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olympic Posted: Mon Sep 22, 2008 10:36 pm
I was bullied because everyone thought I was a lesbian The American woman suspected of sexually assaulting and murdering British student Meredith Kercher claims she was bullied at school because everyone thought she was a lesbian. Court documents reveal how Amanda Knox, 21, plans to dismantle the case against her. Knox - nicknamed Foxy Knoxy - will insist she was not at the house where Meredith, 21, was found last November but talking to her boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito elsewhere about the taunts Amanda Knox leaves with police after a court hearing in Perugia last week At a hearing in Perugia, northern Italy, to decide if she should be formally charged and face trial, she will highlight a phone call made by fellow suspect Rudy Guede that was tapped by police. In the call to a friend - made while Guede, 21, was on the run -he says: 'I was in the bathroom when it happened. One thing is certain, Amanda wasn't there.' I fought with a man when I came out. She was not there.’ The man referred to by Guede is understood to be Knox’s boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, who is also facing trial. American student Knox, who was Meredith’s flatmate, will highlight Guede’s remarks through her lawyer when her pre-trial review resumes. Knox, 21, Sollecito, 24, and Guede all deny murdering Meredith, from Coulsdon, Surrey. Knox’s lawyers will also argue that any DNA evidence from the scene is merely natural contamination because she lived at the property where the killing took place. They will also claim she was ‘beaten and abused’ by police after her arrest. They will say that despite the fact that police insist the murder was sexually motivated, there is not enough evidence from the post-mortem to prove this. Bank statements will also be produced to show that at the time of the murder last November, Knox had $4,465 (£2,400) in her bank, making it unlikely that robbery was a motive for the killing. After her arrest, Knox said she was not at home but with Sollecito on the night Meredith, 21, died. Then she changed her story and said she was there and blamed bar owner Patrick Lumumba for the killing. Lumumba was arrested but later freed after witnesses said he was at his bar on the night of the killing. Rudy Guede, pictured at court last week, said in a taped phone call that Knox was not at the scene In court documents, Knox writes: ‘I’m sorry for not setting the record straight from the beginning and I’m sorry for saying at first that I was there. I said these things because I was scared and confused.’ Last week Knox appeared in court demurely dressed in a white blouse with her hair tied back. But Francesco Maresca, the Kercher family lawyer, said she was deliberately trying ‘to make herself look sweet and innocent, like an angel’. He said: ‘She wanted the judge and everyone else including Meredith’s poor parents to think how on earth can such a sweet-looking girl have murdered her flatmate and friend but it didn’t work. 'As far as they are concerned, all three of them took part in the murder at various stages and, as far as we are concerned, the motive was sexual.		Joined: 18 Dec 2006 Posts: 2115



gwen Posted: Fri Sep 26, 2008 10:41 am
Suspect Amanda Knox Faces Ex in Court for First Time Since Coed's Murder Friday, September 26, 2008 In contrast to her quiet confidence a week ago Amanda Knox, the American student suspected of taking part in the murder last year of Meredith Kercher, her British roommate, appeared tense, pale and nervous Friday as she entered a courtroom in Perugia for the second in a series of pre-trial hearings. At the court Knox came face to face with Raffaele Sollecito, her former Italian boyfriend and fellow suspect, for the first time since their arrest 10 months ago. Dressed in a sky-blue V-necked sweater and jeans, she was marched rapidly into court, flanked by blue-bereted prison guards. She flinched visibly as she passed reporters and photographers, audibly drawing in her breath. Knox's nervous manner was in contrast to her appearance at the first pre-trial hearing a week ago, when she appeared serene, fresh faced and demure in an embroidered white blouse. The Italian media interpreted this as a silent statement of her innocence and an attempt to counteract the widespread image of her as a scheming "angel-faced killer." Rudy Guede, the Ivory Coast-born immigrant who is the third suspect, arrived at the court shortly before Ms Knox, wearing a black T-shirt and with his head almost shaven. Sollecito, who failed to appear at the first pre-trial hearing, allegedly because he was unwell, arrived 20 minutes later in a white cotton jacket and jeans, with wavy long hair. Defense lawyers for all three suspects will this morning challenge the testimony of an Albanian, Hekuran Kokomani, who claims to have seen the three together on the night of the murder, November 1-2. They claim that his account is confused and unreliable. Kokomani has told police that it was raining when he saw the three, but video footage taken from a CCTV camera at the car park above the cottage where the murder took place shows that there was no rain that evening. In evidence to police in January Kokomani said he had parked his VW Golf near dustbins outside the hillside cottage that Knox and Kercher shared with two female Italian students. He had seen a girl emerge from the cottage waving a knife and screaming, and also saw a young man wearing a cap and a dark-skinned man, who were agitated and threatened him. He later recognized the three as Knox, Sollecito and Guede from photographs in the newspapers. However Mr Kokomani has admitted that he cannot remember if this was on October 31 or November 1. Today's hearing will also hear evidence from Guede's former schoolteacher, Ivana Tiberi, and Gabriele Mancini, a friend of Guede's, as character witnesses. Knox and Sollecito had been lovers for two weeks when Kercher, a Leeds University student on an Erasmus study course in Perugia, was found with her throat slashed. Court sources said that Sollecito exchanged glances with Knox when he entered the courtroom, but they did not speak. To ensure that they do not communicate the three suspects have been placed not beside or opposite each other but in three different rows, with Sollecito in the front row, Knox behind him, and Guede in the third behind Knox. Sept. 26: American murder suspect Amanda Knox is escorted by Italian penitentiary police officers to Perugia's court. http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,428405,00.html		AKA Gagal_05 Joined: 24 Feb 2007 Posts: 15239



olympic Posted: Tue Sep 30, 2008 10:17 pm
Details Only Add to Puzzle in Umbrian Murder Case Seattle college student, Amanda Knox, escorted to a pretrial hearing on Saturday, is suspected of killing her British housemate in Perugia last year. PERUGIA, Italy — From the rear windows of the medieval courthouse here you can see clear across the Umbrian countryside to Assisi. But inside, a true-crime drama is playing out whose brutality seems at odds with the postcard-perfect surroundings. Prosecutors have also implicated Ms. Knox's former boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito. In the coming weeks, a judge will decide whether to indict Amanda Knox, of Seattle, and her onetime Italian boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, in the killing of Ms. Knox’s 21-year-old housemate, Meredith Kercher, last November. A third suspect, Rudy Hermann Guede, who was born in Ivory Coast and grew up in Italy, is undergoing a separate fast-track, closed-door trial for murder and sexual assault; a verdict in his case is expected by the end of October. Rudy Hermann Guede is being tried separately for murder and sexual assault. With its good-looking young suspects, tales of junior-year-abroad debauchery and hints of racial tensions in a sleepy college town, the case has drawn relentless news media attention, particularly in Italian and British tabloids. Whenever the suspects arrive in court, they face a veritable Fleet Street gantlet. There are blogs and books about the case. But much of the coverage is speculative because nearly a year has gone by without any decisive developments. There is still no clear motive, no precise time of death and no definitive murder weapon. Because the case has not yet moved to open court, details have emerged in a wild series of leaks, contradictions and reversals. All three suspects say they are innocent. And the more information that materializes, the hazier the story becomes. But this much seems clear: last Nov. 2, Ms. Kercher, an exchange student from Surrey, England, was found strangled and with her throat cut, wrapped in a duvet in the hillside house she shared with Ms. Knox and two other women. Mr. Guede has admitted he was in the house the night she was killed and traces of his DNA and a bloody fingerprint were found there, the police have said. An eight-inch kitchen knife was found at Mr. Sollecito’s house with traces of Ms. Kercher’s DNA near the tip and Ms. Knox’s near the handle, prosecutors say. Prosecutors say the killing was part of a drug-fueled group sexual assault and have charged the three suspects with “voluntary murder with the aggravating circumstance of cruelty,” which carries a life sentence. They have also charged Ms. Knox, a student at the University of Washington, and Mr. Sollecito, a computer science student, with covering up the murder to make it look like a robbery. Over time, Ms. Knox, 21, has changed her statements. At first she said she was at Mr. Sollecito’s house the night of the killing. Then she said she was at her house during the killing, and accused another man of the crime. He is no longer a suspect and is suing her for defamation There is still no clear motive, no precise time of death and no definitive murder weapon. Because the case has not yet moved to open court, details have emerged in a wild series of leaks, contradictions and reversals. All three suspects say they are innocent. And the more information that materializes, the hazier the story becomes. But this much seems clear: last Nov. 2, Ms. Kercher, an exchange student from Surrey, England, was found strangled and with her throat cut, wrapped in a duvet in the hillside house she shared with Ms. Knox and two other women. Mr. Guede has admitted he was in the house the night she was killed and traces of his DNA and a bloody fingerprint were found there, the police have said. An eight-inch kitchen knife was found at Mr. Sollecito’s house with traces of Ms. Kercher’s DNA near the tip and Ms. Knox’s near the handle, prosecutors say. Prosecutors say the killing was part of a drug-fueled group sexual assault and have charged the three suspects with “voluntary murder with the aggravating circumstance of cruelty,” which carries a life sentence. They have also charged Ms. Knox, a student at the University of Washington, and Mr. Sollecito, a computer science student, with covering up the murder to make it look like a robbery. Italy’s highest court later deemed that statement inadmissible after it emerged that Ms. Knox had been questioned without a lawyer or an interpreter, although the same ruling upheld her detention. Ms. Knox now says she returned home to find Ms. Kercher’s body after spending the night at Mr. Sollecito’s house, where the two smoked marijuana. Prosecutors maintain that Ms. Knox said multiple times that she was at the house during the murder. To American eyes, the case can seem baffling, with prosecutors, law enforcement and lawyers regularly leaking confidential material. And under Italy’s preventive detention laws, the suspects have been in jail since last November, although Ms. Knox and Mr. Sollecito have not yet been formally indicted. The judge must either indict them before the end of October or renew the detention order. The process can also seem slow. But “for Italy, the timing is extremely quick,” said Francesco Maresca, a lawyer for the Kercher family. He predicted the case would go to trial early next year, with a verdict next summer. “The important thing is they were all there,” he said. “All three are responsible.” As in the unresolved case of Madeleine McCann, the 3-year-old British girl who disappeared in Portugal during a family vacation last year, the investigation has drawn accusations of incompetence. “I’m not impressed,” said Joseph Tacopina, an American lawyer who was paid by ABC News to examine the case. He said Italian authorities had violated the crime scene. “They trampled all over that place,” he said. “That makes forensic evidence unreliable.” In the courthouse last week, reporters and paparazzi clustered five-deep behind a barricade to catch a glimpse of the suspects as they were escorted into court. “Are you innocent, Amanda?” one reporter shouted before a hearing. “Foxy-Knoxy Comes Face to Face with Look-Alike Ex-Boyfriend,” ran a headline in Britain’s Daily Mail newspaper after Ms. Knox and Mr. Sollecito both wore white and blue to court. “They’re brutalizing her in the press,” Curt Knox, Amanda’s father, said in an emotional interview here last week. He said his daughter had cooperated with the police and never expected to be implicated. “She is 100 percent innocent,” he said. Mr. Knox, an executive at Macy’s, and Amanda’s mother, Edda Mellas, a Seattle schoolteacher, have taken turns living in Italy to visit their daughter in prison. The case is being watched closely. “Obviously, we’re following the case, as we do with all American citizens arrested,” said Philip Egger, the consul general at the United States Embassy in Rome. Through a spokeswoman, Senator Maria Cantwell, Democrat of Washington, said she was “concerned that all citizens who visit Italy, or Europe, receive fair treatment and adequate due process if they are suspected of or prosecuted for criminal offences.” Mr. Sollecito’s family has hired one of Italy’s top lawyers, Giulia Bongiorno, a member of Parliament who has successfully defended the seven-time prime minister Giulio Andreotti in Mafia trials. After the hearings last Friday, defense lawyers held impromptu news conferences, poking holes in the story of the only witness who claims to have seen the three suspects together the night of the crime. “It was a festival of ‘I don’t know,’ ‘I don’t remember,’ ” said one of Mr. Guede’s lawyers, Nicodemo Gentile. There is no public record from the closed proceedings. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/30/world/europe/30perugia.html?_r=1&oref=slogin		Joined: 18 Dec 2006 Posts: 2115



yankee-in-france Posted: Sun Oct 05, 2008 10:37 am
News Articles -- No Discussion Please Coming		YIF Joined: 30 Mar 2006 Posts: 6999 Location: France



olympic Posted: Sun Oct 05, 2008 9:17 pm
MEREDITH MAYHEM 5th October 2008 THE trials of British student Meredith Kercher’s alleged killers were on a knife edge last night. A bruising courtroom encounter over the validity of DNA evidence raged all day between prosecutors and the suspects’ legal teams. The hearing in Perugia, Italy, lasted more than seven hours. It ended with defence teams claiming they were close to proving that the DNA found on the student did not show that a sex attack took place. Lawyers for accused Rudy Guede, 21, said his DNA found on her was sweat and nothing else. Nicodemo Gentile, one of his lawyers, said: “Rudy has always admitted being at the scene but we are arguing that the DNA attributed to him on the body does not signify a sex attack.” Guede stands accused of murder along with Raffaelle Sollecito, 24, and his former girlfriend and Meredith’s flatmate, American Amanda Knox, 21. Forensic experts earlier told the court Meredith’s DNA was found on the tip of an eight-inch kitchen knife at Sollecito’s home. The blade also had DNA from Knox. Meredith, from Coulsdon, Surrey, was found semi-naked with her throat cut in the bedroom of a flat she shared with Knox and two girls last year, a pre-trial hearing heard. Judge Paolo Micheli must decide if there is enough evidence for Knox and Sollecito to have a full trial. Guede has opted for a fast-track hearing. All three deny any involvement in Meredith’s death. Police allege the British student died as the result of a bungled sex game.		Joined: 18 Dec 2006 Posts: 2115



pax Posted: Sat Oct 11, 2008 3:56 am
The Today Show cast doubt upon the murder case against University of Washington honor student Amanda Knox this morning. "Even the police themselves admit that this isn't the murder weapon," British tabloid reporter Nick Pisa tells the American news show in the video above. "It's compatible with the murder weapon. This is one of the bizarre aspects of this case that nearly a year after the crime we still have no murder weapon." The case against Knox turns upon this kitchen knife, which she supposedly took from her boyfriend's flat one night and imported into her own home in Perugia, Italy. Why would anybody do that? Well, the prosecution claims she used it to kill her British flatmate Meredith Kercher on Nov. 1, 2007--assisted by Knox's Italian boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito and Rudy Guede of the Ivory Coast. Afterwards, it's claimed, she took the knife back to Sollecito's flat and stuck it back into a drawer. Illogical, yes? Hard to believe, yes? But prosecutor Giuliano Mignini of Monster of Florence fame has told us again and again that this improbably-imported kitchen knife has Amanda Knox's DNA on the handle and Kercher's near the tip. He's held all three suspects for nearly a year without charges. Now he's asking an Italian judge to charge all three with murder and sexual assault. We'll find out tomorrow in court, when Mr. Mignini will finally have to produce the actual evidence at a pretrial hearing that Knox will attend, as will Sollecito and Guede. High drama. Knox's defense team and its scientific expert, Italian professor Carlo Torre, is on the attack. The Today Show video features an excellent interview with American legal expert Theodore Simon. Don't miss it. And get ready for major fireworks at tomorrow's hearing. Last week, all three prosecution witnesses flamed out. This wrap-up from another source will tell you what to expect. I'll be up at crack of dawn to bring you the latest news from the Italian press: Corriere Dell'Umbria, which appears to have a source inside Rudy Guede's team, springs a real surprise. It says Rudy's lawyers will contest the DNA of his found inside the victim. At Saturday's hearing they'll argue that the traces of DNA are minute and "perfectly consistent with their client's story." Rudy admits to being in the cottage on the night of the killing but says he was "only a witness." The story mentions Dr. Anna Barbaro of Reggio Calabria, whom I take to be a defense expert. We get a look at Rudy's new alibi, which includes the new placement of Amanda hovering in the background (silent in this version, instead of squabbling with Meredith about money). Raffaele (if that is the "young man" Rudy is blaming for the murder) is also silent, no longer telling Rudy that he will be blamed because he is black. The story has just as many holes and alterations as the Albanian's 1001 nights story & is every bit as believable. In fact it mirrors the story that the Supreme Court of Italy already found false. What's interesting is that prosecution has placed the knife in Amanda's hand; here it's in Raffaele's (if he's the "young man"). "Guede claimed he had begun preliminary actions with Mez and had stopped abruptly because he was seized by a sudden pain in the belly (as a result of eating a kebab). At that point he went to the toilet where he remained some minutes (He says he heard three songs on his I Pod.). "When he returned to the bedroom of the English girl, he heard the screams of the poor victim and saw a young man bent over her. He got into a fight with this man who wielded a knife and wounded Rudy slightly in the hand. Rudy defended himself by throwing a chair. "Rudy said he had noticed near the door, awaiting the young man, a female figure (and will show this to be Amanda). "The prosecution could argue that the DNA in the body of Mez is the result of sexual intercourse, perhaps obtained by taking a knife to the throat of the poor victim." The story notes that the public ministry consultant, Dr. Patrizia Stefanoni, will be under fire from all three defense teams during Saturday's hearing. Under dispute: 1. Knife DNA (supposedly Amanda's & Meredith's) 2. Bra clasp DNA (supposedly Raffaele's) 3. DNA inside victim (supposedly Rudy's) So far Team Guede is batting 100 percent against the prosecution. Will be interesting to see what they come up with on Saturday. The other teams will bring: 1. Amanda. Her usual lawyers, plus professor Carlo Torre, a well-respected forensics expert 2. Raffaele. Giulia Bongiorno and Luca Maori, supported by Marco Brusco, Delfo Berets and Donatella Donati and their advisers and Francesco Vinci Vincenzo Pascali. Their strategy: to demonstrate that the DNA is the result of pure coincidences, transport or contact. http://blog.seattlepi.nwsource.com/dempsey/archives/150441.asp		Joined: 23 Mar 2006 Posts: 16325 Location: Wish You Were Here



olympic Posted: Sat Oct 18, 2008 12:40 am
Kerchers murder book to be taught in Italian universities The murder of British student Meredith Kercher is to become a subject for study at the Italian university which she attended before she died, it has been claimed. A book about the case, Meredith: History of a Murder, will form part of the forensic science degree course followed by students based at the central Italian University of Perugia's Narni campus. The subtitle of the book is "A Case Still Shrouded in Mystery" and it examines "the facts, the doubts, the accounts" in the case. It is written by a team of journalists who, through their work for the regional newspaper, Il Giornale dell'Umbria, followed each twist and turn of the eight-month investigation. Miss Kercher, 21, of Coulsdon, Surrey, was found in a pool of her own blood in a shared apartment in Perugia after a frenzied stabbing attack on the night of November 1-2 last year. Her American flatmate Amanda Knox, 21, her one-time boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, and Rudy Guede, 21, from the Ivory Coast, are due to stand trial for her murder, accused of killing her in a drug-fuelled sex game which went horribly awry. Miss Kercher's death had a profound effect on the peaceful region beloved by British tourists since it followed the murders of a number of other women, including a housewife who was eight months pregnant and a 20-year-old prostitute who was found strangled in her shared apartment. The book's authors claimed they were instrumental in shedding light on a number of details which led police to their suspects. But friends of Miss Kercher questioned the sensitivity of its publication. "It seems very cold blooded," one said.		Joined: 18 Dec 2006 Posts: 2115



olympic Posted: Sat Oct 18, 2008 12:45 am
Author fleeing mob death threats in Italy the writers who have won the highest literary honor. Slide showThe violent death of British student Meredith Kercher in Perugia, Italy, made headlines – and her American housemate, Amanda Knox, is a suspect.more photosSlide showFrom celebrations to curfew, people around the world share their moments.more photos12:07 p.m. ET The author of the best-selling book “Gomorra” about the mafia... Italian anti-mafia writer Roberto Saviano has been living in hiding with 24-hour police protection for the past two years due to the Naples mafia's threats against him. View related photos		Joined: 18 Dec 2006 Posts: 2115



Seraph Posted: Sat Oct 18, 2008 1:56 pm
Saturday 18 October 2008 \| Italy feed \| All feeds Home News World News Europe ItalyMystery car was parked outside Meredith Kercher murder house, claims witness A new witness in the Meredith Kercher murder case says he saw a mystery car parked outside the house in which the British language student was murdered. By Nick Squires in Rome Last Updated: 2:39PM BST 18 Oct 2008 Three people are accused of killing Miss Kercher in the hill town of Perugia last year The fresh evidence came to light as Rudy Guede, 21, one of three people accused of killing Miss Kercher in the hill town of Perugia last year, returns to court where he is on trial for murder. The witness, a mechanic called Gianfranco Lombardi, had been called out to recover a broken down vehicle near the cottage in which the Leeds University student was found stabbed to death on the night of November 1. While loading the vehicle onto his truck, Lombardi noticed a "dark car" parked in the sloping driveway which leads down to the cottage, on Perugia's Via della Pergola, a winding lane with sweeping views of the Umbrian countryside. Raffaele Sollecito, an Italian IT graduate who along with Guede and American student Amanda Knox is accused of murdering Miss Kercher, owned a black car at the time of the murder. But a prosecution witness, an Albanian immigrant named Hekuran Kokomani, who says he saw the three accused outside the cottage on the night of the murder, also drove a dark coloured car. The mechanic, whose name has not been released, told police that the gate across the driveway was ajar. "I was called out and got to the place around 11 o'clock. I helped the owners of the broken down car and as I was loading it onto my tow truck I noticed a car parked on the drive way," the mechanic told detectives. "It was dark in colour. I'm not sure of the model but it was switched off. I didn't notice anyone inside. It took me eight to 10 minutes to load up but I didn't see anyone coming or going." His testimony adds another twist to the brutal murder, which prosecutors claim was the result of a sex game involving Miss Kercher and the three accused which spun horribly out of control. Sollecito, 24, claims he was in his apartment with his girlfriend, Knox, 21, on the night of the killing. But prosecutors claim that DNA from Knox and Miss Kercher was found on the presumed murder weapon, a kitchen knife found in Sollecito's apartment. Guede, an Ivory Coast-born drifter who came to Italy as a child, has said he was in Miss Kercher's bedroom and that the pair planned to have sex. But he insists he was in the toilet with stomach pains when Miss Kercher was attacked and that he disturbed a man resembling Sollecito fleeing the room. Last month Guede elected to undergo a fast-track trial, separate from any proceedings against Knox and Sollecito, who have yet to be charged and sent to trial. When the trial resumes in Perugia's historic court house, the prosecution will continue presenting their case against Guede to judge Paolo Micheli, who is expected to hand down a verdict later this month. More Telegraph.co.uk © Copyright of Telegraph Media Group Limited 2008 Terms & Conditions of reading Commercial information Privacy and Cookie Policy.		Joined: 13 Jun 2006 Posts: 1004 Location: United Kingdom



gwen Posted: Sat Oct 18, 2008 4:23 pm
Prosecutor Seeks Life Term for Italy Slay Suspect Prosecutor alleges Satanic rite; seeks life term for Ivorian in Perugia slaying of Briton Italian prosecutors on Saturday accused an American student of fatally stabbing her British house mate in a Satanic rite and asked a court to put an alleged African accomplice in prison for life, defense lawyers said. The American, Amanda Knox, 21, proclaimed her innocence at the closed-door hearing in the Umbrian university town of Perugia and accused police of hitting her and calling her a liar during an interrogation, defense lawyers said. At his lawyers' request, a fast-track trial is being conducted for Rudy Hermann Guede, the Ivorian accused in the case. He has acknowledged being in the bedroom where Meredith Kercher's body, stabbed in the neck and lying in a pool of blood, was found in November 2007 in the house she rented with Knox. Fast-track trials sometimes result in lighter penalties. But prosecutors asked the court to convict Guede and mete out Italy's stiffest punishment — life imprisonment. Italy has no death penalty. The court deciding Guede's fate is also hearing arguments on whether Knox and her former boyfriend, Italian student Raffaele Sollecito, should stand trial for the slaying. A ruling is expected by the end of October. All three suspects have denied wrongdoing. Prosecutors on Saturday "laid out a scenario like from some crime novel," Sollecito's lawyer, Luca Maori, said by telephone after the seven-hour hearing. Prosecutors "alleged it was some kind of Satanic rite, with Amanda allegedly first touching Meredith with the point of a knife, then slitting her throat, while Sollecito held her by the shoulders, from behind, Guede held her by an arm" and tried to sexually penetrate her, Maori said. One of Knox's lawyers, Carlo della Vedova, told reporters that prosecutors had laid out "a presumed scenario" with no hard evidence to justify putting his client on trial. Prosecutor Giuliano Mignini, contacted by The AP, declined to elaborate on his allegations Saturday about the slaying nor comment on his request for life imprisonment for Guede. In the hearing, Knox "proclaimed her innocence, and got emotional when she recalled her interrogation by police in Perugia," another member of Knox's defense team, Luciano Ghirga, said in a telephone interview. The lawyer denied Italian news reports that she wept, but said Knox was upset as she recounted "the pressure, the aggressiveness of the police who called her a liar." Maori said Knox accused police of hitting her on the head during her questioning. Italian TV showed a brief, partial view of Knox as she addressed the court. Only her hands, busily gesticulating, could be seen. There was no audio. Knox and Sollecito, 24, have been jailed since shortly after the slaying. The pair have given conflicting statements. http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=6062677		AKA Gagal_05 Joined: 24 Feb 2007 Posts: 15239



olympic Posted: Sun Oct 19, 2008 2:26 am
Knox ‘stabbed Meredith Keredith to death in satanic ritual Italian prosecutors yesterday accused Amanda Knox of stabbing to death the Leeds Univeristy exchange student Meredith Kercher in a satanic ritual with the complicity of her former boyfriend and an Ivory Coast drifter. At a committal hearing in the Umbrian town of Perugia, prosecutors Giuliano Mignini and Manuela Comodi gave their most detailed reconstruction of the sexual attack on and murder of Kercher, 21, on the night of November 1 last year. They alleged the Seattle-born Knox had stabbed Kercher in the throat while Rudy Guede, of the Ivory Coast, strangled her and Italian student Raffaele Sollecito held her. The three allegedly killed Kercher because she did not want to take part in “a perverse game of group sex”. All three deny murder. The prosecutors “laid out a scenario like from some crime novel”, Sollecito’s lawyer Luca Maori said. He added that they “alleged it was some kind of satanic rite, with Amanda allegedly first touching Meredith with the point of a knife, then slitting her throat, while Sollecito held her by the shoulders, from behind, Guede held her by an arm” and tried to sexually assault her. An emotional Knox, 21, speaking at the beginning of the hearing, told the court in English: “Meredith was my friend and I had no reason to kill her. I am innocent. I wasn’t in the house that night. If I said the opposite before, it was because I was forced to do so by pressure from the police.” She claimed police told her that if she did not confess, she would be jailed for 30 years. Mignini protested at what he called “a media attack from limited groups from across the Atlantic” — a reference to a four-page letter sent him by Michael J Heavy, a judge on the Supreme Court of the state of Washington who is also a neighbour of Knox’s family and the father of an ex-classmate in Seattle. Amanda, in her approach to others, shows a rare candour, purity and honesty . . . The whole Seattle community can testify to the goodness of her soul and to her absolute lack of wickedness,” Heavy wrote. He added: “All her friends are deeply convinced of her innocence. According to them, Amanda is someone who blindly trusts other human beings.” The prosecution says evidence against the accused includes DNA traces of Knox and Kercher on an 8in kitchen knife belonging to Sollecito and believed to be the murder weapon, and of Sollecito on her bra strap, and a handprint of Guede on Kercher’s bloody pillow. The prosecutors demanded that Knox and Sollecito be sent to trial. They also requested a life sentence for Guede. A ruling on a trial for Knox and Sollecito, and a verdict for Guede who is undergoing a fast-track trial, are due on October 28.		Joined: 18 Dec 2006 Posts: 2115



olympic Posted: Mon Oct 20, 2008 12:52 am
Meredith's parents lodge claim for murder damages Meredith's parents lodge claim for murder damages after court is told she was attacked for refusing to take part in drug-fuelled orgy The family of murdered student Meredith Kercher are to make a formal request for financial compensation. Under Italian law the three suspects accused of killing the 21-year- old from Coulsdon, Surrey, could be made to pay damages if they are convicted. Miss Kercher was found semi-naked and with her throat cut in her bedroom at the flat in Perugia, Italy, she Knox, also 21, and her Italian former boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, 24, are currently in court to establish whether they should stand trial for her murder last November. Judge Paolo Micheli is also hearing a fast-track murder trial against the third suspect, drifter Rudy Guede, 21, from the Ivory Coast. The lawyer representing Miss Kercher's parents, Arline and John, said the application for compensation was routine in Italian courts. Francesco Maresca added: 'We will argue that this was a particularly violent crime and that all three were present and responsible for her death. 'As part of that argument we will also be making a claim for financial compensation to be paid by the defendants to Meredith's family for the suffering they have gone through. 'At this stage I am not prepared to say what that figure is. It can be anything from one euro to a hundred million euro but I am not going to say anything before the case.' Bar owner Patrick Lumumba, who was initially named as the killer by Knox and was held by police for two weeks, will also be at the hearing because he has already lodged a claim for damages. All three suspects deny any wrongdoing. The prosecution alleges that Knox stabbed Ms Kercher in the throat with a knife after she refused to take part in a drug-fuelled sex game. Prosecutor Giuliano Mignini said Meredith was murdered and that her death was made to look like a burglary. In his summing up, Mignini said Knox - who is known as Foxy Knoxy - wielded the knife and that her former boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito, 24, and 21-year-old drifter Rudy Guede also had key roles in the murder. His accusations mark the first time investigators have singled out one of the three suspects being held in custody as wielding the knife that killed Meredith. Mr Mignini said: 'Knox held the knife and stabbed poor Meredith while the others held her down. Sollecito had a knife on him, but he didn't use it. 'At the same time Guede strangled her and also tried to sexually assault her.' Knox's lawyer, Luciano Ghirga, told the hearing: 'This reconstruction is a huge fantasy, there is no proof.' Marco Brusco, representing Sollecito, added that the account was a "fine fairytale." Earlier, in a spontaneous outburst just before proceedings Knox, Sollecito and Guede were brought to the hearing on Saturday in three separate prison vans and the case was heard in the town's brand new court building, which has only just opened. Cardboard and newspaper was put up in the windows of the court to prevent journalists and curious passers-by from looking into the closed door hearing which began at 10am local time. In his summing up, Mr Mignini mentioned that several violent Japanese manga comics which detailed the murder 'of female vampires on Hallowe'en night' had been found in Sollecito's apartment. Scenes from the grizzly comics show naked women dead on the floor and blood on the walls - images very similar to those that police saw when they discovered Meredith's body, he added. The prosecution suggested it believes the intended night for the murder was Hallowe'en and pointed out that Meredith and her friends had attended a party dressed as vampires just 24 hours before she was killed. Albanian witness Herukan Kokomani has already told the court he saw Knox, Sollecito and Guede acting suspiciously outside the house where Meredith was murdered on 31st October, Hallowe'en. Meredith was killed the night of 1st November and her body found on 2nd November when police broke into her bedroom after being called to the house by Knox and Sollecito who said they had discovered a break in. Mr Mignini also picked this claim apart with video footage that showed police arriving at the house at 12.30pm after finding Sollecito's first call to the police was made after officers had already arrived at the scene, Mr Mignini told the judge. Mr Mignini ended his summing up by calling for Guede to be jailed for life and for Knox and Sollecito to be sent for a full trial. Guede has asked for his trial to be heard separately because he fears a pact between Knox and Sollecito. On Saturday it emerged that American judge Michael J. Heavey, who is based in Knox's home state of Washington, had written to Italian police and prosecutors critcising their handling of the case. Judge Heavey wrote that he was 'convinced of Amanda's innocence' and that she 'could not be a killer, despite having an unusual personality.'		Joined: 18 Dec 2006 Posts: 2115



olympic Posted: Mon Oct 20, 2008 9:09 pm
Family of Meredith Kercher demand compensation Meredith Kercher was discovered stabbed to death in November last year The family of murdered British student Meredith Kercher have demanded €25 million compensation from one of her alleged killers. Prosecution lawyers made the request on Monday during a closed-door trial for Rudy Guede, an Ivory Coast-born drifter who police say was one of three youngsters involved in the murder of 21 year old Kercher in Perugia in 2007. Kercher was discovered stabbed to death in her rented house in the Umbrian town of Perugia in November last year. The court heard how Kercher was killed in a brutal drugs-crazed sex attack. Under Italian law victims’ families can make compensation claims ahead of any conviction. Italian police have charged three people with the murder. Prosecutors have described how Kercher was coerced into a “perverse sexual game” by her 21 year old American flatmate Amanda Knox. Prosecutors say that Kercher was sexually assaulted and then stabbed in the throat by her 21 year old American flatmate Amanda Knox. It is alleged that Guede and Knox’s boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito, both 24, held Kercher down during the attack. All three of the accused have denied the charges. Guede requested the fast-track trial, which separates him from the other two accused, amid fears that his co-accused planned to blame him for the murder. The prosecution has asked for a life prison sentence for all three. Kercher and Knox were flatmates in a house in the town where young people come from all over the world to learn Italian. Two other women who lived with them were not present on the weekend that Meredith was killed and left in a pool of blood. One of them was quoted in the Rome daily Il Messaggero as saying in court that Meredith had become increasingly irritated with Knox's life style which she said was marked by drug use and promiscuity. Beginning tomorrow, defence attorneys are expected to contest the forensic evidence and assert that objects where DNA were found had been manipulated or mishandled by police investigators. A knife found in Sollecito's apartment had DNA traces from both Knox and Kercher, while traces belonging to Sollecito were found on Kercher's bra. Knox and Sollecito say they spent the night of the murder alone in his apartment smoking marijuana. After reaching a verdict for Guede, who has admitted being in the house but says he was in the bathroom when Kercher was killed, Judge Paolo Micheli will decide whether to formally indict Knox and Sollecito. It is widely expected that they will stand trial.		Joined: 18 Dec 2006 Posts: 2115



olympic Posted: Tue Oct 21, 2008 3:01 am
Family seeks €25m for Kercher's murder Lawyers for the family of Meredith Kercher, the English exchange student murdered in Perugia last November, demanded compensation of €25m (£19.5m) from her three alleged murderers in a court in the city yesterday. The sum was calculated on the basis of €5m per surviving member of the family. The lawyers said they were in agreement with the prosecutor who finished his summing-up of the case on Saturday, charging that the 21-year-old Surrey student was killed in a premeditated Halloween rite postponed from Halloween night when the Italian students with whom Amanda Knox and Meredith Kercher shared the upper floor of the cottage where they lived near the centre of Perugia organised a dinner. A prominent lawyer in Rome said the €25m demand was a "sensational" figure "designed to make news". He added: "It's an absolutely unheard-of sum. Compensation demands in Italy are calculated on the basis of how much people earn and their standard of living. With all respect to the poor girl, that sum doesn't reflect her level of affluence. Even €5m would be a lot. Perhaps it's connected to the moral suffering of the family, but claims in Italy are not normally connected to that." The civil case against the alleged killers is tied to the criminal case, and they could be liable to pay if found guilty of the murder. Ms Kercher died from loss of blood in her bedroom in the cottage last November, after being stabbed twice in the throat. In prosecutor Giuliano Mignini's reconstruction before the Perugia judge, he claimed that she had been forced to all fours by Ms Knox, Rudy Guede and Raffaele Sollecito, then Mr Guede tried to have sex with her while grasping her by the neck, Mr Sollecito stopped her from moving, and finally Ms Knox fatally stabbed her. He claimed they were inspired by Japanese manga comics involving vampires found in Mr Sollecito's house, and by Mr Sollecito's proclaimed desire for "strong experiences." Lawyers for the defence, who will make their own statements later in the week, claimed Mr Mignini's story was fantastic and without basis in fact. In court on Saturday, Ms Knox said that Ms Kercher was her friend and that she had no reason to kill her. Also in the closed court session yesterday, the lawyer for Patrick Lumumba, the Congolese musician and bar manager named by Ms Knox as Ms Kercher's murderer, demanded damages for defamation from Ms Knox, claiming that her allegations had destroyed him "as a man, a husband and a father". Mr Lumumba spent weeks in jail under investigation but the evidence of a Swiss academic who was drinking in the bar Mr Lumumba ran on the night of the murder resulted in him being cleared of any involvement and released. Mr Guede, the only one of the three accused who has admitted being in the flat at the time of the murder, is undergoing a fast-track trial while the judge is also assessing whether the evidence against the other two accused is strong enough to send them for a full trial. On Saturday, the prosecutor demanded a life sentence for Mr Guede.		Joined: 18 Dec 2006 Posts: 2115



olympic Posted: Tue Oct 21, 2008 7:28 pm
Meredith 'died with 47 separate wounds to her body' Foxy Knoxy's lawyers claim 'there is not a shred of evidence against her' Meredith Kercher had 47 separate wounds on her body, an Italian court has been told. The 21-year-old had three wounds to her throat, as well as cuts and bruises on her hands and face - some sustained as she tried to defend herself. Her semi-naked body was found last November in the bedroom of the Outlining the case against Knox, prosecutor Giuliano Mignini said he believed she was the prime suspect because 'the body of Meredith Kercher was covered by a duvet, and only a woman would want to cover another naked woman's body'. Knox is on trial alongside her ex-boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito, 24, and Ivory Coast drifter Rudy Hermann Guede, 21. Knox's lawyers urged the court to dismiss allegations against her because there was 'not one shred of evidence' linking her to the death of a British student. Lawyers Carlo Dalla Vedova and Luciano Ghirga urged the accusation to be dismissed because evidence was 'insufficient and contradictory'. Outside court the Kercher family's lawyer Francesco Maresca, who has already asked for £20 million damages from the three suspects should they be convicted, also spoke of the circumstances surrounding the murder. Mr Maresca said: 'Poor Meredith suffered a painful, slow death. She was dying for ten minutes and went through a horrific ordeal. The three had no option but to kill her. 'Once they had started they could not turn back, they had to kill her because otherwise she would have gone to the police and told them about what had happened in the house. 'I have spoken with the Kercher family and they are being kept constantly informed about what is happening. They just want justice to be done for Meredith and the truth. 'Those bruises and wounds on Meredith's body are a sign of what she went through, she was virtually tortured before being killed in the end because of what had started as an erotic game.' Knox's lawyers have also said that the weapon police believed to be compatible with the fatal wound, a 30cm kitchen knife found in Police in Perugia, where the murder took place last November, say that DNA from Knox was found on the handle and DNA from Meredith was found on the tip of the blade. The court has already heard prosecutor Giuliano Mignini say that Knox stabbed Meredith while Sollecito and third suspect Rudy Hermann Guede held her down. Mr Ghirga said: 'As far as we are concerned the blade that caused the fatal wound was not 30cm but more like 10cm. The DNA on the blade found is also so small as to be insignificant. 'As far as we are concerned Amanda Knox was not at the scene and was not responsible for Meredith Kercher's murder - for us there was one aggressor but I am not going to say who that was.' Mr Dalla Vedova said: 'The evidence is contradictory and insufficient. That is why we have asked the judge not to continue with this case against our client. 'There is not enough proof for Amanda Knox to be sent for a full trial. She has made no confession. We are hopeful that the judge will accept this decision. 'Amanda did not speak at this hearing but she is very stressed out by all these events. 'She did not kill Meredith, she was her friend. She is hopeful that the legal system will see this and she will be released.' Meredith, from Coulsdon, Surrey, was in Perugia as part of her European Studies degree from Leeds University and had arrived in the Italian town just two months before she was murdered. All three deny any involvement in her murder and the case before judge Paolo Micheli has now been adjourned until Friday. The hearing is a complex procedure as Ivory Coast drifter Guede, 21, has asked for a fast track trial as he fears a pact between Knox and Sollecito, 24, against him. At the same time judge Micheli must decide if there is enough evidence to send Knox and Sollecito to a full trial and he is expected to announce his verdict early next week. Prosecutor Mignini has asked for a life sentence for Guede and recommended the other two be sent for a full trial. Guede does not deny being at the scene as his DNA was found on Meredith's body, on a piece of toilet tissue and on a blood stained pillow in the bedroom where her body was found.		Joined: 18 Dec 2006 Posts: 2115



olympic Posted: Wed Oct 22, 2008 1:39 pm
Italian anger at request to try Amanda Knox in USA Italians have reacted with indignation to a demand by American supporters of Amanda Knox, the woman accused of murdering British language student Meredith Kercher, to transfer the case to the US. The inflammatory request is part of an escalating public relations battle between US supporters, who say the case against Knox is so deeply flawed that she should be freed immediately, and Italian prosecutors, who say she is a cold-blooded killer. The well-meaning efforts of supporters in Knox's hometown of Seattle are seen as an affront to the integrity of the Italian legal system and could do the young American more harm than good. The letter, headed "Request to transfer proceedings against Amanda Knox from the court in Perugia", was sent by a high-profile American lawyer who represents a lobby group, Friends of Amanda, Italian newspapers reported. Anne Bremner, who regularly appears on television in the US as a legal pundit, has accused Italian authorities of bungling the murder investigation and contaminating crucial evidence. The request has no chance of success given that Italy was the jurisdiction in which the crime was committed, where the victim lived and where the accused were arrested. "It would be a conflict of jurisdictions between the two countries," said Ugo Bergamo, a senior member of the Italian magistrates' council, or CSM. "No country in the world would renounce its jurisdiction over a crime, particularly a murder, which happened on its soil," said the Corriere dell'Umbria newspaper, which like all Italian papers has avidly followed the murder mystery Miss Knox's supporters went on the offensive in a documentary aired by the American TV channel NBC this week, in which Ms Bremner said that under US law Miss Knox would have been released long ago. The documentary showed a female officer kicking down a door at the cottage in the Umbrian hill town of Perugia in which Miss Kercher, a Leeds University student from Coulsdon, Surrey, lived with Miss Knox. Italian prosecutors were angered by the allegations of competence. "We had just discovered a crime, we had to enter," said chief prosecutor Giuliano Mignini. "It would have been a very grave omission not to have opened that door." He said American TV channels and newspapers were commenting on the case "from over 9,000 kilometers away, without knowing the complexities of Italian judicial terminology". Mr Mignini was also irritated by a letter written to him in July by a Seattle judge, Michael Heavey, a friend of the Knox family, arguing Amanda's innocence Prosecutors allege that Miss Kercher was murdered by Knox, 21, her Italian boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito, 24, and Ivory Coast-born drifter Rudy Guede, 21, during a violent sex game on the night between November 1 and November 2 last year. All three deny the accusation and have been in prison for nearly a year since being arrested in November. Only Guede has so far been charged with murder and is undergoing a fast-track trial in Perugia. The campaign to have Miss Knox released has been described by the Italian media as "the American plot". A recent article in The New York Times which was critical of the investigation has also been taken as part of the US campaign to demolish the charges against Miss Knox. Supporters in the US are selling "Free Amanda" t-shirts, baseball caps and coffee mugs in a further attempt to raise publicity. The merchandise, including teddy bears, sweatshirts and bags, is emblazoned with Miss Knox's face. Lawyers for Miss Kercher's family have criticised the online sales campaign, saying it is part of a "ridiculous" and unjustified attempt to discredit the evidence against Knox, Sollecito and Guede. Miss Knox's family and Italian legal team have been careful to distance themselves from the escalating campaign in the US because they fear it could backfire. Defence lawyer Luciano Ghirga said he did not know Anne Bremner and insisted she did not represent his client in any way. Miss Knox's father, Curt, who travels back and forth between Seattle and Perugia, was quoted by La Repubblica newspaper as saying: "I have faith in my Italian lawyers and I dissociate myself from other initiatives on behalf of my daughter. "Amanda's case has made an impression on many people. Perhaps that explains the birth of this spontaneous movement in her defence." A verdict in Mr Guede's trial, and a ruling on whether there is enough evidence to send Miss Knox and Mr Sollecito to trial, is expected early next week. Miss Knox initially said she was in the shared house on the night of the murder and had to cover her ears to block out the sound of Miss Kercher's screams. But she later changed her story and said she spent the night at her boyfriend's flat.		Joined: 18 Dec 2006 Posts: 2115



yankee-in-france Posted: Thu Oct 23, 2008 6:01 am
Comic May Have Inspired Kercher Murder Comic 'inspired' Kercher murder A Japanese comic featuring vampires inspired a suspect in the murder of British student Meredith Kercher in 2007, an Italian prosecutor has said. But the theory was described as "stupid" by the lawyer representing the suspect, Raffaele Sollecito. An Italian court heard this week that Miss Kercher had 43 knife wounds. Rudy Guede, 22, from Ivory Coast, American Amanda Knox, 21, and her Italian boyfriend Mr Sollecito, 24, deny sexual assault and murder. Miss Kercher, 21, from Coulsdon, south London, was found semi-naked with her throat slit in her flat in Perugia, central Italy. She lived with Miss Knox and others at the apartment on Via Della Pergola just outside the city's walls. Vampire magazine A series of pre-trial hearings are expected to finish on Tuesday, when judge Paolo Micheli will decide whether Mr Sollecito and Miss Knox will stand trial for murder. As provided for under Italian law, Mr Guede has opted for a special fast-track trial which will allow him some leniency if convicted. Prosecutors have asked for a life sentence for Mr Guede. Prosecutor Giuliano Mignini claimed a "manga" magazine, featuring vampires and found in Mr Sollecito's house, inspired the murder. Manga comics are often associated with science fiction and fantasy, commonly with violent or explicitly sexual content. Mr Sollecito's defence process is due to begin on Friday. Francesco Maresca, the Kercher family's lawyer, has said Miss Knox was named as prime suspect because Meredith's body had been covered by a duvet - thought to be the act of a woman. But Miss Knox's lawyers have argued there is no proof she was involved in the murder and there are no grounds for putting her on trial. On Monday, it was announced the Kercher family was seeking £19m in compensation for Meredith's death as part of the Italian civil law process. Miss Knox and Mr Sollecito have been in jail since November, while Mr Guede was arrested later in Germany and extradited to Italy in December. Story from BBC NEWS: http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/uk_news/7685697.stm		YIF Joined: 30 Mar 2006 Posts: 6999 Location: France



olympic Posted: Thu Oct 23, 2008 6:19 pm
Kercher murder: Raffaele Sollecito protests his innocence The Italian student accused of being one of Meredith Kercher's three killers has protested his innocence from behind bars, as his lawyers prepare to defend him in court. In letters from the prison where he has been held for nearly a year, Raffaele Sollecito, 24, said his life had been turned upside down by the discovery of Miss Kercher's body in a pool of her own blood in the Italian university town of Perugia last year. Prosecutors allege that during a drug-fuelled sex game, Mr Sollecito held Miss Kercher down while his American girlfriend, Amanda Knox, 21, threatened her and then slashed her throat with a knife as the third accused, drifter Rudy Guede, 24, tried to rape her from behind. But Mr Sollecito, an IT graduate who was living in Perugia, said in the correspondence that neither he nor Miss Knox had anything to do with the crime. And his legal team said that the suggestion by prosecutors that he was inspired to murder Miss Kercher by dark fantasies about Halloween and a Japanese 'manga' cartoon was "stupid". Marco Brusco, who represents Mr Sollecito, ridiculed the theory put forward by prosecutor Giuliano Mignini that the inspiration for the brutal killing came from a manga magazine featuring vampires and which had been found in Sollecito's house. Defence lawyers are expected to contest the alleged discovery of Mr Sollecito's DNA on Miss Kercher's bloodied bra strap – evidence which the prosecution says ties him to the killing. In a series of letters, written to a monthly magazine in his hometown of Bari in southern Italy, Mr Sollecito said the pain he carried as a result of Miss Kercher's brutal killing was "indescribable" and something that he would not wish on anyone. "Think for a moment of being in my situation. You meet a girl at a concert and from that day you see her all the time, you spend peaceful days together and you have lunch with her and her friends. You cannot ask more from life!," Sollecito wrote in May. "Then one morning you return to the house where she lives to find a terrible scene. And then the problems start. The police come, smashing down the locked door of a bedroom and finding the lifeless body of one of her friends. "From that point on they suspect everyone and that obviously includes you. And you, thinking that you should cooperate, fall into a trap by your own hand." In July Sollecito wrote of his angst over Miss Kercher's death and what he regards as his unjust treatment by the Italian judicial system. "The pain that I carry in my heart and on my shoulders is indescribable, but despite everything I have not changed –I just have less trust in other people, that's all. My heart is wounded and bleeding but sooner or later the wounds will heal. "It's well said that no one has the right to judge, only God. Unfortunately there are blind people who can't see beyond the end of their noses. Luckily not everyone is like this." Of the three accused, only Guede is so far on trial for murder. The judge in the case is expected to deliver his verdict of guilty or innocent early next week, and will at the same time rule on whether Mr Sollecito and Miss Knox should stand trial for the murder.		Joined: 18 Dec 2006 Posts: 2115



olympic Posted: Thu Oct 23, 2008 6:25 pm
Kercher suspect 'fell into trap' Raffaele Sollecito denies involvement in the murder of Meredith Kercher One of the suspects in the murder of UK student Meredith Kercher has proclaimed his innocence, saying he fell into a trap made by his own hands. Raffaele Sollecito, boyfriend of fellow suspect Amanda Knox, wrote to a magazine in his Italian hometown Bari. In his letter he described returning to his girlfriend's house to find a "big mess" and the dead body of Ms Kercher. Meredith, 21, from London, was murdered last November in the house she shared with Knox and others in Perugia, Italy. The exchange student's throat had been slit and she was partially covered by a duvet. The letter emerged as Mr Sollecito's lawyers prepared to challenge the case against him in court on Friday. He questioned a justice system in which "people who have killed their family avoid spending a single day in jail, thanks to psychiatric tests, while I who am innocent until proven otherwise have my freedom ludicrously limited in a way that not even those who have already been convicted have to endure." His only hope, wrote Mr Sollecito, 24, lay in "the truth" being uncovered. 'A big mess' He describes his version of the events that started with him meeting fellow suspect Ms Knox, 21, from Seattle, and ended with the two of them being jailed. He wrote: "Consider for one moment what it's like to be in my position: you meet a girl at a concert, she lives with friends and from that day you go out more and more, you spend untroubled days together... You can't ask for any more from life. "Then one morning you return to her house and find a big mess. "The problems begin: the police arrive, break down the locked door of a bedroom and discover the lifeless body of one of her friends. "From then on they suspect everyone and everything, including you. "And you, thinking you are helping them, fall into a trap you have made with your own hands." Mr Sollecito, Ms Knox and third suspect Rudy Hermann Guede, 21, originally from the Ivory Coast, have been accused of killing Meredith in a bungled sex game. Ms Knox and Mr Sollecito have been in jail since November, while Mr Guede was arrested later in Germany and extradited to Italy in December A judge is expected to decide early next week whether Mr Sollecito and Ms Knox will stand trial for the murder. Mr Guede is being tried behind closed doors in a fast-track process, the result of which is also expected next week. All three suspects deny being involved in the murder.		Joined: 18 Dec 2006 Posts: 2115



olympic Posted: Thu Oct 23, 2008 6:27 pm
US campaign to clear Amanda Knox builds A campaign is growing in the US to clear the name of Amanda Knox, the American woman accused of murdering British language student Meredith Kercher during a sex game gone wrong in an Italian university town last year. The trans-Atlantic public relations battle pitches friends and family who say the case against Miss Knox is so deeply flawed that she should be freed immediately, and Italian prosecutors, who say she is a cold-blooded killer who slit the throat of Miss Kercher with a kitchen knife. A support group, Friends of Amanda, has accused Italian authorities of bungling the murder investigation and contaminating crucial evidence. It is represented by Anne Bremner, a high profile American lawyer who regularly appears on television in the US as a legal pundit. She has said that under US law Miss Knox would have been released long ago. She denied, however, reports that she had requested that the trial be transferred from Perugia to the United States. The claim, made by Italian newspapers and news agencies this week, was “false”, Miss Bremner said. However, another member of Friends of Amanda, Seattle judge Michael Heavey, did write to the governing body of the Italian judiciary, the CSM, asking that the trial be moved from Perugia “because of the poisoning of public and judicial opinion” by “improper and false” leaks to the press from police, prosecutors and prison officials. Miss Knox’s supporters went on the offensive in a documentary aired by the American TV channel NBC this week. The documentary showed an Italian policewoman kicking down a door at the cottage in Perugia in which Miss Kercher, a Leeds University student from Coulsdon, Surrey, lived with Miss Knox. Italian prosecutors were angered by the allegations of incompetence. “We had just discovered a crime, we had to enter,” said chief prosecutor Giuliano Mignini. “It would have been a very grave omission not to have opened that door.” He said American TV channels and newspapers were commenting on the case “from over 9,000 kilometers away, without knowing the intricacies of the case or the complexities of Italian judicial terminology. The well-meaning efforts of supporters in Miss Knox’s hometown of Seattle have been described by the Italian media as “the American plot” and run the risk of doing the University of Washington student more harm than good. Prosecutors allege that Miss Kercher was murdered by Knox, 21, her Italian boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito, 24, and Ivory Coast-born drifter Rudy Guede, 21, during a violent sex game on the night of November 1-2 last year. All three deny the accusation and have been in prison for nearly a year since being arrested in November. Only Mr Guede has so far been charged with murder and is undergoing a fast-track trial in Perugia. Supporters in the US are selling “Free Amanda” t-shirts, baseball caps and coffee mugs in a further attempt to raise publicity. The merchandise, including teddy bears, sweat shirts and bags, is emblazoned with Miss Knox’s face. Lawyers for Miss Kercher’s family have criticised the online sales campaign, saying it is part of a “ridiculous” and unjustified attempt to discredit the evidence against the three accused. Miss Knox’s family and Italian legal team have been careful to distance themselves from the escalating campaign in the US because they fear it could backfire. Defence lawyer Luciano Ghirga said he did not know Anne Bremner and insisted she did not represent his client in any way. Miss Knox’s father, Curt, who travels back and forth between Seattle and Perugia, was quoted by La Repubblica newspaper as saying: “I have faith in my Italian lawyers and I dissociate myself from other initiatives on behalf of my daughter. “Amanda’s case has made an impression on many people. Perhaps that explains the birth of this spontaneous movement in her defence.” A verdict in Mr Guede’s trial, and a ruling on whether there is enough evidence to send Miss Knox and Mr Sollecito to trial, is expected early next week. Miss Knox initially said she was in the shared house on the night of the murder and had to cover her ears to block out the sound of Miss Kercher’s screams. But she later changed her story and said she spent the night at her boyfriend’s flat.		Joined: 18 Dec 2006 Posts: 2115



olympic Posted: Fri Oct 24, 2008 6:37 pm
Kercher accused 'on web at time' A man accused of murdering UK student Meredith Kercher was downloading a cartoon at his home at the time she was killed, a court in Italy has heard. Lawyers for Raffaele Sollecito, 24, said he was on the internet between 9pm and 10pm on the day Miss Kercher died. They also said it could not be proved that DNA found on her bra strap belonged to Mr Sollecito. Meredith, 21, from south London, was murdered on 2 November last year in the house where she lived in Perugia. Her body was found in her bedroom, semi-naked and with her throat cut. After the pre-trial hearing in Perugia, Mr Sollecito's lawyer, Giulia Bongiorno, said: "Analysis of the phone calls made from Meredith's phone on the night of the murder show that she must have been killed between 9pm and 10pm. "Raffaele Sollecito would not have had time to get to her house." Ms Bongiorno said the evidence indicated there was just one murderer, whose trail was left by a piece of broken glass they trod on and which got stuck to their shoe and made marks on the floor. Mr Sollecito's legal team launched their defence using video and audio material as well as a mannequin to reconstruct the way in which Miss Kercher's bra could have been unfastened. They argued it could not be proved that DNA found on Miss Kercher's bra strap was Mr Sollecito's. Ms Bongiorno said: "The DNA found on the bra strap could be that of a number of people. Many different people had been in the house." Flick knife