Amanda Knox is appealing her conviction based on DNA evidence.

The 24-year old who was convicted in 2009 of murdering her roommate, Meredith Kercher, has called in forensic experts.

According to those experts, the DNA sample found on the knife and alleged to belong to Cox was too small to sample.

DNA played a significant role in her conviction in an Italian court.

The DNA on the victim’s bra is also being called into question as experts contend that the clasp was left at the crime scene for six weeks and police eventually collected the bra using dirty gloves.

According to the new forensic report, there were at least 54 instances where Italian police mishandled evidence or proper procedure was not followed. However, when questioned, the forensic expert Vecchiotti acknowledged to the prosecution that DNA belonging to Kercher could have been on the blade of the knife.

Amanda Knox Defense Challenges DNA

The homeless man, Antonio Curatolo, who testified in an earlier trial and who lives in Perugia close to where Meredith was murdered, convinced the jury that he was telling the truth. On Saturday; however, he was confused and had dates mixed up. He stated that Amanda and her boyfriend were talking to each other intensely. He also said that he could remember that same night young people were in masks, while coming and going in buses to and from nightclubs. Lawyers for Amanda Knox immediately stated that this fact contradicted Curatolo’s previous testimony. Kercher was murdered on November 1, the day after Halloween. It was Halloween night that young people from the city of Perugia were celebrating Halloween. Clubs were not open on November 1.

Updated forensic reports on previous DNA tests regarding the alleged murder weapon will be presented when the court reconvenes on May 21.

The American student was back in an Italian court yesterday to face slander charges due to her allegations that police officers beat her while she was questioned over the murder of her British roommate, Meredith Kercher. Police have denied charges of abuse and have filed suit based on slander. This is the first time Knox, 22, has been in court since she was convicted of the 2007 murder of her roommate.

The questioning did not last long as her defense lawyers objected to the judge presiding over the case. Attorneys for Knox said that Claudia Matteini, the judge chosen to hear the case, was the pre-trial judge who stated that Knox and Raffaele Sollecito should be sent to trial for the murder of Kercher. They stated that this points to the fact that the judge is prejudiced. The case has been adjourned until October.

Knox appeared wearing white pants and a yellow short sleeved shirt. She also had noticeably shorter hair.

Knox attended the University of Washington and was studying abroad when the murder took place. She is originally from Seattle. She was found guilty of the murder of Kercher and was sentenced to 26 years in prison.

Amanda Knox is Back in Court To Respond To Slander Charges

Knox who is just 22 years old was accused of murdering her roommate in a violent act of rage. Knox has repeatedly denied being at the apartment when the murder happened. The judge in the case does not believe the murder was premeditated but was the result of a violent, sexual and erotic act being played out by Knox and her boyfriend at the time, Raffaele Sollecito. Sollecito was convicted in the murder as well, and sentenced to 25 years in prison.

A third person Rudy Hermann Guede, was also convicted in the murder in a separate trial. He was originally sentenced to 30 years but after the appeal process his time was cut down to just 14 years.

Lawyers are confident the appeal will be heard after reviewing the motivating evidence for the conviction. Knox’s lawyers hope to file the appeal by the end of this month.

Knox, 22, Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito, 25, were convicted of committing sexual assault and killing of British student Meredith Kercher in the university town of Perugia.

The indictment describes how they have dealt the fatal blow in the night of 1 November 2, 2007 while a third defendant restrained the arms of the victim because of his refusal to engage in sexual games after an evening watered.

The murder weapon, a knife was found in Sollecito’s apartment, an engineering student. It bore traces of Knox’s DNA.

Rudy Guede, an Ivorian of 22 years, had decided to opt for an accelerated procedure and was sentenced to 30 years in prison.

Despite the obvious disappointment of being convicted of murder Knox told Walter Verini, a Parliamentarian representing the region of Umbria where she is jailed, that her trial was “correct” and that she still has faith in Italian courts.

The trial of Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito lasted nearly a year.

Amanda Knox Thinks Murder Trial Was Correct

Prosecutors presented DNA and other forensic evidence against the defendents. They said that Knox and Sollecito were under the influence of alcohol and high on drugs when they started arguing. Then Knox joined the two men and brutally attacked and sexually assaulted Meredith Kercher.

Besides the murder charges, the jury also found Knox and Sollecito guilty of having a concealed weapon which was a knife that was involved in the murder, staging a crime scene and trying to cover up the murder by making it seem like a burglary and accusing her former boss, Patrick Lumumba, of the murder.

Prosecutors said that Amanda Knox had grown to hate Meredith Kercher because Kercher criticized her cleanliness and sexual habits.

Do you think Knox is guilty?

Amanda Knox Found Guilty

Already behind bars for two years, the Crown sought life imprisonment for the American and Italian, who deny having participated in the killing of Ms. Knox’s roommate in November 2007.

Meredith Kercher, a British student of 21 years, was found semi-naked in an apartment in Perugia, throat cut by a knife. The murder weapon was discovered at the home of Sollecito and bore traces of Knox’s DNA.

Amanda and Raffaele had given a fatal stab wound to Meredith while a third defendant, Ivorian of 20 years, held her arms because she refused to engage in sexual games when they were under the influence alcohol and drugs.

While pleading his innocence, Rudy Guede chose a fast track after which he was sentenced to 30 years in prison. The case was appealed.

“We are extremely disappointed in the verdict rendered today against our daughter,” Knox’s family said in a statement.

“While we always knew this was a possibility, we find it difficult to accept this verdict when we know that she is innocent, and that the prosecution has failed to explain why there is no evidence of Amanda in the room where Meredith was so horribly and tragically murdered.

“It appears clear to us that the attacks on Amanda’s character in much of the media and by the prosecution had a significant impact on the judges and jurors and apparently overshadowed the lack of evidence in the prosecution’s case against her.”

Amanda Knox Found Guilty, Plans Appeal

The body of Meredith Kercher was discovered by Italian police at the cottage that she shared with other students in Perugia on November 2, 2007. The 21-year-old British student, who was part of a university exchange programme, was found lying partially clothed under a duvet in her bedroom. Her windpipe had been crushed and throat partially slashed.

On November 6th, 2007, police arrested two suspects, Kercher’s American flatmate, Amanda Knox, and Knox’s boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito. That day, an employer of Knox was also arrested after Knox implicated him in the crime. He was later released and exonerated after it was confirmed that he had no connection to the crime.

“The key to the mystery is in that room,” lead prosecutor Giuliano Mignini said, adding that it would be nearly impossible to climb that window and enter without hurting oneself and leaving blood traces on the shattered glass.

The chief prosecutor restated his argument that Knox murdered her roommate out of spite because Kercher disapproved of her lifestyle: “She had harbored hatred for Meredith, and that was the time when it could explode,” he told the court.

“The time had come to take revenge,” Giuliano Mignini continued

Knox’s parents worry about the Italian legal system and how the jury may have been influenced by factors other than actual testimony.

“She had nothing to do with this but the character assassination and all of the misreporting that’s taken place and the fact that the Italian jury and judges are not sequestered like they are in the United States, it makes everybody anxious,” said Curt Knox.   “Because you don’t know what they’ve heard really during the court versus while they’re outside of court.”

Knox appeared nervous and tense throughout the proceedings, the Telegraph reports; if convicted, she and Sollecito could face life terms.

A verdict could come in early December.

Closing Arguments In Amanda Knox Murder Trial

The trial is expected to end with closing arguments November 20 and jury deliberations December 5.

“We can only hope now that a conclusion is reached in the next five weeks, so that we can finally dedicate ourselves to remember Meredith for the person that all of us knew and not as a victim or as a news item,” according to a ABCnews.com.

According to wikipedia:

The body of Meredith Kercher was discovered by Italian police at the cottage that she shared with other students in Perugia on November 2, 2007. The 21-year-old British student, who was part of a university exchange programme, was found lying partially clothed under a duvet in her bedroom. Her windpipe had been crushed and throat partially slashed.

On November 6th, 2007, police arrested two suspects, Kercher’s American flatmate, Amanda Knox, and Knox’s boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito. That day, an employer of Knox was also arrested after Knox implicated him in the crime. He was later released and exonerated after it was confirmed that he had no connection to the crime.

The Amanda Knox Murder Trial Nearly Over