Amanda Knox GUILTY in Italy 2009 - Appealed/OVERTURNED 2011

[trimmonthelake]

                Meredith Kercher

[MuffyBee]

http://abcnews.go.com/International/amanda-knox-back-prison-cell-await-mondays-verdict/story?id=14636298
Amanda Knox Goes Back to Cell to Await Monday's Verdict
October 1, 2011

The Italian appeals court hearing Amanda Knox's appeal of her murder conviction was adjourned today, sending the American student back to her jail cell for the weekend to await a verdict Monday that could either set her free -- or keep her in prison for life.
 ::snipping2::
Court will resume Monday when a lawyer for Knox will make the last rebuttal argument followed by personal statements from Knox and her ex-boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito. A verdict is expected to be delivered several hours later.

The six person jury and the two judges who will decide the fate of Knox and Sollecito heard a series of impassioned arguments from prosecutors and lawyers today urging them to find the truth. They disagreed sharply on what the truth is, however.
 ::snipping2::
The prosecution charge that Knox and Sollecito killed Kercher in a cottage that Knox and Kercher shared in Perugia, Italy. They were convicted of the crime in 2009 and Knox was sentenced to 26 years while Sollecito was given 25 years. Prosecutors not only want to keep them in prison but to increase their sentences to life.
 ::snipping2::
The six jurors and two judges will make a decision by majority vote. If they are evenly split, Knox will be acquitted.

[MuffyBee]

http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/kercher-family-remembers-beloved-daughter-14648285
Italian Defendant Eclipsed in Kercher Murder Trial
October 2, 2011

Prosecutors have portrayed Raffele Sollecito as a "dog on a leash," helplessly under the sway of Amanda Knox, his girlfriend of only six days when they became the main suspects in the 2007 murder of her British roommate.

Sollecito and Knox were convicted together in 2009; he received 25 years to her 26. And they are co-defendants again as they seek to overturn the guilty verdicts in an appeals trial. A decision is expected Monday.

Despite their intertwined legal fates, the 27-year-old Sollecito has become the forgotten defendant in the 4-year-old saga.

Even in Sollecito's native Italy, it is Knox who commands the most media attention. Two prominent celebrity and gossip magazines, "Oggi" and "Gente," put Knox on their covers during the final week of arguments in the appeals trial, and newspapers characterize him as being in the background.

Not even prosecutors have portrayed Sollecito as the main protagonist in the murder of Meredith Kercher on Nov. 1, 2007. According to their version, Sollecito held Kercher from behind while Knox stabbed her and another man tried to sexually assault her. Ivorian immigrant Rudy Guede was convicted in a fast-track trial and saw his sentence cut from 30 years to 16 years on appeal.
It's a role that his defense lawyer plays up. Sollecito is the son of a wealthy doctor from southern Italy who hired a crack legal team to defend his son. It's led by Giulia Bongiorno, who successfully defended former Italian Premier Giulio Andreotti on charges of mafia association.

"It's not by chance that Raffaele arrived in this trial as the boyfriend. Nothing connects Raffaele to the crime," Bongiorno said in her closing arguments last week. "With a girlfriend, you usually get a family. Raffaele got a murder."

She said the few pieces of evidence in the "Amanda-centric" trial relate to Knox, not to Sollecito.

"Nothing connects him to the crime," Bongiorno said.
 ::snipping2::
Sollecito was the pampered son of a well-off father. He had his own apartment in the university town where the norm was squalid shares. He drove an expensive car and had a maid.

Prosecutors have presented a darker side to the coddled image. His cash flow enabled him to indulge in drugs. He had a collection of sexually violent Japanese manga cartoons. Media also turned up a photo of him from a social networking site dressed as a mummy and brandishing a meat cleaver — a pose which friends immediately dismissed as a prank.

Sollecito also collected penknives, and carried one with him when he was first questioned by police in Kercher's death.

His double-edged penknives have never been connected with the murder, although prosecutors allege a single-edged 31-centimeter (12.5-centimeter) knife found in his kitchen drawer some 20 minutes by foot from the scene of the crime was the murder weapon. His DNA was not found on the kitchen knife, but prosecutors have based their case largely around the finding that Knox's was found on the handle and Kercher's on the blade.

The most incriminating evidence against Sollecito is his DNA on the clasp of Kercher's bra, which had been detached from the garment and recovered from the scene several weeks after the murder.

An independent expert review allowed in the appeals trial concluded that the results on both the blade and bra clasp may have been contaminated. Such a review was not permitted in the earlier trial — and has raised defense hopes of acquittals on appeal.
Meredith Kercher

The review concurred that the genetic profile on the knife's black plastic handle could be attributed to Knox. Her defense has pointed out that she had prepared food at Sollecito's apartment.
 ::snipping2::

[MuffyBee]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/italy/8802471/Amanda-Knox-Who-is-Raffaele-Sollecito.html
Amanda Knox: Who is Raffaele Sollecito?
Raffaele Sollecito, the son of a wealthy doctor from southern Italy, had known Amanda Knox for less than two weeks when Meredith Kercher was found murdered.
October 2, 2011

Appeal: Raffaele Sollecito stands with Amanda Knox on November 2, 2007, outside the Perugia house where Meredith Kercher was found murdered Photo: Stefano Medici/AP

[trimmonthelake]

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2011/10/03/amanda-knoxs-appeals-verdict-expected-in-italy/
Knox Delivers Plea for Release to Italian Court
Published October 03, 2011
| Associated Press

PERUGIA, Italy –  Amanda Knox tearfully told an Italian appeals court Monday she did not kill her British roommate, pleading for the court to free her so she can return to the United States after four years behind bars. The court began deliberations moments later.

Knox frequently paused for breath and fought back tears as she spoke in Italian to the eight members of the jury in a packed courtroom, but managed to maintain her composure during the 10-minute address.

"I've lost a friend in the worst, most brutal, most inexplicable way possible," she said of the 2007 murder of Meredith Kercher, a 21-year-old Briton who shared an apartment with Knox when they were both students in Perugia. "I'm paying with my life for things that I didn't do."

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/world/2011/10/03/amanda-knoxs-appeals-verdict-expected-in-italy/#ixzz1ZiYwwWsC

[trimmonthelake]

http://www.breakingnews.com/item/ahBicmVha2luZ25ld3Mtd3d3cg0LEgRTZWVkGOj-5gQM/2011/10/03/watch-amanda-knox-appeal-live-cnn
    3:45am Oct 3, 2011
    Update

Italian court says it will not issue verdict in Amanda Knox, Raffaelle Solecito case before 1800 GMT

    spotted by editor
    More

    3:44am Oct 3, 2011
    Update

Italian court retires after hearing Amanda Knox, Raffaelle Solecito plead for their freedom

    spotted by editor
    More

    3:41am Oct 3, 2011

Amanda Knox in Italian court: 'I want to go home, I want to go back to my life ... I am innocent, Raffaelle is innocent'

    spotted by editor
    More

    3:39am Oct 3, 2011
    Update

Amanda Knox: 'I have never done what they say I did'

    spotted by editor
    More

    3:34am Oct 3, 2011
    Update

Amanda Knox in Italian court: 'I am paying with my life for something I haven't done'

[trimmonthelake]

http://www.cnn.com/2011/10/03/world/europe/italy-knox-appeal/?hpt=wo_c1
By Richard Allen Greene, CNN
updated 9:05 AM EST, Mon October 3, 2011
 ::snipping2::
Knox and co-defendant Raffaele Sollecito are fighting to be acquitted of the murder of British exchange student Meredith Kercher. Prosecutors have called for the pair's sentences -- of 26 and 25 years, respectively -- to be increased to life.

Before Knox spoke, Sollecito made a dramatic appeal to the court to free them, removing a white plastic bracelet from his wrist and fingering it nervously as his closing statement came to an end.

"It says 'Free Amanda and Raffaele,'" he told the court. "I have never taken it off. I think the time has come to take it off."

His voice fading almost to inaudibility, he concluded, "I hope this is part of history and that Amanda and I have a future."

"I have never hurt anybody," he said.

Knox did not look at Sollecito as he addressed the court, though he detailed for the judges and jurors the night of Kercher's murder. The couple have maintained they were together at Sollecito's residence the night Kercher was killed.

He described the night as a happy, almost idyllic one for him: "I was about to hand in my thesis. I had just met Amanda, a beautiful, sunny girl."
 ::snipping2::

[trimmonthelake]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/italy/8803239/Amanda-Knox-verdict-live-updates.html
Amanda Knox verdict: live updates
All the latest developments on the day Amanda Knox finds out if her appeal against her conviction for murdering Meredith Kercher is successful.
By Andrew Hough, Nick Squires in Perugia and Nick Allen in Seattle
4:30PM BST 03 Oct 2011
Latest

16.30 For those wondering why the Kercher family could talk publicly about the case, Nick Squires, in Perugia, says it is allowed under the Italian legal system

The jury - made up of six lay jurors guided by two judges - are now behind closed doors, deliberating on the verdict, so there is no chance that the Kercher family's views can influence their decision.

16.25 Amanda Knox appeal: Meredith Kercher's sister says it's hard to forgive murderer of 'forgotten' sister

Meredith Kercher's sister, Stephanie, said it would be "very difficult" to forgive anyone for the British student's murder today as she awaited the outcome of an appeal hearing.

16.10 Video: Stephanie Kercher said her sister had been "hugely forgotten" in coverage of the appeal launched by American student Amanda Knox and her Italian ex-boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito
Video at link.

[trimmonthelake]

http://www.clickorlando.com/news/29373294/detail.html
Amanda Knox: Guilty or innocent, five reasons why
Complex and conflicting evidence was presented at Amanda Knox’s year-long trial in 2009 and at her appeal over the last 10 months.
By Nick Squires, Perugia

12:27AM BST 03 Oct 2011

[KittyMom]

So, does anyone think there will actually be a verdict today?

[Aurelia7]

There should be.  But no sooner than 2pm eastern/5pm pacific.

I watched both Sollectio and Knox make their appeals last night.  I believed what he had to say and found him sincere.  As for her, I'm not so sure.  Between her changing testimony and her mannerisms, there's just something about her that makes me think she knows a lot more than she admits.  It's so hard to tell who's telling the truth here.  As for the verdict I'm betting that they'll get reduced sentences because there's not enough strong evidence to find them either guilty or not guilty.

http://www.clickorlando.com/news/29373294/detail.html
Amanda Knox: Guilty or innocent, five reasons why
Complex and conflicting evidence was presented at Amanda Knox’s year-long trial in 2009 and at her appeal over the last 10 months.
By Nick Squires, Perugia

12:27AM BST 03 Oct 2011

Thanks, trimm, for posting all these articles.  But the one I've quoted here, the link leads to a Casey Anthony article.  Ick.   

[trimmonthelake]

There should be.  But no sooner than 2pm eastern/5pm pacific.

I watched both Sollectio and Knox make their appeals last night.  I believed what he had to say and found him sincere.  As for her, I'm not so sure.  Between her changing testimony and her mannerisms, there's just something about her that makes me think she knows a lot more than she admits.  It's so hard to tell who's telling the truth here.  As for the verdict I'm betting that they'll get reduced sentences because there's not enough strong evidence to find them either guilty or not guilty.

http://www.clickorlando.com/news/29373294/detail.html
Amanda Knox: Guilty or innocent, five reasons why
Complex and conflicting evidence was presented at Amanda Knox’s year-long trial in 2009 and at her appeal over the last 10 months.
By Nick Squires, Perugia

12:27AM BST 03 Oct 2011

Thanks, trimm, for posting all these articles.  But the one I've quoted here, the link leads to a Casey Anthony article.  Ick.   

I just saw that.   
I had too many windows open.

[trimmonthelake]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/italy/8803077/Amanda-Knox-Guilty-or-innocent-five-reasons-why.html
Amanda Knox: Guilty or innocent, five reasons why
Complex and conflicting evidence was presented at Amanda Knox’s year-long trial in 2009 and at her appeal over the last 10 months.
By Nick Squires, Perugia

12:27AM BST 03 Oct 2011

self edit to fix link.

[Aurelia7]

Thanks, man!  Can't wait to read it...

[trimmonthelake]

FOX reporting that Amanda is headed back to court.Verdict should be read sometime in the next 1 1/2 hours. 

[trimmonthelake]

FOX News   http://www.rentadrone.org/2011/07/07/live-news-stream-chat-rentadrone-the-live-news-drone/

[Aurelia7]

I don't think anyone knows exactly when the verdicts will be read. 

According to this article it will be at 8pm Italian time which would be 1pm pacific/3(4?) eastern.  (I'm really bad at math.)

Live updates HERE

[trimmonthelake]

http://twitter.com/#!/@vinniepolitan
VinniePolitan Vinnie Politan
Amanda Knox verdict 3:30 LIVE on HLN!!!!! #HLN #amandaknox yfrog.com/j2gsabgj Edit-fixed link.  MB
14 minutes ago

[Aurelia7]

Excellent MUST READ article:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/italy/8803077/Amanda-Knox-Guilty-or-innocent-five-reasons-why.html
Amanda Knox: Guilty or innocent, five reasons why
Complex and conflicting evidence was presented at Amanda Knox’s year-long trial in 2009 and at her appeal over the last 10 months.
By Nick Squires, Perugia

12:27AM BST 03 Oct 2011

self edit to fix link.

What a great article. 

5 reasons why she is guilty + 5 reasons why she is not = 10 reasons why most people can't make up their minds.   

[Tamikosmom]

FOX reporting that Amanda is headed back to court.Verdict should be read sometime in the next 1 1/2 hours. 

Thanks for the updates trimmonthelake

I heard that too on KING News Seattle - 12:30 PM PT - 3:30 PM ET

I could believe it!  My hubby who only watches the 10:00 PM news prior to bedtime is currently is currently working outside on our property ... fall cleanup.  He requested that I give him a yell when the jury has reached a verdict.

I hope I don't miss it!  I have the TV blaring so that I can hear it throughout the house while I clean for a Canadian Thankgiving gathering this weekend.

 

Janet