Thanks. I thank you as well. It’s a shame that people can’t discuss things without realizing that good people can disagree. On cases like these, people get emotional because if they think that they are innocent, then the results before the vindication were beyond tragic.
Forgetting about this case for a minute, even well meaning people have convicted innocents. The Center for Prosecutor Integrity documents studies that show that this has happened in America to the tune of tens of thousands each year, each one an unimaginable tragedy (which can be prevented if juries really adhere to the absolutely presumption of innocence beyond reasonable doubt, which is supposed to be the basis of all criminal law decisions).
As to Knox/Sollecito - I looked at both sides and while the following scenario might seem outlandish when proposed on the face of it, it is the one of only scenarios that accounts for all evidence. The minor variations of this scenario that still fit in, wouldn’t change guilt or innocence.
The fact that they (or at least one of them) would have been drenched with Meredith’s blood, leading to real and tangible evidence almost no matter what they did, if they (or one) had stabbed her, seems solid. There also seems to be physical evidence that they were in the room (like the luminol scenario you pointed out) and a lot of made up stories (too many - a guilty pair, or guilty partner cooperating would have stuck with one, just almost always a bad one). The apprehension and backing away from the room may have just been worry and fearing the worst (many would react this way), but that’s accounted for too in this scenario.
They likely walked in on her body and Knox probably flipped and somewhat(minorly - but enough to find out what happened) contaminated herself with the blood. Sollecito would have tried to calm her down and was less contaminated. They then knew that they’d be prime suspects and everything else is indicative of reacting to intense fear without the guilt. The general sense that they were innocent is also usually right (but not always - which is why one can never convict on a hunch and doing so is an atrocity).
Like I said, this scenario seems totally outlandish on the face of it. If they reported it, they likely would not have been believed (until the evidence checked out - and their ordeal may have lasted only weeks). But no other dissimilar scenario answers both sides of the evidence.
Anyway, just my take, but seems most in line with all evidence.
Sorry that this post is so long...
I’ve been thinking that the same could be said for Rudy Guede. First I want to be clear that I don’t believe he’s innocent, either. But, his story that, after using the bathroom, he discovered the victim, attempted to stop the bleeding, and then panicked and bolted does seem to match up with his footprints.
But, of course, the evidence suggests that she probably was raped by him, and his behavior following the crime also suggests that he’s guilty.
I’ve also tried to think of scenarios where Knox/Sollecito contaminated the place with their own DNA but weren’t guilty...
The thing is, Sollecito’s DNA was found in one place in the victim’s room - it was found on the victim’s bra hook. Of course, the defense argued that investigators must’ve contaminated the bra hook with his DNA. Although that doesn’t really make sense, let’s ignore Sollecito’s DNA evidence for a moment.
Let’s also ignore the evidence that the break-in was staged; let’s say that Guede broke the glass in the other room, crawled through that window, and somehow left none of his DNA evidence anywhere near the window or in that room. Then let’s say that he needed to use the bathroom, and Kercher came home unexpectedly. Let’s presume that Guede then came out of the bathroom and acted in this crime alone.
That means that Guede was somehow able to overpower the victim and do all of those things without her sustaining any defensive wounds. It also means that, for some reason, Guede was the one who stripped the victim after her death, moved her body, and repositioned her body. And then he walked right out the front door without closing it all the way.
Then maybe we can say that, when Knox first went home, she found the door ajar (according to what she says), and she alone walked into the crime scene, discovered the crime, then accidentally tracked the victim’s blood in the other room where she discovered the break-in (which would explain why her DNA mixed with the victim’s was found in there). Then for some reason, she panicked, but instead of running out of the house, came to believe that she might be wrongly accused of the crime, so she showered in the small bathroom. I find that difficult to believe, but let’s say that this is why her DNA (and no one else’s) was found mixed with the victim’s in the small bathroom. Then she went back to Sollecito and told him what happened, and he returned with her.
Or let’s say that they both found the victim and worried that they would be wrongly accused. They used Knox’s lamp to look around the room for anything they might’ve dropped, which could explain why Knox’s lamp was in that room. Then they both showered, which would explain Sollecito’s footprint on the bathmat.
Whatever happened, let’s presume that Sollecito closed and locked Kercher’s bedroom door (which would explain why her door was locked and only Sollecito’s fingerprints were found on the knob), and then one of them got rid of the key to that door so that it’s never been found.
The thing is, we’d have to ignore the other evidence, plus witness testimonies, and even Knox and Sollecito’s own stories, in order to make that story add up, and even then, they’re both still guilty of interfering with a crime scene.
Her story is that she showered without noticing the crime. If that’s true, then maybe she walked over Guede’s bloody footprints, and that could be how her DNA became mixed with the victim’s and ended up tracked around. She claims she used the bathmat to slide on after her shower because she didn’t have a towel. To believe all that, we’d still have to ignore the bra clasp and other evidence, make excuses for her and Sollecito’s changing alibis and stories, believe that investigators contaminated everything and that all witness testimonies were false, and make leaps in logic about what Guede did - such as, how did he lock the bedroom door without his footprints showing that he turned to lock it? (And, if we’re willing to make all these excuses for these two suspects, then why not for Guede, who also claims that he was railroaded?)
To me, it’s more plausible that all three were involved somehow in the crime... even if that means that she herself didn’t commit the crime but was covering for her boyfriend.
Or, maybe, just maybe, Knox/Sollecito weren’t involved with the murder but found the crime scene and then went looking for soemthing in her room (drugs? money?), and Sollecito accidentally picked up the bra clasp.
I know Knox comes across as harmless. But so did Jodi Arias. Much is said here about Guede’s involvement with drugs and burglary; but Knox and Sollecito were drug users themselves, and they each had their own interesting behaviors at the time.
But now the Italian courts have ruled that they’re “not guilty,” and we’ll have to wait 3 months for a full report. We’ll find out the court’s reasoning then, I suppose.
In all this, Meredith Kercher’s family has suffered tremendously. And now it looks like they’ll never have all the answers.