Tag Archive: amanda knox


Amanda Knox is Free, 3 Reasons Why She Was Acquitted

Filed Under: DNA Testing, In The News by dnatesting101 — Leave a comment
October 3, 2011

Finding it difficult to maintain composure, Amanda Knox plead to an Italian court earlier today shortly before the courts deliberated her official sentencing. In 2009, Amanda Knox and her boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito were charged with the stabbing and rape of Amanda’s English roommate, Meredith Kercher. Knox and Sollecito have since been trying to prove their innocence and regain their freedom.

Despite the confession Amanda Knox gave to Italian officials, supporters and lawyers for Knox claim that those confessions were attained unlawfully through extreme duress. Through the years Amanda Knox has gained infamy across the world, earning the nickname “Foxy Knoxy” at the peak of her 2009 trial. It seemed as though she had no hope until it was proven by two experts that the DNA evidence supporting her guilt was not reliable.

The verdict was due at 3:30 EDT – Meredith Kercher’s family is in Perugia to support the original sentence given to Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito. Kercher’s family is claiming that the world has already forgotten the brutal death of Meredith Kercher in 2007 at the very young age of 21.

“Everyone needs to remember the brutality of what happened and everything she went through, the fear and the terror and not knowing why,” said Stephanie Kercher, sister of the deceased victim.

amanda knox verdict AP11100308433 540x405 300x225 Amanda Knox is Free, 3 Reasons Why She Was AcquittedBut is the Kercher family blaming the wrong person? Is DNA enough to support their innocence and offset the holes in Knox’s story?

5 Reasons for Possible Innocence

False Confession:

The defense for Amanda Knox believes that the confession obtained by Italian police should be inadmissible due to the manner in which it was attained. They state that not only was Amanda Knox interrogated for an excessive period of time but her lawyer was not present.

Inconsistencies in Evidence:

  • Not only was the DNA not retrieved, documented and stored improperly, but the DNA was also retested and original evidence used to support the case against Knox was found to not be true.
  • There was no blood on the DNA that was said to be the murder weapon.
  • Contamination of the evidence could not be ruled out.
  • The knife wounds found on Kercher’s body did not match the type of knife that was said to be the murder weapon.

There are no eye witnesses to the crime.

Lack of Motive:

From the start of this case in 2007 the prosecution has not been able to determine a motive for why Amanda Knox would kill her roommate and friend, Meredith Kercher.

Read more: Hope Rises for Amanda Knox Freedom: DNA on Knife and Bra Determined Unreliable

Amanda Knox, Free At Last

knox in court3 111003 620x350 Amanda Knox is Free, 3 Reasons Why She Was Acquitted

A few minutes ago the courts gave the verdict to let Amanda Knox go home with her family to Washington in the United States. She can be thankful that the lack of DNA evidence is probably the main reason she was not convicted and was acquitted of murder.

Her then boyfriend and charged accomplice, Raffaele Sollecito was also found not guilty.

Hopefully she can overcome the trauma of four years in prison. She can finally return home and rebuild her life and reputation.

Other Trials Changed by DNA Evidence: How DNA Set Her Free: Casey Anthony Verdict NOT GUILTY for Murder

 

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Hope Rises for Amanda Knox Freedom: DNA on Knife and Bra Determined Unreliable

Filed Under: DNA Testing, In The News by dnatesting101 — 2 Comments
June 30, 2011

In Rome an independent expert panel appointed by the court found that the DNA forensic evidence convicting Amanda Knox and her then boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, was contaminated.

Amanda Knox Innocent 300x222 Hope Rises for Amanda Knox Freedom: DNA on Knife and Bra Determined UnreliableRecent breakthroughs in the DNA evidence that closed the case on the Amanda Knox murder trial in Italy has the Knox defense team and family confident she will be released and home by Christmas. The lack of motive and witnesses make this case highly reliant on the forensic evidence collected by Italian officials. Now that the evidence has been found unreliable the previous verdict will most likely be overturned.

The media frenzy that ensued after the murder of Meredith Kercher in 2007 subsided once the three main suspects, Amanda Knox, Raffele Sollecito and Rudy Guede were all found guilty and convicted of killing the English student. Since their conviction, Sollecito and Knox have both filed appeals claiming their innocence.

The murder that happened in Perugia while Knox and Kercher were studying abroad and sharing a flat with three other girls has made a serious turn. Knox and Sollecito have finally caught a crucial victory in their mission to prove their innocence.

The initial DNA testing of this evidence has been found by an independent panel to be below international standards. The independent panel comprised of two professors from Rome created a report that will undoubtedly cause the Perugia Italian Court to throw out the evidence.

The report finds that evidence was improperly collected and documented, and that some pieces of evidence had no traces of real DNA from either of the two defendants. A translation of the report from the expert panel states:

Murder weapon knife Knox Kercher 300x183 Hope Rises for Amanda Knox Freedom: DNA on Knife and Bra Determined Unreliable

The murder weapon found to have contaminated DNA evidence

Knife, more:

  1. There was no blood on the knife.
  2. and 4 Accepted scientific procedures for collecting and analyzing the knife specimen were not followed.
  3. The experts do not agree with the prosecution witnesses’ interpretations of the results since the profile was unreliable.
  4. Contamination cannot be ruled out

Bra clasp:
Partially unrecognizable because of corrosion

  1. There is no evidence of flaking cells, no cytology
  2. The interpretation of the DNA profile was erroneous
  3. The Y (sex) chromosome was misinterpreted
  4. Methods did not follow international procedures of inspection and international protocols for collecting and sampling of the exhibit.
  5. Contamination cannot be excluded.

FIND 165B (HOOKS FOR BRA)
With regard to the 65B Rep. (bra hooks) believe that
are not reliable technical assessments carried out for the following reasons:

  1. there is no evidence scientifically conclusive Presumed
    flaking cells on the specimen;
  2. There was an erroneous interpretation of the electrophoretic pattern of Autosomal STRs;
  3. there was a misinterpretation of its electrophoretic pattern
    the Y chromosome;
  4. were not followed international procedures of inspection and
    international protocols for collecting and sampling of the exhibit;
  5. can not be excluded that the results obtained may result from phenomena contammazione of environmental and / or contammazione occurred in any phase of the repertoire and / or manipulation of that finding.

Hopefully this new DNA report from the independent panel will lead to a quick release of both Knox and Sollecito. Guede stands by his testimony and will continue to serve his 16 year sentence.

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