The appeal hopes of Amanda Knox were boosted today when a key prosecution witness gave conflicting evidence relating to the killing of British student Meredith Kercher. The convicted killer dubbed ‘Foxy Knoxy’ is battling to get her conviction for the sexual assault and murder of her housemate Miss Kercher overturned. In a hearing in Perugia this morning, witness Antonio Curatolo – a self-confessed drug addict now in prison for an unrelated conviction – gave contradictory accounts about whether he saw her near the crime scene in the Italian hilltop town.
In the lengthy trial in 2009, the formerly homeless man placed Knox and her ex-boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito – also convicted of the murder – in a square near the house the young women shared on the night of the killing. Today he repeated his claim that he had seen the lovers ‘talking excitedly’ in the square and said he thought it was Halloween night – which would be the night before the November 1, 2007 murder.
Raffaele Sollecito smiles in court during today’s session in the latest hearing of his appeal against his murder conviction. But at another point he said he clearly remembered seeing police at the house the morning after he saw Knox and Sollecito in the square – which would be November 1. In fact police went to the crime scene on November 2, when the University of Leeds student’s semi-naked body was found in a pool of blood on her bedroom floor, under a duvet. Curatolo, 54, smiled as he told the court today: ‘Police and Carabinieri were coming and going, and I also saw the ‘extraterrestrials’ – that would be the men in white overalls.’
His account contradicts Knox and Sollecito’s defence that they were at the latter’s house when Miss Kercher, 21, from Coulsdon in Surrey, was killed. But his confusion over the dates was said to have cast doubt on his credibility. Defence lawyers branded him unreliable, though the prosecution maintained that, despite some lack of precision, the witness was lucid and clear in what he remembered. However he also confessed to a long-lasting drug habit, saying: ‘I have always done drugs… heroin, which is not a hallucinogen.’
Sollecito’s lawyer Giulia Bongiorno said today’s hearing ‘marked an important step forward for the defence’s arguments.’ And Knox’s stepfather Chris Mellas, who has moved to Italy to be close to her, said ‘it couldn’t go any better today’. Miss Kercher’s throat was slit after what prosecutors described as a sex game taken to the extreme. University of Washington student Knox, 23, from Seattle, was sentenced to 26 years behind bars along with Italian Sollecito, 26, who was jailed for 25 years.
Both have continued to protest their innocence from behind bars and are appealing against the verdicts. A third young person, Rudy Guede, a small-time drug dealer from the Ivory Coast, was jailed for 30 years for the murder following a fast-track trial in October 2008. His sentence was cut to 16 years on appeal. (article)
Also, new DNA tests on knife ‘proved to be insufficient to convict her‘ – Amanda Knox has been given fresh hope in her murder appeal after DNA tests on a knife by independent experts ‘proved to be insufficient to convict’. The examinations were part of a review granted earlier this year by an Italian appeal court judge.
The results will fuel the defence team’s insistence that the original forensic evidence was badly handled and collated. Knox, 23, is serving 26 years for the murder of British student Meredith Kercher, 21, who was found semi-naked and with her throat cut in the house they shared in Perugia.
The trial was told that Knox’s DNA was on a 12in kitchen knife but according to leaked details yesterday, two forensic experts from Rome’s La Sapienza university said that the amount of material on it was too low to convict Knox. They also re-examined a bloodied bra clasp belonging to Meredith on which DNA from Knox’s co-accused Raffaele Sollecito, 25, was allegedly found – after it had been ‘lost’ for six weeks.
The two professors said the clasp was ‘so deteriorated’ that it was impossible to test it for DNA. According to the leaked report, the clasp – which had been cut from the bra – had been poorly kept in a ‘liquid jar’ and not properly dried which meant it had ‘rotted and rusted. Both professors will now cast their opinion on original tests carried out by police scientists on both items to see if they were properly carried out. Prosecutor Manuela Comodi, played down the revelations and said: ‘There is nothing new here.’ Computer studies graduate Sollecito, 25, was given 25 years jail. Both he and Knox deny any involvement in the murder and are appealing against their conviction. The verdict is not expected for some months.
The original trial had been told by prosecution experts that although the amount of DNA found was small, it was enough for a conviction. Knox’s lawyer Luciano Ghirga said: ‘We have always said that there was not enough DNA to convict Amanda and the fact that this has now been independently confirmed is positive news for us.’ (read more)