia while waiting to be questioned.
Her behaviour seemed odd to officers, and to the traumatised British friends of Miss Kercher, who were also in the police station. She kissed and cuddled Sollecito, joking and sticking her tongue out at him. Later they went shopping for sexy underwear in a lingerie shop in Perugia. "She liked to be the centre of attention," said Natalie Hayward, who became friends with Miss Kercher in Perugia. "Amanda has a power that is hard to explain."
After Knox was arrested on suspicion of murder, it was discovered that she had posted on her MySpace page a short story that she had written about a young woman being drugged and raped. Her family said it was simply an example of her passion for creative writing.
During one hearing she walked into court wearing a white T-shirt emblazoned with the words "All You Need Is Love" in large pink letters. It seemed deliberately provocative, and was splashed all over the papers.
There is massive expectation in the Knox camp, and in the US in general, that she will be acquitted on all charges and set free to board the first plane home to Seattle. Lucrative interview, book and film deals are expected a prospect which causes much disquiet in Italy.
If Knox and Sollecito are acquitted, prosecutors say they will appeal against the decision in the Court of Cassation in Rome, Italy's highest criminal court and the very final level of appeal. Jurors could strike down the murder convictions and rule that the couple were guilty of a lesser crime such as complicity, which would reduce their sentences and see them released soon, after the four years already served.
Whatever the outcome, the real-life soap opera that has surrounded Amanda Knox for the last four years is likely to keep rolling on, to the profound dismay of Meredith Kercher's grieving family, who fear that amid the circus, the world has lost sight of the one person who never should have been forgotten: Meredith.
Cy Valley said
3:20 PM, 10/02/11
She fell in with a bad bunch and got shafted, giving Uke the opportunity to once again ride to the rescue of a damsel in distress.
Troll said
6:52 PM, 10/02/11
Cy Valley wrote:
She fell in with a bad bunch and got shafted, giving Uke the opportunity to once again ride to the rescue of a damsel in distress.
Troll said
6:54 PM, 10/02/11
Cy Valley wrote:
She fell in with a bad bunch and got shafted, giving Uke the opportunity to once again ride to the rescue of a damsel in distress.
Unless he's hanging out at the bath house.
The Krink said
2:03 AM, 10/03/11
Looks like a tampon in his mouth. Always thought that was illegal.
-- Edited by The Krink on Monday 3rd of October 2011 02:14:01 AM
The Krink said
2:13 AM, 10/03/11
Yes I would like the Amanda Knox case to be resolved in her favor. If she get's away with murder only she would know. Don't think that's the case. What a fucking ordeal to go through in a distant land.
This has been in the news so much lately... The past few months have been agonizingly boring. Seattle, and the PNW hope we can move on ta more interesting news. Like the 2012 Buicks...
Italy appeals court clears Knox of murder
Amanda Knox arrives for an appeal hearing at the Perugia court, central Italy, Monday, Oct. 3, 2011. A tearful Knox told the court that accusations that she killed her British roommate are unfair and groundless. A verdict is expected later today. (AP Photo - Stefano Medici)
ALESSANDRA RIZZO
From Associated Press
October 03, 2011 4:17 PM EDT
PERUGIA, Italy (AP) An Italian appeals court threw out Amanda Knox's murder conviction Monday and ordered the young American freed after nearly four years in prison for the death of her British roommate.
Knox collapsed in tears after the verdict overturning her 2009 conviction was read out. Her co-defendant, Italian Raffaele Sollecito, also was cleared of killing 21-year-old Meredith Kercher in 2007.
The Kercher family looked on grimly and a bit dazed as the verdict was read out by the judge after 11 hours of deliberations by the eight-member jury. Outside the courthouse, some of the hundreds of observers shouted "Shame, shame!"
Yet inside the frescoed courtroom, Knox's parents, who have regularly traveled from their home in Seattle to Perugia to visit the 24-year-old over the past four years, hugged their lawyers and cried with joy.
"We've been waiting for this for four years," said one of Sollecito's lawyers, Giulia Bongiorno.
The judge upheld Knox's conviction on a charge of slander for accusing bar owner Diya "Patrick" Lumumba of carrying out the killing. He set the sentence at three years, meaning for time served. Knox has been in prison since Nov. 6, 2007.
Prosecutors can appeal the acquittal to Italy's highest court. There was no word late Monday if they planned to do so.
In Seattle, about a dozen Knox supporters were overjoyed that she has been cleared of the murder conviction.
"She's free!" and "We did it!" they shouted at a hotel where they watched the court proceedings on TV.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.
PERUGIA, Italy (AP) An Italian appeals court threw out Amanda Knox's murder conviction Monday and ordered the young American freed after nearly four years in prison for the death of her British roommate.
Knox collapsed in tears after the verdict overturning her 2009 conviction was read out. Her co-defendant, Italian Raffaele Sollecito, also was cleared of killing 21-year-old Meredith Kercher in 2007.
The Kercher family looked on grimly and a bit dazed as the verdict was read out by the judge after 11 hours of deliberations by the eight-member jury. Outside the courthouse, some of the hundreds of observers shouted "Shame, shame!"
Yet inside the frescoed courtroom, Knox's parents, who have regularly traveled from their home in Seattle to Perugia to visit the 24-year-old over the past four years, hugged their lawyers and cried with joy.
"We've been waiting for this for four years," said one of Sollecito's lawyers, Giulia Bongiorno.
The judge upheld Knox's conviction on a charge of slander for accusing bar owner Diya "Patrick" Lumumba of carrying out the killing. He set the sentence at three years, meaning for time served. Knox has been in prison since Nov. 6, 2007.
Prosecutors can appeal the acquittal to Italy's highest court. There was no word late Monday if they planned to do so.
Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Snippy said
2:16 PM, 10/03/11
She's got that Mariel Hemingway look to her.
Murderess.
T N Krumpettes said
5:23 PM, 10/03/11
Somebody needs some tea and a smile!
Uke said
6:33 AM, 10/04/11
Just heard on the radio that she, and her family are expected at SeaTac airport within the hour. I'm not sure about her... But she and her boyfriend have denied involvement in Meredeth Kercher's murder from the beginning. She's proclaimed her innocence from day one of her arrest...
The fact that she'd changed her story so many times makes one put her inta that category of 'habitual liar', or one who lies ta cover up a previous lie, because they can't remember that lie. And on it goes...
I expect a book deal, a movie adaptation...etc. In other words fame, fortune, and that OJ curse.
Snippy said
6:48 AM, 10/04/11
Snippy didn't knowo that they still made ClearasilŽ brand "makeup".
Uke said
6:54 AM, 10/04/11
Hey... Leave Amanda alone! (No prize for Snippy!) No! No! No!
Oh what the hell...I guess so...
Cy Valley said
7:13 AM, 10/04/11
Uke, are you posting from SeaTac? Surely, you're at the airport to lend and show your strong support, aren't you? No? WTF, Uke
This one's been an ongoing trial, and after a series of denials, conspiracy theories, and convictions for three supposed 'co-conspirators,' she's still in jail.
My gut says the whole bunch are guilty. But whaddo I know. I wasn't there...
Amanda Knox arrives at the courthouse for the appeal trial in Perugia, Italy, Friday, Sept. 23, 2011. Prosecutors began closing arguments in a bid to uphold the murder conviction of American student Amanda Knox in the 2007 slaying of her roommate, with Knox's family hopeful that a review of DNA evidence during the long appeals trial will lead to her release. A verdict is expected in early October, after the defense, the victim's family and probably Knox herself make their case. (AP Photo - Stefano Medici)
PERUGIA, Italy (AP) Italian prosecutors urged an appeals court Friday to uphold the murder conviction of Amanda Knox despite what they called a media campaign in support of the American student, asking the jurors to think instead of the young victim whose life was brutally ended.
In the first round of closing arguments that took seven hours Friday, the prosecutors summed up circumstantial evidence, testimony and other clues they believe point solely to Knox and Raffaele Sollecito. They sought to move past a recent independent review of genetic evidence, which cast doubt on key traces used to link the defendants to the murder and dealt a significant blow to the prosecution's case.
"All clues converge toward the only possible result of finding the defendants guilty," Prosecutor Giancarlo Costagliola said.
Prosecutors will wrap up their arguments Saturday. They could seek stiffer sentences, including life imprisonment or ask the court to uphold the current jail terms. A verdict is expected at the end of September or early October.
Knox and Sollecito were convicted of sexually assaulting and murdering Knox's British roommate, Meredith Kercher, on the night of Nov. 1, 2007, when they were all students in Perugia. Knox was sentenced to 26 years in prison; Sollecito to 25. Both deny wrongdoing and have appealed the lower court's verdict in December 2009.
Speaking in a packed courtroom, the prosecutors sought to focus the jury's attention on Kercher and her family's pain, against a backdrop of what they described as media fascination with the photogenic Knox.
Costagliola urged the jurors to try and "feel a little bit like the parents of Meredith Kercher." Another prosecutor, Giuliano Mignini, said he will never forget Kercher's wide open eyes when he inspected the crime scene. He then juxtaposed gruesome photos from the murder with a snapshot of the defendants kissing shortly after Kercher's body was found.
"The victim has sunk into an absolute and shameful oblivion, made more intolerable by the media's morbid exaltation of the two people sitting on the defendant's bench," Mignini said. He urged jurors not to be deceived by the defendants' clean-cut appearances, saying "there's a dark side in all of us."
The prosecutors argue that the 21-year-old Kercher was the victim of a drug-fueled sex assault. In the first trial, the prosecutors had sought life sentences Italy's stiffest punishment. Like the defendant, they have also appealed the lower court's verdict, as they can in Italy.
On Friday, the prosecutors reviewed their case in great detail: bloody footprints found in the house that are compatible with those of the defendants, cell phone activity and witness testimony that appear to contradict the defendant's alibi that they spent the night at Sollecito's house and stayed there until about 10 a.m. the day after the murder, and a staged burglary at the house of the murder aimed at sidetracking the investigation.
They reminded the court that Knox initially gave contradicting accounts on the night of the murder, at one point accusing a Congolese man who was briefly arrested as a result of that claim, and later cleared. Knox maintains she acted under police pressure when she was questioned in the aftermath of the killing.
The prosecutors also addressed the results of an independent review of DNA evidence, which said much of the genetic evidence used to convict Knox and Sollecito was faulty.
In the first trial, prosecutors maintained that Knox's DNA was found on the handle of a kitchen knife believed to be the murder weapon, and that Kercher's DNA was found on the blade. They said Sollecito's DNA was on the clasp of Kercher's bra as part of a mix of evidence that also included the victim's genetic profile.
The independent review, carried out by two court-appointed experts, challenged both findings. It said police had made glaring errors in evidence-collecting and that below-standard testing and possible contamination raised doubts over the attribution of DNA traces, both on the blade and on the bra clasp, which was collected from the crime scene several weeks after the murder.
The review boosted Knox's chances and gave hope to her family that the 24-year-old might be freed after four years behind bars. Without a clear motive and decisive witnesses, DNA emerged as a crucial element in the case.
But the prosecutors tried to play down the significance of the review, insisting it was sketchy and superficial and telling the court there was more to their case.
"It's not just about the clasp and the knife," Mignini said. Speaking of the risk of contamination, he said the review failed to back up the claim: "Contamination of what? With what? When? How?" he asked.
Mignini, who served as prosecutor in the first trial, resurrected some of the prosecution's case from then, mentioning Knox's purported promiscuity, the presence of a vibrator in the house, her use of drugs and her supposed tensions with Kercher.
Gesticulating, using sarcastic comments and making citations in Latin and French, Mignini appeared to capture the jurors' attention despite his lengthy exposition. Nearby, a tense, worn-out looking Knox watched attentively.
"I'm sure today it was stressful for her. Listening to people tell a bunch of lies about her is difficult," said Knox's mother, Edda Mellas, who flew to Italy on Thursday for the final stretch of the proceedings. "But we know we have to go through this part to get to the end."
"I don't think they presented anything that contradicts anything," Mellas added.
A lawyer for Sollecito, Giulia Bongiorno, told reporters that, weakened by the results of the review, the prosecution was merely "rehashing old clues, feeble and inconsistent arguments."
Mignini reserved some of his toughest words for Knox's character, which he described as "insensitive and lacking affection" in the aftermath of the murder, and called her a liar. But he also spoke harshly of the supposed role of the media, which he said was intent on discrediting the Italian judicial system.
Mignini said the prosecution was "subjected to systematic denigration of a political and media nature." He denounced the "armchair detectives who give their opinions from remarkable superficiality and approximation from 5,000 kilometers (3,000 miles), 10,000 kilometers (more than 6,000 miles) away."
"The trial must be held here, in this courtroom," Mignini told the jurors. "This lobbying, this media and political circus, this heavy interference, forget all of it!"
With young and attractive defendants and tales of sex and drugs, the case has captivated audiences worldwide, drawing international media to Perugia since the beginning. On Friday, as the appeals trial draws to a close, the underground courtroom was packed with cameras, reporters and scores of curious residents.
A third person, Rudy Hermann Guede of the Ivory Coast, also has been convicted of Kercher's murder in a separate proceeding. Italy's highest criminal court has upheld Guede's conviction and his 16-year-prison sentence. Guede denies wrongdoing, though he admits he was in the house.
The prosecutors noted that Guede himself testified months ago that he believes Knox and Sollecito killed Kercher. They pointed out that Italy's highest court said in its ruling that Guede had not acted alone.
However, the court's ruling does not name Knox and Sollecito as Guede's accomplices.
Curiously, the prosecution's call not to forget the victim was similar to what Curt Knox said on the eve of their summations.
"What's lost out of this thing is the Kercher family and the loss of their daughter Meredith," Knox told The Associated Press in an interview Thursday.
"We have not personally reached out yet because I would like them to know that Amanda had nothing to do with the loss of their daughter," he said. "And until they know that Amanda had nothing to do with it, I'm not certain how they would accept our heartfelt condolences for the loss of their daughter."
The Kerchers are expected to travel to Perugia for the verdict.
(This version corrects to Knox's instead of Kercher's in 18th paragraph.)
-- Edited by Uke on Friday 23rd of September 2011 02:21:30 PM
Amanda Knox the she-devil or the innocent? Foxy Knoxy's day of judgement
Amanda Knox was Sunday putting the finishing touches to a speech which could make the difference between her being acquitted of murdering Meredith Kercher or spending the next two decades behind bars.
By Nick Squires, Perugia
8:34PM BST 02 Oct 2011
Knox will read out the declaration in court in Perugia this morning, shortly before six jurors retire to deliberate on whether to quash or uphold her 26-year sentence for killing Miss Kercher, a Leeds University student, in what prosecutors said was a frenzied attack during a group sex game.
Knox, who attended Mass in the prison chapel yesterday, has been described by those around her as "hopeful". Her co-accused, Raffaele Sollecito, is also appealing against his 25-year sentence for murder and sexual assault and is awaiting his fate.
Knox and Sollecito were found guilty of murdering Miss Kercher, 21, from Coulsdon in Surrey, at the end of a year-long trial in Dec 2009. The exchange student was found dead, with her throat cut, in the house she shared with Knox in the university town of Perugia on November 2, 2007.
Now Knox is appealing her convictions. If she is acquitted, she is set to get on the first plane back to the US. However the jury could uphold her sentence or even increase it to life. The six jurors five women and one man and two judges will have to choose between the two wildly differing images that have been presented of the young American.
Was she, as prosecutors claim, a promiscuous vamp - a "she-devil as one prosecutor claimed whose jealousy of Miss Kercher turned into a sadistic, murderous rage? They say her DNA was on the murder weapon, she had no alibi, witnesses had placed her at the scene, and she herself had confessed to being in the house on the night of the murder.
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02 Oct 2011Or was she, as the defence contends, a naive, innocent abroad who became unwittingly entangled in a miscarriage of justice exacerbated by trans-Atlantic cultural misunderstandings? Legal experts have said the conviction would never have been passed in a British or American court.
During the appeal, much of the evidence was undermined: independent experts claimed the DNA evidence was tainted and insufficient, witnesses proved unreliable, and Knox's confession was presented as having been given under duress. Knox's family and friends say the image portrayed by prosecutors bears no resemblance to reality. They describe her as an intelligent, studious girl who became an A-grade undergraduate at the University of Washington.
Her alleged accomplices were Sollecito, a bespectacled computer studies graduate who had only been her boyfriend for a few days, and Rudy Guede, a drifter who was born in the Ivory Coast but grew up in Italy.
After being found guilty of sexual assault and murder in a separate trial, he was sentenced to 30 years in prison, which on appeal was reduced to 16.
In the four years since the crime in the walled university town of Perugia, the story of "Foxy Knoxy" has been broadcast around the world, though her parents have insisted over and over that she earned the nickname for her skills on the football pitch as a teenager.
Knox listed her interests on her MySpace page two weeks before the murder interests that included "good wine", "drinking tea", "yoga on a rainy day", "rollercoasters" and "Harry Potter". But the wholesome image began to unravel within hours of Miss Kercher being found dead. As police and forensics experts descended on the hillside cottage, Knox and Sollecito hugged and kissed outside, throwing furtive glances at TV cameras and newspaper photographers. A few days later, Knox performed cartwheels and did the splits in a police station in Perugia while waiting to be questioned.
Her behaviour seemed odd to officers, and to the traumatised British friends of Miss Kercher, who were also in the police station. She kissed and cuddled Sollecito, joking and sticking her tongue out at him. Later they went shopping for sexy underwear in a lingerie shop in Perugia. "She liked to be the centre of attention," said Natalie Hayward, who became friends with Miss Kercher in Perugia. "Amanda has a power that is hard to explain."
After Knox was arrested on suspicion of murder, it was discovered that she had posted on her MySpace page a short story that she had written about a young woman being drugged and raped. Her family said it was simply an example of her passion for creative writing.
During one hearing she walked into court wearing a white T-shirt emblazoned with the words "All You Need Is Love" in large pink letters. It seemed deliberately provocative, and was splashed all over the papers.
There is massive expectation in the Knox camp, and in the US in general, that she will be acquitted on all charges and set free to board the first plane home to Seattle. Lucrative interview, book and film deals are expected a prospect which causes much disquiet in Italy.
If Knox and Sollecito are acquitted, prosecutors say they will appeal against the decision in the Court of Cassation in Rome, Italy's highest criminal court and the very final level of appeal. Jurors could strike down the murder convictions and rule that the couple were guilty of a lesser crime such as complicity, which would reduce their sentences and see them released soon, after the four years already served.
Whatever the outcome, the real-life soap opera that has surrounded Amanda Knox for the last four years is likely to keep rolling on, to the profound dismay of Meredith Kercher's grieving family, who fear that amid the circus, the world has lost sight of the one person who never should have been forgotten: Meredith.
Unless he's hanging out at the bath house.
Looks like a tampon in his mouth. Always thought that was illegal.
-- Edited by The Krink on Monday 3rd of October 2011 02:14:01 AM
If she get's away with murder only she would know. Don't think
that's the case. What a fucking ordeal to go through in a distant
land.
Ya got yer wish Krink. Me, I still don't know...
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/10/03/501364/main20114867.shtml
This has been in the news so much lately... The past few months have been agonizingly boring. Seattle, and the PNW hope we can move on ta more interesting news. Like the 2012 Buicks...
PERUGIA, Italy (AP) An Italian appeals court threw out Amanda Knox's murder conviction Monday and ordered the young American freed after nearly four years in prison for the death of her British roommate.
Knox collapsed in tears after the verdict overturning her 2009 conviction was read out. Her co-defendant, Italian Raffaele Sollecito, also was cleared of killing 21-year-old Meredith Kercher in 2007.
The Kercher family looked on grimly and a bit dazed as the verdict was read out by the judge after 11 hours of deliberations by the eight-member jury. Outside the courthouse, some of the hundreds of observers shouted "Shame, shame!"
Yet inside the frescoed courtroom, Knox's parents, who have regularly traveled from their home in Seattle to Perugia to visit the 24-year-old over the past four years, hugged their lawyers and cried with joy.
"We've been waiting for this for four years," said one of Sollecito's lawyers, Giulia Bongiorno.
The judge upheld Knox's conviction on a charge of slander for accusing bar owner Diya "Patrick" Lumumba of carrying out the killing. He set the sentence at three years, meaning for time served. Knox has been in prison since Nov. 6, 2007.
Prosecutors can appeal the acquittal to Italy's highest court. There was no word late Monday if they planned to do so.
In Seattle, about a dozen Knox supporters were overjoyed that she has been cleared of the murder conviction.
"She's free!" and "We did it!" they shouted at a hotel where they watched the court proceedings on TV.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.
PERUGIA, Italy (AP) An Italian appeals court threw out Amanda Knox's murder conviction Monday and ordered the young American freed after nearly four years in prison for the death of her British roommate.
Knox collapsed in tears after the verdict overturning her 2009 conviction was read out. Her co-defendant, Italian Raffaele Sollecito, also was cleared of killing 21-year-old Meredith Kercher in 2007.
The Kercher family looked on grimly and a bit dazed as the verdict was read out by the judge after 11 hours of deliberations by the eight-member jury. Outside the courthouse, some of the hundreds of observers shouted "Shame, shame!"
Yet inside the frescoed courtroom, Knox's parents, who have regularly traveled from their home in Seattle to Perugia to visit the 24-year-old over the past four years, hugged their lawyers and cried with joy.
"We've been waiting for this for four years," said one of Sollecito's lawyers, Giulia Bongiorno.
The judge upheld Knox's conviction on a charge of slander for accusing bar owner Diya "Patrick" Lumumba of carrying out the killing. He set the sentence at three years, meaning for time served. Knox has been in prison since Nov. 6, 2007.
Prosecutors can appeal the acquittal to Italy's highest court. There was no word late Monday if they planned to do so.
______________________________________________________________________
Murderess.
Somebody needs some tea and a smile!
The fact that she'd changed her story so many times makes one put her inta that category of 'habitual liar', or one who lies ta cover up a previous lie, because they can't remember that lie. And on it goes...
I expect a book deal, a movie adaptation...etc. In other words fame, fortune, and that OJ curse.
Oh what the hell...I guess so...