Amanda Knox Appeals Trial Resumes With Testimony From Inmates
A trial that resumes in Italy with Amanda's appealing against her conviction for sexually assaulting and murdering her then 21-year-old British roommate Meredith Kercher, has drawn heightened attention from not only Italy, but once again the United Kingdom and the United States as well.
Amanda Knox along with her ex-boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito and a third party, Rudy Hermann Guede, were all convicted for the crime and sentenced to 26, 25, and 30 years respectively, although Guede's was later reduced to 16.
This time, several convicted inmates came out to speak claiming to possess 'evidence' proving Amanda Knox's innocence; evidence that still remains unverified and put in high doubt for their inconsistencies.
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For example one convict, Mario Alessi, serving prison for brutally beating a 18-month baby to death with a shovel, testified that Rudy Guede, the first convicted among the three, had been confessing him in conversations that Knox and Sollecito were innocent and that he, Guede, and another friend were visiting Kercher to have sex with her. When Kercher had refused, a fight broke out and that in the end Guede's friend had slit her throat.
Another inmate, Luciano Aviello, alleged that his brother had murdered Kercher while trying to break in to steal a painting stored in the cottage.
The credibility of both convicts was then contested by the prosecuting team who wasted no time to cross examine and show that criminals possessing such history were not the ones to be trusted.
Although denying involvement in the killing, Guede is so far the individual most relevantly linked to the murder among the three tried due to positive forensics tests of DNA found on and in Kercher's body matching his own as well as matching finger and foot prints in the crime scene. The reason his sentence was reduced to 16 years was for being the only individual out of the three to say sorry to Kercher's family for failing to rescue her.
As for Knox, there has been no forensic evidence, except for a knife containing both Knox's and Kercher's DNA found in Sollecito's flat, indicating that she was present in the bedroom Kercher was killed.
Knox's defense team dismissed the knife as valid evidence saying that Knox had used knives to cook in Sollecito's apartment.
DNA tests are being carried out once again on judge orders and according to CBSnews.com Kurt Knox, Amanda's father, said that more than the new witnesses testifying in favor of his daughter, the trial "is more wrapped around the DNA evidence that will brought to the trial on the 30th of June."
