Meredith Kercher Found Deceased 11/1/07 - Rudy Guede Sentenced To 16 Years - Amanda Knox And Raffaele Sollecito Found Not Guilty

Friends Like These
By speaking loudly—and condescendingly—on her behalf, American supporters of Amanda Knox have hurt her standing in Italy at exactly the moment she begins to appeal her murder conviction.

September 15, 2010



Amanda Knox must surely cringe every time she hears that another vocal supporter in the United States has taken up her cause. The 23-year-old Seattle student is currently serving 26 years in Capanne prison near Perugia, Italy, for the sexual assault and murder of her British roommate, Meredith Kercher, in 2007. A Perugia jury found her unanimously guilty last December, but her ardent supporters in America have been convinced, even before the verdict came down, that she was the victim of a botched investigation and a show trial. And they’ve advertised their point loudly in the American press. Problem is, every time someone shouts about her unfair conviction back home, the reverberations are felt all the way to her Italian cellblock.

Knox does not ask for this kind of attention. Instead, prison guards and inmates say she bides her time behind bars studying and reading, careful not to say anything that would be held against her during her appeal, scheduled to begin later this fall.

Read more: http://www.newsweek.com/2010/09/15/how-amanda-knox-s-supporters-could-doom-her.html

Hayden Panettiere to play Amanda Knox in Lifetime movie

Sept. 21, 2010, 1:36 PM EST
WENN


Hayden Panettiere

"Heroes" actress Hayden Panettiere has signed a deal with Lifetime to star in "The Amanda Knox Story," about the U.S. exchange student's sensational Italian murder trial surrounding the brutal killing of her British roommate.

Knox became an object of international fascination at 20, when she and her Italian boyfriend were arrested in Italy in November 2007 and accused by prosecutors of killing 21-year-old Meredith Kercher during a violent night fueled by sex and drugs.

Knox; her boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito; and Italian native Rudy Guede were charged with sexually assaulting Kercher, while Knox was accused of slashing her roommate's throat with a knife.

Knox's 11-month trial ended last December, and she was sentenced to 26 years in an Italian jail. She maintains her innocence and has filed an appeal.

Sollecito received 25 years and, in a separate trial, Guede received 30 years.

"The Amanda Knox Story" is set to air next year.

http://tv.msn.com/tv/article.aspx?news=596883&gt1=28103

It would make sense to wait Tish.

Meredith's family is also unhappy about the movie and the family's lawyer seems to agree with you.

Victim's family fury as Heroes star Hayden Panettiere is cast to play 'Foxy Knoxy' in new movie

By Paul Thompson and Nick Pisa
Last updated at 3:06 PM on 21st September 2010

~Snipped~
The Kerchers’ lawyer Francesco Maresca said the family was unhappy that a Hollywood version of the 2007 murder is being made.

He said: ‘It is inopportune as the trial is still on going with two further appeals.’
Miss Kercher’s mother Arline said it was insulting for the film to be named after her daughter’s killer.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1313801/Meredith-Kerchers-family-furious-Foxy-Knoxy-movie.html

I know the Kerchers need someone to blame for the death of their daughter... it's only human nature. And since Amanda was arrested (and convicted) for the murder, they seem to have just gone along with it. I have a hard time understanding how they could truly believe in their hearts that Amanda killed Meredith if they really looked at the facts without prejudice and possibly even without the need to for someone to pay for their loss, however natural. Nothing about Amanda killing Meredith makes sense.... the REAL facts don't even point to her. But they seem to believe she is guilty.

I believe from the moment Amanda was arrested, she never had a prayer of being found not guilty.

I do agree that it is an extremely bad time for the movie to be made. It must be hell for Amanda and her family. It goes without saying that Meredith's family is in a hell of their own.

Knox lawyers to fight Panettiere flick

By WENN.COM
Last Updated: September 23, 2010 1:13pm



~Snipped~

Knox's attorney Maria Del Grosso, says, "It is inconceivable to make a film when a final verdict on this case has not been reached."

Giulia Bongiorno, a lawyer representing Knox's ex-boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito, who was also convicted of Kercher's murder, adds, "If the film is shown before the end of the appeals trial we will request it be seized (by authorities)."

Read more: http://www.torontosun.com/news/world/2010/09/23/15450396-wenn-story.html

Agreed, AJ!!! Shame on Hollywood!! Always looking for that next buck and it doesn't matter who it hurts in the process.

Mom: Amanda Knox Upbeat as Appeal Progresses
American Convicted of Murder in Italy also Faces Charges of Slandering Police; Family Says They're Not Trying to Block Film

Sept. 27, 2010


Watch CBS News Videos Online

(CBS) Just 10 months after being convicted of murder in an Italian court, 23-year-old Seattle native Amanda Knox will face a judge again on Friday - not for what she did, but for what she said, reports CBS News correspondent Jeff Glor.

Knox is already in prison for a murder she claims she didn't commit, but this week Italian authorities will try to add more years to her sentence, charging that her claims of being aggressively coerced by police during her interrogation were untrue and amount to slander.

Knox claimed that she was "hit in the back of the head by one of the police officers who said she was trying to ... help me remember the truth" as she was being questioned about the death of Meredith Kercher.

Police say that's a lie - that officers never hit her. On Friday, Knox will face a judge and a possible six years added to the 26 she's already serving.

Knox's parents also face slander charges for repeating their daughter's claims to a British newspaper, but her mother isn't worried.

Read more: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/09/27/earlyshow/main6904181.shtml

Knox won't get new judge in slander trial

by LINDA BYRON / KING 5 News
KING5.com
September 29, 2010

SEATTLE - The Italian Supreme Court has turned down a request by Amanda Knox’s attorneys to replace the judge in her upcoming slander trial, which is scheduled to begin Friday.

Prosecutors charged Knox with slander after she was convicted of murder. They say she falsely accused police of hitting her during initial questioning at the police station. The hearing Friday is a pre-trial proceeding to determine whether Knox will officially stand trial.

Read more: http://www.king5.com/news/local/KNOX-WONT-GET-NEW-JUDGE-IN-SLANDER-TRIAL-104017614.html

IMO, Amanda doesn't even have a minute chance with the same judge... much less a FAIR chance.

I shudder every time I think about the atrocities that went on during her year long trial.....

Amanda Knox's Italian slander trial delayed

by TERESA YUAN / KING 5 News
Posted on October 1, 2010 at 10:43 AM

PERGUIA, ITALY - Amanda Knox's latest legal battle has been delayed until next month.

Italian prosecutors are deciding if the 23-year-old former University of Washington student will officially stand trial for slander. Prosecutors say she falsely accused police of hitting her during questioning in the murder investigation of her British roommate Meredith Kercher.

Knox was driven in a black van to the Italian courtroom Friday morning. News cameras were not allowed in the courtroom, but she only spent a short time in the courtroom.

Her parents tell KING 5 News that the pre-trial hearing lasted about 20 minutes.

Her parents say only eight of the 12 Italian police officers that were part of the alleged hitting incident showed up at the hearing today .

The proceeding was continued to November 8th.

Read more: http://www.kgw.com/news/Amanda-Knoxs-Italian-slander-trial-delayed-104163044.html

The police are charging her with slander?????!!!!
YE GADS!!!
WHAT NEXT???!!!

kh

Thanks AJ. I'll watch that now! kh

Well, I reckon I might just fail a polygraph after 5 HOURS of listening to LE tell me I was guilty of a crime I didn't commit too!!! He should have obtained legal counsel (Yup! He shudda "lawyered up") and refused to answer any more questions until his representation was present. Sickening. kh

PS: Also an excellent example of why lie detectors are not admissable as evidence. kh

FYI....

"ID Investigates: A Nightmare Abroad" will air on Thursday, October 7, at 10:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. and again on Sunday, October 10 at 11:00 a.m.

This is a repeat of the original air date of March 28, 2010.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Oct 07, 10:00 am
(60 minutes)


ID Investigates: A Nightmare Abroad

TV-14 (DL)

American student Amanda Knox has been found guilty of murdering her British flatmate Meredith Kercher in Perugia, Northern Italy. This is a unique insight into her fiercely contested and internationally high profile Italian trial.

Yes, I agree. kh

Amanda Knox Is Apprehensive, Can't Sleep as Murder Appeal Approaches
Amanda Knox Marks Third Anniversary Today of Her Imprisonment

By NIKKI BATTISTE
Nov. 5, 2010



Amanda Knox marks a grim milestone today, the third full year of living in a prison cell.

It was on Nov. 5, 2007 that the Seattle junior was arrested by Italian police and charged with murdering her roommate Meredith Kercher. Denied bail, Knox, 23, has not left prison since except to attend the murder trial that ended with her conviction and 26 year prison sentence.

During those three years, Amanda Knox has become a household name, with several books, a Lifetime movie and potentially even a Hollywood film depicting her life.

Knox's real life, however, is spent sitting quietly in a 129 square foot prison cell in the outskirts of Perugia, Italy.

"Amanda says prison is like not living because nothing changes. She says everything is the same incessantly," her stepfather Chris Mellas told ABC News.

Lately, Knox's cloistered world has been agitated. Her family says that Knox has had trouble sleeping as the Nov. 24 date approaches for the appeal of her murder conviction. She is apprehensive, but hopeful, they said.

Read more: http://abcnews.go.com/International/amanda-knox-marks-anniversary-imprisonment/story?id=12065617

Remind me never to get in trouble in Italy. The police and the justice system are corrupt. Even at your trial, no one can speak English (not even the translators), and the living conditions are hell. kh

Amanda Knox indicted on slander charges

Updated: Nov 08, 2010 4:21 PM EST

PERUGIA, Italy (AP) - An Italian judge on Monday ordered Amanda Knox to stand trial on slander charges for claiming she was beaten by police when questioned in 2007 about her roommate's slaying.

The 23-year-old American maintains she was just trying to defend herself and never meant to offend or slander anybody, her lawyers said.

Knox had claimed she was beaten and put under pressure by police during questioning over the slaying of Meredith Kercher three years ago. She said police repeatedly called her a "stupid liar."

Read more: http://www.klkntv.com/Global/story.asp?S=13462050

Amanda Knox's conviction was 'biased, unjust and breached international law': Lawyers launch murder appeal

By Daniel Bates
Last updated at 3:37 PM on 19th November 2010

Amanda Knox's conviction was biased, unjust and in breach of international law, her appeal lawyers will argue next week.

No motive was ever given for why the 23-year-old murdered British student Meredith Kercher and ‘mere hypotheses’ were used to reach the guilty verdict, they claim.

Her lawyers will call for a complete review of all forensic evidence and for her sentence to be overturned.

Knox was jailed for 26 years last December for the killing of Miss Kercher, 21, who was found semi-naked and with her throat cut in her bedroom of the house they shared in the Italian hilltop town of Perugia.

In a strongly-worded appeal, her legal team will argue that the conviction was against Italian and international law because it was so flawed.

They will claim that because of the amount of attention focused on the case, the decision was biased and not a fair trial.

‘The court has grossly violated these principles (of law) and has therefore committed serious noncompliance and misapplication of assessment criteria,’ the papers read.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1331304/Amanda-Knox-appeal-Murder-conviction-unjust-breached-international-law.html

Amanda Knox makes brief court appearance in Italy

By ALESSANDRA RIZZO Associated Press
Story Updated: Nov 24, 2010 at 11:16 AM PST





PERUGIA, Italy (AP) - After three years in prison, a gaunt-looking Amanda Knox returned to an Italian court Wednesday for a hearing that marked the opening of an appeals trial for the American student convicted of murdering her British roommate.

- Photos from the court hearing >>>

The hearing lasted only 15 minutes, as the presiding judge agreed to adjourn the case until Dec. 11, when the jury will hear a summary of the first trial and possibly preliminary requests for new evidence and witnesses from the defense.

Read more: http://www.komonews.com/news/local/110382669.html

Forensics engineer joins campaign to free Amanda Knox

by LINDA BYRON / KING 5 News
Posted on November 24, 2010 at 7:17 PM



~Snipped~

Kercher’s bedroom was small. Hendry said the open space is hardly bigger than a queen-sized bed and if there were four people in the room engaged in a physical struggle, they would have sustained injuries and they would have left their DNA all over the room.

Hendry said it was Rudy Guede who left a bloody footprint in the room, along with his DNA on the victim and on her belongings.

"I believe that he (Guede) felt that his life was over, he was very upset with Meredith Kercher, for causing him to kill her,” he said. “It’s very twisted logic, but this was an act of revenge,” Hendry said.

Hendry believes Guede was burglarizing the cottage and was surprised and angered by Kercher’s presence.

He also said that Amanda Knox was incapable of inflicting the mortal knife wound, which was three inches long and quite deep.

"Basically, it takes someone very strong to do this," he said.

Read more: http://www.king5.com/news/investigators/Forensics-engineer-joins-campaign-to-free-Amanda-Knox-110519164.html

What Really Happened to Meredith Kercher?

Reconstruction Shows the Details of What Happened.

Ron Hendry for Salem-News.com
Dec-04-2010 11:59

(DALLAS, Tx.) - As Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito prepare to appeal their convictions for murdering Meredith Kercher, a forensic expert has stepped forward with a detailed and precise reconstruction of the crime.

Ron Hendry is blunt in his conclusion: "Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito would never have been regarded as persons of interest – much less suspects – had the police correctly done their job from the start," he says.

Hendry is a forensic engineer whose specialty is accident reconstruction. He has analyzed upwards of 2,000 civil cases and testified many times with regard to his opinions. He has interfaced with and reviewed the work of police investigators on many cases.

"Typically, with major accidents, the police have little time to spend on a job before having to move on," Hendry explains. "I come behind them and usually spend a great deal more time. In cases that occurred months or years before I was brought in, the most relevant evidence is a set of photos of the accident scene. My technique is to study these photos intensely and then acquire enough information to do a scale layout. My approach is to analyze and interpret the physical evidence and review how it corresponds with witness accounts. I never start with witness accounts in any analysis."

Hendry has studied photos and videos from the Meredith Kercher murder scene, and he has applied his reconstruction methodology to figure out exactly what happened. Meredith was killed inside a small room with a regular grid of floor tiles – a setting well suited to Hendry's approach.

"I made a scale layout of the room, using the floor tiles to determine the exact location of bloodstains and other elements of the crime scene," he explains. "I took a slow, methodical approach. I spent dozens of hours poring over the photos, looking at the details that reveal what happened."

Read more: http://www.salem-news.com/articles/december042010/amanda-know.php

This is sad. I haven't followed this case in detail, but it just makes me wonder why do other countries hate Americans so much? I hope Amanda is given her freedom back one day......God Bless the USA!

Amanda Knox: Court has made 'huge mistake'

From Barbie Nadeau, For CNN
December 11, 2010 -- Updated 1159 GMT

Perugia, Italy (CNN) -- Former American student Amanda Knox gave an emotional plea Saturday while appealing her conviction in the murder of her British roommate in Italy.

Knox spoke for about 15 minutes and broke down in tears. She said that she and her former Italian boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, are innocent and unjustly accused.

"I've been condemned for the crime I did not commit," Knox said.

Knox also added that court has made "a huge mistake."

"I don't know how to face the time ahead," she said.

Knox was sentenced last year to 26 years in prison for the killing of Meredith Kercher at the villa they shared in Perugia, the central Italian town where both were students.

Read more: http://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/europe/12/11/italy.knox.appeal/

Thank you AJ for posting the update on Amanda. What a nightmare for Amanda and her family.

You beat me to it, AJ! I was just reading this article! kh

MP wants Amanda Knox mug shot removed

Published: Dec. 31, 2010 at 9:30 AM

ROME, Dec. 31 (UPI) -- A member of Italy's Parliament says he wants a photo of American Amanda Knox, convicted of killing her roommate, removed from a wall in a Rome police station.

Rocco Girlanda support's Knox's bid to overturn her conviction but he complained that only her photograph -- and not those of two men also convicted of the killing -- was posted on a wall alongside pictures of criminals such as jailed Cosa Nostra boss Bernardo Provenzano.

Read more: http://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2010/12/31/MP-wants-Amanda-Knox-mug-shot-removed/UPI-40941293805827/

Murder trial of Amanda Knox featured in TV movie

The Associated Press, Friday, January 7, 2011, 6:59pm (PST)

PASADENA, Calif. (AP) -- The murder trial of American college student Amanda Knox is recreated in a television movie that had the actors debating her innocence or guilt.

Read more:
http://wonderwall.msn.com/entertainment/murder-trial-of-amanda-knox-featured-in-tv-movie-1590719.story

Amanda Knox's parents indicted for libel in Italy

Updated: Feb 15, 2011 03:31 PM

PERUGIA, Italy (AP) - The parents of Amanda Knox, an American student convicted of murder in Italy, were ordered Tuesday to stand trial for alleging that Italian police abused their daughter, a lawyer and media reports said.

Curt Knox and Edda Mellas were indicted in Perugia for libel, said the Italian news agency ANSA. Lawyer Luciano Ghirga confirmed the indictment and said trial was set for July 4.

Read more: http://www.wggb.com/Global/story.asp?S=14034508

Hayden Panettiere: Amanda Knox film is 'tasteful' and 'fact-driven'

Feb 21, 2011



~Snipped~

The film is under fire because of its sex, violence and portrayal of Knox. Amanda's stepfather Chris Mellas told Today that Amanda "had seen a little bit of it and was absolutely horrified by it." Douglas Preston, author of The Monster of Florence, also said on Today this morning that the story is not correct; it's based on "erroneous and manipulated facts" presented at the first trial - "which have now been thrown out by appeals court."

Read more: http://content.usatoday.com/communities/entertainment/post/2011/02/hayden-panettiere-amanda-knox-film-is-tasteful-and-fact-driven/1

Review finds low levels of DNA on knife in Knox case

ALESSANDRA RIZZO; The Associated Press
Updated: 03/26/11 3:39 am

PERUGIA, Italy – Independent forensic experts reviewing evidence in Amanda Knox’s appeals trial have found very low traces of DNA on the knife allegedly used in the murder of her roommate, possibly too small to determine in a retest whether the former University of Washington student’s DNA was on it, news reports and a lawyer said Friday.

If confirmed, the finding could boost Knox’s chances of having her murder conviction overturned. However, defense lawyers were cautious in their reaction, and an attorney representing the victim’s family said the finding had been expected and that even low DNA traces might be analyzed.

Read more: http://www.thenewstribune.com/2011/03/26/1600408/review-finds-low-levels-of-dna.html

Thanks for the update, this case is puzzling to me.

New revelations: No evidence against Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito

By Candace Dempsey
April 3, 2011

The case against Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito is all over but the shouting. Say goodbye to the “queen’s evidence”–from discredited DNA to the “ear witness” with mental and hearing problems to a deluded “super-witness” who claimed he saw the former lovers near the crime scene on the cold Italian night that somebody slashed the throat of Knox’s British roommate Meredith Kercher. Say goodbye also to the infamous “bleaching theory,” since no bleach was found on the so-called murder weapon, nor any trace of anything related to the crime.

Treated like mafiosi during interrogations, demonized by the media, refused lawyers and thrown into solitary confinement until their first court date, the two college students have been behind bars since Nov. 2007. What connects them to the crime?

Read more: http://blog.seattlepi.com/dempsey/2011/04/03/new-revelations-no-evidence-against-amanda-knox-and-raffaele-sollecito/

'It is the worst criminal prosecution I've seen outside of Iran'

By Sabra Gertsch
Story Updated: Apr 5, 2011 at 8:54 AM PDT



SEATTLE -- Was the trial of Amanda Knox fair?

More than a hundred people gathered at Seattle University on Monday to consider that question.

As a part of the public forum titled "Amanda Knox: The Case for Innocence," the crowd watched personal video from people who were there, and dissected the case against the former University of Washington student and her former boyfriend, Rafaelle Sollecito.

Read more: http://www.komonews.com/news/119233129.html?

Amanda Knox: “Bloody footprints” tested negative for blood

By Candace Dempsey
April 8, 2011

“CSI technique leads Italian police to bloody footprint in Foxy Knoxy’s bedroom,” Britain’s sleazy Daily Mail once claimed. Until recently, even Wikipedia insisted that police had found bloody, luminol-revealed footprints in the “house of horrors.” Prosecutors claimed the prints were “compatible” with the feet of U.S. college student Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito, the ex-lovers convicted of the murder of Meredith Kercher, along with alleged co-conspirator and petty burglar Rudy Guede.

We now know that investigators had tested the luminol footprints for blood and found them lacking, a truth carefully hidden from December 17, 2007 (when they were collected) until September 2009, when defense expert Sarah Gino outed the negative test during the trial that led to Knox and Sollecito’s conviction. Even now “bloody footprints” are the Knox case’s most persistent urban legend.

“Luminol identified nine prints in the cottage, but none were derived from blood,” notes investigative reporter Maria D’Alia in The Crime of Perugia: The Other Truth, a refreshingly fact-based book on the Knox case.

Read more: http://blog.seattlepi.com/dempsey/2011/04/08/amanda-knox-bloody-footprints-tested-negative-for-blood/

Amanda Knox Back in Italian Courtroom, This Time on Slander Charges

By PHOEBE NATANSON
ROME May 17, 2011



Amanda Knox was back in an Italian courtroom for a brief appearance today in her new trial on charges that she slandered Italian police during her murder trial.

Looking at ease, wearing a white long-sleeve t-shirt, black slacks and a green band in her hair, Knox, 23, was escorted into the courtroom by jail guards. She smiled as soon as she saw her father, Curt Knox, who just arrived from their hometown of Seattle Monday night from the U.S. and who she hasn't seen for a number of months.

Knox was in the Perugia courtroom for the first hearing of a new trial in which she is accused slandering seven Perugia police officials and an interpreter. The slander accusation stems from Knox's testimony that police were abusive towards her while she was being interrogated prior to her Nov. 6, 2007 arrest.

Read more: http://abcnews.go.com/International/amanda-knox-back-italian-court-slander-trial/story?id=13619218

Knox’s father accuses Italian police of not providing key info to DNA experts

DNA experts seek extension to May 21 deadline.

May 19, 2011 12:03 pm EDT

Curt Knox, the father of American exchange student Amanda Knox, has criticized Italian police for not providing critical DNA information his daughter’s lawyers have requested in their appeal.

Read more: http://www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/90048953?Knox%26%23146%3Bs%20father%20accuses%20Italian%20police%20of%20not%20providing%20key%20info%20to%20DNA%20experts

A tearful Knox tells Italian court: 'I'm innocent'

AP foreign, Saturday May 21 2011
ALESSANDRA RIZZO

Associated Press= PERUGIA, Italy (AP) — Being in prison is "very frustrating and mentally exhausting," a tearful Amanda Knox said Saturday, insisting she is innocent of murdering her roommate and does not want to spend the rest of her life behind bars.

The former exchange student was emotional as she briefly addressed the appeals court in Perugia, her voice breaking at times. The 23-year-old American is appealing her 2009 conviction for sexually assaulting and murdering British student Meredith Kercher, for which she received 26 years in prison.

Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/feedarticle/9657225

DNA experts tell Italian court of evidence-gathering errors made in Amanda Knox case

July 25, 2011
Alessandra Rizzo
The Associated Press

PERUGIA, Italy - The investigators who collected the genetic evidence used to convict American student Amanda Knox of murder in Italy made a series of glaring errors, including using a dirty glove and not wearing caps, two independent forensic experts said Monday.

The experts had been appointed by an Italian appeals court to review the DNA evidence used in Knox's trial, including some found on a kitchen knife believed to be the murder weapon and some found on the clasp of the victim's bra.

That evidence played a crucial role in securing the convictions of Knox and her co-defendant Raffaele Sollecito in the 2007 murder of Meredith Kercher, a Briton who shared an apartment with Knox while they were both exchange students in the city of Perugia.

Read more: http://www.squamishchief.com/article/GB/20110725/CP01/307259949/-1/squamish/dna-experts-tell-italian-court-of-evidence-gathering-errors-made-in

Since this is still in an Italian courtroom with Italian prosecutors and judge, do you think Amanda and her atty's have a change for a fair trial this time?

I certainly hope so.

Are her parents there for this hearing?

Italian court gives favorable ruling to Amanda Knox

The court denied a prosecutor's request for new testing of crucial DNA evidence in the American woman's appeal of her murder conviction.

Associated Press
September 7, 2011, 12:02 p.m.

PERUGIA, Italy—
An Italian court rejected a prosecutor's request Wednesday for new testing of crucial DNA evidence in the appeals trial of Amanda Knox -- a positive development for the American student who is seeking to overturn her murder conviction.

The decision to deny more DNA testing was a blow to the prosecution, which had sought to counter the results of a court-ordered independent review that harshly criticized how genetic evidence was used in the case.

Without a clear motive or convincing witnesses, the DNA evidence is crucial, and much of the appeals outcome hinges on it.

The court presided over by Judge Claudio Pratillo Hellmann also set closing arguments to begin Sept. 23, with the prosecution going first, followed by civil plaintiffs and the defense. A verdict is expected by the end of September.

Read more: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fgw-amanda-knox-20110907,0,7098692.story

Amanda Knox hopes to be home for Thanksgiving - report

Fri Sep 9, 2011 2:49pm GMT

ROME (Reuters) - U.S. student Amanda Knox, who is appealing her conviction for the 2007 murder of her British housemate in Italy, is hopeful she could be free in time for the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday on November 24, an Italian daily reported.

Knox, 24, told the Il Messaggero daily through her lawyer that she felt the court was finally listening to her version of events, and she said she always believed the truth would emerge.

Read more: http://af.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idAFTRE78847O20110909

That would be great! I hope she is released to go home. What a thanksgiving that would be.

Confident and optimistic, Amanda Knox waits to hear the final verdict

The best friend of Amanda Knox says she has been transformed by prison, and is now waiting for the acquittal she and her family expect.

Tom Kington
The Observer, Saturday 17 September 2011

Every week Madison Paxton takes the bus from the centre of Perugia for the 20-minute ride to the new jail on the outskirts of the city where her friend Amanda Knox is incarcerated for the murder of British student Meredith Kercher.

They sit across a bare table in the visitors' room for an hour. Knox is telling Paxton of her hopes for freedom and talking about the prison life she believes will soon be over. From the windows of the cell she shares with three other women Knox can glimpse the lush Umbrian countryside and dreams of walking through the hills.

After months of making weekly visits to Perugia's Capanne jail, Paxton has seen Knox transformed. She knows her well from university days in America and recognises that the dark moods that followed her conviction have been replaced with bubbling optimism. The nickname of "Bambi" given to Knox by her jailers now seems very appropriate.

Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/sep/18/amanda-knox-awaits-verdict

Amanda Knox appeals trial enters final stretch

By Philip Pullella, Reuters
Last Updated: September 21, 2011 8:48am

The appeals trial of Amanda Knox, the American college student convicted of murdering her British housemate in a frenzied sex game, enters the closing stretch on Friday when the defence and prosecution begin final arguments.

Knox, 24, who was convicted in 2009 of the murder of Meredith Kercher, 21, of Surrey, England, has always maintained her innocence.

Read more: http://www.lfpress.com/news/world/2011/09/21/18718016.html