Italy’s retrial of Amanda Knox begins, without Knox

FLORENCE, Italy — The Florence appellate court hearing U.S. student and Seattle native Amanda Knox’s third trial in her roommate’s murder agreed Monday to run additional DNA tests on the presumed weapon, but rejected more than a dozen other defense requests for new testimony or evidence.

On the trial’s opening day, presiding Judge Alessandro Nencini said the court agreed to test one DNA trace not previously examined on the knife that prosecutors allege killed British student Meredith Kercher; the trace had previously been deemed too small to test.

Italy’s highest court in March ordered a new trial for Knox and her Italian co-defendant, ex-boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito, after overturning their acquittals in Kercher’s November 2007 killing. The Court of Cassation blasted the 2011 appeals court acquittal, saying it was full of “deficiencies, contradictions and illogical” conclusions.

Knox, now a 26-year-old University of Washington student in Seattle, has not returned to Italy for the current trial, nor is she compelled by law to do so. Sollecito, now 29, likewise did not attend the trial, as is permitted in Italy.

Kercher’s body was found in a pool of blood, her throat slashed, in the house she shared with Knox in Perugia, a central Italian town popular with foreign exchange students. Suspicion fell on Knox and Sollecito, who had been dating for less than a week, due to their conflicting stories and what some viewed as strange behavior by Knox.

A third man, Rudy Guede, was convicted in the slaying and is serving a 16-year term. That court found that Guede had not acted alone.

On Monday, Knox defense lawyer Carlo Dalla Vedova warned of a risk of an ”infinite trial,” since the charge of murder has no statute of limitations. Sollecito’s lawyer, Giulia Bongiorno, asked the court to accept only ”reliable evidence,” saying the intense media attention on the case had tainted witness testimony during the previous trials.

The Florence court agreed to only three requests, a sign that it will apply its own interpretation to reams of evidence and testimony already submitted in the previous lower court conviction and appellate court acquittal.

Besides a new DNA test on the knife found in Sollecito’s kitchen, the court also agreed to the prosecution’s request to again hear testimony from a jailed mobster, Luciano Aviello, who had accused his brother in the murder in a jailhouse discussion with Sollecito. Aviello, whose criminal convictions include defamation, is to testify Friday.

The court also accepted into evidence defense photos showing Sollecito’s fingernails bitten down at the time of his arrest, which the defense argues is proof he didn’t participate in what prosecutors allege was a drug-fueled sex game that turned murderous.

Kercher family lawyer Francesco Maresca ridiculed the notion that the bitten-down nails were evidence that Sollecito could not have undone a bra clasp that had a trace of his DNA. ”I hold it with the fingertips without using my nails,” he said.

Knox’s protracted legal battle in Italy has made her a cause celebre in the United States and has put the Italian justice system under scrutiny. The Italian system does not include U.S. Fifth Amendment protection against a defendant being put in double jeopardy by government prosecution. Knox’s absence was noted by the court Monday.

”We refute the idea that because Amanda is not coming, that Amanda is guilty, that Amanda is using a strategy. Amanda always said she was a friend of Meredith’s. Amanda has always respected the Italian justice system,” one of Knox’s defense lawyers, Luciano Ghirga, told reporters before the trial opened.

Knox served four years of a 26-year sentence, including three years on a slander conviction for falsely accusing a Perugia bar owner in the murder, before leaving Italy a free woman after her 2011 acquittal. Sollecito also served four years of his 25-year sentence.

The bar owner, Diya ”Patrick” Lumumba, showed up at the trial Monday, saying he did so to underline the damage he suffered from Knox’s false accusations. “I say the same thing I said six years ago. I think she is guilty, and that is why she slandered me,” Lumumba told reporters.

Knox’s conviction for slandering Lumumba has been confirmed by the high court, but it asked the Florence appeals court to examine whether to reinstate an aggravating circumstance that Knox lied to derail the investigation and protect herself from becoming a murder suspect.

Meanwhile, the trials have left the Kercher family without clear answers in the death of their daughter.

In a letter submitted to court, the Kercher family urged the panel to allow any additional testing requested ”so that any unanswered questions can be clarified,” adding: ”It has been the most difficult six years of our lives and we want to be able to seek closure.”

Maresca, the Kercher’s family lawyer, said they still believe that all three defendants were present at the scene of the crime.

In its stunning 2011 acquittal that overturned Knox and Sollecito’s convictions, a Perugia appeals court criticized virtually the prosecution’s entire case. The appellate court noted that the murder weapon was never found, said that the DNA tests were faulty, and that prosecutors provided no murder motive.

Yet the Court of Cassation ruling was likewise strident, criticizing the appeals court ruling and saying it “openly collides with objective facts of the case.”

The high court said the appellate judges had ignored some evidence, considered other evidence insufficiently and undervalued the fact that Knox had initially accused a man of committing the crime who had nothing to do with it.

———

Patricia Thomas contributed from Florence, Italy.

Talk to us

> Give us your news tips.

> Send us a letter to the editor.

> More Herald contact information.

More in Local News

A firefighter stands in silence before a panel bearing the names of L. John Regelbrugge and Kris Regelbrugge during the ten-year remembrance of the Oso landslide on Friday, March 22, 2024, at the Oso Landslide Memorial in Oso, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
‘Flood of emotions’ as Oso Landslide Memorial opens on 10th anniversary

Friends, family and first responders held a moment of silence at 10:37 a.m. at the new 2-acre memorial off Highway 530.

Julie Petersen poses for a photo with images of her sister Christina Jefferds and Jefferds’ grand daughter Sanoah Violet Huestis next to a memorial for Sanoah at her home on March 20, 2024 in Arlington, Washington. Peterson wears her sister’s favorite color and one of her bangles. (Annie Barker / The Herald)
‘It just all came down’: An oral history of the Oso mudslide

Ten years later, The Daily Herald spoke with dozens of people — first responders, family, survivors — touched by the deadliest slide in U.S. history.

Victims of the Oso mudslide on March 22, 2014. (Courtesy photos)
Remembering the 43 lives lost in the Oso mudslide

The slide wiped out a neighborhood along Highway 530 in 2014. “Even though you feel like you’re alone in your grief, you’re really not.”

Director Lucia Schmit, right, and Deputy Director Dara Salmon inside the Snohomish County Department of Emergency Management on Friday, March 8, 2024, in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
How Oso slide changed local emergency response ‘on virtually every level’

“In a decade, we have just really, really advanced,” through hard-earned lessons applied to the pandemic, floods and opioids.

Ron and Gail Thompson at their home on Monday, March 4, 2024 in Oso, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
In shadow of scarred Oso hillside, mudslide’s wounds still feel fresh

Locals reflected on living with grief and finding meaning in the wake of a catastrophe “nothing like you can ever imagine” in 2014.

Alan Dean, who is accused of the 1993 strangulation murder of 15-year-old Bothell girl Melissa Lee, appears in court during opening statements of his trial on Monday, March 18, 2024, at Snohomish County Superior Court in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Guilty: Jury convicts Bothell man in long-unsolved 1993 killing

Even after police arrested Alan Dean in 2020, it was unclear if he would stand trial. He was convicted Thursday in the murder of Melissa Lee, 15.

Ariel Garcia, 4, was last seen Wednesday morning in an apartment in the 4800 block of Vesper Dr. (Photo provided by Everett Police)
Everett police searching for missing child, 4

Ariel Garcia was last seen Wednesday at an apartment in the 4800 block of Vesper Drive. The child was missing under “suspicious circumstances.”

The rezoned property, seen here from the Hillside Vista luxury development, is surrounded on two sides by modern neighborhoods Monday, March 25, 2024, in Lake Stevens, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Despite petition, Lake Stevens OKs rezone for new 96-home development

The change faced resistance from some residents, who worried about the effects of more density in the neighborhood.

Rep. Suzan DelBene, left, introduces Xichitl Torres Small, center, Undersecretary for Rural Development with the U.S. Department of Agriculture during a talk at Thomas Family Farms on Monday, April 3, 2023, in Snohomish, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Under new federal program, Washingtonians can file taxes for free

At a press conference Wednesday, U.S. Rep. Suzan DelBene called the Direct File program safe, easy and secure.

Former Snohomish County sheriff’s deputy Jeremie Zeller appears in court for sentencing on multiple counts of misdemeanor theft Wednesday, March 27, 2024, at Snohomish County Superior Court in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Ex-sheriff’s deputy sentenced to 1 week of jail time for hardware theft

Jeremie Zeller, 47, stole merchandise from Home Depot in south Everett, where he worked overtime as a security guard.

Everett
11 months later, Lake Stevens man charged in fatal Casino Road shooting

Malik Fulson is accused of shooting Joseph Haderlie to death in the parking lot at the Crystal Springs Apartments last April.

T.J. Peters testifies during the murder trial of Alan Dean at the Snohomish County Courthouse on Tuesday, March 26, 2024 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Bothell cold case trial now in jury’s hands

In court this week, the ex-boyfriend of Melissa Lee denied any role in her death. The defendant, Alan Dean, didn’t testify.

Support local journalism

If you value local news, make a gift now to support the trusted journalism you get in The Daily Herald. Donations processed in this system are not tax deductible.