According to reports, the prosecutor in the Amanda Knox trail rested his case after seven hours of closing arguments, stating that he believes Knox and her ex-boyfrind, Rafael Sollecito should both spend the rest of their lives in prison.
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
I believe the girl is innocent, caught up in the wild world of being an exchange student, drugs, alcohol, new environment, too young to spend life in jail.
She may be innocent, but I hope ALL young people look at this and realize getting involved with drugs, alcohol(also a drug), etc. didn’t help her one bit now. Had she not gotten involved with that, her story would have been more believable, as she could then remember clearly what went on that night.
looks like a pro hit
not something a school girl from USA would do
worrying about a reputation at 19 is Very Weak as
Motive; maybe Italy is worried about its reputation
Hardly pro hit LOL. There’s no reason for that, and one can see it a mile away anyway (loud scream, total chaos,etc). I think Knox is guilty. I think she was weird, and spoiled, and always had her way in life, not to mention she was gross, (poor hygiene, didn’t flush toilet-ugghhh, tell tale sign right there), and probably not a good person to begin with. The evidence says she’s guilty as well. I think it happened EXACTLY like the prosecutor said.
LOL myself your presumptuios comments are seemingly only to get a rise, LOL in taking you to TASK. as one who is experienced on these issues, its a cover up at best by knox at first to protect those who were guilty, lies do provide opertunity for the prosicution, who sre interested in guilt, not intirely about all the truth.
This is such a tragic story- one life extinguished and another hanging in the hands of the Italian court system. Americans take for granted the judiciality of our courts and the overall lack of ‘fairness’ and contempt often held for US citizens facing trials in other parts of the world. It would be brutal for this young woman to spend the rest of her life in an Italian jail. I don’t believe she is an exemplary role model, but I don’t think she is a murderer either!
Amanda Knox lied to police: she intentionally accused an innocent black man (her boss) to save her own skin. Then her DNA was found on the handle of a knife that had the victim’s DNA on the blade. This knife was secreted away in the home of Amanda’s ‘boyfriend’ of 6 days. Case closed. Knox & her knife-collecting boy friend are GUILTY. A life for a life.
Err, 3 lives for a life?
Only six days (the boyfriend)?! Not challenging you but rather that interesting detail is new to me.
My thoughts on this case changed when I read this explanation of how Italian police got her to ‘confess’.
friendsofamanda.org/statements.html
Also, the knife was found in the knife drawer at her boyfriend’s house – it wasn’t ‘secreted away’.
I believe Amanda is innocent.
This girl is GUILTY. She points a finger at another man and he gets exonerated. Knox needs to remember one thing, when you point a finger at someone else you are pointing three back at yourself. Mommy and Daddy better have tons of money to pay off the judge otherwise she is going to prison where she belongs.
You Americans are kidding yourselves. She is guilty and strikes me as an exceptionally devious person, she seems to have convinced her parents anyway. The Italian courts have lots of rights for all those before it. You should look at your own court systems and what they do to black and hispanic people in your country before you turn to judge the Italian courts.
you have a point
It’s funny how americans talk about their system as the best in the world…We don’t send innocent people to death row in Europe!!!!!!!!!
yeah, love the fact you all bash Italy and its court system. When you are abroad you face the consequences of the court system as to where you commited the crime, or are suspected of commiting. Being American does not give you rights beyond others. As jfc says above check out the way you treat hispanics, black in yur own country not to mention Guatanamo- full of shit. This girl has the media in a spin and rudy was on fast track because….errr because when you got no $$ your taking welfare support and have gold ticket straight to the carcel. What makes raffael and this eejit american any different is because they have a few bucks, or whip rounds from the local fan club in amandas case is supprting her. What is the most important is justice for Meredith- 21 year old innocent girl died. and I hope whatever comes out the truth not he fairy tale of media spin. She has questions she should answer and quit with the changing of story already and implicating other…why woud you do that??
Yeah. Back in the early 90′s we had a situation where an American went to live in Singapore. I think he was 16 or 19. I can’t remember exactly. Anyway, he and his friends decided to spray paint cars there. The punishment was flogging. He got four of them. He was supposed to get six, but idiots in the US whined about it and got it reduced to four. He should have gotten the number his friend got..his friend got TWELVE. Many people in the US think he got something that he SHOULD have gotten when he was 4 or 5…a spanking.
I love you Amanda!
Your all so proad of the system here, but you have a double standard. Many people are excuted here that are questionable. And oh yeah O J is innocent .
O.J. wasn’t innocent, and the U.S. criminal justice system didn’t purport to deem him innocent. He was “not guilty” because he could not be proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. The U.S. criminal justice system lets some guilty people go free in the interest of preventing innocent people from being convicted. Hence, why verdicts are guilty/not guilty rather than guilty/innocent.
Discrediting the American Criminal Justice system on the basis of racial disparity and death penalty policies is irrelevant to the concerns being expressed in the above comments. The concern is with jury bias and international tensions having an impact on the outcome. These concerns are common with highly publicized cases. By overreacting to these concerns, you Italians are exacerbating the perception that your country’s inferiority complex that may factor into the outcome of this case.
Read the evidence people its not the knife!! I thought they were guilty last year but i have spent hours and hours reading all the evidence . Rudy did this !! Its his MO how he breaks in places , steals phones computers and whatever he can . Meredith came home and he tried to have his way with her and she refused and it went wrong!! . Read his account of what happened that night and he never mentioned amanda . If they were there he would have sung like a bird. Rudy is a crazy man
Rudy did it and left a trail of evidence behind. Amanda and her BF—not one shred. look at the facts
If you want a good brief analysis of this case and a thorough understanding of how such a scenario can come to occur in Italy, read the Monster of Florence by Douglas Preston with Mario Spezi.
The latest edition of the book includes an afterward that details the evidence and events of the Knox case up through the beginning of the trial. It’s completely insane.
Mignini is a follower of conspiracy theorists who backs up wild theories with manufactured evidence. He has been indicted for falsifying evidence repeatedly while prosecuting and threatening reporters who contradict him.
Knox has been completely railroaded by the system. There is no evidence against her. One expert reviewing the evidence said he want to Italy assuming she was guilty and was shocked at how the case had been manufactured against her out of thin air.
The man who has already been convicted told the same consistent story for months before cracking under police pressure. He said that he had slept with Krecher, went to the bathroom, then came out to see someone else who had actually killed her leaving. He never saw another woman there and he never saw Sollecito.
The easiest thing for him to do would have been to accept the police story and blame Sollecito and Knox, but he didn’t for months. Even still, it’s hard to take his word that he didn’t kill her, since he was clearly the last one to see her alive and had easy means and opportunity and motives aren’t too hard to speculate on.
However, this crime fits the MO of a local man who was spotted that night by several witnesses washing blood off his hands and screaming about how he had “killed her”. The witnesses spoke on the record and the story was reported in the papers, but Mignini threatened to prosecute the reporter for obstruction of justice through spreading false information, a threat he had made good on in the past, and the reporter dropped the story. Nothing ever came of the investigation.
If you are interested in this case, read the afterward in the Monster of Florence. I recommend the whole book. It’s an unbelievable trek of tragic misadventures and lives ruined by the Italian justice system as a serial killer (SPOILER: most likely Antonio Vinci, still living in the outskirts of Florence) goes free.
Amanda claims she was pressured by authorities to make false statements to them. Amanda attempted to implicate an innocent man…Oh, geeh…We’d all take such actions if WE were accused of a particular murder, now wouldn’t we? As did Amanda, Sollecito also lied to police on numerous occasions about various issues…Yeah, if your roommate/friend was murdered in your house/flat, wouldn’t you also try to mislead police from the truth of your whereabouts? Oh, yeah, I’d do cartwheels too! Amanda stated she heard screams from roommate that night. She stated she played a role in the death of her roommate. Some glass was found on TOP of clothes on ground and other items indicating a robbery was staged from the inside. Neighbours indicated they heard multiple people fleeing the scene after the screams were heard. The victims’ DNA was found on the knife blade at boyfriend’s house…Yeah, I bet we all make it a regular practice to leave our DNA on our friend’s boyfriend’s knife blades…don’t you? Both cell phones of boyfriend and Amanda were turned off simultaneously that night, which was not a regular practice of theirs, as indicated by friends…(The list does and will go on…) If you think Amanda is innocent, you’re probably one of those degenerates who would have also allowed O.J. to go free. Get real!!!
The friends of Amanda squad hit this comment section.
Any objective person would conclude that Amanda Knox is guilty.
The american people have superiority complex and the irrational and hollywood patriotism, In Italy the innocence does not pay it with expensive defence attorney, because the prosecutor investigate to find the truth behind and not only to incriminate, do not avoid the evidence for innocence. Finally American jury is composed of ignorant citizen, they don’t know nothing about law.
I maybe wrong but I thought I read an artial about one of the lead prosecutors is under investigation, wondering if this is correct or not.
The knife with Amanda’s blood is a red flag but how much was found? In this line of thinking I wonder about Amanda’s injures or cuts she would have received. Or is it possible the blood could have been from another incident like cutting her self?
For the court systems European or American systems they all have issues.
In America the prosecutor and defense choose the jury that a said in America all they need is reasonable doubt.
I wonder why in Europe the accused can sit in jail for a year or two while they build the case.
3 Guilty. Meredith was a Sweetheart. Amanda is an ugly ugly person. Ugly. Gross. Eww.
The forensic case against Knox is completely sound and she is going to prison for a very long time. Her family should have had the sense to hang onto what ever money they have left for when they lose the Kercher’s civil case. The smoke and mirrors they tired to confuse everybody with will not have made a blind bit of difference – the facts will out! Knox was absolutely eaten up with jealousy.
It is a shame the death penalty doesn’t exist in Italy.
The Florentine judicial system is flawed, at best! The corrupt police, prosecutors, and judges have ruined sooo many lives in the past 50 years. The prosecutor has made up story and story after motive and motive to advance his career. It is ridiculous how gullible the florentine citizens/jury are as well. He strings up this elaborate scheme and motive when he has little to NO Evidence of the crime! Just a fairy tale story that he’s conjured up.
Amanda Knox may be innocent or she may be guilty, regardless, she deserves a fair trial. I cannot believe how much the American media has bought into what Mignini has been saying. Support your own!
She is going to spend her life in an Italian jail, because she’s a murderer and it shows.
And the “sound forensics” are not sound at all! They said that they had a kitchen knife with Amanda’s DNA on the handle and the victim’s DNA on the blade… AMANDA lives with the victim!!! She could have used that knife that day with a meal! Ridiculous… and yes, Mignini has been under investigation for his cover up and role in ruining many people’s lives in the mostro di Firenze case (Monster of Florence)… i cannot believe this guy still has a job
I think she’s totally innocent, and I think the Italian courts are going to throw her away for something she didn’t do. Of course her DNA was on the knives, she lived in the HOUSE! Too bad this case isn’t being tried in America.
“The Italian justice system has been criticized by American reporter Judy Bachrach. Bachrach quoted an Italian ecclesiastical judge, who is not employed in the Italian legal system, in an article about Knox for Vanity Fair magazine. The ecclesiastical judge claimed that the Italian justice system “stems from the Inquisition and also from medieval law. [It] is based on the supremacy of the prosecution. This nullifies the fact – written in our constitution – that you’re innocent until proven guilty.” [12] Bachrach did not seek out an alternate opinion.
On October 18, 2009, Bachrach appeared on a broadcast of CNN Larry King Live which featured Knox’s parents. Bachrach claimed that in Italy “the ordinary person is considered guilty until proven innocent. Italy’s laws are direct descendants of the Inquisition.” [68] On that same King show, John Q. Kelly – a prosecuting attorney in the civil trial against OJ Simpson[69] – commented on the Italian Justice system in relation to its treatment of Knox and Sollecito. He said that “it’s probably the most egregious, international railroading of two innocent young people that I have ever seen.” [68] (Kelly does not represent anyone involved in the Kercher trial.) King did not feature any experts in Italian justice on the show to provide a counterbalance to Bachrach or Kelly.
The Italian judiciary system is derived from Roman law and Napoleonic code. The Constitution of Italy, article 27, reads “The defendant is not considered guilty until final judgement is passed”; in article 111, that “Guilt shall not be established on the basis of statements made by anyone who has freely chosen not to submit to questioning by the defendant or the defendant’s Counsel ad litem”.”
I can’t say one way or another if she is guilty. There is certainly evidence supporting her guilt. The defense has been weak and although the prosecution has had many an issue, their case seems to be stronger. If she didn’t do it, I hope she is found innocent. But I don’t believe that will be the case. Something in my gut tells me she is guilty. Maybe not for the reasons the prosecution has given, but guilty non the less. My heart goes out to Meredith’s family and Knox’s family. Her parents certainly never expected that their daughter would be arrested for murder. If she is found guilty, her parents will never recover from teh loss of their daughter either and THEY didn’t do anything wrong either.
Oh I am an American and I have to agree, there is something very much lacking in our Justice System.
Unlike Amanda, DNA doesn’t lie. She is guilty.
Google “perguia murder file” to get translations of court testimony. The more you learn about Amanda, her boyfriend of 6 days & the evidence against them, the harder it is to see them as “innocent.”
This entire prosecution amounts to nothing more than the egotistical delusions of the public prosecutor intent on landing a big American fish. Giuliano Mignini is up on charges involving his handling (mishandling) of another prosecution. In any other western country he would not be permitted to carry on in his capacity as prosecutor with such serious allegations hanging over his own head. But this is Italy and things appear to work a bit differently in this part of the world.
What seems interesting to me is why Rudy didn’t point the finger at Amanda and Rafael right away. When he was first picked up and questioned, he didn’t mention them. He doesn’t strike me as the kind of guy who would try to protect them! Even if only to deflect the blame away from him, one would think that he would give them up first thing.
all of you anti-americans can shove your fist up your a**
Eewww! People aren’t “anti-American” merely because they think the woman, A. Knox, is guilty. What an immature statement!
itz crazy how the black person in jail faster then anything fuc them! white people never kill familys……..yea right they be the main one but that black man serving life instantly;….sad
to Dkizza
because americans are always correct. they do need to bring others in, especially those that have facts or other knowledge that doesn’t agree with the american world view.
god bless america
land of the vegetable
zappa