Amanda Knox

Amanda Knox
Born Amanda Marie Knox
(1987-07-09) July 9, 1987
Seattle, Washington, U.S.
Education University of Washington
Occupation Writer
Known for Being the subject of a miscarriage of justice in Italy

Amanda Marie Knox (born July 9, 1987) is an American woman who spent almost four years in an Italian prison following the 2007 murder of Meredith Kercher, one of the women who shared her apartment, before being definitively acquitted by the Supreme Court of Cassation. Knox, then a twenty-year-old student, had raised the alarm after returning from spending the night with her boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito. Following an interrogation, the conduct of which is a matter of dispute, Knox implicated herself and an employer. Knox and Sollecito were initially accused of murdering Kercher while acting with the employer, but he was released and substituted for Rudy Guede after Guede's bloodstained fingerprints were found on Kercher's possessions.

Pre-trial publicity in Italian media portrayed Knox in a negative light, leading to complaints that the prosecution was using character assassination tactics. A guilty verdict at Knox's initial trial and her 26-year sentence caused international controversy, as U.S. forensic experts thought evidence at the crime scene was incompatible with her involvement. A prolonged legal process, including a successful prosecution appeal against her acquittal at a second-level trial, continued after Knox was freed in 2011. On March 27, 2015, Italy's highest court—the Supreme Court of Cassation—definitively exonerated Knox and Sollecito. Knox's conviction for Calunnia against her employer was upheld by all courts. On January 14, 2016 Knox was acquitted of Calunnia for saying she had been struck by policewomen during the interrogation. [1]

Early life

Amanda Knox grew up in West Seattle with three younger sisters. Her mother, Edda Mellas, a mathematics teacher, and her father, Curt Knox, a vice president of finance at the local Macy's, divorced when Amanda was a few years old. Her stepfather, Chris Mellas, is an information-technology consultant.[2][3][4] Knox first travelled to Italy at the age of 15, when she visited Rome, Pisa, the Amalfi Coast and the ruins of Pompeii on a family holiday. Her interest in the country was increased by the book Under the Tuscan Sun, which her mother gave her. She graduated in 2005 from the Seattle Preparatory School and studied linguistics at the University of Washington; making the university's dean's list, and working at part-time jobs to fund an academic year in Italy. Relatives described the 20-year-old Knox as outgoing, but unwary.[5] Her stepfather had strong reservations about her going to Italy that year, as he felt she was still too naïve.[6]

Italy

Perugia background

Perugia, the city where the murder of Kercher took place, is known for its universities and large population of students. There had reportedly not been a killing in the city for twenty years, but its prosecutors had been responsible for Italy's most controversial murder cases.[7][8] In 2002 the conviction in Perugia of former Prime Minister Giulio Andreotti for ordering the murder of a journalist (linked to a secret masonic lodge) resulted in complaints that the justice system had "gone mad". The Supreme Court took the unusual step of definitively acquitting him the next year.[9][10]

In early 2002, Perugia prosecutor Giuliano Mignini, who enjoyed taking a detective-like role and was later to be in charge of the Kercher investigation, arraigned members of a respectable masonic lodge for an alleged conspiracy reportedly involving serial killings and Satanic rites.[11] Mignini investigated fellow prosecutors for complicity in the supposed plot, and appealed dismissals of the charges; there were no convictions the case, which finally ended in 2010.[12][13] According to a scholar who researched comparative law in Italy, selective changes to the Italian legal system left it unable to cope when a prosecutor with Mignini's American-style adversarial approach used his powers to the fullest.[14]

Via della Pergola 7

In Perugia, Knox shared a four-bedroom ground-floor apartment in a house at Via della Pergola 7.[15] Her flatmates were two Italian women in their late twenties, and Kercher. Kercher and Knox moved in on 10 and 20 September 2007, respectively, meeting each other for the first time.[16] Knox was employed part-time at a bar, Le Chic, which was owned by a Congolese man, Diya Patrick Lumumba. She told flatmates that she was going to quit because he was not paying her; Lumumba denied this.[17] Kercher's English women friends saw relatively little of Knox, as she preferred to mix with Italians.[18]

The walk-out semi-basement of the house was rented by young Italian men with whom both Kercher and Knox were friendly. One, Giacomo, spent time in the girls' flat due to a shared interest in music. Returning home at 2 am one night in mid-October, Knox, Kercher, Giacomo and another basement resident met Rudy Guede, later identified as the Perugia burglar who weeks previously had brandished a jackknife when confronted.[19] [20] Guede attached himself to the group and asked about Knox. He was invited into the basement by the Italians. Knox and then Kercher came down to join them. At 4:30 am Kercher left, saying she was going to bed, and Knox followed her out. Guede spent the rest of the night in the basement.[21] Knox recalled a second night out with Kercher and Giacomo in which Guede joined them and was allowed into the basement. He was never invited into the women's apartment.[22] Three weeks before her death Kercher went with Knox to the EuroChocolate festival. On October 20, Kercher became romantically involved with Giacomo, after going to a nightclub with him as part of a small group which included Knox. Guede visited the basement later that day. On 25 October, Kercher and Knox went to a concert where Knox met Raffaele Sollecito, a 23-year-old student. She began spending her time at his flat, a 5-minute walk from Via della Pergola 7.[23]

Discovery of body

November 1 was a public holiday and the Italians living in the house were away. Kercher was alone in the house when she returned at 9 PM that evening. Just after midday on November 2, Knox called Kercher’s English phone, which she kept in her jeans and could always be reached on, but the call was not answered.[24] Knox then called Romanelli, one of the two Italian trainee lawyers she and Kercher shared the apartment with, and in a mixture of Italian and English said she was worried something had happened to Kercher, as on going to Via della Pergola 7 apartment earlier that morning she had noticed an open front door, bloodstains including a footprint in the bathroom, and Kercher’s bedroom door closed.[25] Knox and Sollecito then went to Via della Pergola 7 and on getting no answer from Kercher unsuccessfully tried to break in the bedroom door, leaving it noticeably damaged.[26] At 12.47 pm Knox called her mother and was told to contact the police as an emergency.[27]

Sollecito called the Carabinieri getting though at 12.51 PM. He was recorded telling them there had been a break-in with nothing taken, and the emergency was that Kercher’s door was locked, she was not answering calls to her phone and there were bloodstains.[27] Police telecommunications investigators arrived to inquire about an abandoned phone, which was in fact Kercher’s Italian unit. Romanelli arrived and took over explaining the situation to the police who were informed about Kercher’s English phone, which had been handed in as a result of it ringing when Knox called it. On discovering Kercher’s English phone had been found dumped, Romanelli demanded that the policemen force Kercher’s bedroom door open, but they did not think the circumstances warranted damaging private property. The door was then kicked in by a strongly built friend of Romanelli’s, and Kercher's body was discovered on the floor. She had been stabbed and died from exsanguination due to neck wounds.[28]

Investigation

The first detectives on the scene were Monica Napoleoni and her superior Marco Chiacchiera. Napoleoni conducted the initial interviews and quizzed Knox about her failure to immediately raise the alarm, later to be widely seen as an anomalous feature of her behaviour.[29][30] According to Knox, Romanelli was hostile to her from the outset.[31] Chiacchiera discounted the signs of a break in as clearly faked by the killer.[32] The police were not told the extent of Kercher's relationship with Giacomo in initial interviews.[33][34][35] On 4 December, the same day Chiacchiera was quoted as saying that someone known to Kercher and let into the house by her might be responsible for her murder, Guede is believed to have left Perugia.[33][36][37][38][39]

Interviews, arrest and arraignment

Over the following days Knox was repeatedly interviewed as someone who might become a witness. She told police that on 1 November her evening waitressing shift at Patrick Lumumba's bar was cancelled by a text, and she had stayed over at Sollecito's apartment, only going back to the house she shared with Kercher on the morning of the day the body was discovered. She was not provided with legal counsel as Italian law only mandates the appointment of a lawyer for someone suspected of a crime. Still not officially under investigation, Knox was subject to a series of interviews, recorded neither in video nor audio form. On the night of 5 November she voluntarily went to the police station, although what followed is a matter of dispute.

At her trial Knox testified that she had spent hours maintaining her original story, that she had been with Sollecito at his flat all night and had no knowledge of the murder, but a group of police[40] would not believe her. [41][42][43] Knox said "I wasn't just stressed and pressurised; I was manipulated";[44] she testified to being told by the interpreter, "probably I didn't remember well because I was traumatised. So I should try to remember something else."[45] Knox stated, "they said they were convinced that I was protecting someone. They were saying 'Who is it? Who is it?' They were saying: 'Here's the message on your telephone, you wanted to meet up with him, you are a stupid liar." Knox also said that a policewoman "was saying 'Come on, come on, remember' and then – slap – she hit me. Then 'come on, come on' and – slap – another one".[43] Knox said she had requested a lawyer but was told it would make things worse for her, and that she would go to jail for 30 years; she also said she was not allowed access to food, water, or the bathroom.[46][47] Ficarra and policewoman Lorena Zugarini testified that during the interview Knox was given access to food, water, hot drinks and the lavatory. They further said Knox was asked about a lawyer but did not have one, was not hit at any time,[48][49] and interviewed "firmly but politely".[50] Under pressure, she falsely stated that she had been in the house when Kercher was killed, and that she thought the murderer was Lumumba (known to Knox to have been serving customers at his bar all that night). Knox, Sollecito, and Lumumba were taken into custody and charged with the murder. Her first meeting with her legal counsel was on 11 November.[51] Chiacchiera, who had opposed the arrests as premature, dropped out of the investigation soon afterward, leaving Napoleoni as senior police investigator on a major investigation for the first time in her career.[52]

Customers who had been served by Lumumba at his bar on the night of the murder gave him a complete alibi.[32] After bloodstained fingerprints of Rudy Guede, were found on bedding under Kercher's body, he was brought from Germany where he had fled. Guede, Knox, and Sollecito were then charged with committing the murder together. On 30 November 2007 a panel of three judges endorsed the charges, and ordered Knox and Sollecito held in detention pending a trial.[53] In a formal interview with Mignini, Knox said she had been brainwashed by police interrogators into accusing Lumumba and implicating herself.[54]

Knox became the subject of unprecedented pre-trial media coverage drawing on unattributed leaks from the prosecution, including a best-selling Italian book whose author imagined or invented incidents which were purported to have occurred in Knox's private life.[55][56][57][58] [59][60][61][62][63]

Italian legal procedure

In 1989, Italy reformed its inquisitorial system, introducing elements of U.S.-style adversarial procedure. The changes were intended to remove an inquisitorial continuity between the investigatory phase and the basis for a decision at trial, but in practice they took control of inquiries away from police and gave prosecutors authority over the preliminary investigation.[64][64][65][66][67] Although they have considerable authority over early inquiries and discretion in bringing charges, Italian prosecutors do not customarily use their powers in the aggressive way common in the US system.[14][67]

Unless the defendant opts for a fast track trial (a relatively inquisitorial procedure) murder trials are heard by a Corte d'Assise, which is less likely to exclude evidence as prejudicial than a U.S. court. Two presiding professional trial judges, who also vote on the verdict, are expected to correct any bias of lay-judges during their deliberations.[68] An acquittal can be appealed by the prosecution, and faulty application of legal principles in the judges' detailed report on their decision be can grounds be for overturning their verdict.[68]

A defendant who gives evidence is not given an oath, because they are not considered a witness. The settled verdict of another court can be used without collaboration to support circumstantial evidence; in Knox's case the official report on Guede's conviction was advanced as showing that Guede had accomplices.[69] If the Supreme Court grants an appeal against a guilty verdict it usually sends the case back to be re-heard. It can also dismiss the prosecution case, although this is rare.[68][70]

Trial of Guede

In initial internet conversation while he was a fugitive wanted for the murder of Kercher, which Knox and Sollecito were being held for, Guede did not mention Knox or Sollecito as being in the house on the night of the murder. His account changed and he indirectly implicated them in the murder, which he denied involvement in. He opted to be tried in a special fast track procedure by judge Micheli. Guede was not charged with having had a knife. He did not testify and was not questioned about his statements. He was convicted of murder and the official judges’ report on the conviction specified that he had not acted alone, or stolen any of Kercher’s possessions. Micheli’s finding that Guede must have had an accomplice gave support to the later prosecution of Knox.[19][71][72][71]

The judges reasoned that Guede would not have faked the burglary, because it would have pointed to him in view of his own earlier break-ins (though at the time of the murder he was known to police only for being detained for trespassing in Florence). The judges also decided against the possibility of Guede having got in by simply knocking on the door, because they thought Kercher would not have opened the entry door to him (although she knew him to be an acquaintance of her boyfriend Giacomo).[19] In his pre-trial declarations Guede said Kercher had let him in the cottage. Some later writers on the case have considered that Guede having killed Kercher after he called on some pretext and she answered the door to him while alone in the house was a more likely scenario than a burglary.[73]

First trial of Knox and Sollecito

In 2009 Knox and Sollecito pleaded not guilty at a Corte d'Assise on charges of murder, sexual assault, carrying a knife, simulating a burglary, theft of 300 euros, credit cards and mobile phones. There was no charge in relation to Kercher's missing keys to the entry door and her own bedroom door, although Guede's trial judgement said he had not stolen anything. Knox was charged with Calunnia, which in Italian law is to blame someone of a crime that the accused knows is innocent.[74]

Prosecution case

According to the prosecution, Knox’s first call of 2 November, to Kercher’s English phone, was to ascertain if Kercher's phones had been found, Sollecito had tried to break in the bedroom door because after he and Knox locked it behind them, they realized they had left something that might incriminate them.[26] Knox’s call to her mother in Seattle, a quarter of an hour before the discovery of the body, was said by prosecutors to show Knox was acting as if something serious might have happened before the point in time when an innocent person would have such concern.[75]

A prosecution witness, homeless man Antonio Curatolo, said Knox and Sollecito were in a nearby square on the night of the murder. Prosecutors advanced a single piece of forensic evidence linking Sollecito to Kercher's bedroom, where the murder had taken place: fragments of his DNA on Kercher's bra clasp.[76][77][78] Giulia Bongiorno, leading Sollecito's defence, questioned how Sollecito's DNA could have got on the small metal clasp of the bra, but not on the fabric of the bra back strap from which it was torn. "How can you touch the hook without touching the cloth?" Bongiorno asked.[78][79] The back strap of the bra had multiple traces of DNA belonging to Guede.[79] According to the prosecution's reconstruction, Knox had attacked Kercher in her bedroom, repeatedly banged her head against a wall, forcefully held her face and tried to strangle her.[80] Guede, Knox and Sollecito had removed Kercher's jeans, and held her on her hands and knees while Guede had sexually abused her. Knox had cut Kercher with a knife before inflicting the fatal stab wound; then faked a burglary. The judge pointedly questioned Knox about a number of details, especially concerning her phone calls to her mother and Romanelli.[81]

Defense case

The defense suggested that there had been a genuine break in by Guede, and pointed out that no shoe prints, clothing fibers, hairs, fingerprints, skin cells or DNA of Knox were found on Kercher's body, clothes, handbag or anywhere else in Kercher's bedroom.[82][83] The prosecution alleged that all forensic traces in the room that would have incriminated Knox had been wiped away by her and Sollecito.[84][85] Knox's lawyers said it would have been impossible to selectively remove her traces, and emphasized that Guede's shoe prints, fingerprints, and DNA were found in Kercher's bedroom.[86]

Guede's DNA was on the strap of her bra, which had been torn off, and his DNA was found on a vaginal swab taken from Kercher's body.[79][86] Guede's bloody palm print was on a pillow that had been placed under Kercher's hips.[87] Guede's DNA mixed with Kercher's was on the left sleeve of her bloody sweatshirt and in bloodstains inside her shoulder bag, from which 300 euros and credit cards had been stolen.[86][88][89][90][91][92][93][94] Both sets of defence lawyers requested the judges to order independent reviews of evidence including DNA and the compatibility of the wounds with the alleged murder weapon; the request was denied.[95] In final pleas to the court, Sollecito's lawyer described Knox as "a weak and fragile girl" who had been "duped by the police." Knox's lawyer pointed to text messages between Knox and Kercher as showing that they had been friends.[96]

Verdict and controversy

On 5 December 2009 Knox, by then 22, was convicted on charges of faking a break-in, slander (for a statement implicating Lumumba), sexual violence and murder, and sentenced to 26 years imprisonment. Sollecito was sentenced to 25 years.[97][98][99] In Italy opinion was not generally favorable to Knox, and an Italian jurist remarked: "This is the simplest and fairest criminal trial one could possibly think of in terms of evidence."[100]

In the U.S., the verdict was widely viewed as a miscarriage of justice. American lawyers expressed concern about pre-trial publicity, and statements excluded from the murder case being allowed for a contemporaneous civil suit heard by the same jury. Knox's defense attorneys were seen as, by American standards, passive in the face of the prosecution's use of character assassination.[101][102] Although acknowledging that Knox might have been a person of interest for American police in similar circumstances, journalist Nina Burleigh, who had spent months in Perugia during the trial while researching a book on the case, said that the conviction had not been based on solid proof and there had been resentment at the Knox family which amounted to "anti-Americanism".[100][103]

A number of U.S. experts spoke out against DNA evidence used by the prosecution. According to consultant Gregory Hampikian the Italian forensic police could not replicate the key result, claimed to have successfully identified DNA at levels below those an American laboratory would attempt to analyse, and never supplied validation of their methods.[104]

In September 2010, Knox was additionally indicted on charges of slandering the Italian police in relation to claims of mistreatment during her interrogation.[105]

In May 2011, Hampikian, director of the Idaho Innocence Project, a non-profit investigative organization dedicated to proving the innocence of wrongly convicted people, said forensic results from the crime scene pointed to Guede being the killer who had acted on his own.[106][107]

Acquittal and release

photograph
Amanda Knox leaving the prison in Perugia in a car with Corrado Maria Daclon, secretary general of the Italy–USA Foundation

A Corte d'Assise verdict of guilty is not a definitive conviction. What is in effect a new trial, Corte d'Assise d'Appello, reviews the case. The appeal (or second grade) trial began November 2010 and was presided over by Judges Claudio Pratillo Hellmann and Massimo Zanetti. A court-ordered review of the contested DNA evidence by independent experts noted numerous basic errors in the gathering and analysis of the evidence, and concluded that no evidential trace of Kercher's DNA had been found on the alleged murder weapon, which police had found in Sollecito's kitchen.[108][109] The review found the forensic police examination showed evidence of multiple males' DNA fragments on the bra clasp, which had been lost on the floor for 47 days, the court-appointed expert testified the context strongly suggested contamination.[110][111][112][113] On October 3, 2011 Knox and Sollecito were found not guilty. Knox returned to the US.[114]

In an official statement giving the grounds for the acquittals, Hellmann said forensic evidence did not support the idea that Knox and Sollecito had been present at the murder.[115] It was emphasized that Knox's first calls raised the alarm and brought the police to the house, which made the prosecution's assertion that she had been trying to delay discovery of the body untenable. Her and Sollecito's accounts failing to completely match did not constitute evidence they had given a false alibi. Discounting Curatolo's testimony as self-contradictory, the judges observed that he was a heroin addict. Having noted that there was no evidence of any phone calls or texts between Knox or Sollecito and Guede, the judges concluded there was a "material non-existence" of evidence to support the guilty verdicts, and that an association among Sollecito, Knox, and Guede to commit the murder was "far from probable".[114][116][117][118]

Knox wrote a letter to Corrado Maria Daclon, Secretary General of the Italy-USA Foundation, the day after regaining her freedom:

To hold my hand and offer support and respect throughout the obstacles and the controversy, there were Italians. There was the Italy–USA Foundation, and many others that shared my pain and that helped me survive, with hope. I am eternally grateful for their caring hospitality and their courageous commitment. To those that wrote me, that defended me, that stood by me, that prayed for me... I am forever grateful to you.[119]

Retrial

On March 26, 2013, Italy's highest court, the Supreme Court of Cassation set aside the acquittals of the Hellmann second level trial on the grounds that it had gone beyond the remit of a Corte d'Assise d'Appello by not ordering new DNA tests and failing to give weight to circumstantial evidence in context such as Knox's accusation of the bar owner in the disputed interviews. A note Knox composed in the police station (not mentioning Guede) was regarded by the Supreme Court as confirmation that she and Guede were present in Via della Pergola 7 while Kercher was attacked.[69] A retrial was ordered. Knox was represented, but remained in the United States.[120][121][122]

Judge Nencini presided at the retrial, and granted a prosecution request for analysis of previously unexamined DNA sample found on a kitchen knife of Sollecito, which the prosecution alleged was the murder weapon based on the forensic police reporting that Kercher's DNA was on it, a conclusion discredited by court-appointed experts at the appeal trial.[123][124][125] When the unexamined sample was tested, no DNA belonging to Kercher was found.[126][127] On January 30, 2014, Knox and Sollecito were found guilty.[128] In their written explanation the judges emphasised Guede's fast-track verdict report was a judicial reference point establishing that he had not acted alone. The Nencini verdict report said there must have been a cleanup to remove traces of Knox from the house while leaving Guede's. The report said that there had been no burglary and the signs of one were staged. It did not consider the possibility of Guede having been responsible for faking a break-in.[129]

Forensic controversy continues

Although not part of the defense's team of experts, an authority on the forensic use of DNA, Professor Peter Gill, publicly said that the case against Knox and Sollecito was misconceived because they had a legitimate excuse for their DNA being present on Sollecito's kitchen knife, and in the crime scene apartment. According to Gill, the DNA fragment from Sollecito on the bra clasp could have got there through Sollecito having touched the handle of Kercher's door while trying to force it, enabling transfer of his DNA to the bra clasp inside the bedroom on the latex gloves used by investigators.[130]

Final decision

On March 27, 2015, the ultimate appeal by Knox and Sollecito was heard by the Supreme Court of Cassation; it ruled that the case was without foundation, thereby definitively acquitting them of the murder. Her Calunnia conviction was upheld.[70][131][132][133] Rather than merely declaring that there were errors in the earlier court cases or that there was not enough evidence to convict, the court ruled that Knox and Sollecito were innocent of involvement in the murder.[134] On September 7, 2015, the Court published the report on the acquittal, citing "glaring errors," "investigative amnesia," and "guilty omissions," where a five-judge panel said that the prosecutors who won the original murder conviction failed to prove a "whole truth" to back up the scenario that Knox and Sollecito killed Kercher.[135] They also stated that there were "sensational failures" (clamorose defaillance) in the investigation, and that the lower court had been guilty of "culpable omissions" (colpevoli omissioni) in ignoring expert testimony that demonstrated contamination of evidence.[136]

Personal life

After returning to the United States, Knox completed her degree and worked on a book about her case. She was often followed by paparazzi. Her family incurred large debts from the years of supporting her in Italy and are reportedly insolvent, the proceeds from Waiting to Be Heard: A Memoir having gone to pay legal fees to her Italian lawyers.[137][138] In 2014 Amanda Knox started working as an occasional freelance writer for a local weekly newspaper, the West Seattle Herald.[139] Knox has stated her intention to become an advocate for others who were wrongfully convicted, and she attends events related to the Innocence Project and related organizations.

Media

Documentaries

Books

See also

References

  1. ↑ http://www.ilmessaggero.it/umbria/i_poliziotti_mi_maltrattata_nuova_assoluzione_amanda_knox-1482506.html
  2. ↑ Oloffson, Kirsti. "Amanda Knox, Convicted of Murder in Italy", Time magazine, December 4, 2009.
  3. ↑ Bates, Daniel (September 28, 2011). "We cherished every moment together". Mail Online.
  4. ↑ Bachrach, Judy "Perugia’s Prime Suspect", Vanity Fair, June, 2008.
  5. ↑ Follain, J., Death in Perugia ISBN 978-0-340-99309-5 page 13-15
  6. ↑ Follain p.14-15, 19
  7. ↑ Kercher, John (2012). Meredith: Our Daughter's Murder and the Heartbreaking Quest for the Truth
  8. ↑ The Week, 9 DEC 2009, Robert Fox, Nothing ‘Third World’ about Italian justice
  9. ↑ The Week, 9 DEC 2009, Robert Fox, Nothing 'Third World' about Italian justice Retrieved30/2/15
  10. ↑ NYT, November 19, 2002, Andreotti's Sentence Draws Protests About 'Justice Gone Mad'
  11. ↑ Death in Perugia: The Definitive Account of the Meredith Kercher John Follain, Chapter 55
  12. ↑ Monster of Florence: Amanda Knox Prosecutor's Satanic Theories Rejected by Judge, Crimesider, CBS News, April 23, 2010
  13. ↑ Bloody Italy: Essays on Crime Writing in Italian Settings edited by Patricia Prandini Buckle p70-73
  14. 1 2 University Kansas, February 4, 2015, Professor: Amanda Knox trial shows problems with comparing legal systems
  15. ↑ Follain p10-11 and 26
  16. ↑ Murphy, Dennis. "Deadly exchange", NBC News, 21 December 2007.
  17. ↑ Follain p. 25-47
  18. ↑ Follain p.35
  19. 1 2 3 http://www.penale.it/page.asp?mode=1&IDPag=750 Judgment, Trial of Rudy Hermann Guede], Dr Paolo Micheli, Court of Perugia, judgment of 28 October 2008 – 26 January 2009. Retrieved 19 October 2011 (Google translation, Italian to English).
  20. ↑ Follain p179
  21. ↑ Follain p.39 ("Meredith joined them she took just one pull on the joint; she was no habitual smoker")
  22. ↑ Wise, Ann. "'They Had No Reason Not to Get Along'", ABC News, 7 February 2009.
  23. ↑ Follain p41-47
  24. ↑ Follain, J., Death in Perugia ISBN 978-0-340-99309-5 page 61-2, 25 and 71
  25. ↑ Telegraph, 07 Feb 2009, Nick Squires Amanda Knox raised alarm over murder of flatmate Meredith Kercher
  26. 1 2 Follain, J., Death in Perugia, ISBN 978-0-340-99309-5 p325
  27. 1 2 Follain, J., Death in Perugia ISBN 978-0-340-99309-5 page 65-7
  28. ↑ Follain, J., Death in Perugia ISBN 978-0-340-99309-5 p69-74
  29. ↑ Follain, J., Death in Perugia ISBN 978-0-340-99309-5 p75
  30. ↑ Criminal law and Justice, 5th June 2015, Davies F., The Brutal Killing of Meredith Kercher: A Search For The Truth – Part 22
  31. ↑ Interview with Amanda Knox, Feb 2014 The Daily, University Of Washington
  32. 1 2 Follain, J., Death in Perugia ISBN 978-0-340-99309-5 p164
  33. 1 2 Follain p. 83-84
  34. ↑ Follain, J., Death in Perugia ISBN 978-0-340-99309-5 p90
  35. ↑ The Fatal Gift of Beauty: The Trials of Amanda Knox By Nina Burleigh p180
  36. ↑ The Mail on Sunday , Polly Dunbar and Nick Pisa, STUDENT KILLER ‘MAY HAVE BEEN WOMAN'
  37. ↑ Dempsey 2010, pp. 62, 76–77; for Napoleoni, see Burleigh 2011, p. 165. for Battistelli see Follain p. 67.
  38. ↑ Follain p. 75–76.
  39. ↑ Burleigh 2011, p. 151–152.
  40. ↑ Time World, 29 September 2009 The Tough Women of the Amanda Knox Case
  41. ↑ Follain pp. 216–217
  42. ↑ Vogt, Andrea (11 June 2009). "A confident Amanda Knox defends herself, says she wasn't there during slaying". Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Retrieved 31 March 2013.
  43. 1 2 Telegraph, 13 June 2009,Amanda Knox warned by police that she would spend 30 years in prison
  44. ↑ Guardian, 4 October 2011,Amanda Knox: police under fire over botched investigation
  45. ↑ Guardian, Friday 13 March 2009, Knox clashes with interpreter over Meredith 'confession'
  46. ↑ Dempsey 2010, pp. 147–148.
  47. ↑ Hooper, John. "Was there a plot to kill Meredith?", The Guardian, 5 February 2009.
    • Dempsey 2010, pp. 147–148.
  48. ↑ Dempsey 2010, p. 145.
  49. ↑ Vogt, Andrea (28 February 2009). "Knox, ex-boyfriend refute police testimony". Seattle P-I.
  50. ↑ Squires, Nick. "Amanda Knox 'hit in the head' during Meredith Kercher murder interrogation", The Daily Telegraph, 28 February 2009.
  51. ↑ Follain, J., Death in Perugia ISBN 978-0-340-99309-5 p134-136
  52. ↑ Follain, J., Death in Perugia ISBN 978-0-340-99309-5 p83-84, 164-165
  53. ↑ Follain p199-200
  54. ↑ Follain, J., Death in Perugia ISBN 978-0-340-99309-5 p214
  55. ↑ Squires, Nick (January 14, 2009). "Amanda Knox launches 11th hour bid to stall Meredith Kercher murder trial". The Daily Telegraph (London).
  56. ↑ Wise, Ann. "Small Victory For Amanda Knox", ABC News, March 22, 2010.
  57. ↑ Pisa, Nick. "Knox Wins £36k Damages Over Sex Claims", Sky News, March 21, 2010.
  58. ↑ Coffrey, Kendal (December 4, 2009). Prime News. Interview with Mike Galanos. HLN.
  59. ↑ "Amanda Knox Tricked into Believing She Had HIV to Extract Lovers List: New Details of Sexual Harassment in Prison". International Business Times. October 11, 2011. Retrieved October 23, 2011.
  60. ↑ Burleigh, Nina (October 4, 2011). "The scapegoating of Amanda Knox". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved October 23, 2011.
  61. ↑ Sherwell, Philip. "Amanda Knox: 'Foxy Knoxy' was an innocent abroad, say US supporters", The Daily Telegraph, December 5, 2009.
  62. ↑ Timothy Egan (June 10, 2009). "An Innocent Abroad". The New York Times. Retrieved February 19, 2012.
  63. ↑ "Simon Cowell one of Walters' 'Fascinating People'". Bloomberg Businessweek. December 1, 2011.
  64. 1 2 The Italian Judicial System
  65. ↑ Mirabella, Julia Grace, Scales of Justice: Assessing Italian Criminal Procedure Through the Amanda Knox Trial January 5, 2012). Boston University International Law Journal, Vol. 30, No. 1, 2012. p 234
  66. ↑ Economist, February 8, 2014 italian justice Untimely Italian Justice
  67. 1 2 (Mirabella, Julia Grace, Scales of Justice: Assessing Italian Criminal Procedure Through the Amanda Knox Trial January 5, 2012). Boston University International Law Journal, Vol. 30, No. 1, 2012. p 237 and footnote 151)
  68. 1 2 3 Mirabella, Julia Grace, Scales of Justice: Assessing Italian Criminal Procedure Through the Amanda Knox Trial January 5, 2012). Boston University International Law Journal, Vol. 30, No. 1, 2012.
  69. 1 2 Criminal law and Justice Weekly, 23rd May 2015 Vol.179 No.19, The Brutal Killing of Meredith Kercher: A Search For The Truth – Part 20 by Fred Davies
  70. 1 2 "Italian high court overturns Amanda Knox murder conviction". Washington Post. Retrieved March 28, 2015.
  71. 1 2 (Mirabella, Julia Grace, Scales of Justice: Assessing Italian Criminal Procedure Through the Amanda Knox Trial January 5, 2012). Boston University International Law Journal, Vol. 30, No. 1, 2012.)
  72. ↑ name="T24">Moore, Malcolm. "Meredith whispered killer's name, suspect says", The Daily Telegraph, November 24, 2007.
  73. ↑ Davies , F., Criminal Law & Justice Weekly, Vol.179 No.18, 16th May 2015. The Brutal Killing of Meredith Kercher: A Search For The Truth – Part 19
  74. ↑ Criminal Law and Justice Weekly, F.G. Davies, 27th February 2015, The Brutal Killing of Meredith Kercher – Part 9
  75. ↑ Follain, J., Death in Perugia ISBN 978-0-340-99309-5 p374
  76. ↑ Follain p.307
  77. ↑ "Kercher trial: How does DNA contamination occur?". BBC News. Retrieved March 28, 2015.
  78. 1 2 Telegraph, December 5, 2009, Amanda Knox trial: the unanswered questions
  79. 1 2 3 News AU, Bra takes centre stage in Foxy Knoxy trial
  80. ↑ Follain p344
  81. ↑ Follain p342-344
  82. ↑ Guardian, September 22, 2011, Amanda Knox 'hopeful of release'
  83. ↑ Judgment, Trial of Rudy Hermann Guede, Court of Perugia, judgment of 28 October 2008 – 26 January 2009 (Google translation, Italian to English).
  84. ↑ Falconi, Marta. "Prosecutors: Knox staged break-in after murder", Associated Press, November 20, 2009.
  85. ↑ Follain. J., Death in Perugia p.248
  86. 1 2 3 Follain. J., Death in Perugia p.177
  87. ↑ Follain. J., Death in Perugia p.174
  88. ↑ Povoledo, Elisabetta. "Italian Experts Question Evidence in Knox Case", The New York Times, June 29, 2011.
  89. ↑ Judgment, Trial of Rudy Hermann Guede, Dr Paolo Micheli, Court of Perugia, judgement of 28 October 2008 – 26 January 2009. Retrieved October 19, 2011 (Google translation, Italian to English).
  90. ↑ Diritto, procedura, e pratica penale Tribunale di Perugia: Ufficio del G.I.P.: Dott. Paolo Micheli: Sentenza del 28 October 2008 – 26 January 2009 (Italian): (English trans): Guede "confirmed then to have touched more or less everywhere in the room, even with his hands stained with blood, without however explaining why one of his [palm-]prints were found on the pillow under the corpse, when he remembered the regular pillow on the bed, where they also found the jacket and purse/handbag that the girl [Kercher] had put down on re-entering the house. The bed was, according to his description, covered with a red or beige duvet (but he had insisted far more on the former colour): the pillow was outside of the quilt." Earlier in his judgement, the judge noted that (Italian): "Soltanto in seguito, attraverso la comparazione in Banca Dati di un'impronta palmare impressa nel sangue e rinvenuta sulla federa del cuscino che si trovava sotto il corpo della vittima, si accertava invece la presenza sul luogo del delitto del 21enne G. R. H., nativo della Costa d'Avorio ..." (English): "Only later, through the comparison in the database of a palm-print imprinted in the blood of the victim and found on the pillowcase of the pillow where the body of the victim was found, it confirmed instead the presence at the scene of the crime of the 21-year-old G[uede] R.H., native of the Ivory Coast, ...".
  91. ↑ Mirabella, Julia Grace, Scales of Justice: Assessing Italian Criminal Procedure Through the Amanda Knox Trial (January 5, 2012). Boston University International Law Journal, Vol. 30, No. 1, 2012, page 247, note 122
  92. ↑ 7 October 2009,Croydon Guardian Last evidence heard in Coulsdon student Meredith Kercher murder trial
  93. ↑ Sky News,26 September 2009, 26 September 2009, Meredith Case: Expert Casts Doubt On DNA
  94. ↑ Wise, Ann (26 September 2009). "Defense Expert Disputes DNA Evidence in Amanda Knox Trial". ABC News. Retrieved 31 March 2013.
  95. ↑ Follain p.335-336
  96. ↑ Follain 353–358.
  97. ↑ "Amanda Knox guilty of Meredith Kercher murder". BBC News. 5 December 2009. Retrieved 31 March 2013.
  98. ↑ Dempsey 2010, pp. 311–312.
  99. ↑ Follain p. 366.
  100. 1 2 The debate continues over Knox's guilt, Seattle Post=Intelligencer (December 14, 2009).
  101. ↑ Mirabella, Julia Grace, Scales of Justice: Assessing Italian Criminal Procedure Through the Amanda Knox Trial (January 5, 2012). Boston University International Law Journal, Vol. 30, No. 1, 2012, page 242 and 247
  102. ↑ Telegraph, December 8, 2009, Only doubt over Amanda Knox conviction is exactly how they got it wrong
  103. ↑ Anti-US bias in Amanda Knox orgy verdict, New York Post (February 28, 2010).
  104. ↑ New Scientist, 15 2015, Amanda Knox legal fight highlights fallibility of DNA forensics
  105. ↑ Kington, Tom (8 November 2010). "Amanda Knox indicted on charges of slandering Italian police". The Guardian. Retrieved 8 September 2015.
  106. ↑ Sewell, Cynthia. "Boise expert: DNA shows Amanda Knox isn’t guilty", Idaho Statesman, May 27, 2011.
  107. ↑ Fields, Kim (October 3, 2011). "BSU professor's work helps set Amanda Knox free". Northwest Cable News. Retrieved April 30, 2013.
  108. ↑ Follain p. 404
  109. ↑ Kington, Tom. "Amanda Knox DNA appeal sparks legal battle by forensic experts", The Observer, July 24, 2011.
  110. ↑ Follain p. 404-406
  111. ↑ "DNA experts highlight problems with Amanda Knox case", Associated Press, 25 July 2011.
  112. ↑ Guardian, June 29, 2011, Amanda Knox prosecution evidence unreliable, appeal court hears
  113. ↑ Follain p. 408.
  114. 1 2 Povoledo, Elisabetta (October 3, 2011). "Amanda Knox Freed After Appeal in Italian Court". The New York Times. Retrieved May 1, 2013.
  115. ↑ Follain, J., Death in Perugia ISBN 978-0-340-99309-5 p433-437
  116. ↑ Kington, Tom (December 15, 2011). "Amanda Knox trial was flawed at every turn, says appeal judge". The Guardian (London).
  117. ↑ Squires, Nick. "Amanda Knox freed: tears of joy as four-year nightmare is over", The Daily Telegraph, October 4, 2011: "A jury decided that Amanda Knox, who has spent almost four years in jail, was the victim of a miscarriage of justice following a chaotic Italian police investigation."
  118. ↑ Pisani, Mario, ed. (2004). Manuale di procedura penale (in Italian). Monduzzi. ISBN 8832341026. Retrieved May 1, 2013.
  119. ↑ "Amanda Knox's handwritten letter to supporters in Italy". Seattle: KING-TV. October 4, 2011. Retrieved March 30, 2015.
  120. ↑ Guardian, January 31, 2014, Why did Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito have their convictions upheld?
  121. ↑ Acohido, Byron; Lyman, Eric J. (March 26, 2013). "Amanda Knox's lawyer: 'She's ready to fight'". USA Today. Retrieved May 1, 2013.
  122. ↑ "Meredith Kercher murder: Amanda Knox retrial opens". BBC News. September 30, 2013. Retrieved October 3, 2013.
  123. ↑ BBC News Amanda Knox and bad maths in court Ruth Alexander, 28 April 2013 BBC News.
  124. ↑ NY Daily News.com, November 2, 2013, Amanda Knox trial: New forensic tests find no traces of Meredith Kercher's DNA on knife
  125. ↑ BBC news Europe 31 January 2014, Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito guilty of Kercher Italy murder
  126. ↑ MSN news 11/6/13 Knox's knife DNA casts doubt on murder weapon
  127. ↑ BBC 31 January 2014 Kercher trial: How does DNA contamination occur?
  128. ↑ Wall Street Journal, January 30, 2014 Italy Court Finds Amanda Knox Guilty of Murder of U.K. Student in Retrial
  129. ↑ Davies , F., Criminal Law & Justice Weekly, Vol.179 No.20, 30th May 2015. The Brutal Killing of Meredith Kercher: A Search For The Truth – Part 21
  130. ↑ Misleading DNA Evidence: Reasons for Miscarriages of Justice, By Peter Gill p137- 143
  131. ↑ "Amanda Knox murder conviction overturned by Italy's highest court". Associated Press. March 27, 2015. Retrieved March 27, 2015.
  132. ↑ "Amanda Knox verdict overturned by Italy's supreme court.". Slate Magazine. Retrieved March 28, 2015.
  133. ↑ Stephanie Kirchgaessner. "Meredith Kercher murder: Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito acquitted". the Guardian. Retrieved March 28, 2015.
  134. ↑ "The Amanda Knox verdict: Innocente". The Economist. March 28, 2015. Retrieved March 28, 2015.
  135. ↑ Latza Nadeau, Barbie (8 September 2015). "Amanda Knox decision explained by Italian court". CNN. Retrieved 8 September 2015.
  136. ↑ "Amanda Knox acquitted because of 'stunning flaws' in investigation, says Italy top court". Retrieved 2015-09-07.
  137. ↑ Guardian 8 Feb 2014Amanda Knox interview with Simon Hattenstone
  138. ↑ Trial and Error: "Waiting to Be Heard: A Memoir," by Amanda Knox, Sunday Book Review, by Sam Tanenhaus, May 24, 2013, New York Times. Retrieved March 28, 2015.
  139. ↑ "Amanda Knox hired as freelance reporter writing about theater for weekly Seattle newspaper" by Snejana Farberov for the Daily Mail November 4, 2014. Retrieved March 28, 2015.
  140. ↑ "A Long Way From Home". CBS News. April 10, 2008.
  141. ↑ "Murder Mystery: Amanda Knox Speaks". ABC News. April 30, 2013. Retrieved September 28, 2013.

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