http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/1209/21/ijvm.01.htmlJANE VELEZ-MITCHELL
Producer Accused of Murder Speaks Out from Prison
Aired September 21, 2012 - 19:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let`s get to Jane right now.
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Then never-before-revealed secrets in the Amanda Knox murder case. You`ll learn why the American beauty dubbed Foxy Knoxy did cartwheels after her roommate was murdered. And why Amanda showered in the crime scene.
Now freed from an Italian jail, Amanda and her ex-boyfriend reunite. Is love still in the air? I`ll talk to Amanda`s ex tonight.
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On the other side we`re talking to Amanda Knox`s boyfriend, ex- boyfriend, who wrote this extraordinary book. Stay right there.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A media frenzy. Life with tails of cover-ups and sex games turned deadly. All centered around the beautiful young student dubbed Foxy Knoxy by the tabloids.
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VELEZ-MITCHELL: Tonight, the whirlwind romance that turned into a bizarre murder-mystery that riveted the whole world. We`re talking about Amanda Knox, dubbed Foxy Knoxy by the European media. The beautiful American was studying in Italy, and her then-Italian boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, their nine-day fling turned into a four-year prison sentence.
Tonight Raffaele Sollecito is here. Just a few days into their relationship Amanda`s British roommate, Meredith Kercher, was found dead in her bedroom, stabbed 40 times, her throat slashed. Immediately, police began to get suspicious of Amanda Knox and her boyfriend, Raffaele.
Five days after Meredith`s murder, Amanda Knox and Raffaele were arrested for murder. And this would kick off a legal firestorm of epic proportions that engulfed the world. How could this beautiful American student commit such a gruesome crime?
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AMANDA KNOX, CHARGED WITH ROOMMATE`S MURDER (through translator): I am not what they say I am. Voracity, violence. I respect life and people. And I haven`t done the things that they are suggesting that I`ve done.
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VELEZ-MITCHELL: Now, almost a year later, Amanda`s former boyfriend is speaking out about his relationship with Amanda Knox, his time in prison, how the couple was railroaded by Italian police. Raffaele Sollecito`s new book is "Honor Bound: My Journey to Hell and Back with Amanda Knox".
Raffaele, I hope I`m pronouncing your name right. Thank you so much for joining us. I was up all night until 2:00 in the morning reading your book. I couldn`t put it down. It`s fantastic. Do you still love her?
RAFFAELE SOLLECITO, AMANDA KNOX`S FORMER BOYFRIEND: No. Now I`m single. I`m moving on with my life. She`s completely different than my life -- I used -- as it was first. My life -- my previous life is gone completely. Now I`m moving on.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Ok. Now I want to move onto another question.
SOLLECITO: Yes.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: I want to move on to the famous or infamous kiss at the crime scene. A lot of people say you brought suspicion on yourself because you and Amanda started kissing each other even though Amanda`s roommate had just been discovered murdered.
But you were telling in the book that you were trying to comfort her but that the media misrepresented it as sexual urges of two stone-cold killers. If you could go back and do it all over again, would you not kiss Amanda?
SOLLECITO: I just wanted to comfort her. So a kiss or a caress, whatever was just to say "I`m here for you. I want to comfort you," because I was the only one who she could trust at that moment because her family was really on the other side of the world at the time.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: I want to say I think you`re a gentleman. I know that everyone wanted you to cut Amanda loose. You were her only alibi. And you stuck with her, gallant and loyal, even though you could have saved your own skin and said, she did it and I didn`t. And you didn`t do that. And for that I`m very proud of you.
Your book is extraordinary. I couldn`t put it down. Everybody should read it. And I think you are adorable. And good luck with your life. Thank you, Raffaele.
SOLLECITO: Thank you so much.
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IULIANO MIGNINI, PUBLIC PROSECUTOR (through translator): It is an appealable conviction and we will see all of this on appeal. But convictions must be respected by all.
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VELEZ-MITCHELL: That`s the controversial prosecutor. Ok.
Amanda Knox is free and her ex-boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, has written this extraordinary book about the inside story. Let`s show you the man who is serving time for the murder of Amanda`s roommate, Meredith Kercher. And that man`s name is Rudi Guede and he was convicted on DNA evidence including a bloody hand print on a pillow at the scene.
But here`s the problem, Joey Jackson. And that is that Amanda behaved in a very strange way at the police station. She actually started doing cartwheels and splits.
Now, in his incredible book he explains that, hey, she was feeling really stiff and achy because she was tired and she was being interrogated. And he suggested, well, why don`t you stretch, you`ll feel better. So a cop saw her and said, oh, you`re so flexible. And then she decided to show off with a cartwheel and some splits.
Is this a cautionary tale how not to bring suspicion on yourself with your own behavior?
JOEY JACKSON, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: You know what, Jane, it really is. I just met Raffaele. I share with you I think he`s very brave. I admire his resolve. But the problem that I have at this point is, remember that there`s a prosecution -- a prosecutor`s appeal pending. And of course, the high court is going to be evaluating that in March.
And as a result of that it may not be such a great idea at this point, you know, to be writing things about what happened and what your thoughts are about Amanda and her strange behavior. So let`s just hope that the judges have other things on their mind other than reading the book because it could shed some problems on it here.
But ultimately I think they got the right. I mean this was a travesty of course as we know from the beginning. And you can imagine, Jane, think about it and put yourself in that position where you`re told that you are going to spend 25 years in jail, if you`re him, Raffaele, or 26 if you`re her, and four years later what do you get? Vindication. It`s amazing.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Wendy Murphy, you`re disagreeing with this.
WENDY MURPHY, FORMER PROSECUTOR: Oh, my goodness. First of all, I think this was an intentionally-timed campaign. And, you know, Knoxy got a book coming out in a couple weeks, all designed in my opinion to influence the public, keep the pressure on the Italian court to sustain the acquittal.
I think that`s outrageous primarily because victims can`t do that. Meredith Kercher doesn`t have a book coming out. Her family can`t write a book. Because if they did and they told the whole truth, Knox and Sollecito would be able to say it interfered with our fair trial rights to put all that poisonous information in the public realm. That I find disgusting and distasteful and wrong. And I`m offended.
But let me just say this. Sollecito --
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Wait a second. Are you suggesting that they might actually be guilty? Because I don`t think so -- I read this book and it explains everything.
MURPHY: No. Jane, not only am I suggesting they might be guilty, there`s a ton of evidence that they are guilty. Let me just say three quick things.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: What?
MURPHY: First of all, Amanda Knox -- Amanda Knox, you played a clip of her saying, "I respect life. I care about people." She falsely accused an innocent black man of the crime and let him rot in prison for four days. A lot of respect she had for him. She knew he was innocent. She was so selfish, so evil that she would let an innocent black man sit in prison. She knew he had nothing to do with it. She did nothing because she doesn`t really care about people that much.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: And we`re not talking about the man that was convicted. We`re talking about someone else.
MURPHY: Right. A different guy -- a totally different guy. And shame on her. And that`s the kind of person who could kill -- somebody with no feelings.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: That doesn`t mean she killed though because --
MURPHY: I`m just saying let`s not romanticize. This is not Romeo and Juliet. They had what -- five days together. That`s a booty call. Let`s not turn this into a love affair.
And by the way, her DNA was mixed with Meredith Kercher, the victim`s DNA in spots all over that apartment. That is not innocent evidence.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Wait a second, they were roommates. They were roommates.
MURPHY: For two weeks. They hadn`t bled. Nobody had bled --
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VELEZ-MITCHELL: He says in this book she goes back to the house after spending the night with him and goes in the, the door`s open and she proceeds to take a shower and there was blood on the tub.
MURPHY: That`s a lie. She lied. No Jane. And she first said --
VELEZ-MITCHELL: I don`t know that.
MURPHY: -- but look, the first night she said -- first time she spoke she said I have an alibi. I was at Sollecito`s apartment. The second time she gave a story she said, ok, I was there. I heard Meredith screaming. I was scared, but I was there. But I didn`t do it. But I heard everybody killing her. Third time, oh, no, I was at the apartment.
She`s a liar. She is guilty in my opinion. And I hope the Italian court treats this case fairly for the victim.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: I have to say this, Wendy, I respectfully disagree with you 100 percent. That young man I met on the elevator actually and we just interviewed struck me as a wonderful young man who has been trapped in a hellish experience. And again, I think you should read his book.
Now this prosecutor who prosecuted them, Giuliani Mignini -- I think I`m mispronouncing his name probably, Mignini. He is a mess. He has had so many problems. Here he is talking with CNN`s Drew Griffin. Listen to this.
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DREW GRIFFIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Prior to the forensic investigation, prior to everything really, your intuition or your detective knowledge led you to Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito?
MIGNINI: After the first few weeks we were convinced because of the behavior of the two people and especially Amanda that they were both involved in the crime.
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VELEZ-MITCHELL: Joey Jackson, this guy has gotten in trouble before. I mean, he just whipped up this satanic sex orgy it would seem out of thin air. Raffaele describes how they go to his house and they pick up a knife and say, oh, this looks good -- basically like this looks good as a murder weapon. I mean, this was a railroad job if this book is true.
JACKSON: No. You know what, Jane, you`re absolutely right. And you know, what we expect of prosecutors is to behave responsibly. And we know that convictions are part of the mix, but ultimately -- and I know you`ll agree with this, Jane -- we want justice, right?
And of course victims deserve justice. But that justice has to come at the expense of holding the right people accountable and not saying things as a prosecutor that are irresponsible that are going to incite people just for the benefit of getting a conviction.
And so ultimately I think, you know, the appellate court will rule on it. It will have some finality in March it will be over and done with. But I think they got it right after those long, four, torturous years in that prison. Amen.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: All right. Well, we`re all disagreeing. I`m going to give Levi Page, crime blogger, the final word.
LEVI PAGE, CRIME BLOGGER: Well, you know what Jane, I think what`s very telling in this case is that the police had thought that the crime scene was staged because the room was ransacked. The victim, Meredith Kercher`s room was ransacked, objects everywhere.
And the glass that was broken, the glass fell on top of those objects, which means the room was ransacked before the window was broken. Who could have staged the crime scene other than Amanda and her boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito?
I agree with Wendy Murphy. I think there`s a lot of evidence against them.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: I am shocked. I am shocked. And I got to tell you, you decide for yourself. Read this book. I couldn`t put it down. If I`ve got circles under my eyes, you know why. I was reading it until all hours of the night. And that`s all I can say.
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