Monday, September 30, 2013

Kercher judge orders new DNA test on knife

from the bbc



Meredith Kercher (file photo)Meredith Kercher was found dead in November 2007

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The Italian judge hearing the retrial of Amanda Knox and and Raffaele Sollecito for the murder of Meredith Kercher has ordered a new DNA test on a knife allegedly used in the killing.
The two suspects spent four years in jail for the 2007 murder, but their convictions were overturned on appeal.
That ruling was itself overturned in March by Italy's highest court.
A separate trial convicted Rudy Guede from Ivory Coast of Miss Kercher's murder. He is serving 16 years in jail.
Neither the American Amanda Knox, nor her Italian former boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito, were in court for the start of the hearing in Florence.
Ms Knox was the housemate of Miss Kercher - a 21-year-old Briton who was found in their student lodgings in Perugia with her throat slashed.
'Justice for Meredith'
Miss Kercher's sister Stephanie wrote to the court to express the family's feelings, nearly six years on from the brutal killing.
"We desperately want to discover the truth," she wrote, "and find justice for Meredith."
Miss Kercher, from Coulsdon in south London, was an undergraduate at the University of Leeds and was studying on an exchange programme at the University of Perugia at the time of her death.
Police outside Florence's courthouse as the retrial gets underway (30 Sept 2013)Unlike previous hearings, the retrial is taking place in Florence
Prosecutors believe she died in a drug-fuelled sexual assault.
At the first session on Monday, lawyers for the two accused requested an array of new testimony and evidence be considered by the court.
The presiding judge, Alessandro Nencini, rejected most of the defence's requests, but agreed to test for DNA on a kitchen knife which the prosecution says was used in the murder.
The first appeals trial, which cleared the two suspects, rejected considering any DNA evidence from the knife, saying the trace was too small to analyse.
The judge also agreed to the prosecution's request to hear again from a jailed gangster, who has accused his brother of murdering Miss Kercher. He will testify on Friday.
The final hearing of this new trial is expected in November, paving the way for a verdict as early as December.
'Everything at stake'
Both Ms Knox and Mr Sollecito maintain their innocence.
Ms Knox insists that on the night of Miss Kercher's death she was at Mr Sollecito's flat, smoking marijuana and watching a film.
Ms Knox, 26, has exercised her right to stay away from the court, and remains at home in the US city of Seattle.
Earlier this month, she said she expected to win another acquittal, but that "common sense" told her not to return to Italy.
Amanda Knox during an NBC interview, 20 September 2013Amanda Knox has said "everything" is at stake for her
"I was already imprisoned as an innocent person in Italy," she told America's NBC television. "I just can't relive that."
"I thought about what it would be like to live my entire life in prison and to lose everything, to lose what I've been able to come back to and rebuild.
"I think about it all the time. It's so scary. Everything is at stake.''
However, if her previous conviction were to be confirmed, Italy would be expected to request her extradition.
Mr Sollecito, 29, is currently in the Dominican Republic, but it has been reported that he intends to return to Italy to attend parts of the retrial.
Francesco Sollecito (C), father of Raffaele Sollecito, speaks to the press as he arrives at Florence's courthouse (30 September 2013)Neither defendant was in court but Raffaele Sollecito's father Francesco (centre) did attend

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Saturday, March 30, 2013

The Amanda Knox Haters Society: How They Learned to Hate Me Too


from time


By March 29, 20131323 Comments
When Italy‘s highest court reversed the acquittal of Amanda Knox and ex-boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito this week,  a small cottage industry on the internet began grinding back into high gear. Actually it has never had a down day: the Knox-hating websites have been passing along innuendo and cherry-picked factoids for six years now.
If you have taken a dive down into the Amanda Knox rabbit hole, you will discover a couple of persistent acronyms. The first is PMF. That would be the Perugia Murder File, operated by a Seattle housewife and former French translator who is dedicated to the guilt of Amanda Knox. The other acronym you will encounter is TJMK, which stands for “True Justice For Meredith Kercher”—the young British woman murdered in this case–and is run by a New Jersey-based Englishman who claims that at one time he consulted at the United Nations.
These sites host extremely active avatars, many proclaiming to be lawyers, forensic experts, criminologists, but who never reveal their true identities. Researching my 2011 book on the Knox case The Fatal Gift of Beauty, I met both moderators behind the acronymic websites. In 2009, I sat down with TJMK founder Peter Quennell, who has always claimed he started the site to make sure that no one forgot the victim. A stout, ruddy Englishman living in New Jersey, he had been holding out the carrot of introducing me to the elusive Kercher family. He seemed vastly knowledgeable and connected. At the time, I also believed that Amanda Knox could be, indeed, a Charles Manson behind a pretty face.
After a month in Italy doing reporting, however, I realized that some of the “facts” on Quennell’s  website didn’t seem to be in the police record in Italy. I emailed him to ask where he had found out that Knox and Sollecito  met police standing outside the murder house with a mop and bucket in hand. That damning incident  was nowhere in the record, not even the prosecutor would confirm it, nor had Italy’s Polizia Scientifica ever tested such items, which would surely have offered up some useful DNA evidence, had they been used to clean blood.
Quennell then accused me by email of being on the Knox family payroll, informed me that his sources in Perugia had seen me consorting with Amanda’s mother (I had in fact met with her once, in a public place, by then) and eventually started writing about how he was going to “train his scope” on my apartment in Manhattan, and closing emails with “how are the kiddies?”
As for PMF, I met with its moderator, Peggy Ganong, in Seattle in 2010, after Knox’s  conviction. She told me she first thought Amanda Knox “looked like a killer”  after seeing her picture online. Her site has posted translations of the court proceedings but also provides a forum for anonymous but self-described experts who suggest that men who believe Amanda Knox is innocent are driven by lust for her. They also post bilious captions beneath pictures of the Knox family.
There are other players, more diffident, in the Amanda Knox hating universe. One called herself Miss Represented, on a site by that name which dispensed what professed to be expertise in criminal psychology, dedicated to proving Amanda Knox’s psychopathy. The operator of the site turned out to be a young social media expert in Bath, working at a UK social media company, horrified that I had emailed her at work. In a pleading email, she begged me not to publish her real name, which I will not do, and wrote: “Miss Represented was only ever supposed to be a place for my own reflections, some of them I still stand by, some of them I’ve rethought as I’ve gotten a little older and bit more mature.”
I went to Italy thinking I was writing a book about an American girl psycho. After a month in Perugia, I realized the case was shaky, and after a year there, I knew it was nonexistent. But I did enough research on Amanda Knox to conclude that the person she was in 2007 was not perfect, and probably not even very nice. In the sexist media world we inhabit, though, a pretty girl wrongly accused of a heinous crime can’t be just a jerk, she’s got to be a murderess or, in the superstitious alleys of Perugia,  a witch.
We don’t know what the Italian judges were thinking when they threw out Knox and Sollecito’s acquittal this week—and we won’t know until they release their report 90 days from now. My best analysis of their motivation is that they are simply letting the slow wheels of Italian justice turn by allowing a panel of judges in Florence to double-check the ruling of the appellate court in Perugia that acquitted the two students in October 2011. Given the notoriety of the case, and the fact that so many Italians still believe the original prosecutor’s theory that Kercher died in a cultish sex-game gone wrong, the high court may merely be applying an extra layer of judicial safeguard.
In my opinion, the new panel will agree with the last one that the case against the students is fatally flawed. I could, of course be wrong. In the eyes of the Knox-haters, I will always be wrong. But another shoe is also about to drop: Harper Collins plans to bring out Amanda Knox’s own book next month. For the company, which paid a reported $4 million for the memoir, the timing cannot be more perfect.
 by Taboola
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Read more: http://world.time.com/2013/03/29/the-amanda-knox-haters-society-how-they-learned-to-hate-me-too/#ixzz2P3d1DxhC
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Wednesday, March 27, 2013

Amanda Knox

Note: This was my first post on this subject. Today, March 27, 2013, while changing the look of the blog,  I discovered that my first post had not been published. I decided to post it, anyways. This post was written before any of the posts in this blog. I had thought, when she was released, there would be no further need to follow her story. Now because of Italy's high court, I will continue with this blog 




 First Post 

 I could not believe it, yet I had a nagging dread that this would happen. I know how insensitive the justice system can become. This,however, was intolerable, Amanda Knox was in prison. The extent of my case kept me busy in court for seven years, but not the loss of my freedom.

This blog is about the Amanda Knox story. The Washington state, college student who was convicted for murder in Italy on December 4th 2009.

 If you have an opinion about this case, please contribute your thoughts or opinions, all points of view encouraged. I have dubbed Amanda Knox "America's Daughter" because she represents the hope and manifestation of what we universally want for our progeny; intelligent, educated, and innocent young daughters. A young daughter who wants to expand their world view at this particular point in their education. Which, as this case illustrates, can be a parents worst nightmare. This common link makes Amanda Americas Daughter.
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Tuesday, March 26, 2013

Italy Extradition of Amanda Knox Seen as Difficult

from bloomberg



Italy Extradition of Amanda Knox Seen as Difficult

By Phil Milford & Chiara Vasarri - Mar 26, 2013 4:00 PM PT
An order by Italy’s Supreme Court that Amanda Knox face a second trial on charges she helped murder U.K. student Meredith Kercher is unlikely to result in her extradition due to a U.S. prohibition on being tried twice for the same crime.
Knox was an exchange student in Perugia at the time of Kercher’s 2007 killing in what Italian prosecutors said was a drug-fueled sex game turned violent. Knox was convicted in 2009 and sentenced to 26 years in prison. She served almost four years before the verdict was overturned two years later.
Her defense has “extremely powerful arguments to put a halt to the extradition process,” said Sean Casey, a New York attorney at Kobre & Kim LLP and a former U.S. prosecutor, not the least of which is the bar on double jeopardy.
“The treaty between the two countries specifically prohibits extradition of someone that was once acquitted for a crime,” Casey said in an interview. Given the “massive flaws” in the original trial, he said, her lawyers would have strong grounds to lobby the U.S. government to turn down any request.
In setting aside the 2011 appellate decision, the Italian high court yesterday approved a prosecution request to retry Knox, 25, and her former boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito.
Sollecito, 29, was also convicted and sentenced to a 25 year-term for his alleged role in the killing. He was freed following the 2011 reversal.

Throat Slashed

Kercher, 21, was found dead on Nov. 2, 2007, in her bedroom at the house she shared with Knox and two other women. She was discovered half-naked and strangled with her throat slashed.
Prosecutor Giuliano Mignini said at the initial trial that Knox had masterminded an alleged sex game involving Sollecito and Ruby Guede, an Ivorian-born Italian citizen, which turned violent, leading to Kercher’s murder. Sollecito and Knox have denied any wrongdoing.
Guede was found guilty in a separate “fast-track” trial in 2008 and sentenced to 30 years. His sentence was cut to 16 years in a 2009 appeal.
Knox first told police she was at the villa at the time of the killing, and that she was alerted by screaming from Kercher’s room. She also named the owner of a bar where she had worked as the possible killer. A witness later confirmed his alibi.
The case was the subject of intense media interest in Italy, the U.K. and the U.S. The appeals trial in 2011 saw a wave of journalists descend on Perugia, a town of 170,000 in central Italy.

Unfavorable Verdict

Unlike in most U.S. criminal cases, Italian prosecutors may appeal an unfavorable verdict. In a statement yesterday, Knox assailed the Italian high court’s order for a new trial.
“The prosecution’s theory of my involvement in Meredith’s murder has been repeatedly revealed to be completely unfounded,” Knox said, according to an e-mail sent yesterday by David Marriott, a spokesman for her family. Knox returned to her hometown of Seattle after her conviction was set aside.
Any eventual extradition request could be considered in the event of Knox’s conviction in the retrial, and confirmation by Italy’s highest court, according to an Italian Justice Ministry official.
Such a request wouldn’t involve the Italian government, Prime Minister Mario Monti’s spokeswoman said. The retrial may take place within a year, according to Knox’s lawyer, Luciano Ghirga.

‘Formal Request’

“There’s a treaty, and the Italian government has to make a formal request” to the U.S. for extradition, said Michele Martinez Campbell, a Vermont Law School professor and former federal prosecutor, in a telephone interview. “Then a U.S. Department of Justice prosecutor goes to court” for a bail hearing and presentation of Italy’s case.
Martinez said extradition can take years to complete.
Gregory Craig, a partner at Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom LLP in Washington, who served as a White House counsel to President Barack Obama in 2009 and 2010, said Italy would first ask Knox if she would waive extradition and return voluntarily.
If not, Craig said, she might be taken into custody and Italian officials--through U.S. prosecutors--would have to show probable cause in Italy’s murder case, including evidence, to the satisfaction of a U.S. judge.
Rebecca Shaeffer, law reform officer for Fair Trials International in London, a group which works to help ensure fair trials, agreed with Casey that double jeopardy may be an impediment to any extradition bid.

Treaty Article

The treaty contains an article which prohibits extradition in cases where a person has previously been acquitted, convicted or served a prison sentence for the same charges in the same country, Shaeffer said.
This treaty article could potentially protect Knox from a future extradition request if a U.S. court agrees that it applies to the current proceedings in Italy.
One legal expert said the double jeopardy clause may not be a strong shield against extradition.
The U.S. has been enforcing the 1983 extradition treaty “fairly vigorously for the last 30 years,” said William Magnuson, a Harvard Law School professor. Italy might argue that Knox wasn’t formally acquitted since the lower court rulings in her case haven’t been legally finalized, Magnuson said.
To contact the reporters on this story: Phil Milford in Wilmington, Delaware, atpmilford@bloomberg.net and; Chiara Vasarri in Rome at cvasarri@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Michael Hytha at mhytha@bloomberg.net; Jerrold Colten at jcolten@bloomberg.net.
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Italian court ruling could extend Amanda Knox murder case for years

from yahoo news


Italy's highest court has ruled that Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito must face a retrial in the murder of Meredith Kercher. It's unclear if Knox will return for the trial.

By Nick Squires | Christian Science Monitor – 10 hrs ago
Italy’s highest court has ordered that Amanda Knox and her Italian former boyfriend face a retrial for their alleged roles in the murder of Meredith Kercher, potentially extending a highly emotional case that has already lasted six years for many more.
The Supreme Court in Rome overturned the 2011 acquittal of Ms. Knox and her ex-boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, for the 2007 murder of the 21-year-old British student in the historic walled town of Perugia.
Knox, who is now 25 and a student at the University of Washington in Seattle, said the decision was “painful” and upsetting. She had “thought the nightmare was over,” said her lawyer, Carlo Dalla Vedova.
On the opposing side, a lawyer for Kercher’s family, Francesco Maresca, said: “This is what we wanted.”
RECOMMENDED: Amanda Knox freed: A timeline of key events
Under Italy’s painfully slow, frequently dysfunctional system, it is not unusual for cases to last years, because even after being convicted, defendants are entitled to two levels of appeal.
The retrial will be held in front of an appeals in court in Florence, in the neighboring region of Tuscany, in central Italy. It is likely to start next year.
"It was painful to receive the news," Knox said in a statement, adding that the prosecution case "has been repeatedly revealed to be completely unfounded and unfair."
She did not say whether she would return to Italy for the hearings, but the chances are considered highly unlikely.
Knox has been living in her hometown of Seattle since her acquittal, pursuing her studies and working on a book about her experiences.
FILE - In this Sept. 26, 2008 file photo, American murder suspect Amanda Knox , center, is escorted by Italian penitentiary police officers to Perugia's court at the end of a hearing, central Italy. ... more 
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The eagerly anticipated memoir, called “Waiting to be Heard,” is due to be published on April 30 and will coincide with her first television interview on the ABC network in the US.
But she now faces the threat of a request for her extradition from the US back to Italy for the retrial.
Under an extradition treaty agreed in 1984, the two countries are obliged to extradite anyone charged with or convicted of an extraditable offense, or any offense punishable by a prison sentence of more than one year. US law, however, prevents someone from being tried more than once for the same offense.
Rome would have to provide the American authorities with documents to demonstrate they have "probable cause to believe" that Knox was involved in the murder of Kercher.
Her lawyer, Dalla Vedova, said it was very unlikely she would turn up for the retrial. "If the court orders another trial, if she is convicted at that trial and if the conviction is upheld by the highest court, then Italy could seek her extradition," he told reporters in Rome.
It would then be up to the US authorities to decide whether to accede to the request.
The Supreme Court in Rome could have upheld their acquittals, in which case the saga would have been closed for good.
The judges’ decision to order a retrial is a heavy blow for Knox and Sollecito, who was meant to be celebrating his 29th birthday on Tuesday.
The Supreme Court, also known as the Court of Cassation, ruled that the grounds for their acquittal were shaky.
The exact reasons for their decision, and the points of law that they have called into question, will not be known until the judges release their full ruling, which will take up to 90 days.
The pair had served four years behind bars when their murder convictions were overturned by a court in Perugia in 2011.
The appeals court in Perugia criticised many key aspects of the original police investigation and the prosecution’s case.
In particular, they said prosecutors had failed to establish a convincing motive for the killing and that DNA evidence relating to two key bits of evidence – a strap from Miss Kercher’s bra and the alleged murder weapon, a kitchen knife – was inconclusive.
But the presiding judge left many questions about the murder unanswered when he refused to rule on whether the crime was committed by a lone killer or more than one person.
In a 144-page document explaining its ruling, the appeals court said that “it is not this court’s role to suggest how the crime actually unfolded – nor whether there was one perpetrator or more than one.”
Prosecutors alleged that Kercher was killed by Sollecito and Knox as a result of a four-way sex game that spun horribly out of control.
They said the murder was stoked by drugs, domestic friction between Knox and her British housemate, and sexual jealousy.
The other person accused of the crime, Rudy Guede, a local drifter who was born in Ivory Coast but adopted by an Italian family, is serving a 16-year sentence having undergone a separate trial.
Knox, who stayed up until 2 a.m. Seattle time waiting for the court’s decision, said in her statement: “The prosecution responsible for the many discrepancies in their work must be made to answer for them, for Raffaele's sake, my sake, and most especially for the sake of Meredith's family. Our hearts go out to them.
"No matter what happens, my family and I will face this continuing legal battle as we always have, confident in the truth and with our heads held high in the face of wrongful accusations and unreasonable adversity."
Mr. Sollecito lives in Verona in northern Italy, where he is studying the use of robotic instruments in surgery. Neither he nor Knox were in court on Monday.
RECOMMENDED: Amanda Knox freed: A timeline of key events
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