Posted on 04/30/2014 8:22:00 AM PDT by Scoutmaster
The former exchange student from Seattle delivered the fatal slash as cohorts restrained victim Meredith Kercher during a 2007 drug-fueled get together, the judicial panel in Florence asserted in a 337-page document.
In their lengthy dissertation explaining the “motivation” behind their guilty verdict, the judges said the evidence shows Knox “lashed the deadly wound to the throat.”
The judges also concluded that Kercher, 21, of Great Britain was stabbed with “two different knives,” including the one wielded by Knox.
The report found Knox’s ex-boyfriend Rafaelle Sollecito and Rudy Guede were equally responsible for Kercher’s death.
Guede, who is serving a 16-year prison sentence for the murder, told investigators that Kercher had accused Knox of stealing 300 euros from her bedroom in the house they shared in Perugia, Italy.
“Meredith was immobilized and was unable to put up any useful resistance due to the fact that she was overpowered by a number of aggressors and simultaneously stabbed with the blades,” the judges wrote in the report.
The report was written to support the panel’s conviction of Knox and Sollecito in January. Defense lawyers now have 90 days to appeal to Italy’s high court.
From her home in Seattle, Knox scoffed at the report.
“The recent motivation document does not — and cannot — change the forensic evidence: Experts agreed that my DNA was not found anywhere in Meredith’s room, while the DNA of the actual murderer, Rudy Guede, was found throughout that room and on Meredith’s body,” Knox said in a statement Tuesday.
“This forensic evidence directly refutes the multiple-assailant theory found in the new motivation document,” she said. “This theory is not supported by any reliable forensic evidence.”
She said she remained “hopeful” that the Italian Supreme Court will “once again recognize my innocence.”
Knox has vowed to fight any attempts to extradite her to Italy, saying, “they’ll have to pull me back kicking and screaming.”
She and Sollecito were initially found guilty in 2009 and both were sentenced to 25 years in prison. An appeals court overturned the convictions in 2011 and released Sollecito and Knox, who immediately returned to the U.S.
In March 2013, Italy’s highest criminal court set aside the acquittal and ordered a new trial. During the retrial, Knox, who remained in Seattle, and Sollecito were convicted.
The report's release means Knox's defense attorney can now appeal the case to Italy's Supreme Court. If Knox is again found guilty, she could have to face an extradition fight.
impeach obama
I suppose that could be arranged.
It would seem to me a voluntary lie detector given to one or both could confirm her complicity.
American Beauty? Please
I’ve heard much ABOUT this case, but find it bizarre. What is the lowdown? Did Knox likely commit murder, or is she being setup? Italian courts don’t seem trustworthy, lol.
She somehow just cleaned up all her own DNA, but left the other DNA intact, lol, brilliant. This is absurd. They have the killer. He’s in jail.
This is a change from the Italian courts original claim that-a she was-a moorder the signorella in a Satanic orgy where she was-a witnessed consorting with the devil.
Mama-Mia! Asti Spumante!
Too bad she’s white. Obama would pardon her.
Italy, lovely as it is, is stuck in the 15th Century and remains largely in the grip of medieval superstition.
But in this case I say "send her back".
Maybe it’s the Rococo style of criminal theory.
A known burglar with a history of carrying a knife surprises a young woman when he breaks into a house, rapes her and kills her.
Too easy! Too simple! Too mundane for such a tragedy! Not just Guede’s knife, not just Occam’s Razor, so English, so boring! There were two or three of them! There was acquaintance, and hatred, and perversion, and jealousy! There was sex gone wrong! Yes! That is the theory!
She had better keep her appeals going and never step foot outside the United States.
Her claim of no DNA doesn't hold up. Assuming the two guys have subdued the victim all she had to do was take the knife and slash or stab. Assuming the three together had even half a brain between them they would have washed any trace blood off themselves (at least her hands) and there is no reason for her DNA to be on the knife (especially since they must have cleaned it)
At any rate, I believe the very simplest explanation is she was involved. To believe otherwise is too much of a stretch. I say guilty and extradite her. Don't play if you can't pay.
Italy: great food, lovely buildings, stunning art.
And socially a complete cluster.
Why would she have left DNA at all? What form? Spit? Blood? What are the odds that any other kid in Europe, Asai, or here on a foreign education year abroad would be involved in the brutal murder of a roommate? A zillion to one. Guilty. You’re wrong.
This is now a third new theory, supported by no evidence, by a kangaroo court in Italy. I followed it for a while back when... And I just don't see any compelling evidence at all that leads me to a guilty finding. I don't think she did it.
Sure....a suburban college kid with no history of violence gets involved in there-way sex with a jobless criminal from Africa & hacks her roommate to death.
Huh? So a roommate is -always- guilty?
Since she was previously found "not guilty", extraditing her would subject her to double jeopardy, which is why I think US judges will likely say no.
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