Amanda Knox Trial - Prosecutors Seek More DNA Testing
Prosecutors in the Amanda Knox trial have asked the court to permit further testing of DNA evidence into the investigation of the November 2007 murder of Knox’s former roommate, Meredith Kercher.
Konx was convicted of sexually assaulting and murdering Kercher while they were both studying abroad in Perugia, Italy.
Amanda Knox, along with her ex-boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito, and a third party, Rudy Hermann Guede, were all convicted for the murder of Kercher in 2009 and sentenced to 26, 25, and 30 years. Guede’s sentence was reduced to 16 years because he apologized to the Kercher family.
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Knox and Sollecito appealed the December 2009 verdict and the appeals court ordered a DNA evidence review.
The evidence review is stirring controversy in the case as the review highlighted below-standard testing and errors in evidence gathering.
The review came out this past June and was carried out by two independent Italian forensic experts. They also concluded that the DNA evidence used to convict Knox was unreliable and feared that the evidence had been contaminated.
The forensic evidence used against Knox was a knife that contained both Knox’s and Kercher’s DNA. The knife was found in Sollecito’s flat but Kercher was murdered in the apartment she was sharing with Knox.
Carlo Torre, one of Italy’s most prominent forensics experts, testified that the DNA found on the knife used to kill Kercher could have not been blood.
Nevertheless, the independent forensic experts also agreed that, “with conclusion reached by technical consultants on the genetic profile on the knife’s handle, … that it belongs to Amanda Knox.”
Knox’s defense argues that the knife contains her DNA only because she would use it to cook at her boyfriend’s apartment.
Curt Knox, father of Amanda Knox, said of the prosecution’s requests, “Now you have somebody that’s corroborated what we’ve known from the defense side, and the prosecution is unwilling to accept that. And so now they want a new review, hoping something new will come up, and frankly I don’t see that happening.”
Nonetheless, today, Judge Claudio Pratillo Hellmann has rejected the prosecution’s call for new DNA assessments and has also turned down prosecution requests to bring forth more witnesses to introduce newly discovered records on the DNA-testing machine that was used in the case.
The judge also adjourned proceedings until September 23.
