Crime

Greg Burke

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Perugia Murder: Crunch Time for Amanda Knox

November 18, 2009 - 8:54 AM | by: Greg Burke

The trial of Amanda Knox, the 22-year-old Seattle student accused of murder and sexual assault in Perugia, Italy, resumes on Friday, and a verdict is expected in early December.

It’s crunch time for Amanda, who has sat through the trial for nearly a year. Knox and her former boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, are both suspects in the grisly murder of Knox’s former roommate, English student Meredith Kercher.

Meanwhile, the appeal for Rudy Guede, the Ivory Coast native who had opted for a speedy trial in the same case and was convicted and sentenced to 30 years in jail, began today.

“I want the Kercher family to know that I didn’t kill and I didn’t rape their daughter,” Guede told the court in Perugia.

Guede’s lawyers said they will prove his innocence, although they have their work cut out for them. Guede is the only one of the three suspects who admits being in the house at the time of the murder – he says he was in the bathroom – and he also fled Italy shortly after the murder. He was arrested in Germany.

“I went into a state of shock” Guede told the court in describing the condition in which he found Kercher after hearing her scream. He said the only problem his conscience gives him is that he didn’t do more to help Meredith as he saw her bleeding in agony.

Prosecutors contend Kercher was stabbed to death on the night of Nov. 1, 2007,  during a sex game gone horribly wrong.

Knox and Sollecito both maintain their innocence, and have spent more than two years in prison.

The trial began in January, and while both defense lawyers and the prosecution have scored points, neither has delivered a knockout blow.

The defense tried repeatedly to show that forensic work both at the crime scene and in the lab has been shoddy, and pressed for an independent review of the evidence, but without success.

And despite some strange behavior and strange statements by Knox and Sollecito right after the brutal murder, it doesn’t appear the prosecution has shown hard evidence proving their guilt.

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kjf

Rudy did this alone. Only his footrptins, fingerprints and DNA was found in and on the victim, and her purse and on the wall in blood. The other two were only injected into his lies because they were on the front page of the paper while Rudy escaped to Germany, before being caught due to his fingerprint in blood on the pillow.

November 19, 2009 at 9:19 AM
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tommy

no death penalty in italy

November 19, 2009 at 7:15 AM
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Betty

It is beyond me how the media portrays the case as if there where any doubt about Amanda Knox's guilt. The evidence leaves not doubt in my mind nor do I expect the jury to see it differently.

November 19, 2009 at 1:14 AM
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truth

Amanda is innocent. She has been tried in the world press and none of you who say she is guilty have gotten your facts straight. Try actuall reading the court documents. There is NOTHING to prove her guilt. Amanda is INNOCENT.

November 18, 2009 at 6:03 PM
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Ginny Marshall

I am an American and I know no one who is not outraged by what has happened. That she is an American is irrelevant. I am ashamed that an American did this. We're horrified by Amanda Knox and hope that she receives justice for what she has done. Assuming she indeed did this horrific crime, she deserves the death penalty. Does Italy even have the death penalty?

November 18, 2009 at 5:35 PM
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Ashley

I keep hearing,"drug fueled sex game" and " sex game, gone terribly wrong". What evidence so they have to support these claims? Is. The reason they are not disclosing this information, because this is all still at trial? It's sad that this girl was murdered but, why do they keep sayid these things, with nothing to back it up?

November 18, 2009 at 3:44 PM
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Harry Rag

Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito will be convicted of murdering Meredith Kercher on the strength of the evidence. The Italian legal system is very fair and cautious. Numerous judges, including judges at the Italian Supreme Court, have examined the evidence carefully and decided that there are serious indications of Amanda Knox's and Raffaele Sollecito's guilt. Amanda Knox's DNA was on the handle of the double DNA knife and Meredith's DNA was on the blade. Amanda Knox's footprints were set in Meredith's blood in the hallway and in Meredith's room. There were five mixed samples of Amanda Knox's blood or DNA with Meredith's blood in three different locations in the cottage, including Filomena's room, where the break-in was staged. Incidentally, Raffaele Sollecito's forensic expert, Professor Vinci, claimed that he had found Knox's DNA on Meredith's bra. Apparently, Vincenzo Pascali, Sollecito's chief forensic consultant, also found Knox's DNA on Meredith's bra. Raffaele Sollecito left a bloody footprint on the blue bathmat in the bathroom and he left another in the hallway. An abundant amount of Sollecito's DNA was found on Meredith's bra clasp. Meredith's bra was removed some time after she had been killed and Rudy Guede had fled the scene. Amanda Knox admitted on several occasions that she was at the cottage on the evening of 1 November and she voluntarily admitted that she was involved in Meredith's murder in her handwritten note to the police on 6 November 2007. This confession has been admitted as evidence by Judge Massei. Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito have both given multiple alibis and lied repeatedly. They still don't have credible alibis for the night of the murder despite three attempts each. They have no credibility as witnesses. Amanda Knox has been flatly contradicted by the corroborative testimony of numerous witnesses.

November 18, 2009 at 3:08 PM
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Peter Quennell

"Guede is the only one of the three suspects who admits being in the house " Thanks Greg but above is incorrect on three counts. Guede is a convicted murderer and rapist, not a suspect. Knox and Sollecito are defendants, not suspects. And Knox also admitted to being in the house repeatedly and in writing. Her voluntary and uncoerced written statement is in evidence. And the prosecution has shown enormous hard proof of their guilt. Check out truejustice.org

November 18, 2009 at 11:38 AM
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John

How about the shopkeeper who testified that Amanda fervently waited for the shop to open early in the morning to purchase cleaning supplies before Kercher's body was discovered? Their house had been scrubbed clean before police arrived. Must have been a case of compulsive cleaning! Seems to me that the US media wants to give this lady a pass!

November 18, 2009 at 10:28 AM
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