Prosecutors fighting to keep American student Amanda Knox behind bars for murder in Italy defended DNA tests that linked her to the killing of British student Meredith Kercher.
Knox is appealing her conviction and 26-year sentence for the murder of her housemate in 2007, with her defense team arguing that DNA evidence used in her original trial is not conclusive.
As the appeal heads into its final weeks, the victim’s sister urged people not to get caught up in the details, but to “please remember our beautiful Meredith.”
“Amongst the media frenzy that has developed throughout, Meredith has been forgotten because she is no longer with us, yet this should be about her and what really happened on that tragic evening,” Stephanie Kercher said in a statement distributed Sunday by attorney Francesco Maresca.
Knox and her ex-boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, were convicted in 2009 of killing Kercher, 21. Sollecito was sentenced to 25 years in prison.
A third defendant, small-time drug dealer Rudy Guede, an immigrant from the Ivory Coast, was also jailed in connection with Kercher’s death. He was sentenced to 30 years for murder and sexual violence following a fast-track trial in 2008, but his sentence was later cut to 16 years.
Kercher, a British exchange student, was found dead in the villa she and Knox rented in the central Italian university town of Perugia, seminaked and with her throat slashed.
This summer two new forensic experts, professors Carla Vecchiotti and Stefano Conti, cast doubt on the DNA evidence that played a role in the convictions.
Authorities testified in 2009 that a knife found in Sollecito’s home had traces of Knox’s genetic material on the handle and Kercher’s in a tiny groove on the blade. DNA on Kercher’s bra was also traced to Sollecito.
Vecchiotti testified that the knife tested negative for blood and the amount of DNA said to be Kercher’s was so low, it could not be examined again with any conclusions. Vecchiotti and Conti also said there was no evidence the knife had been “thoroughly washed,” as prosecutors argued during the trial.
They also said the clasp from Kercher’s bloodied bra, which allegedly contained Sollecito’s DNA, was “dirty” and had been allowed to rust, making further testing futile. The evidence, the two argued, should be “inadmissible.”
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And they said records about the machine that did the DNA testing were missing, suggesting that the testing process itself may have been unreliable.
On Monday, prosecutor Manula Comodi said the records had been found and asked the judge to admit them as evidence.
The defense argued they should not be admitted because they were not in the files originally given to the new experts. Comodi said Vecchiotti and Conti could have had them if they had asked for them.
Forensic experts for the two sides are expected to be on the stand for the rest of the day Monday and on Tuesday. This stage of the appeal is scheduled to run at least through Saturday.
Final arguments and summations are expected later this month.
Kercher’s sister Stephanie said the family was feeling “great concern as the rumours surrounding the original DNA evidence findings are spreading.”
She said it was difficult for Kercher’s family to understand how the evidence, so carefully developed and presented at trial, could be deemed irrelevant, and also to understand how a small amount could be useless when there is no determination of how much should be present.
Knox’s defense seems “to focus and rely heavily on these two pieces of DNA evidence, but can we just remember for a moment what this case is actually about: my sister, a daughter brutally and selfishly taken from us nearing four years ago ? not a single day goes by that we can grasp any peace or closure.”
She urged the public to remember the blood-splattered crime scene as well as 10,000 pages of evidence presented in the case.
“We still have confidence in the Perugia police and every faith in all those involved in court and the investigation,” Stephanie Kercher said. Her family is asking that the appeals court assess each piece of evidence, “both scientific and circumstantial, as well as any witnesses who have taken the stand independently of any other information or media.”
“Please do not let Meredith die in vain,” Stephanie Kercher said. “Her courage and strength fight on and we will seek justice so she can rest in peace.” Her sister, she said, put up a fight for her life and did not give up, “and we will not give up now.”