Italian jury finds Amanda Knox guilty of murdering British roommate
Perugia, Italy (CNN) — An Italian jury has found American student Amanda Knox and her Italian boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito guilty in the stabbing death of British exchange student Meredith Kercher.
Knox was sentenced to 26 years in prison and Sollecito was sentenced to 25 years. Both were found guilty on all 11 counts they were charged with.
Sollecito’s stepmother cried out his name twice as Sollecito and Knox were led from court after the verdict. Knox began to sob as the verdict was announced.
Both Knox and Sollecito will appeal the verdicts, attorneys said.
Knox and Sollecito were charged with murder and sexual violence in the November 2007 stabbing death of Meredith Kercher. Knox and Kercher, both studying abroad, were roommates. A third suspect was found guilty in a separate trial.
Watch live coverage of the verdict from Perugia, Italy, on CNN TV and CNN.com.
Prosecutors argued Seattle, Washington native Amanda Knox was a resentful American so angry with her British roommate that she exacted revenge during a twisted sex misadventure at their home two years ago.
They said Knox directed Sollecito and another man infatuated with her, Rudy Guede, to hold Kercher down as Knox played with a knife before slashing Kercher’s throat.
Defense lawyers argued that Guede, who was convicted in a separate fast-track trial and is currently appealing his conviction, was the sole killer. On Thursday, Knox took the stand for a third time in the Perugia courtroom, telling jurors that she is not a “killer” who stabbed her former roommate.
“They say that I am calm. I am not calm,” Knox said in Italian. “I fear to lose myself, to have the mask of the killer forced upon me. I fear to be defined as someone I am not.”
Prosecutors touted an airtight case.
They argued DNA on Kercher’s bra clasp belonged to Sollecito. And the alleged murder weapon, a 6 ½-inch kitchen knife taken from Sollecito’s home, had the DNA of Knox on the handle and Kercher on the blade, prosecutors said.
During the trial, the defense cast doubt on the knife evidence, arguing it doesn’t match the wounds on Kercher’s body.
And they said the bra clasp with Sollecito’s DNA on it was left at the crime scene for weeks and is so contaminated that the evidence can’t be considered credible.
See the evidence against Knox and Sollecito
Knox’s family has argued she has been the victim of character assassination.
Members of Kercher’s family have declined repeated CNN requests for comment.
Prosecutor Giuliano Mignini accused the defense of “lynching” the Italian police who worked on the case.
Knox and Sollecito have been jailed for more than two years. The trial began in January in Perugia, a university town about 115 miles (185 kilometers) north of Rome. SOURCE: CNN NEWS DECEMBER 4, 2009
DATELINE WILL COVER AMANDA KNOX TONIGHT AT 9 EST.
:poke:
MY MY!! If she did kill this woman.26 /25 yrs isnt much for such a brutal crime.
I am 45 minutes from Seattle..and I believe she did it….and for those that did not know, Raffaele’s sister is a Police Office in the town of Perugia…this guilty verdict must be very hard for her. Meredith deserved JUSTICE!
New Casey thread.
The Italians, do not believe in the death penalty…wow..Amanda’s family must have some money…it is pricey there, compared to here.
IMO, their system is no more evil than ours…if OJ can walk, then how do we say anything about the system of another country? Italians are loving and giving folk..they love Americans..If our President can get on national television and state ” I did not have sex with that woman”. Then who are we to say that they did not do a good job? You can read more about this and all the data at : truecrime.com or Justiceformeredith.com
I just love me an Italian man :grin:
I read a lot I didn’t know before today. I think she guilty!!
Im sure they viewed all the evidence,an a jury voted.They young girl died a awful death.
The young woman was sexualy assualted,an her throat slit,in a struggle- 21yr old Meredith Kercher
Folimena Romanellis room,window was smashed from the out side-Knoxs room was nexed-then Merediths (murder victum) bathroom,across from Merediths room,DNA was found in toilet. 2 men charged lived in different flats seperate. Nov 1 2007 murder victum visited a friends house ate,an watched DVDs- Mrs KERCHER left with a friend, Who said she called,an recieved calls,before returning home to flat shared with Knox–The 3 accused arrived at the flat- The couple went to Kechers room,while Gaude wentto rest room–scoffel broke out between Knox,Kecher ,an Sollecito,Gaude then entered the room,fighting over sex game.–Knox slambed Kechers head against the wall,an tried to strangle her–Sollecito held her,while Gaude sexually assualted her.–Knox stabbed Kecher in the neck– The three ran–then–Knox,an Sollecito returned to clean up–Stage a fake robbery,an threw Kechers Cell P in a near by garden–A duvet was place over Kechers body–Phone was found next morning by a woman-she called LE–They traced phone,to Kechers flat–LE found Knox,Sollecito an frinds gathering out side apt,an LE knocke door down,an found Kecher dead. Defence said knife was to large to make wounds- Bloodied foot print,defence says was the wrong size for Sollecito. Bra could have been inadvertly conaminated,it lay on floor for weeks-
Dateline and 2020 last night covered the story. There’s NO evidence to tie Knox to the murder. The appeal will take years, but hopefully truth will finally prevail.
Thanks dancehappy.
Just found this comment by Elizabeth Reed
I am a criminal defense attorney and not only am I horrified that anyone could be charged with so little evidence, but to be prosecuted by a prosecutor who is under indictment himself and gets advice from a rich widow who claims to receive messages from a dead priest is beyond comprehension. Everyone in the US should be down on their knees thanking God that our system wouldn’t allow for such a thing, no matter how imperfect ours may be.
Smoking pot does not make one a murderer. Amanda was interrogated for more than 10 hours in a language she had been studying for about a month. I can’t imagine the terror she must have endured. This is a travesty.
watch the entire Dateline show here
it was excellent
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032600/
I cannot believe she was found guilty! She is an American in a foreign country! Convicted of a crime she did not convict! I hope that Hillary Clinton can help her come home! She is innocent!
This makes me sick. If you have been following the case as I have for the past two years you would know this girl is innocent. I just hate this so much for her and her family. I think Meredith’s family got justice when they put the first suspect in prision. I really feel like he was the sole killer.
This girl and her boyfriend are innocent!
Question for UGH
Can you explain the cleanup using bleach, when and what happened?
Everyone in the US should be down on their knees thanking God that our system wouldn’t allow for such a thing, no matter how imperfect ours may be.
~~~
chokes on this statement..do YOU know how many innocent people are in jail in our country (USA) railroaded, and other bad evidence…what about the one dude who served like 20 years before they found out he was innocent…”?
http://www.talkleft.com/story/2005/03/07/522/71873
With the exception of executing the innocent, it doesn’t get any worse than this.
It took Williams’ jury only an hour to decide that he beat and sexually assaulted his math tutor. That was in 1981, and Williams was just 16. Williams was the victim of his tutor’s mistaken identification.
Williams becomes the 159th convicted defendant whose innocence has been established by DNA. Williams’ lawyers and the district attorney in Jonesboro are (in the DA’s words) “in the process of reaching a mutually agreeable method for securing his release from incarceration . . . on March 11.”
The math tutor, like other crime victims who can’t conceive of their own fallability, insists that she couldn’t have been mistaken, but the DNA proves that she was. Williams was lucky that the tutor’s clothing hadn’t been discarded from the court files, making it unavailable for testing. Williams was also fortunate that the Innocence Project exists, and that it did its usual outstanding work. And Williams got one more break: his trial lawyer, who always believed in his innocence, is now a prosecutor in the district attorney’s office, making it difficult for the DA to pretend that no mistake was made.
Williams’ good luck, of course, is balanced against the bad luck that has deprived him of freedom for his entire adult life. And the bad luck continues, in this respect:
all judicial systems are a joke, really. they don’t deter crime. they allow real losers to go, and innocents to sit in jail..do not sit in the hypocrite chair on this matter..our judicial system ain’t no better than any other countries.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,291452,00.html
Faulty Forensic ‘Experts’ Sending the Innocent to Jail
What a heinous crime that was committed again Ms. Kercher. I don’t know if Amanda is guilty of murder but she didn’t do herself any favors by being inconsistent in her account of what she knew. It also doesn’t help that her parents have squawked about Amanda’s dwindling finances. My advice would be to get rid of that expensive PR firm who’s sole purpose is to create and perpetuate the image of Amanda Knox as a victim. Choices=Consequences. I would rather spend my energy advocating for the real victims of society.
I too believe Amanda Knox is guilty!! She is a cronic lier. No sex games?? What was the herpy virus all over your lip for? Dancing and doing cartwheels outside of Meredith’s apt. after the murder??? As far as Hillary helping her?? I think NOT.. Worry about the problems we have here in the U.S. Hillary, not some sex driven, drug taken, spoiled rotten, narsistic american. The Italians are not anti-american..
Crime Scene Photos
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-508528/Chilling-pictures-Meredith-murder-scene-reveal-apartment-bloodbath-horror.html
A Norwich band have provided the soundtrack to a feature length documentary focusing on one of the biggest trials of 2009 - that of American student Amanda Knox.
http://www.eveningnews24.co.uk/content/GoingOut/story.aspx?brand=ENOnline&category=GoingOutFilm&tBrand=ENOnline&tCategory=GoingOutFilm&itemid=NOED04%20Jan%202010%2016%3A13%3A32%3A367
Seattle Prep to hold fund-raiser, letter-writing campaign for Amanda Knox
Last updated January 3, 2010 8:12 p.m. PT
http://www.seattlepi.com/local/413745_knox04.html
Amanda Knox Case or Not, Seattle Should Have a ‘Perugia Park’
http://blogs.seattleweekly.com/dailyweekly/2010/01/amanda_knox_case_shouldnt_dete.php
Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito repeatedly told the police a pack of lies in the days after Meredith’s murder. On 5 November 2007, Knox and Sollecito were confronted with proof that they had lied and were given another opportunity to tell the truth. However, they both chose to tell the police even more lies. Sollecito’s new alibi was shattered by computer forensic evidence and his mobile phone records. Knox accused an innocent man, Diya Lumumba, of murdering Meredith despite knowing full well that he was completely innocent. She didn’t recant her false and malicious allegation against Lumumba the whole time he was in prison. Knox’s account of what happened on 2 November 2007 is contradicted by her mobile phone records. Rudy Guede’s bloody footprints lead straight out of Meredith’s room and out of the house. He didn’t lock Meredith’s door, remove his trainers, go into Filomena’s room or the bathroom that Meredith and Knox shared. Rudy Guede didn’t scale the vertical wall outside Filomena’s room or gain access through the window. The break-in was clearly staged. This indicates that somebody who lived at the cottage was trying to deflect attention away from themselves and give the impression that a stranger had broken in and killed Meredith. Guede had no reason to stage the break-in and there was no physical evidence that he went into Filomena’s room. The scientific police found a mixture of Amanda Knox’s DNA and Meredith’s blood on the floor. There was no physical evidence that Rudy Guede went into the blood-spattered bathroom. However, the scientific police found proof that Knox and Sollecito tracked Meredith’s blood into this bathroom. Amanda Knox’s DNA was found mingled with Meredith’s blood in three different places in the bathroom: on the ledge of the basin, on the bidet, and on a box of Q Tips cotton swabs. Sollecito left a visible bloody footprint on the blue bathmat. Amanda Knox left a bloody shoeprint on the pillow under Meredith’s body. Knox’s and Sollecito’s bare bloody footprints were revealed by luminol in the hallway. Knox’s DNA and Meredith’s DNA was found mixed together in one of the bloody footprints. An abundant amount of Raffaele Sollecito’s DNA was found on Meredith’s bra clasp. Sollecito must have applied considerable pressure to the clasp in order to have left so much DNA. The hooks on the clasp were damaged which confirms that Sollecito had gripped them tightly. Amanda Knox’s DNA was found on the handle of the double DNA knife and Meredith’s DNA was found lodged in a tiny groove on the blade. Sollecito knew that Meredith’s DNA was on the blade which is why he twice lied about accidentally pricking her hand whilst cooking. The defence experts were unable to prove that there had been any contamination. Alberto Intini, head of the Italian police forensic science unit, pointed out that unless contamination has been proved, it does not exist. Amanda Knox voluntarily admitted that she involved in Meredith’s murder in her handwritten note to the police on 6 November 2007. She stated on at least four separate occasions that she was at the cottage when Meredith was killed. She also claimed that Sollecito was at the cottage.