Thursday, October 31, 2013

Bulletin: Amanda Knox; ABC News reports that the defence got a boost today when forensic tests on a knife that Italian prosecutors claim was used to kill roomate Meredith Kercher ruled out that Kercher's DNA could be in the spot that was newly tested. Reporter Phoebe Natanson.


STORY: "Amanda Knox forensic tests do not find victim's DNA on knife spot," by reporter Phoebe Natanson, published by ABC News News on October 31, 2013.

GIST:  "Amanda Knox's legal defense got a boost today when forensic tests on a knife that Italian prosecutors claim was used to kill roommate Meredith Kercher ruled out that Kercher's DNA could be in the spot that was newly tested. The latest tests check a minute spot -- called a trace -- on the knife where the handle meets the blade, but prosecutors are expected to argue that another trace on the knife which was previously tested indicate the presence of Kercher's DNA. Knox's defense lawyer Luciano Ghirga said these new tests "pushes even further away the possibility that this was the murder weapon." The next hearing in the trial is scheduled for Nov. 6 when the forensic police experts will report on their findings. Their written conclusions were filed in the Florence court today. Italian news agency ANSA is reporting that the tests found the "presence of a extremely small quantity of genetic matter which could derive from one or more female profiles." In earlier leaked reports, the test had previously determined that Knox's DNA was likely in the trace. But according to the forensic experts comparative tests "led to the exclusion of the presence of any genetic matter belonging to Meredith Kercher... on the DNA trace being tested." The knife was retrieved by investigators from the kitchen of Knox's boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito. Knox and Sollecito were both charged and convicted of killing Kercher in November 2007. They spent four years in prison before an appeals court threw out the conviction in 2011.
The entire story can be found at:

http://abcnews.go.com/International/amanda-knox-forensic-tests-find-victims-dna-knife/story?id=20738813

PUBLISHER'S NOTE:

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http://smithforensic.blogspot.com/2011/05/charles-smith-blog-award-nominations.html

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