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Can someone explain the Knox/Kercher story in a nutshell (if possible)

11 replies

Hotmad · 01/02/2014 21:06

Thank you

OP posts:
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AuntieStella · 01/02/2014 21:12

Meredith Kercher is dead.

She was stabbed. As her family says - the journey to the truth about her death is continuing.

Knox has been found guilty (twice) of her murder (together with her then boyfriend, and another man). Some people think the Italian system is so corrupt that those verdicts cannot be sound. There is scope for one more appeal, and Knox's team has said that will happen.

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Idreamofsunshine · 01/02/2014 21:13

Story? It's not a bloody story, a woman was murdered for God's sake.

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lljkk · 01/02/2014 21:16

I thought Kercher wasn't just stabbed, she had her throat cut.

Wasn't there DNA evidence from the convicted ppl found on Kercher's body in places which suggested rather intimate contact, as well as other evidence of sexual activity?

I wouldn't mind a slightly longer summary of the prosecution case & defence case.

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QueenThora · 01/02/2014 21:21

It has all been really confusing and unlike reporting of UK court cases, we don't seem to have been given the details in a clear way (maybe I'm wrong and they are out there somewhere).

For example one thing I heard discussed a lot at the time was about one of the accused's DNA on a kitchen knife. But it would be, wouldn't it? I'm sure my DNA is on utensils in my own home.

It's frustrating because I haven't heard any evidence I can make sense of. When UK trials are reported we're used to hearing it all set out and explained, and if someone is convicted we know why.

Because of this I think it can't be explained in a nutshell. It all seems so vague.

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clarabellabunting · 01/02/2014 23:16

The DNA was on a kitchen knife in Sollecito's flat. You would not expect to find Kercher's DNA there.

If you're interested to understand the reasoning behind the latest verdict, there will be a judge's report released 90 days later which will go into all the details. The judge's reports from the last trials are available to read in translation if you want to read them.

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Mellowandfruitful · 01/02/2014 23:20

Meredith Kercher was murdered while on a student exchange in Italy. She was sharing a house with 3 other girls at the time, 1 of whom was Amanda Knox. Knox and her then boyfriend Raffaelle Sollecito are considered to have behaved oddly at the time, were tried for the murder and sentenced, but then freed on appeal, after which Knox went back to the US. Meanwhile another person, Rudy Guede (sp?) was convicted of the murder, struck a plea bargain and is serving a sentence. Now there has been what seems to be an appeal against the appeal (NO clue how the Italian justice system works) which is suggesting that Knox and Sollecito were involved along with Guede.

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pinkteddy · 01/02/2014 23:22

If you listen again to Jeremy Vine's Friday show, it was discussed in quite a lot of detail. Probably not as much as you'd like but would be a start. Can't remember exactly where it was in the show so you may have to fiddle about a bit.

Jeremy Vine Show

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QueenThora · 02/02/2014 07:59

Thanks clarabella, I will if I have time.

But I would expect to find her DNA on a knife in her boyfriend's flat, or at least not find it odd, if she had been there. It's hardy damning.

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LoopyDoopyDoo · 02/02/2014 08:07

No

Victim's DNA and accused's DNA on knife in accused's boyfriend's flat is suspicious.

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VivaLeBeaver · 02/02/2014 08:10

Remember that knife has not been proved to be the murder weapon.

Copied from bbc;

Greg Hampikian, from Boise State University in Idaho, US, is one of them. The forensic expert is critical of the way DNA evidence was handled.

"I could see the problem with the case right away," says Dr Hampikian, who adds that he became interested in the case early on.

Continue reading the main story
Kercher murder: Timeline


1 November 2007: Ms Kercher is killed at her apartment in Perugia. Police find her a day later.
6 November 2007: Kercher's American housemate Amanda Knox is arrested, along with Sollecito and Congolese national Patrick Diya Lumumba.
20 November 2007: Rudy Guede detained in Germany and extradited to Italy. Mr Lumumba released without charge
28 October 2008: Rudy Guede is sentenced to 16 years. A judge rules Sollecito and Knox will face a murder trial
4 December 2009: Ms Knox and Mr Sollecito found guilty of murder and sexual violence, and jailed for 26 and 25 years
3 October 2011: Amanda Knox and Raffaelle Sollecito are acquitted
26 March 2013: Re-run of appeals ordered. Acquittals overturned
Profile: Amanda Knox
Profile: Raffaele Sollecito
A knife recovered from Sollecito's house was found to have Ms Knox's DNA on the handle and a small amount of DNA on the blade "consistent with the victim".

Dr Hampikian, who founded the Idaho Innocence Project at Boise State University, an organisation that investigates claims of wrongful conviction, says: "That is significant because Miss Kercher had never gone to that house, so what is she doing on the blade of the knife?

"While that may seem on its face to be evidence of a crime, in order to substantiate such a small amount of DNA you look for blood, and I can't emphasise enough how small this was - it was just a few cells."

But there was no evidence of blood or any other body fluids found, the Boise State researcher points out.

"You can't really wash the blood off and leave the DNA in any practical sense. That means that the few cells or molecules might have been from the laboratory after they amplified Miss Kercher's DNA," he explains.


This concern was not his alone. There have been claims that the initial evidence was handled using dirty gloves and that investigators entered the crime scene without protective clothing.

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QueenThora · 02/02/2014 08:14

But subsequently (or so I have seen widely reported) they decided it didn't have the victim's DNA on it, nor did it have the convicted murderer's (Guede's) DNA on it.

This is what I mean by confusing. It keeps changing and all seems tenuous. (That is not to say I have an opinion on who is/isn't guilty, I don't know and am not defending Knox.)

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