Amanda Knox Appeals Trial

[beth]

Amanda Knox makes brief court appearance in Italy


PERUGIA, Italy – Amanda Knox briefly returned to court in Italy on Wednesday for the start of her appeals trial, about a year after the American student was convicted of killing her British roommate in a case that drew global attention.

The hearing, devoted mainly to procedural matters, lasted 15 minutes and the case was adjourned until Dec. 11.

Knox was escorted by a policewoman into the same Perugia courtroom where the first trial was held. The 23-year-old was convicted in December of sexually assaulting and murdering Meredith Kercher, and sentenced to 26 years in prison.

Also attending was Raffaele Sollecito, an Italian who was Knox's boyfriend at the time of the murder. He has been convicted of the same charges and sentenced to 25 years in prison.

Both have always maintained their innocence.

Luciano Ghirga, a lawyer for Knox, said on the eve of the appeal that the American's confidence had been low in recent days, but was now eager for the appeals trial to get going, so that "at least she knows what lies ahead."

The defense is seeking a full review of the case, hoping to introduce new witnesses and ultimately win an acquittal. The prosecutors have also appealed, as they can Italy, as the ruling fell short of their demand for life in prison.

"We want an acquittal, the prosecution demands a life sentence: It's an intense, harsh and violent legal clash," Ghirga told The Associated Press in an interview Tuesday evening.

Knox and Sollecito have been behind bars in Perugia since Nov. 6, 2007, four days after Kercher's body was found in a pool of blood, her throat slit, in the apartment Knox and Kercher shared as exchange students in Perugia. Forensic experts said Kercher was killed when a sex game turned violent.

www.foxnews.com/world/2010/11/23/knox-chance-appeals-opens-italy/?test=latestnews

[Jessiealan]

Her parents believe she will win the appeal.


today.msnbc.msn.com/id/40352409/ns/today-today_people/

[Deleted]

To paraphrase Mandy Rice-Davies, well, they would, wouldn't they?

It is truly tragic that the whole 'trial' has become the Amanda Knox freakshow rather than the trial of the suspects in the murder of poor Meredith Kircher.

Meredith was a nice girl by all accounts and her brutal murder was an appalling crime. Now the self-absorbed Knox is once again trying to turn it into HER show.

IMHO Knox and her co-conspirators were callous murderers. They OUGHT to have received LWOP for what they did.

[sadie]

Well.....of course they have to shift the focus onto themselves........if anyone talks about Meredith Kercher it looks like a murder has been committed........they surely don't want anyone to remember that........

[beth]

Amanda Knox appeal: 'This is all an enormous mistake'


Tearful Amanda Knox today insisted she was innocent of the murder of Meredith Kercher and that an "enormous mistake" was being made by keeping her in jail at the start of her appeal hearing.




Knox, 23, broke down several times as she addressed the court for almost twenty minutes in an emotional and quivering voice, as she stressed she had nothing to do with Meredith's brutal murder.

The American also dismissed the prosecution's view of her saying she was not the "dangerous, diabolical, jealous and uncaring" person she had been described as at her original trial, telling the court: "That girl is not me."

Knox also expressed her sympathy towards Meredith's heartbroken family and friends and said: "I am very sorry that Meredith is no longer here.

www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/italy/8196007/Amanda-Knox-appeal-This-is-all-an-enormous-mistake.html

[annaj26]

Poor, poor Amanda. Bet she says that to herself 10 times a day.

[fretslider]

I think she'd better learn to love pasta.


Is this Steve Martin?

[sadie]

Seriously......who is doing the guards makeup??? And I mean both of them!!!!

[Deleted]

Apparently TWO films are being made about this - one of them, quite disgracefully, called 'The Amanda Knox Story.'

It's as if poor Meredith Kercher was nothing more than a means for this woman to become a somewhat sick type of celebrity.

[beth]

Amanda Knox team encouraged by witness conviction


ROME – A defense lawyer for Amanda Knox, the U.S. college student serving a 26-year prison sentence for the murder of her British roommate, expressed optimism Saturday that a drug charge conviction of a prosecution witness might help the American in her appeal in Italy.

The defense always maintained that Antonio Curatolo, a homeless man in the university town of Perugia, wasn't a credible witness, Luciano Ghirga told The Associated Press in Rome.

Perugia court offices were closed Saturday, and officials could not be reached to confirm Italian news reports that Curatolo had been convicted earlier in the week for dealing drugs. It wasn't immediately known what his sentence was or if he had been jailed.

In the first trial against Knox, Curatolo testified that he saw Knox and fellow murder trial defendant Raffaele Sollecito chatting near the apartment house the night Meredith Kercher was slain in 2007. Sollecito, an Italian who was Knox's boyfriend at the time, was also convicted of the slaying and sentenced to 25 years in prison.

Both defendants are appealing their convictions. The next hearing in the appeals trial in Perugia is scheduled for Jan. 22.

"We have always said that he was not a credible witness," Ghirga said, referring to Curatolo. "It was the court that held he was credible." The drug charge conviction "will be an additional thing to help prove the witness is not credible," Ghirga said in a phone interview.

Seeking new witnesses is a key defense strategy in the appeals trial, with Knox's lawyers hoping new witnesses will refute Curatolo's assertion.

Curatolo had told the lower court that he had seen Knox and Sollecito chatting on a basketball court hear the house where the American woman and Kercher shared a rented flat the night Kercher was stabbed to death. The victim's body was found in a pool of blood in her bedroom on Nov. 2, 2007. Forensic experts said Kercher, her throat slit, died the night before.

Knox and Sollecito were convicted in December 2009 of sexually assaulting and murdering Kercher. Both deny any wrongdoing.

The American's defense has argued that she spent the night of Kercher's slaying at Sollecito's house in Perugia, watching a movie, smoking pot and having sex.

Convicted separately in a lower court trial and an appeals trial of the murder is Rudy Hermann Guede, a young man from the Ivory Coast who acknowledged being in the house the night of the slaying, but denied killing the woman. He is serving a 16-year prison sentence.

www.foxnews.com/world/2011/01/15/amanda-knox-defense-pleased-witness-conviction/

[beth]

This sounds like they (the defense) are grasping at straws. Unless this person changes his testimony, I don't see how they are going to discredit it to the extreme they need to. Gives them a little, less than hostile, press, but not much more.