The sad case of Meredith Kercher

[FreeGeorgeJackson]

I feel for her parents. The trial seems to have gone on for ages doenst it?
I cant see ( form what i read) how kNox will get off.

Of course no one here has seen all the evidence, but am wondering too if the Italian judicial system has a summing up process similar to the UK where the judge gives directions such as how much weight to give to various pieces of evidence. for instance, some pieces of physical evidence could be unreliable, so if the jury has been told the opposite, then this could be significant.

But you are right, Princess, that the case doesn't turn on one piece of evidence, and seems to me that it was a culmination of evidence, both physical and circumstantial.

I don't think that the jury was corrupt, nor was the trial which was under the media spotlight, but certain aspects of the case just doesn't add up, and hope that they are reviewed independently at the appeal.

This thread is coming to an end probably. I can see the forensic evidence, as far as we know, is very limited and flawed. But I still cannot see how, even under duress, AK could have signed a statement saying she was there at the scene of the murder, and she was implicated in that murder. You'd have to be spectacularly stupid to do that, and she doesn't appear to be. If she was told to 'imagine being there' that doesn't tally with signing a statement like that and that I cannot understand.

The nominated judges actually sit with the public jury during their sequestration Obama,
so I imagine quite a lot of directing goes on at that stage.

Sollecito's sister has lost her job as a carabiniere this week incidentally.

she tried to tamper with evidence didn't she?

Pofaced - do you not think that being under pressure, in a foreign country, being investigated for such a serious crime, might easily make someone do a spectacularly stupid thing? After all, implicating Lumumba was pretty stupid of Knox whether she was guilty or not.

I think Sollecito's dad is/was in trouble too. It's all so sad.

It's clear to me, from the 'statement' she wrote and signed after the initial implicating of Patrick, that she was trying to withdraw what she had said hours earlier.

I don't read that statement as a confession, nor does she seem clear about thinking it was Patrick.

Kathy- there's "stupid" like having the odd spliff and shagging undesirables, and there's signing a confession to murder...

i personally believe that AK and RS didn't murder MK, as i can't see how you can remove 2 peoples DNA completely from a crime scene and leave 1 persons. However i think that there is truth in AK 'confession' i think she was in the flat at the time of the murder, i think she heard what was going on and did nothing to help MK, although possibly didn't know the full consequences of what she heard. I wonder if AK and RS were stoned and in her room or the living room, heard screaming, knowing that Guede was indeed forcing himself on MK and did nothing. Then in a stoned state they somehow thought they would not be believed at not being involved in the murder and fled. So whilst they didn't directly deliver the fatal wounds to MK they did indeed stand back and do nothing and in my book they are as guilty as Guede and have rightly been jailed.

since we are playing amateur sleuthing.

I cannot imagine under any circumstances, unless in fear of my life, signing a confession to murder.

or signing anything where my innocence was clear. She wrote that statement in English? So all a bit odd.

in fear for life.

This Observer article seems fairly balanced.

i have to agree with you pofaced - i believe there is truth in what she said in that statement and fingered the wrong guy as she hopefully thought this would mean by 'helping' the police she would some how get off more lightly for doing nothing.

I have read various things where people have said that because mignini had already 'solved' the crime before DNA analysis was back, the prosecution then set about to try to find evidence to fit that crime. So they were looking for things to prove their theory rather than looking at all the evidence objectively.

It would explain why every time one peice of evidence against Sollecito or Knox was dismissed another was found.

If they are set free/aquitted/found innocent in the future it's just a shame that so many people will still be convinced of their guilt based upon lies and rumour they have heard or read.

Rudy Guede's conviction was based on his being one of multiple attackers who murdered MK. Pathologist have testified that Meredith must have been attacked by multiple attackers, due to the size and nature of her injuries, and the lack of defensive marks.

AK's DNA was found mixed with Merdith's blood in numerous places at the cottage, including the washbasin, the bidet and Philomena's room (the one with the staged burglary). Funnily enough, none of her DNA was found in her own room.

There was evidence of a clean-up at the cottage. Bloody footprints corresponding to AK's feet and RS's feet were revealed only by luminol. A woman's bloody shoe print, not corresponding to Meredith's size, but coprresponding to AK's, was found on the pillow underneath Meredith's body. AK and RS were found outside the cottage with a mop and bucket by the postal police, before they had actually called the police. (The police turned up to return one of Merdith's phones which had been discared in the garden of a nearby house, almost certainly by her attacker(s)). Phone records show that they called the police after the police had already arrived.

The washing machine was still warm when the police arrived, and contained both Meredith's clothes and AK's - all of which had been washed in bleach.

AK knew where Mereith's body was found, and how she had died before the police had revealed this information.

That's not counting the constantly changing alibis, non-matching alibis.

And the clincher? For me, it was the picture of the bathroom where AK noticed a "few spots of blood", but was supposedly unconcerned enough to take a shower nevertheless. (And bear in mind that AK had already returned to the cottage, she claimed, and found the front door unlocked).

poface- i linked earlier here to an independent piece which discusses false confessions that would certainly go some way to answering your questions regarding AN's statement.

and dittany is just defending her point of view. i take no offence to her acid tongue

scarlet- you've clearly not done your homework.

the photo you linked to of the bathroom is the one done after forensic analysis. the pink colour isn't blood, it's luminol. the other photo is of the bedroom that was locked.

tut tut

here's the link to a POLICE video of the bathroom as it really was when first examined.

"The washing machine was still warm when the police arrived, and contained both Meredith's clothes and AK's - all of which had been washed in bleach"

this is untrue.

"For me, it was the picture of the bathroom where AK noticed a "few spots of blood""

that is a picture of the bathroom AFTER hemicals were applied by the police.

this is crime scene video of the bathroom before those chemicaols wre applied. Please watch it.

"AK and RS were found outside the cottage with a mop and bucket by the postal police, before they had actually called the police"

also untrue. They did not have a bucket.

The Mop was tested and no DNA or blood from Meredith Kercher was found.

The timings given by the police about their arrival are not proven.

Phimomena testified that the washing mchine was still warm and that the clothes inside were a mixure of Meredith's and AK's.

"The former flatmate of Amanda Knox yesterday told a court trying the American student for murder that she was bewildered by the woman's behaviour on the morning that the crime was discovered.

Blonde, bespectacled Filomena Romanelli also posed a string of problems for the defence. She said that when she returned to the house they shared on 2 November 2007 the washing machine was warm. She later identified most of the clothes inside as those of the victim, Meredith Kercher, a student at Leeds University."

The Guardian, 8/02/09

and she testified that the clothes had been bleached too?

Have you managed to watch the police video because the picture you linked to is not one showing blood at the scene?

The "bloody" footprints were not tested for blood. Many other substances react with luminol.

AK at no point confessed to murder, the statement made apparently under duress - with no lawyer/translator (and the tapes for interrogation seem to be unavailble)relate to her being in the house and Lumumba killing Meredith. The 2nd part is obviously not true. She took back the statement very soon afterwards.

the footprints of the other women living at the house were not taken for comparison to the footprints revealed by Luminol in the hallway.

I think the fact that not one fingerprint belonging to AK or RS was founf at the crime scene is the single most important and inescapable information. The room and Meredith had Guede's fingerprints everywhere.

But why the staged break -in? I am uncomfortable with this amateur sleuthing, but it is difficult not to discuss the conflicting evidence in the case.

piece of information. Typing with baby prising my fingers off keys [yes I must go]