- Title: ITALY: Amanda Knox appeal against Meredith Kercher murder verdict begins
- Date: 25th November 2010
- Summary: PERUGIA, ITALY (NOVEMBER 24, 2010) (REUTERS) ( * BEWARE FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY **) EXTERIOR OF COURT POLICE OFFICERS OUTSIDE ENTRANCE TO COURT BUILDING MEDIA INSIDE COURTROOM VARIOUS OF AMANDA KNOX, BEING ESCORTED INTO COURTROOM KNOX SITTING DOWN RAFFAELE SOLLECITO BEING ESCORTED INTO COURTROOM JUDGES ENTERING COURTROOM HEARING IN PROGRESS PEOPLE ENTERING COURT TELEVISION CREWS WITH SATELLITE DISHES PARKED OUTSIDE COURT VARIOUS OF SCREEN SHOWING TRIAL AND KNOX LEAVING COURT CROWD GATHERED OUTSIDE COURT (SOUNDBITE) (Italian) MEREDITH KERCHER'S FAMILY LAWYER, FRANCESCO MARESCA, SAYING "I told them that they need to consider the destroyed life of Meredith after I heard some statements made by Amanda Knox, which were certainly legitimate declarations, because a 23-year-old girl must be suffering in jail. But I think death is a cause for greater suffering for (Meredith Kercher's) family and to those who knew her." KNOX'S DEFENCE LAWYER, LUCIANO GHIRGA, TALKING TO PEOPLE OUTSIDE COURT (SOUNDBITE) (Italian) KNOX'S DEFENCE LAWYER, LUCIANO GHIRGA, SAYING: "You have seen Amanda (Knox), she feels like she is being put to the test, she has changed. Amanda suffers. Now that the trial has started she is in a state of shock, but I hope this is a positive shock." (REPORTER ASKING A QUESTION OFF CAMERA, SAYING: "Is Amanda expecting to be freed?") "She wrote that. Amanda expects that someone will prove her innocence. In this case, the concept of evidence has been twisted, we were waiting for someone to prove that Amanda was guilty and we found ourselves having to demonstrate that Amanda was innocent and that is a little bit more difficult." POLICE VAN LEAVING
- Embargoed: 10th December 2010 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Italy
- Country: Italy
- Reuters ID: LVAC1JE7S9R1M5OLH6ERD2PHCB0V
- Story Text: U.S. jailed student, Amanda Knox, appeared in court in the Italian university town of Perugia on Wednesday (November 24) to appeal against her conviction for the murder of British student Meredith Kercher.
Knox, who is serving a 26-year-long sentence at a Perugia jail, was dressed casually in a blue sweatshirt for Wednesday's hearing and was said to be in good spirits by her stepfather Chris Mellas who had met her the day before the trial commenced.
Knox and her former boyfriend, Italian Raffaele Sollecito, were sentenced to 26 and 25 years in jail respectively for their part in the murder of Kercher after what judges said was a frenzied sex game that spiralled out of control.
Twenty-one-year-old Kercher's partly unclothed body was found in November 2007, locked in her blood-spattered bedroom in the house she shared with Knox and two other students in the central Italian town. It had a deep stab wound on the throat.
Knox and Sollecito are now appealing their convictions, with Knox's defence questioning DNA and other evidence at the 11-month murder trial.
According to prosecutors, small traces of DNA matching Kercher's were found on the blade of a knife, washed with bleach, at Sollecito's home. The defence said the knife did not match Kercher's wounds and questioned the evidence.
Kercher family lawyer, Francesco Maresca, told reporters that although he was aware of the young student's hardships in jail, it could not be compared to the suffering of a family who lost their child.
"I told them (court) that they need to consider the destroyed life of Meredith after I heard some statements made by Amanda Knox, which were certainly legitimate declarations, because a 23-year-old girl must be suffering in jail. But I think death is a cause for greater suffering for (Meredith Kercher's) family and to those who knew her," Maresca said after the hearing.
"You have seen Amanda (Knox), she feels like she is being put to the test, she has changed. Amanda suffers," Knox's lawyer Luciano Ghirga told reporters.
"Amanda expects that someone will prove her innocence. In this case, the concept of evidence has been twisted, we were waiting for someone to prove that Amanda was guilty and we found ourselves having to demonstrate that Amanda was innocent and that is a little bit more difficult," he he added.
Knox's conviction sparked outrage in the United States and her family strongly condemned Italy's judicial system.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the U.S. government would follow her appeal.
Their case has also attracted huge media attention in Italy and the United Kingdom. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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