Italian jury clears American Amanda Knox of murder

No matter what you may think about the Italian judicial system, it must be far better than that of the United States that convicted Troy Davis, held him as prisoner for over 20 years for a crime he may have not committed, and then paid the ultimate punishment, death by lethal injection. The overturned conviction became known just moments ago in Italy as American Amanda Knox was found innocent of murdering Meridita Kercher 4 years ago. The following is an excerpt of a CNN report from Perugia, Italy, just hot off of the press.

Perugia, Italy (CNN) -- A jury cleared Amanda Knox of murder and other charges on Monday, nearly four years after she was arrested on suspicion of having killed her roommate in this picturesque Italian university town.

The jury evidently believed Knox's impassioned final statement to the court, delivered in a voice trembling with emotion.

"I am not what they say I am -- perverse, violent. ... I haven't murdered. I haven't raped. I haven't stolen," Knox said in the most important speech of her life.

Knox was, however, judged guilty of defamation against Patrick Lumumba, an early suspect in the case. She had accused club owner Lumumba of killing British college student Meredith Kercher in 2007 in Perugia

She and her defense team succeeded in overturning a conviction handed down two years ago by a different jury, which found her and co-defendant Raffaele Sollecito guilty of killing of Kercher, who was sexually assaulted and killed. Her throat had been slashed.

"I am innocent," Knox said Monday. "Raffaele is innocent."

Sollecito put his claim simply in his own closing statement before Knox spoke.

"I have never hurt anybody," he said.

As he concluded, he dramatically removed his plastic "Free Amanda and Raffaele" bracelet, saying: "I have never taken it off since it was given to me. ... I think now is the moment to take it off."

His voice almost inaudible, he concluded, "I hope this is part of history and that Amanda and I have a future."

Knox's lawyer Luciano Ghirga reminded the jury Monday that they had to be convinced "beyond a reasonable doubt" that Knox and Sollecito were guilty if they were to uphold the conviction.

At least four members of the jury -- composed of six members of the public and two judges -- must have concluded they did, indeed, have doubts about her conviction.

A majority ruling was all that was needed to throw out the conviction, with a tie favoring the defense. The actual vote will remain secret, but the main judge, Claudio Pratillo Hellman, will file a statement explaining the jury's reasoning within 90 days of the ruling.

Knox and Sollecito were convicted of murder, sexual assault and related crimes related to Kercher's death in December 2009. A third man, drifter Rudy Guede, was convicted separately of involvement in the killing and is serving 16 years.

In the appeal, lawyers for Knox and Sollecito picked apart DNA evidence that played a role in the original conviction.

Part of the original prosecution case was based on DNA evidence found on a knife and on a bra clasp belonging to Kercher.

During the appeal, experts for the two sides battled over whether the DNA evidence was reliable.

They also fought over the character of Knox.

The lawyer for a man falsely accused of the crime called Knox "Lucifer-like, demonic, Satanic," while Sollecito defense counsel Giulia Bongiorno insisted that, like the buxom cartoon temptress Jessica Rabbit in the movie "Who Framed Roger Rabbit?" Knox is not bad, just "drawn that way."

Knox herself acknowledged the debate Monday in her closing statement.

"People always ask 'who is Amanda Knox?'" she said. "I am the same person I was four years ago. ... The only thing that now separates me from four years ago is my suffering.

"In 4 years, I've lost my friends in the most terrible and unexplainable way. My trust in the authorities and the police has been damaged. I had to face charges that were totally unfair, without any basis. And I am paying with my life for something I haven't done."

Knox was 20 and Kercher was 21 years old, studying at Perugia's university for foreign students, when Kercher's semi-naked body was found in the house they shared.

Sollecito, 23 at the time, was Knox's boyfriend, studying computer science at another university in Perugia.

Either side can appeal this court's ruling to Italy's High Court, but such an appeal would be on narrow technical grounds only.

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Amanda Knox in Testimony Alleges Police Abuse, Admits Drug Use

If you have been following the story about Amanda Knox, an American who has been charged of sexually assaulting and murdering her roommate, you may have your own opinion regarding the charges by the Italian police. It is the opinion of this editor that she is totally innocent. There already is a man charged with the murder, but the Italian Police have decided to put this woman on trial, and get the attention of the world community in doing so. If convicted, this woman can receive the punishment of life in prison. She was in prison for a year before she was ever formally charged. The evidence is definitely tainted, as several people had access to the knife used in the murder, and their fingerprints including those of Amanda Knox were on the knife. Read the story as found on FOX news, as Amanda Knox testified during a hearing in the Meredith Kercher murder trial, in Perugia, Italy. 

Friday, June 12, 2009

 AP

June 12: Amanda Knox testifies during a hearing in the 

Meredith Kercher murder trial, in Perugia, Italy.

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Amanda Knox told an Italian court Friday that police abused her and called her as a "stupid liar" when they questioned her over the murder of Meredith Kercher.
The American is giving evidence for the first time at her trial in Perugia, where she is charged with sexually assaulting and murdering her roommate.
Knox, 21, said police officers accused her of trying to protect someone after Kercher was found semi-naked with her throat slit in November 2007.
She testified that she had been struck by police during questioning.
"When I denied that they called me a stupid liar," she told the court. "From that point on I was very scared because they were treating me so badly."
Click to view photos of Amanda Knox
Knox claimed the police then pressured her into implicating former bar owner Patrick Lumumba in the murder.
"I didn't expect to be interrogated ...When I got there I was sitting on my own doing my homework when a couple of police officers came and sat with me," Knox testified. "They began to ask me the same questions they'd been asking me all those days ever since it happened — for instance, who could I imagine could be the person who had killed Meredith. I said I still didn't know."

"Everything (I) said was said in confusion and under pressure," she said. "They (the officers questioning me) were suggesting Patrick Lumumba so the first thing I said was 'OK, Patrick.'"
Lumumba's lawyer, Carlo Pacelli, asked her why she had implicated his client during the interrogation.
"They told me try to remember what I apparently, according to them, had forgotten," she said. "I couldn't understand why they were so sure that I was the one who knew everything and so in my confusion I started to imagine that maybe I was traumatized, like what they said. The declarations were taken against my will."
Knox admitted she used marijuana at the time of Kercher's murder.

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In reply to a question from a lawyer about whether she took drugs, she said: "Every once in a while, with friends."
Knox is on trial with her former boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito. Both deny any wrongdoing.
The pair previously told police they had taken drugs on the night the 21-year-old was killed and could not remember events clearly because of that.
"On Nov. 1, I told Raffaele that I wanted to watch a movie so we went to his place," Knox said. After dinner, they went upstairs to his room, she said.
"I sat on the bed, he sat at his desk, he prepared the joint and then we smoked it together," the 21-year-old woman said. "First we made love, then we fell asleep."
During her testimony, Knox alternated between English and Italian, occasionally pausing to take a breath, her voice shaky at times.
Knox said she last saw Kercher on the afternoon of Nov. 1. They talked about what they had done the night before — a Halloween night out — and Knox said Kercher still had a bit of her vampire makeup on.
Sollecito then arrived at the house; he and Knox had something to eat while Kercher was in her room, Knox told the court.
"She left her room, said 'bye,' walked out the door," Knox said, at this point speaking Italian. "That was the last time I saw her."
Knox said she and the victim had a good relationship.
"I confided in her, I would often ask for her advice. ... When Meredith had a problem over my behavior, she would tell me," she said. "That was it. There was nothing she would keep hidden or that we couldn't find agreement on."
Sollecito, 25, has said he was at his own apartment the night of Nov. 1, working at his computer. He said he does not remember if Knox spent the whole night with him or just part of it. The two have said they could not remember events clearly because of the drugs.
Knox's father Curt Knox, who is in court, said his daughter was "a bit nervous" but was "100 percent innocent" and was ready for cross questioning by the prosecution because she had "nothing to hide." "Today you will see the real Amanda, not the dark angel described so far" he said.
During the trial, which began in January and is expected to end in the autumn, police witnesses have testified that DNA traces of both Knox and Sollecito were found at the crime scene, and that a kitchen knife found in Sollecito's flat and which is presumed to be the murder weapon had Knox's DNA on the handle and Kercher's on the tip.
Knox and Sollecito have been jailed since shortly after the slaying.
Upon being asked about turning cartwheels in the police station after the killing, Knox replied, "In general I'm someone who tends to act a little silly when I feel I'm in difficulty or not at ease."
They could face Italy's stiffest punishment, life imprisonment, if convicted of murder. The trial began in January and a verdict is expected after a summer break.
A third suspect in the case, Ivory Coast national Rudy Hermann Guede, was found guilty of murder and sexual violence and was sentenced to 30 years in prison. He was given a fast-track trial at his request, and his appeal is set to start in November. He, too, denies wrongdoing.

Click here to read more on this story from Sky News.

Click here to read more on this story from the Times of London.

The Times of London, Sky News and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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