ROME — A coroner told a jury Saturday that a stab wound to the neck of a British student slain in Italy was caused by a shorter knife than the one believed to be the murder weapon, lawyers said.
Francesco Introna, taking the stand at the murder trial of U.S. student Amanda Knox and Italian co-defendant Raffaele Sollecito, also said no more than a single attacker could have assaulted the victim on the night of the 2007 slaying.
Knox and her former boyfriend Sollecito are on trial in Perugia, central Italy, on charges of murder and sexual violence in the death of Knox’s roommate Meredith Kercher. Both deny wrongdoing.
Introna, who was called to the stand by Sollecito’s defense lawyers, testified that the cut on Kercher’s neck was made with a knife with a 3- to 3 1/2-inch-long blade, according to a lawyer representing the Kercher family, Francesco Maresca.
Prosecutors say a 6 1/2-inch knife found at Sollecito’s house matched the victim’s wounds and could be the murder weapon. They say the knife had Kercher’s DNA on the blade and Knox’s on the handle.
Prosecutors allege Kercher was killed during what had begun as a sex game. Her body was found in the apartment she shared with Knox on Nov. 2, 2007.
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