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Murder of Meredith Kercher
Meredith Susanna Cara Kercher, known as Mez
Born	(1985-12-28)28 December 1985 Southwark, London, England
Died	1 November 2007(2007-11-01) (aged 21) Via Della Pergola 7, Perugia, Umbria, Italy
Cause of death	Knife wounds
Burial	14 December 2007 Mitcham Road Cemetery, Croydon, London
Prosecutor	Giuliano Mignini
Arrested	Patrick Lumumba, Amanda Knox, Raffaele Sollecito, Rudy Guede
Convicted of sexual assault, murder	Guede (29 October 2008) Knox and Sollecito (4 December 2009)
Convictions overturned	Knox and Sollecito (3 October 2011)

The murder of Meredith Kercher occurred in Perugia, Italy, on 1 November 2007. Kercher, aged 21 at the time of her death, was a British university exchange student from Coulsdon, south London. She was found dead on the floor of her bedroom with stab wounds to the throat. Some of her belongings were missing, including cash, two credit cards, two cell phones, and her house keys.

Rudy Guede, an Ivory Coast native raised in Perugia, was convicted in October 2008 of having sexually assaulted and murdered Kercher, and was sentenced to 30 years, reduced on appeal to 16 years in December 2009. Also charged were Amanda Knox, an American exchange student and flatmate of Kercher, and Knox's then-boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, an Italian student. Knox and Sollecito were convicted of sexual assault and murder in December 2009, and sentenced to 26 and 25 years respectively. Their convictions were overturned on appeal in October 2011, when a jury decided there had been a miscarriage of justice.

The murder and subsequent events, especially Knox's arrest and trial, became the subject of intense media interest around the world, and often salacious tabloid coverage, particularly in Italy and England. The coverage was criticized for having failed to describe the case accurately and dispassionately, and for having contributed to an atmosphere that made wrongful convictions more likely to occur.

Meredith Kercher

Background

Meredith Susanna Cara Kercher, known to her friends as "Mez" (born 28 December 1985 in Southwark, South London) lived in Coulsdon, South London. She had two older brothers and an older sister. Her father is a freelance journalist, and her mother a housewife who was born in India. Kercher attended the Old Palace School in Croydon, then studied European Studies at the University of Leeds. At the time of her murder she was just begun a one-year course in modern history, political theories and history of cinema at the University of Perugia as part of the Erasmus student exchange program; her ambition was to work in journalism. Described as caring, intelligent and with a good sense of humor, she was popular with fellow students. Her funeral was held on 14 December 2007 at Croydon Parish Church, with more than 300 people in attendance, followed by a private burial at Croydon's Mitcham Road Cemetery. The degree that she would have received in 2009 was awarded posthumously by the University of Leeds.

Murder

External image
Photograph of Via Della Pergola 7, courtesy of the BBC.

In Perugia, Kercher shared a ground-floor four-bedroom apartment in a house at Via Della Pergola 7 (43°06′54″N 12°23′29″E / 43.114885°N 12.391402°E / 43.114885; 12.391402) with two Italian women, Filomena Romanelli and Laura Mezzetti, and 20-year-old Seattle exchange student Amanda Knox. The Italian women had rented the apartment in August 2007, then looked for sub-tenants among the town's student population. Kercher and Knox saw their ads, and moved in on 10 and 20 September respectively, meeting each other for the first time. The house is located on an open hillside below the city centre, near a motorway on what is widely seen as a less salubrious edge of the town. It had a second apartment in the basement, which was being rented by four young Italian men, one of whom Kercher had recently started dating.

The house was empty on the night of her murder. Her Italian flatmates, Romanelli and Mezzetti, were visiting family because it was a public holiday, and Knox said she spent the evening and night at the apartment of her Italian boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, the son of a wealthy urologist; she had met Sollecito seven days before Kercher was murdered, when Knox and Kercher had gone to a classical music concert together. The downstairs flat was also empty because the occupants were out of town. Kercher is therefore believed to have been alone in the house before her murder.

At about 6:00 that evening, Kercher had dinner with three other English women at one of their homes, and watched a DVD of The Notebook. She said she felt tired and wanted to retire early; she borrowed a history book, and left to walk home with one of her friends, Sophie. Parting company with Sophie on Via del Lupo at around 8:55 pm, she walked the remaining 500 yards (460 m) back to Via della Pergola 7 alone. At 8:56 pm, someone tried to call Kercher's mother from her cell phone, but the call was cut off. At 10 pm, someone again used her cell phone to call her bank in London, but the call did not go through. The coroner's report estimated that Kercher died in her bedroom between 10 pm and midnight, but this could not be established with any precision because the police prevented the coroner from checking her temperature until midnight on the night after her death.

Alarm raised

Knox had started a part-time job at a local bar called Le Chic, owned by a Congolese man, Patrick Lumumba. She had expected to work that night, but at 8:18 pm Lumumba sent her a text message saying she was not required because business was slow. She responded by text at 8:35 pm, telling him in Italian: "See you later, good evening" ("Certo ci vediamo più tardi buona serata!"). The prosecution later interpreted "see you later" to mean she had intended to meet up with Lumumba. Knox said she spent that evening and night with Sollecito at his apartment; she said they smoked marijuana, watched the film Amélie, which they downloaded on Sollecito's computer, had sex, and slept. When a friend of Sollecitos's went there briefly around 8:40 pm, Knox was there and opened the door. Sollecito's computer records show the film ended at 9:10 pm.

Knox returned to Via Della Pergola 7 to shower on the morning of 2 November, and said she became alarmed after finding the front door unlocked and drops of blood in the bathroom she shared with Kercher. After showering, she found faeces in the unflushed toilet in the second bathroom, and Kercher's door was locked. She returned to Sollecito's home and called one of Kercher's two cell phones (one she had brought over from the UK) at 12:07 pm, letting it ring for 16 seconds. Knox testified that Kercher always carried that phone with her, because her mother was ill at the time. One minute later, Knox called one of her Italian flatmates, Romanelli, reporting her concerns. Knox then tried to call Kercher on the latter's second phone, and called the first phone again. Knox said she and Sollecito walked back to Via Della Pergola 7, and saw that the window was broken in Romanelli's bedroom, suggesting a break-in. Romanelli called Knox back three times. During the final call, which started at 12:34 pm, Knox told her about the broken window, and that her bedroom was in a mess.

At 12:47 pm, Knox called her mother in Seattle, who told her to contact the police. Sollecito called his sister, a police officer, asking for her advice, then made two calls to the emergency number 112, at 12:51 and 12:54 pm. He reported a break-in, blood, a locked door and a missing person. Before the Carabinieri arrived in response to these calls, two officers from the Post and Communications Police drove up to the house to investigate a report from a local woman who had found two cell phones in her garden, probably discarded there by the killer, which the police had traced to Via Della Pergola 7.

Discovery of the body

Knox and Sollecito were standing outside the house when the two police officers arrived; they told the officers they were waiting for the Carabinieri, that a window had been broken, and that there were spots of blood in the bathroom. While Knox was showing the police around, three friends of Romanelli's arrived at the latter's request. The officers were reluctant to break down the locked door, so at around 1:15 pm one of the flatmate's friends kicked it open. Kercher was found inside on the floor, under a duvet soaked in blood, naked except for a shirt pulled up over her chest, and with her throat cut. The officers ordered all present to leave the flat, and the cottage was formally secured as a crime scene, though the police reportedly continued to allow people to enter it. In addition to Kercher's cell phones, it was later discovered that two credit cards and 300 euros in cash were missing from her handbag, as were her house keys; the cash, credit cards and keys were never found.

According to the coroner, Luca Lalli, there were three knife wounds on Kercher's neck; the main one was on the left side, 8 cm in length. There was also some bruising, as well as injuries that may have suggested non-consensual intercourse, though the findings were not conclusive. Lalli determined that the cause of death was combined blood loss and suffocation.

Italian justice system

According to the Italian Code of Criminal Procedure, individuals accused of a crime such as murder are considered innocent until proven guilty. After the trial of the first grade (primo grado), if convicted the individual is referred to as defendant or accused (imputato) and is not considered guilty until convicted at the trial of the second grade (secondo grado). During this time the defendant may be allowed to go free pending the final verdict, or held in cautionary detention. An appeal to the second grade, which is essentially a trial de novo where all evidence and witnesses can be re-examined, is essentially guaranteed. With conviction at the second grade, it is possible to appeal to the Supreme Court (Corte di Cassazione) only on technical grounds or on issues of the interpretation of law. Written briefs are prepared and reviewed in camera (i.e. there is no more testimony or verbal presentations) and either accepted, meaning the case is sent back to the appeals court for retrial, or rejected, in which case the verdict is final and the individual receives a sentence with credit for time served while in cautionary detention.

People prosecuted

Amanda Knox

Template:Kercher timeline

Background

Amanda Marie Knox (born 9 July 1987 in Seattle, Washington) was raised with her two younger sisters, Deanna and Ashley. Her mother, Edda Mellas, a teacher, and her father, Curt Knox—a vice-president of finance at Macy's—divorced when Knox was a few years old. She graduated from Seattle Preparatory School in 2005, and began to study linguistics at the University of Washington. She made the university's dean's list in the spring of 2007.

In September 2007, Knox became one of Kercher's three flatmates in Perugia. She was there to attend the town's University for Foreigners for a year, studying Italian, German and creative writing. Nina Burleigh writes that, while Knox appeared to be a confident young woman, she was known by friends and family to be averse to any kind of conflict, and believed in the importance of positive thinking. She had grown in recent years into an attractive woman, and had become a compulsive diarist. All these traits, Burleigh writes—including her bubbly personality and tendency to practice yoga stretches at inappropriate times—contributed to her downfall in Perugia, making her more reticent flatmates critical of her, and the police suspicious.

Police focus on Knox

Edgardo Giobbi, who belonged to an elite police unit, SCO (Servizio Centrale Operative), was called in from Rome to lead the Kercher investigation; the SCO has a record of success against some of Italy's most notorious criminals. Giobbi said he suspected within hours of the murder being reported that Knox was involved, because of the way she had swivelled her hips, and apparently said "hoopla," when putting on a pair of protective shoe covers he gave her at the crime scene. Candace Dempsey writes that Giobbi saw the swivel as similar to "la mossa," a seductive movement made by women in Italian musical comedies. Giobbi believed this was unusual behaviour in the circumstances. Giobbi later said of the police interviews with Knox: "We were able to establish guilt by closely observing the suspect's psychological and behavioural reaction during the interrogation. We don't need to rely on other kinds of investigation."

Knox was interviewed for 50 hours over the four days following the murder, without access to a lawyer, and with no audio or video recording of the interviews. On 5 November, she and Sollecito were called to the police station at around 10:15 pm and were split up. While Sollecito was being interviewed, also without a lawyer, Knox remained in a waiting room, doing yoga stretches as was her habit. Shortly after 10:30, according to Knox, a male police officer wanted to know how she had become so flexible, and asked her to show him some moves. Naively, she did a cartwheel, just as Rita Ficarra, one of the officers who had been interviewing and observing Knox for days, was entering the police station. Ficarra was shocked, seeing the behaviour as inappropriate and suspicious.

Interrogation and arrest

Shortly after the cartwheel, at 11 pm, Ficarra and another officer, Lorena Zugarini, began questioning Knox. They were later joined by a third officer, Ivano Raffo, and at 12:30 am, Anna Donnino, the police interpreter, arrived. The interview was not recorded.

The officers focused on the text message Knox had sent Patrick Lumumba, the local Congolese bar owner for whom she worked part-time at Le Chic. She had texted him "see you later, good evening" on the night of Kercher's death, after he sent her a message saying she did not need to come into work. The officers saw this as evidence that she planned to meet Lumumba later that evening, though the expression "see you later" for Americans is simply a way of saying goodbye. They told her that Sollecito, in another interview room, was no longer saying Knox had been with him all night; instead, they told her, he now maintained Knox had left him at 9 pm to go to Le Chic, and had not returned to his apartment until 1 am. Edgardo Giobbi, watching the interview from a control room, later said he heard Knox scream.

Knox said later that she requested a lawyer, but was told it would make things worse for her. She also said she was not allowed access to food, water, or the bathroom, and was told she would go to jail for 30 years. She alleged that she was hit by police during the interview, and called a "stupid liar." The police denied this, saying she was interviewed "firmly but politely." She was later charged with slander for having made those claims.

According to Dempsey, Knox said the police shouted at her: "Give us a name. You know the name. Give it to us." At 1:45 am, Knox signed a statement naming Patrick Lumumba as the killer. She spoke in English, which the interpreter translated, and which Rita Ficarra wrote down. The statement said she had replied to Lumumba's text message: "I replied to the message telling him that we'd see each other right away." Dempsey writes that this completely changed the meaning of "see you later, good evening." The statement said she had met Lumumba at the basketball court at 8:30 pm, before going with him to Via Della Pergola 7. It said: "I have a hard time remembering those moments but Patrick had sex with Meredith, with whom he was infatuated, but I cannot remember clearly whether he threatened Meredith first. I remember confusedly that he killed her."

At that point, the prosecutor, Giuliano Mignini, arrived from home, after being alerted that Knox had made a statement. Another four hours of unrecorded interrogation took place, and at 5:45 am Knox signed another statement, mostly affirming the first one, but with some details changed; for example, she now said she had met Lumumba at 9 pm, not 8:30. She also added that she had heard Kercher scream, though later in the same statement said she could not remember whether she had heard this. After signing the statement, she was taken to the cafeteria for espresso and food, then placed under arrest.

Knox's withdrawal of the statements

Knox withdrew the statements within hours, and reiterated her original account of events, namely that she had been at her boyfriend's flat and had no knowledge of the killing. She said at her trial that it was the police who had suggested Lumumba, and the interpreter who suggested that she was suffering from traumatic memory loss. She said, "In my confusion I started to imagine I was traumatized as they said."

She wrote a four-page note to the police the day after the interrogation. In it, she wrote: "This is very strange, I know, but really what happened is as confusing to me as it is to everyone else. I have been told there is hard evidence saying that I was at the place of the murder of my friend when it happened. This, I want to confirm, is something that to me, if asked a few days ago, would be impossible." She wrote that memories and "flashes of blurred images" had begun mingling in her mind: "In regards to this 'confession' that I made last night, I want to make clear that I'm very doubtful of the verity of my statements because they were made under the pressures of stress, shock and extreme exhaustion. Not only was I told I would be arrested and put in jail for 30 years, but I was also hit in the head when I didn't remember a fact correctly. I understand that the police are under a lot of stress, so I understand the treatment I received." She later said the police had asked her to compose an imaginary scenario, asking her what might have happened if had she been there. It was in response to that question, she said, that she told them she had a "vision" of Lumumba at the crime scene.

The Italian Court of Cassation later found that Knox's human rights had been violated, because the police had not told her of her legal rights, appointed her a lawyer, or provided her an official interpreter; therefore, her statement to police was ruled inadmissible for Knox's and Sollecito's criminal trial. However, the court allowed the statement to be used in a concurrent civil calunnia (slander) trial, which Lumumba brought against her. Both trials had the same jury.

Lumumba cleared; alleged Knox motive

Lumumba was arrested on 6 November and held in custody for two weeks, but he produced a solid alibi for his whereabouts that night; a Swiss professor had spent the evening at Le Chic talking to him. The police then matched fingerprints found in Kercher's bedroom to Rudy Guede (see below), a local man from the Ivory Coast who had lived in or near Perugia since arriving with his father from Italy when he was five years old. Because he was an immigrant, his fingerprints were on file, and on 20 November he was arrested in Germany, where he had fled immediately after the murder. His DNA was later found at the crime scene, on and inside Kercher's body.

With Lumumba in the clear, the prosecution simply substituted Guede for Lumumba, but retained the allegations against Knox and Sollecito. The prosecutors proposed a number of possible motives for the murder, for which they produced no evidence, including that Kercher and Knox had fallen out over issues such as the cleaning roster in their home; that the murder was part of a Satanic ritual; that it was a sex game gone wrong; or that Kercher had refused to take part in an orgy. Knox was also accused of having stolen Kercher's money to pay Guede for drugs, and of having killed Kercher in a drug-fuelled rage after smoking marijuana.

The prosecution said Knox had tortured Kercher with a knife before cutting her throat, while Guede and Sollecito had held Kercher down and Guede had sexually assaulted her. They said Knox and Sollecito had then staged the break-in. They said Kercher's DNA was on a kitchen knife police had found in Knox's boyfriend's kitchen, though Kercher had never visited his home. Therefore, they argued, that knife must be the murder weapon. No trace of blood was found on it, and the DNA evidence was later dismissed by independent forensic experts appointed by the appellate court.

Prosecution

Knox was charged with murder and sexual assault, along with Sollecito, and with slander for alleging that police had hit her during the interrogation. They pleaded not guilty. The prosecution's witnesses included Filomena Romanelli, the flatmate who had received a phone call from Knox telling her that something strange had happened at the house. Romanelli's testimony was damaging to the defence; she professed to find Knox's behaviour on the morning after the murder inexplicable, and her assertion that Kercher always left her door unlocked implicated Knox (who had said the opposite before Kercher's door was broken down) in a deliberate lie. Knox, by then 22, was convicted and sentenced to 26 years imprisonment for slander, sexual violence and murder.

The conviction was upheld at an appeal. Before the second appeal, the court ordered an independent review of the contested DNA evidence by independent forensic DNA experts Stefano Conti and Carla Vecchiotti from Rome's Sapienza University. They submitted a 145-page report that noted numerous basic errors in the gathering and analysis of the evidence, further asserting that a police forensic scientist had given evidence in court that was not supported by her laboratory work. In testimony to the second appeal, Professor Conti said that a police video showed that, when the most important piece of evidence was gathered, it was handled with a glove that was visibly dirty.

On 3 October 2011, the court overturned Knox's and Sollecito's convictions for murder and sexual assault. The jury upheld the conviction against Knox of calunnia (slander) for having falsely accused Lumumba of the murder.

Raffaele Sollecito

Raffaele Sollecito (born 26 March 1984, Giovinazzo, Bari) was 23 years old at the time of the murder, and nearing the completion of a degree in computer engineering at the University of Perugia, which he finished while imprisoned. His conviction for murder and sexual assault was reversed on 3 October 2011, along with Knox's. Sollecito said that he was treated "with violence and coercion" by the police during his interviews.

Rudy Guede

Background

Rudy Hermann Guede (born 26 December 1986, Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire) was 20 years old at the time of the murder. He had arrived in Perugia at the age of five with his father, Roger, who found work there as a stonemason; Guede told friends he had not met his father before going to live with him in Italy. He saw his mother, Agnes, just once more, when he returned to Côte d'Ivoire for a visit in 1997. In Italy, Guede was raised with the help of his school teachers, a local priest and others, who would take it in turns to buy him food and clothes; one of the teachers told Nina Burleigh that Guede would sometimes sleep in the street after his father locked him out of the house at night as a punishment.

His father returned to Côte d'Ivoire in 2004, leaving his 16-year-old son to be looked after by his common-law wife, but there was friction between the boy and the woman. One of his former teachers arranged for him to be adopted by one of Perugia's wealthiest families, who agreed to look after him until he was eighteen. Burleigh writes that he was given his own flat in a gated villa, spent summer with the family in Sardinia and winter in the Dolomites, and was sent to a good school. He also played basketball for the Perugia youth team in the 2004–2005 season. But in his second year with the family, the relationship began to break down. He stopped attending school, failed his exams, and when the family insisted that he work instead, he repeatedly turned up late for a job they gave him as a gardener. In late 2006 or early 2007, they asked him to leave their home.

He went to stay with an aunt in Lecco, near Milan, for a short time in the winter and spring of 2007, where he worked in a cafe, before returning to Perugia. In September 2007 a bartender in Perugia alleged that Guede had broken into his home, entering through a window, and tried to rob him at knifepoint. On 13–14 October, he allegedly broke into a lawyer's office in Perugia, entering through a second-story window. On 27 October, days before Kercher's murder, he was arrested in Milan after breaking into a nursery school to sleep there; when police found him he was reportedly holding an 11-inch knife he had taken from the nursery's kitchen.

Arrest and extradition

Guede said he briefly met Kercher and Knox when he became friendly with the young men who lived in the downstairs flat at Via Della Pergola 7, where Kercher, Knox and the two Italian women shared the upstairs flat. According to Burleigh, the men were unable to recall how Guede had met them, but did recall how, after his first visit to their home, they had found him later in the bathroom, sitting asleep on the unflushed toilet, which was full of faeces. He would sometimes pretend to be an American by the name of Kevin Wade, or a South African known as Body Roga or "the Baron."

Guede left Perugia by train a few days after the murder, and fled to Germany. Interpol had traced a computer that he had used in Germany to access Facebook and reply to a message from a Daily Telegraph journalist. In his message, Guede had said that he was aware that he was a suspect and wanted to clear his name. On 20 November 2007, the Bundespolizei arrested him on a train near Mainz for travelling without a ticket. When questioned, he said he was returning to Italy to give himself up. He was extradited to Italy on 6 December 2007. During his trial, the court heard that his handprint was found on a pillow in Kercher's room, and his DNA on and inside her body, as well as on her sweatshirt and bra. Although the faeces Knox had found in the unflushed toilet the morning after the murder could not be identified, according to a report by Judge Giancarlo Massei, Guede's DNA was found on the toilet paper.

In interviews with the police, he acknowledged having been in the flat when she was killed and having had some form of sexual contact with her, which he said was consensual. He told police Kercher had invited him into her home, and that he had seen her body shortly after the attack, but had been too afraid to call for help. He insisted that another man had committed the murder while he was in the bathroom listening to his iPod. He offered differing versions of what happened next, including that he had caught sight of the man as the latter fled the flat, or that he had fought with him, and variously said he had not recognized him, or that the man had resembled Raffaele Sollecito.

Prosecution

Guede opted for a fast-track trial, and was found guilty in October 2008 of murder and sexual assault, and sentenced to 30 years' imprisonment. He appealed in November 2009, and had his conviction upheld on 22 December. His sentence was reduced to 24 years to match the sentences given to Knox and Sollecito, with a further one-third (eight-year) reduction—standard in the Italian appeal system—giving him a sentence of 16 years. He continued to protest his innocence. During the appeal, he alleged for the first time that Knox had been in the flat at the time of the murder, and that he had heard her arguing with Kercher, though he had previously said Knox had not been present.

Criminal and civil proceedings

Reports from forensic scientists

DNA matching Guede's was found both on and inside Kercher's body, and on her shirt, bra and handbag. A bloody handprint found on a pillow under Kercher's back was also matched to Guede. The prosecution argued that a severed piece of Kercher's bra, including its metal hooks, revealed traces of both her DNA and that of Sollecito.

Knox's lawyers argued that DNA evidence had been contaminated during the investigation at the crime scene, and when the investigators accidentally moved the evidence during the 47-day delay in retrieving the samples. A June 2011 report by court appointed forensic experts concluded that there was not enough DNA on the bra clasp to retest, that the collection of the bra clasp evidence did not conform to internationally accepted procedures, and the collection was "in a context that was highly suggestive of ambient contamination".

Luminol revealed footprints in the flat which the prosecution argued were compatible with the feet of Knox and Sollecito. A consultant for Knox's defence testified that work status reports showed, "in contradiction to what was presented in the technical report deposited by the Scientific Police, and also to what was said in Court, that not only was the Luminol test performed on these traces, but also the generic diagnosis for the presence of blood, using tetramethylbenzidine...and this test...gave a negative result on all the items of evidence from which it was possible to obtain a genetic profile." Nevertheless, the judge did not accept this view and concluded that the traces revealed with Luminol in Knox's bedroom, the corridor and Filomena's room had originated from Knox's bloody feet.

Knox's DNA was matched to the handle of a kitchen knife recovered from Sollecito's flat, where she said she had used the knife to cook. The prosecution said Kercher's DNA was on the blade. A June 2011 report by court-appointed forensic experts said this conclusion was "unreliable because not supported by scientifically valid analytical procedures".

Prosecution witnesses said the knife could have made one of the three wounds on Kercher's neck. Carlo Torre, a professor of criminal science based in Turin, hired by Knox, testified that all three wounds originated from a different knife that had a blade one quarter the size of that recovered from Sollecito's flat.

There was no forensic evidence indicating that Knox was in the bedroom in which Kercher was murdered. Knox's fingerprints were not found in Kercher's bedroom, nor in her own bedroom. Investigators argued that the break-in had been staged; they said the window seemed to have been broken after the room had been ransacked.

In 2009, a group of American forensic specialists wrote an open letter expressing concern that procedures used by most laboratories in the United States to ensure accurate results had not been followed in this case. They stated that a chemical test for blood had returned a negative result for the knife, that the amounts of other DNA were sufficient only for a low-level, partial DNA profile, and that it was unlikely that all traces of blood could have been removed from the knife while retaining the DNA that was discovered. In December 2010, the judge presiding over Knox and Sollecito's appeal ordered a re-examination of the DNA evidence pertaining to the knife and the bra clasp. The report concluded that the DNA evidence used to convict Knox and Sollecito did not adhere to international standards for the collection and analysis of the DNA, that the evidence was unreliable, and that the previous test results could have been the result of contamination. The report concludes that the police either mishandled evidence or failed to follow proper forensic procedure 54 times.

Autopsy of the victim demonstrated that no stomach contents had passed into the duodenum of the victim at the time of death, which Sollecito's attorneys used to argue in the appeal that the time of death could not have been past 10 pm, unlike the prosecutor's time of death of 11:30 pm from the first trial.

Prosecution and defence arguments

The theory prosecutors Giuliano Mignini and Manuela Comodi first put forward for the motive in the murder involved a Satanic ritual orgy, similar to the charges of belonging to a Satanic sect that Mignini had unsuccessfully leveled at 20 others in the Monster of Florence case. The prosecution also posited it may have been a "cult sacrifice". Mignini denied ever saying that Kercher was the victim of a "sacrificial rite". Later, the prosecution hypothesised that Kercher's murder involved a sex game gone wrong, or that the victim had refused to participate in an orgy, or that Knox was motivated by "jealousy". The prosecution also suggested that Guede went to the cottage to meet Knox, that Knox stole money from Kercher to pay Guede for drugs, and that Kercher walked in at the wrong time and was sexually assaulted and murdered. At trial, the prosecution stated that Knox was easily given to disliking people with whom she disagreed and the time had come to take revenge on Kercher. On another occasion the prosecution theorised that she fell victim to "a rage caused by smoking marijuana". The defence stated that the prosecution had further changed their theory of motive to an economic one. Rolling Stone, quoting a prosecutor as stating "e live in an age of violence with no motive," reported that the prosecutors could not prove either motive or intent.

In the Knox and Sollecito trial, the prosecution sought to prove that a break-in at the murder scene had been staged, arguing that nothing in the room with the broken glass was reported missing and that the perpetrator wanted to divert suspicions from "those who had the apartment keys". An officer testified that shards of glass from the broken window had been found on clothes strewn around the room, suggesting that the window had been broken after the room had been ransacked. A police official and defence witness testified that the break-in was not staged and that the window of Kercher's flat had been broken from the outside. As evidence, he presented a video to reconstruct how the stone was thrown.

Police evidence was presented showing that Knox and Sollecito did not have alibis for the time of the murder. Sollecito maintained that he was at his flat, using his computer. Police computer analysts testified that his computer had not been used between 9:10 on the evening of the murder and 5:32 the next morning. Knox has maintained that she was with Sollecito at the time, but during police questioning after 10 pm on Monday 5 November 2007, Sollecito said that he could not be certain she was with him when he was asleep. Their version of events was contradicted by a witness, who testified that he had seen Knox and Sollecito chatting animatedly on a basketball court around five times between 9.30 and midnight on the night of the murder. At the appeals trial, the witness, a homeless heroin addict who has appeared as a witness in a number of murder trials, offered contradicting testimony concerning the date he said he saw Knox and Sollecito and other crucial details about his testimony. A Perugia shopkeeper testified that Knox had gone to his supermarket at 7:45 on the morning after the murder, at a time when she was, according to her account, still at Sollecito's. The shopkeeper first informed police of his recollection months after the crime occurred at the prompting of a reporter who was his friend. A worker in the shop testified that she had not seen Knox.

Knox told the court that she had been with Sollecito in his flat on the night of the murder. The defence stated that, despite having put forward several different theories, the prosecution had produced no convincing evidence of a motive for murder. Knox testified that she regarded Kercher as her friend and had no reason to kill her.

The defence sought to show that Guede could have been a lone killer. A school director testified that Guede had been caught with a stolen 16-inch (410 mm) knife inside a closed Milan school on 27 October 2007, and was also in possession of a laptop PC and a mobile phone previously stolen from a Perugia solicitors' office, burgled with a rock breaking a window. Guede said that he had bought both the laptop and phone at a railway station in Milan. The school director testified that a small amount of money was also missing after she found Guede looking inside a cabinet in the school office.

Guede trial and appeals

Guede elected for a "fast-track" trial that began on 16 October 2008, presided over by Judge Paolo Micheli. By doing so, he exchanged the right to challenge the evidence in a full trial for a more lenient sentence, if found guilty. The trial was held in closed session, with no reporters present. On 28 October 2008, he was convicted of murder and sexual assault but acquitted of theft, and was sentenced to 30 years in prison. Guede's appeals, which concluded in December 2009 and 2010, upheld his conviction but reduced his sentence to 16 years.

Guede was tried for murder, sexual assault and the theft of 300 euros, two credit cards and two mobile phones that had been in Kercher's possession. In evidence he said that on the day of the murder he had visited the cottage for a date with Kercher, organised the previous night. At Guede's trial, witnesses said that they had been with Kercher the night before, and had not seen them talk. Guede said that he had arrived at the cottage at 8:38 p.m., and that Kercher had arrived and let him in at about 9 p.m. Kercher went to her bedroom, he said, and told him that a significant amount of money was missing from an open drawer.

Guede said that they kissed and touched each other, but did not have sex. He then developed stomach pains and crossed to the large bathroom on the other side of the apartment. Guede said he heard Kercher scream while he was in the bathroom, but had not heard the killer enter the flat because he was wearing iPod headphones. He said that, emerging from the bathroom, he had found a shadowy figure, holding a knife, standing over Kercher, who lay bleeding on the floor. Guede said that they had struggled. He was cut on the hand, and fell to the floor, but picked up a chair. Guede described the man as an Italian with light-brown hair, without glasses, and shorter than him. The man fled while saying in perfect Italian, "Trovato negro, trovato colpevole; andiamo" ("Found black, found guilty; let's go"). Guede's version of events did not account for Kercher's stolen mobile phones, which were found in a garden about ten minutes' walk from the house.

On 28 October 2008, Guede was found guilty of the murder and sexual assault of Kercher and sentenced to 30 years in prison. The court found that his version of events did not match some of the forensic evidence, remarking that he could not explain why one of his palm prints, stained with Kercher's blood, had been found on the pillow of the single bed, under the disrobed body, when he had stated that he had left her fully dressed.

Giving evidence at the first of his two appeal hearings, Guede said that, while he was in the bathroom, Knox had arrived at the apartment and that he heard her and Kercher argue about money that was missing from Kercher's bedroom. He said that, glancing out of a window, he had seen the silhouette of Knox leaving the house. This testimony did not match the statements he made before his arrest, in which he said that Knox was not at the flat at the time of the murder.

On 22 December 2009, the Corte d'Appello upheld Guede's convictions, but cut his sentence to 16 years. In March 2010, the court explained it had reduced Guede's sentence by 14 years because he was the only one of the three defendants to apologise to the Kercher family for his failure to come to her rescue. In May 2010, Guede filed his second and final appeal to the Court of Cassation. The hearing was held on 16 December 2010; the court upheld the verdict and sentence of 16 years.

Knox and Sollecito trial and appeals

On 30 November 2007, Knox and Sollecito were denied bail, a decision that was appealed all the way to the Court of Cassation. Their request for release was ultimately denied and they were to remain in custody throughout trial.

They were indicted in October 2008 by Judge Micheli and charged with murder, sexual assault, simulating a crime (burglary), carrying a knife and theft of 300 euros, two credit cards and two mobile phones. They opted for a full trial, which began on 16 January 2009 before Judge Giancarlo Massei, Deputy Judge Beatrice Cristiani and six lay judges at the Corte d'Assise of Perugia. They were convicted on 4 December 2009 and sentenced to 25 and 26 years respectively. Under Italian law two appeals are permitted to defendants, during which there is a presumption of innocence until a final verdict is entered. They filed their first appeal in April 2010, which began in November 2010 and concluded on 3 October 2011 with the overturning of the murder convictions.

Related proceedings

In Knox and Sollecito's first trial, the two were ordered to pay a sum of €1,000,000 to each of Kercher's parents and €800,000 to each of her three siblings.

Patrick Lumumba, the man originally accused of murdering Kercher, sued Knox for defamation and was awarded €40,000. The case was upheld by the appeals court and Knox was sentenced to three years imprisonment, and fined €22,000. He also pursued compensation from the Italian authorities for unjust imprisonment and the loss of his business and, in December 2009, a court awarded €8,000 in damages. In February 2010, Lumumba announced that he would be taking his claim for compensation from the Italian authorities to the European Court of Human Rights.

In March 2010, Knox won a civil case against Fiorenza Sarzanini, author of a book about the Kercher case, Amanda e gli altri (Amanda and the Others), and her publisher for violation of her privacy and illegal publication of Court documents. The book contained long excerpts from Knox's diary as well as from witness interviews that were not in the public domain, as well as intimate details professing to be about Knox's sex life. Knox was awarded €40,000 in damages.

Following an investigation into Knox's statements that she was mistreated by police during questioning about the murder, a case for criminal slander was opened against her on 1 June 2010. In November 2010, Knox was ordered to stand trial on the slander charge by a judge in Perugia.

In February 2011, Knox's parents, Curt Knox and Edda Mellas, were indicted on charges of criminal slander as a result of an interview published by the Sunday Times in 2009, in which they stated that their daughter "had not been given an interpreter, had not received food and water, and had been physically and verbally abused" by police officers after her arrest. Knox and Mellas had sought to have charges dismissed, on the grounds that there was no intent. On 4 July 2011, Judge Paolo Micheli resigned from the case, citing his involvement in the trial of Knox and Sollecito. The trial of Knox and Mellas was adjourned until 24 January 2012.

Reaction

Reaction of the Kercher family

Kercher's father said in December 2009 that he had no reason to doubt the Italian justice system, and in December 2010 criticized Knox's growing celebrity status, writing, "As far as we are concerned, she has been ­convicted of taking our precious Meredith’s life in the most hideous and bloody way." After the appeals court cleared Knox and Sollecito of murder in October 2011, the family said they accepted the court's decision. Her brother Lyle told reporters: "It feels very much like back to square one. The search goes on to find out what really happened," adding: "While we accept the decision that was handed down yesterday and respect the court and the Italian justice system, we do find that we are now left obviously looking at this again and thinking how a decision that was so certain two years ago has been so emphatically overturned now."

Media coverage

The murder and associated trials resulted in worldwide media coverage, especially in Italy, the United Kingdom and the United States. Several journalists argued that the pre-trial publicity and tabloid-style coverage tainted the public perception of Knox and may have prejudiced the trial. The professional and lay judges who decide the verdicts in Italian court cases are not sequestered, and are allowed to read news articles about the case.

The news coverage by Italian and British tabloid newspapers, in particular, was criticized as constituting character assassination and demonization, especially of Knox. For example, soon after she was sent to prison to await trial, prison officials falsely told her that she had tested positive for HIV, and pressed her to disclose her romantic history. She provided a list of the men she had had sex with, and which birth control method they had used. The list was leaked to Italian and British tabloids in June 2008, which published it, along with a note she wrote about how she did not want to die. Her creation of the list helped the prosecution to sexualize her, and to focus on a sexual motive for the murder. The sexual attention of the media helped to trigger harassment in prison; one guard started asking her whether she dreamed about sex, and whether she was good at it. He was eventually moved after a complaint from her family.

Several commentators criticized the Italian legal process, including Donald Trump, New York Times columnist Timothy Egan, and journalist Judy Bachrach. British writer and media lawyer Alex Wade wrote in The Times in December 2009: "If by some cruel miracle a British judge had found himself presiding over 12 good men and true ... it is inconceivable that he would not have made strong, telling directions to acquit".

Author Candace Dempsey, in her book Murder in Italy (2010), lists a number of examples of what she calls falsehoods and distortions in the press reports about the case. Knox's family engaged the services of David Marriott of Gogerty Stark Marriott, a Seattle-based public relations firm, to address what they felt was misinformation about Knox in the media. Fox News commentators Ann Coulter and Jeanine Pirro said the criticism of the media was misguided. Libby Purves, writing in The Times in December 2009, said "both evidence and reconstruction look pretty convincing" and described the American campaign for Knox as "almost libellously critical of the Italian court".

"Friends of Amanda"

Family, friends, and supporters of Knox disputed the initial guilty verdicts and maintained the innocence of both Knox and Sollecito. Members of Knox's family gave media interviews and appeared on several television talk shows, such as the Oprah Winfrey Show on 23 February 2010. Both sides of her family—including her mother and father's second spouses—incurred significant debts from legal fees and travel related to the trial.

In late 2008, a number of Seattle-area residents, including lawyer Anne Bremner and King County Superior Court judge Mike Heavey, founded the Friends of Amanda. Over the following year they would go on to hold fundraisers to pay for Knox' defense, lobby lawmakers, and conduct public relations activities. News reports credit them with success in turning media focus towards the conduct of the prosecution, especially that of Mignini. Heavey was later admonished by the Commission on Judicial Conduct for violating Washington state's Code of Judicial Conduct for his letters on official court stationary to members of the Italian judiciary on behalf of Knox; the letters were an attempt to use the prestige of his office to influence private interests in judicial proceedings.

Senator Maria Cantwell

On 4 December 2009, after the announcement of the verdicts on Knox and Sollecito, Maria Cantwell, United States Senator for Washington, stated that evidence against Knox was insufficient, that Knox had been subjected to "harsh treatment" following her arrest and that there had been "negligence" in the handling of evidence. After Knox's acquittal, she expressed her happiness that the appeals court gave Amanda a fair hearing.

Idaho Innocence Project

The Idaho Innocence Project, a non-profit legal organization dedicated to proving the innocence of wrongly convicted people through the use of DNA testing, worked on the Knox and Sollecito case. On 23 May 2011, Dr Gregory Hampikian, director of the project, announced that, based on its independent investigation and review, Knox and Sollecito were innocent of the crime. Hampikian, who volunteered to help Knox's defence, said that DNA samples taken at the crime scene all pointed to Guede, and excluded Knox and Sollecito.

Frank Sfarzo's blog

On 10 May 2011, "Perugia Shock," a blog about the case written by Italian blogger Frank Sfarzo, who was highly critical of prosecutor Mignini and Perugia law enforcement's conduct in the Kercher case, was shut down by court order. The order was granted by a Florence court to Mignini on the grounds of alleged calunnia (slander). The Committee for the Protection of Journalists wrote to the Italian government protesting the action. The blog's content was later restored on a new host.

Petition by Italian MPs to Justice Minister

On 26 May 2011, 11 members of the Italian parliament, led by Rocco Girlanda and all members of The People of Freedom Party founded by Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, issued a document as an act of parliament addressed to Justice Minister Angelino Alfano. The document criticized the evidence that resulted in the guilty verdict against Knox and Sollecito during their first trial, and the extended detention to which they were subject during the multiple levels of trial required before a final conviction. They asked Alfano to consider looking into the situation. Girlanda also addressed a letter to President Giorgio Napolitano, in his capacity as president of the Italy-USA Foundation, in which he stated, "These distortions, not without reason, are fuelling accusations against the administration of justice in our country."

Notes

1. Dempsey 2010, p. 70.
2. Squires, Nick. "Amanda Knox freed: tears of joy as four-year nightmare is over", The Daily Telegraph, 4 October 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."
   • Also see Egan, Timothy. "Lessons From the Amanda Knox Case", The New York Times, 3 October 2011.
   • Burleigh, Nina. "The scapegoating of Amanda Knox", Los Angeles Times, 4 October 2011.
   • Chivers, Tom. "Amanda Knox acquitted: the Devil was in the details", The Daily Telegraph, 4 October 2011.
   • Orr, Deborah. "Too many people were willing to believe lurid slurs about Amanda Knox", The Guardian, 5 October 2011.
3. Greenslade, Roy. "Murder most foul, but have Italian newspapers already convicted a suspect?", The Guardian, April 2008.
   • Egan, Timothy. "The Knox Trial, Continued", The New York Times, 12 June 2009.
4. "Profile: Meredith Kercher". BBC News. 4 December 2009.
5. Gemma Wheatley (14 December 2007). "Meredith laid to rest". Croydon Guardian.
6. Barry, Colleen. "Family of victim in Knox case remembers slain daughter", Associated Press, 30 September 2011.
7. Murphy, Dennis. "Deadly exchange", NBC News, 21 December 2007.
8. Wise, Ann. "'They Had No Reason Not to Get Along'", ABC News, 7 February 2009.
9. Dempsey 2010, p. 3.
10. Dempsey 2010, p. 41.
11. Burleigh 2011, pp. 141.
12. Dempsey 2010, pp. 48-49.
13. "Meredith Kercher murder: Judge's report", The Telegraph, 9 November 2007.
14. Kington, Tim. "Meredith Kercher murder: break-in and handprint clues at isolated cottage", The Guardian, 3 October 2011.
15. Dempsey 2010, p. 47.
16. ^ Dempsey 2010, pp. 57—61.
17. Massei 2010, pp. 26–27.
18. Dempsey 2010, pp. 61–62.
19. Dempsey 2010, pp. 62–65.
20. Dempsey 2010, p. 70.
    • Kington, Tim. "Meredith Kercher murder: break-in and handprint clues at isolated cottage", The Guardian, 3 October 2011.
21. Massei 2010, pp. 109–117.
22. Vogt, Andrea: "The debate continues over Knox's guilt," SeattlePI.com, December 14, 2009, accessed October 17, 2011.
23. ^ Pisani, Mario; et al.; Manuale di procedura penale. Bologna, Monduzzi Editore, 2006. ISBN 88-323-6109-4
24. ^ Povoledo, Elisabetta: "Amanda Knox Freed After Appeal in Italian Court", The New York Times, October 3, 2011. Accessed October 13, 2011.
25. Oloffson, Kirsti. "Amanda Knox, Convicted of Murder in Italy", Time magazine, 4 December 2009.
26. Burleigh, Nina. "The scapegoating of Amanda Knox", Los Angeles Times, 4 October 2011.
27. Dempsey 2010, pp. 172—173.
28. Leslie, Ian. "Amanda Knox: What's in a face?", The Guardian, 8 October 2011.
29. "48 Hours reveals Amanda Knox's untold story", CBS News, 8 October 2011.
30. Dempsey 2010, p. 138.
31. Dempsey 2010, pp. 139–140.
32. Dempsey 2010, p. 141–142.
33. ^ Dempsey 2010, p. 143.
34. Kington, Tom and Walker, Peter. "Amanda Knox tells court police hit her during interrogation", The Guardian, 12 June 2009.
35. ^ Dempsey 2010, p. 145.
36. ^ Dempsey 2010, pp. 146–147.
37. ^ Dempsey 2010, p. 148–149.
38. ^ Hooper, John. "Was there a plot to kill Meredith?", The Guardian, 5 February 2009.
39. Squires, Nick. "Amanda Knox 'hit in the head' during Meredith Kercher murder interrogation", The Daily Telegraph, 28 February 2009.
40. ^ Owen, Richard. "Amanda Knox slander trial delayed over ‘biased’ judge", The Times, 2 June 2010.
41. Dempsey 2010, pp. 149–150.
42. Burleigh 2011.
43. ^ Moore, Malcolm. "Transcript of Amanda Knox's note", The Daily Telegraph, 22 November 2007.
44. Grinberg, Emanuella. "Crime author, Knox prosecutor butted heads", CNN, 1 July 2011, p. 4.
45. Natanson, Phoebe. "Knox Appears Scared, Called 'Liar' With 'Diabolic' Soul", ABC News, 26 September 2011, p. 1.
46. Donadio, Rachel. "Details Only Add to Puzzle in Umbrian Murder Case", The New York Times, 29 September 2008.
47. ^ Grinberg, Emanuella. "Crime author, Knox prosecutor butted heads", CNN, 1 July 2011, pp. 2–3.
48. ^ Massei 2010, p. 43.
49. Follain, John. "Amanda Knox ‘stabbed Meredith Kercher to death in satanic ritual", The Sunday Times, 19 October 2008.
    • Grinberg, Emanuella. "Crime author, Knox prosecutor butted heads", CNN, 1 July 2011.
    • Kington, Tom. "Knox accused of stabbing Meredith", The Guardian, 19 October 2008.
50. Owen, Richard. "Meredith suspect 'is ready to tell the truth'", The Times, 17 December 2007.
    • For drug-fuelled rage, see Dempsey 2010, p. 278.
51. ^ Falconi, Marta. "Prosecutors: Knox staged break-in after murder", Associated Press, November 20, 2009.
52. ^ Povoledo, Elisabetta (29 June 2011). "Italian Experts Question Evidence in Knox Case".
53. Hooper, John. "Flatmate's evidence at Meredith trial casts doubt on break-in story", The Observer, 8 February 2009.
54. "Amanda Knox guilty of Meredith Kercher murder", BBC News, 5 December 2009.
55. The Guardian, Sunday 24 July 2011, Amanda Knox DNA appeal sparks legal battle by forensic experts
56. Monday, 25 July 2011, DNA experts highlight problems with Amanda Knox case
57. The Independent, Monday, 25 July 2011, DNA experts highlight problems with Amanda Knox case
58. Polvoledo, Elisabetta."Amanda Knox Freed After Appeal in Italian Court", The New York Times, 3 October 2011.
59. "Sollecito aiuta il pm al pc per la proiezioni delle immagini". Perugianews.it. Retrieved 25 April 2010.
60. "Sollecito accuses Italian police of violence". The Independent.
61. "Rudy, il barone con la passione del basket" (in Italian). Quotidiano.net. 20 November 2007.
62. ^ Burleigh 2011, pp. 90–91.
63. Burleigh 2011, pp. 92–93.
64. ^ Burleigh 2011, pp. 95–96.
65. Owen, Richard. "Rudy Guede: engaging drifter who boasted ‘I will drink your blood’", The Times, 28 October 2008.
66. Burleigh 2011, p. 97.
67. Dempsey, pp. 299, 327.
68. Squires, Nick. "Meredith Kercher murder: Rudy Guede profile", The Daily Telegraph, 29 October 2008.
69. Burleigh 2011, pp. 84–85.
70. Dempsey 2010, p. 219.
71. Moore, Malcolm (20 November 2007). "Fourth Meredith suspect arrested in Germany". The Daily Telegraph.
72. Owen, Richard (20 November 2007). "Fourth Meredith suspect arrested in Germany". The Times.
73. Pisa, Nick (6 December 2007). "Meredith Kercher suspect extradited to Italy". The Telegraph.
74. Burleigh 2011, pp. xxvi–xxvii.
75. Kington, Tom. "Court cuts Rudy Guede's sentence for Meredith Kercher murder", The Guardian, 22 December 2009.
76. ^ Squires, Nick. "Amanda Knox trial: Rudy Guede profile", The Daily Telegraph, 5 December 2009.
77. Massei 2010, p. 235.
78. ^ Kington, Tom (18 December 2010). "Amanda Knox case: DNA evidence to be reviewed following appeal". The Guardian.
79. ^ Rizzo, Alessandra (30 June 2011). "Amanda Knox DNA evidence contested by experts, crucial victory for defense". Christian Science Monitor. Rome. Retrieved 30 June 2011.
80. Massei 2010, p. 382.
81. Follain, John (11 January 2009). "Amanda Knox fights to prove innocence in the open". The Times.
82. "Meredith Kercher killer's apology won sentence cut". The Independent. 23 March 2010.
83. "The Italian Job", Newsweek, 7 October 2009.
    • Nathaniel, Rich. [http://www.rollingstone.com/culture/news/the-neverending-nightmare-of-amanda-knox-20110627?page=5 The Neverending Nightmare of Amanda Knox, 27 June 2011.
84. Vogt, Andrea (6 June 2009). "Injuries on Kercher's body 'consistent with attack by more than one person': Wounds were from two different knives, Perugia courtroom is told". The Independent. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1= (help)
85. Battiste, Nikki (9 July 2009). "Amanda Knox Spends 22nd Birthday in Italian Prison". ABC News.
86. "Knox murder trial evidence 'flawed', say DNA experts". New Scientist. New Scientist.
87. Glynn, Casey (25 July 2011). "Forensic experts in Amanda Knox appeal reject key DNA evidence". CBS. Perugia. Retrieved 25 July 2011.
88. "Meredith: Legale Sollecito, ora morte scagiona Raffaele," September 27, 2011, accessed October 17, 2011.
89. Rich, Nathaniel (27 June 2011). "The Neverending Nightmare of Amanda Knox". Rolling Stone.
90. Follain, John (19 October 2008). "Amanda Knox 'stabbed Meredith Kercher to death in satanic ritual'". Sunday Times.
91. "Monster of Florence: Amanda Knox Prosecutor's Satanic Theories Rejected by Judge". CBSe. 23 April 2010. {{cite news}}: |first= missing |last= (help)
92. Bachrach, Judy (27 April 2010). "Murder, Mayhem and Amanda Knox". Obit-Mag.
93. ^ Shay, Steve (5 April 2010). "Amanda Knox's persona explored in new & upgraded websites". West Seattle Herald. Retrieved 13 July 2011.
94. Byron, Linda (15 August 2009). "Investigators: Knox prosecutor has controversial history". KING-TV. Retrieved 10 July 2011.
95. Grinberg, Emanuella. "", CNN, 1 July 2011, p. 6.
96. Kington, Tom (19 October 2008). "Knox accused of stabbing Meredith". The Guardian. London.
97. Owen, Richard (17 December 2007). "Meredith suspect 'is ready to tell the truth'". The Times. Rome.
98. Taylor, Sophie (23 November 2009). "Verdict in sight in Meredith Kercher murder case". The First Post. Retrieved 10 July 2011.
99. ^ "Amanda Knox 'had no motive for Kercher murder'". BBC News. 2 December 2009.
100. Rich, Nathaniel (27 June 2011). "The Neverending Nightmare of Amanda Knox". Rolling Stone.
101. Squires, Nick (6 February 2009). "Meredith Kercher's killers 'staged cover-up burglary', court hears". The Daily Telegraph.
102. ^ "Knox Trial: Window Broken from Outside". CNN. 4 July 2009. Retrieved 11 March 2010.
103. ^ Squires, Nick (14 March 2009). "Amanda Knox trial: police cast doubt on computer alibi". Daily Telegraph. London. Retrieved 11 March 2010.
104. Rich, Nathaniel (27 June 2011). "The Neverending Nightmare of Amanda Knox". Roling Stone.
105. Pisa, Nick (28 March 2009). "Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito 'seen chatting' on night Meredith Kercher murdered". Daily Telegraph. London. Retrieved 11 March 2010.
106. "Testimony a game-changer in Amanda Knox's favor?". CBSNews. 28 March 2011. Retrieved 1 April 2011.
107. "Prosecution witness gives conflicting statements in Amanda Knox Appeals Trial in Italy". Washington Post. 26 March 2011. Retrieved 1 April 2011.
108. "Amanda Knox Trial: Witness Gives Conflicting Testimony". Huffington Post. 26 March 2011. Retrieved 21 August 2011.
109. "Shopkeeper Says He Saw Knox After Murder: On Stand in Italy, Store Owner Recalls Murder Suspect's 'Remarkable Blue Eyes'". ABC News. 21 March 2009. Retrieved 25 May 2010.
110. "Fact and Fiction in Amanda Knox Movie". ABC News. Rome. 22 February 2011. Retrieved 2 May 2011.
111. Dempsey 2010, p. 286.
112. Follain (14 June 2009). "Amanda Knox tells of Meredith Kercher's 'yucky' death first=John". The Times. {{cite news}}: Missing pipe in: |title= (help)
113. ^ "School Owner Testifies in Knox Trial That Convicted Killer Stole Knife". ABC news. 27 June 2009. Retrieved 11 March 2010.
114. "Knox Trial Witness Points Finger at Guede". ABC news. 26 June 2009. Retrieved 11 March 2010.
115. Israely, Jeff (29 October 2008). "Expat Knox to Stand Trial in Italy Murder – TIME". Time.
116. "Profile: Kercher killer Rudy Guede". BBC News. 5 December 2009.
117. ^ Owen, Richard (29 October 2008). "Rudy Guede guilty of Meredith Kercher murder, Amanda Knox faces trial". The Times.
118. Vogt, Andrea (14 February 2009). "Knox's roommate, neighbors take the stand". Seattle Post-Intelligencer.
119. Nadeau, Barbie (22 January 2011). "Evidence retested in case of American convicted of murder in Italy". CNN.
120. ^ Moore, Malcolm. "Meredith whispered killer's name, suspect says", The Daily Telegraph, 24 November 2007.
121. ^ Judgment, Trial of Rudy Hermann Guede, Dr Paolo Micheli, Court of Perugia, judgement of 28 October 2008–26 January 2009, accessed 19 October 2011 (Google translation, Italian to English).
122. Owen, Richard (26 November 2007). "Two more sought over 'sex and drugs' party on night Meredith Kercher died". The Times.
123. "Rudy: "Meredith l'ha uccisa Raffaele" (Italian), LASTAMPA.it, 27 March 2008.
124. 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): "Ribadiva poi di aver toccato più o meno dappertutto nella stanza, anche con le mani sporche di sangue, senza tuttavia spiegare come mai una sua impronta si trovasse proprio sul cuscino sotto il cadavere, quando egli ricordava il cuscino regolarmente sopra il letto, dove si trovavano anche la giacca e la borsa che la ragazza aveva posato rientrando in casa. Il letto era, secondo la sua descrizione, coperto con un piumone rosso o beige (ma insisteva molto di più sul primo colore): il cuscino era fuori dalla trapunta." (English): 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 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 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 R.H., native of the Ivory Coast, ..."
125. Dempsey 2010, p. 175.
126. Did Guede's Outburst Hurt Amanda Knox's Case?, CBS News, 18 November 2009.
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128. "Meredith Kercher killer's apology won sentence cut". The Independent. 23 March 2010.
129. "Caso Meredith, la Cassazione conferma: "16 anni per Guede"" (in Italian). Libero-News.it. 16 December 2010.
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131. Popham, Peter (25 October 2008). "Knox dreams of building new life in China". The Independent.
132. Massei, G. "Sentenza, Knox Amanda Marie, Solliceto Raffaele" (Italian), 4 March 2010, p. 1.
133. van Kalmthout, A.M. "Chapter 15 – Italy". In M.M. Knapen, C. Morgenstern (ed.). Pre-trial Detention in the European Union (PDF). Wolf Legal Publishers. ISBN 9789058505248.
134. Vogt, Andrea (14 December 2009). "The debate continues over Knox's guilt". seattlepi.com.
135. Graham, Bob (17 April 2010). "Amanda Knox's lawyers file appeal in Perugia". The Daily Telegraph.
136. Squires, Nick (24 November 2010). "Amanda Knox appeal could last a year". The Daily Telegraph.
137. ^ "Amanda Knox guilty of Meredith Kercher murder". BBC News. London: BBC. 5 December 2009. Retrieved 18 May 2010.
138. "TEXT: Summary of Amanda Knox, Raffaele Sollecito Verdict". Foxnewsinsider.com. 23 November 2009. Retrieved 6 October 2011.
139. "Damages For Barman Framed By Amanda Knox". Sky News. 16 March 2009. Retrieved 18 June 2010.
140. "Amanda Knox Victim Fights for Cash". Daily Express. London. 7 February 2010.
141. "Amanda Knox: Italian Civil Court Awards Knox $55,000 in Damages For Violation of Privacy – ABC News". Abcnews.go.com. 22 March 2010. Retrieved 24 June 2010.
142. "Amanda Knox: Italian Civil Court Awards Knox $55,000 in Damages For Violation of Privacy – ABC News". Abcnews.go.com. 22 December 2009. Retrieved 24 June 2010.
143. KOMO-TV staff (30 May 2010). "Did Amanda Knox slander police? Second trial set to start Tuesday". Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Seattle. Retrieved 9 September 2010.
144. "Amanda Knox indicted on slander charges – Yahoo! News". News.yahoo.com. Retrieved 16 December 2010.
145. ^ Messia, Hada (4 July 2011). "Amanda Knox Parents' Libel Judge Resigns". CNN. Retrieved 5 July 2011.
146. "Genitori Amanda Knox a giudizio per diffamazione polizia". ANSA. 15 February 2011. Retrieved 16 February 2011.
147. "Amanda Knox's parents indicted, accused of libeling Italian police". CNN. 16 February 2011. Retrieved 16 February 2011.
148. Ryan Parry (8 December 2009). "Anti-American bias accusations branded "ludicrous" by Meredith Kercher's father". Daily Mirror.
     • John Kercher (2 December 2010). "It's utterly despicable that the girl jailed for killing my daughter has become a celebrity". Daily Mail.
149. "Kercher family still seeking answers after acquittals". BBC News. 4 October 2011.
     • "Meredith Kercher family press conference". The Guardian. 4 October 2011. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1= (help)
150. Owen, Richard (13 January 2009). "Amanda Knox tries to ban 'prurient' book on her love life". The Times.
151. Simon Hattenstone (27 June 2009). "Simon Hattenstone talks exclusively to Amanda Knox's mother, Edda Mellas | World news". The Guardian.
152. Sharples, Tiffany. "How Strong Is the Evidence Against Amanda Knox?", Time magazine, 14 June 2009
153. Battiste, Nikki, and Meyerson, Jon. "Juror in Amanda Knox Case Says Verdict Was 'Agonizing Decision'", ABC News, 7 December 2009
154. Sherwell, Philip and Harrison, David. "Amanda Knox: 'Foxy Knoxy' was an innocent abroad, say US supporters", The Sunday Telegraph, 5 December 2009.
155. Dempsey 2010, p. 229.
     • "Amanda Knox Slips Out of Seclusion for Brief Shopping Trip". Good Morning America. 10 October 2011.
156. Burleigh 2011, pp. 284–285.
157. "Trump: Amanda Knox prosecutor 'a nut job'". KOMO News. 2 March 2010.
     • Egan, Timothy (10 June 2009). "An Innocent Abroad - Opinionator Blog". Opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com.
     • "CNN.com – Transcripts". CNN. Retrieved 20 June 2010.
158. Wade, Alex. "Should Knox's trial have even reached the courtroom?", The Times', 8 December 2009.
159. "'No smoking gun' evidence in Kercher case". BBC News. 5 December 2009.
160. For Coulter, Fox News, United States, 10 December 2009, 7.20 am CT
     • For Pirro, Fox News, United States, 9 December 2009, 9.24 am CT
161. Libby Purves (7 December 09). "Fantasy world fuelled by sex, drink and drugs". The Times. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
162. Shay, Steve (6 July 2011). "Amanda Knox benefit 8 July to feature three bands". West Seattle Herald.
163. Dietrich, Heidi (5 December 2008). "Questions for Anne Bremner, trial lawyer, Stafford Frey Cooper". Puget Sound Business Journal. Retrieved 1 October 2011.
164. Sherwell, Philip; Harrison, David (5 December 2009). "Amanda Knox: 'Foxy Knoxy' was an innocent abroad, say US supporters". The Daily Telegraph.
     • "Lawyer: Alleged killer Knox 'naive, imprudent'". MSNBC. 30 November 2009.
165. "King County Judge charged over Knox letters". Seattle Post-Intelligencer. 7 June 2010.
     • Commission on Judicial Conduct (2008), No. 5975-F-145 Stipulation, agreement and order of admonishment (PDF), retrieved 5 October 2011
     • Steve Shay (24 September 2010). "West Seattle Herald".
166. "Press Release of Senator Cantwell". Retrieved 22 December 2009.
167. Cantwell, Maria (3 October 2011). "Cantwell Statement Regarding Amanda Knox Appeal Verdict".
168. Sewell, Cynthia. "Boise expert: DNA shows Amanda Knox isn’t guilty", Idaho Statesman, 27 May 2011.
169. Shay, Steve (2011). "Google shuts down site run by Italian blogger critical of Amanda Knox prosecutor Mignini". westseattleherald.com.
170. Committee to Protect Journalists. "Italian prosecutor files defamation lawsuit, shutters blog". cpj.org. Retrieved 14 May 2011.
171. Elizabeth Flock (16 May 2011). "Amanda Knox trial blogger silenced by Google". The Washington Post.
172. "Interrogazione parlamentare al ministro Angelino Alfano", Cronaca, 26 May 2011, accessed 17 July 2011.
     • "'Processo giusto per Amanda Knox' L'apello di Italia-Usa al president Napolitano", Cronaca, 26 May 2011, accessed 17 July 2011.
173. "MPs: Amanda Knox Treated Unfairly", Belfast Telegraph, 26 May 2011.

References

Books

• Burleigh, Nina. The Fatal Gift of Beauty: The Trials of Amanda Knox. Broadway, 2011.
• Dempsey, Candace. Murder in Italy. Berkley Books, 2010.

Judicial reports

• Micheli, Paolo. Judgment, Trial of Rudy Hermann Guede, Court of Perugia, judgment of 28 October 2008–26 January 2009 (Google translation, Italian to English).
• Massei, Giancarlo. "Sentence of the Court of Assizes of Perugia in the Murder of Meredith Kercher", 4 March 2010 (English translation, courtesy link; also available here).

Further reading and external links

[REDACTED] Media related to Murder of Meredith Kercher at Wikimedia Commons

• Murder of Meredith Kercher collected news and commentary at The Guardian
• Photograph of the cottage, BBC News.
• Bachrach, Judy. "Perugia's Prime Suspect",Vanity Fair, 12 May 2008.

Books

• Burleigh, Nina (2 August 2011). The Fatal Gift of Beauty: The Trials of Amanda Knox. Broadway Books. ISBN 9780307588586. OCLC 699763845.
• Dempsey, Candace (27 April 2010). Murder in Italy: the Shocking Slaying of a British Student, the Accused American Girl, and an International Scandal. Berkley Books. ISBN 9780425230831.
• Girlanda, Rocco (19 October 2010). Io vengo con te. Colloqui in carcere con Amanda Knox (in Italian). Edizioni Piemme. ISBN 9788856615623. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |trans_title= ignored (|trans-title= suggested) (help)
• King, Gary C. (4 January 2010). The Murder of Meredith Kercher. John Blake Publishing. ISBN 978-1844549023.
• Latza Nadeau, Barbie (15 May 2010). Angel Face: the True Story of Student Killer Amanda Knox. Beast Books. ISBN 9780984295135.
• Russell, Paul (7 January 2010). Darkness Descending – the Murder of Meredith Kercher. Pocket Books. ISBN 9781847398628. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
• Sarzanini, Fiorenza (26 November 2008). Amanda e gli altri. Vite perdute intorno al delitto di Perugia (in Italian). Bompiani. ISBN 9788845262180.

Audiobooks

• Pezzan, Jacopo (4 March 2011). Amanda Knox e il delitto di Perugia: misteri italiani (in Italian). La Case. ASIN B004QXZYYE. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
• Pezzan, Jacopo (1 March 2011). Amanda Knox and the Perugia Murder: Italian Crimes. La Case. ASIN B004QXYED6. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)English translation

Television

• American Girl, Italian Nightmare: CBS 48 Hours documentary, broadcast in April 2009 in the United States
• Beyond the Headlines: Amanda Knox: Lifetime documentary, broadcast on 21 February 2011 in the United States
• A Long Way From Home: CBS 48 Hours documentary, broadcast in April 2008 in the United States
• Murder Abroad: The Amanda Knox Story: CNN CNN Presents documentary, broadcast on 8 May 2011 in the United States
• Sex, Lies and the Murder of Meredith Kercher: Channel 4 Cutting Edge documentary, broadcast on 17 April 2008 in the United Kingdom
• The Trial of Amanda Knox: NBC Dateline NBC documentary, broadcast on 4 December 2009 in the United States
• The Trial of Amanda Knox: Investigation Discovery Cold Blood documentary, broadcast on 20 April 2011 in the United States
• The Trials of Amanda Knox: The Learning Channel documentary, broadcast on 24 March 2010 in the United States
• Amanda Knox: Murder on Trial in Italy, Lifetime (fiction)

• Use dmy dates from October 2011
• 1985 births
• 2007 deaths
• 2007 crimes
• 2007 in Italy
• British people murdered abroad
• Deaths by person
• Deaths by stabbing
• English people of Indian descent
• Murder in 2007
• Murder in Italy
• Murder trials
• People educated at the Old Palace School
• People murdered in Italy
• Overturned convictions in Italy