"Giulia Bongiorno, a lawyer for Sollecito, said that what had been so far only a defence theory — claiming that there was a risk of contamination and that DNA traces were too low to be attributed with certainty — has now been certified by independent experts.
"These aren't opinions, words. These are images," she said, referring to the clips shown in court.
But Francesco Maresca, a lawyer for the Kercher family, promised that a fierce cross-examination of the experts next week would prove the work of the forensic police had been up to snuff."
REPORTER ALLESANDRA RIZZO; THE ASSOCIATED PRESS;
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BACKGROUND; Amanda Knox, 24, is currently serving 26 years for the sex murder of 21 year-old Meredith in November 2007, who was found semi-naked with her throat cut in the house the two girls shared in Italy.
Knox and her former boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito were convicted on evidence, which disclosed DNA from Meredith on a 12 inch kitchen knife, and that of Miss Knox on the handle. DNA from Sollecito was said to be on the clasp of Meredith’s bra. (Marieclaire);
SEE INFORMATIVE NEW YORK TIMES STORY PUBLISHED ON JUNE 29, 2011, SHORTLY AFTER THE REPORT WAS LEAKED - BELOW - FOLLOWING THE ASSOCIATED PRESS STORY;
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"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 Associated Press story published on July 25, 2011 under the heading, "Glaring DNA errors made in Amanda Knox case, Court told," begins.
"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," the story continues.
"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.
Knox, 24, and Sollecito, 27, have denied wrongdoing and have appealed. The evidence review was granted at the request of their defence teams.
In the first trial, prosecutors maintained that Knox's DNA was found on the handle of the kitchen knife and Kercher's DNA was found on the blade. They say Sollecito's DNA was found on the clasp of Kercher's bra.
But the independent experts told the appeals court that the collection of evidence fell below international standards and may have resulted in contamination. They used slides to refer to international protocols for the collection and sampling of evidence, including one from the U.S. Department of Justice and others from various U.S. states.
One of the two experts, Stefano Conti, cited dozens of cases of forensic police entering the crime scene or coming into contacts with objects there not wearing protective equipment such as masks or hair caps. He said that while evidence should be wrapped in paper or kept in a paper bags, police often used plastic bags, heightening the risk of contamination.
"There are various circumstances do not adhere to protocols and procedures," the forensic expert told the court.
In footage and frame grabs shown to the court, two police officers collected the bra clasp, and the glove worn by one of the two appeared to be dirty on two fingers. Conti noted the bra clasp was collected 46 days after the Nov. 1, 2007, fatal stabbing of the 21-year-old Kercher.
"Over those 46 days, several objects were moved, and in at the same time several people will have come in and out," he noted, again stressing the risk of contamination.
The other expert, Carla Vecchiotti, explained to the court that the genetic profile on the knife's blade that was attributed to Kercher is dubious and cannot be attributed with certainty. She said no blood traces were on the blade, and that the original testing did not follow recommendations of the international scientific community for dealing with DNA testing.
Vecchiotti said the review concurred with the original testing in saying that the genetic profile on the knife's black plastic handle could be attributed to Knox. The knife was found at Sollecito's apartment. Kercher's body was found at the apartment she shared with Knox.
The hearing Monday was a tense one, with the parties frequently challenging the experts. The typically calm Claudio Pratillo Hellmann, the presiding judge, at one point slammed his hand on his desk and shouted, "Quiet!"
The independent experts, both from La Sapienza University in Rome, will be questioned and cross-examined in the next hearing, scheduled for Saturday. That will be the last hearing before the summer break.
The full review, a 145-document obtained by The Associated Press, was filed to the Perugia court last month.
Defence lawyers immediately welcomed the report, hoping it will boost their clients' chances of overturning their convictions.
Knox's mother, Edda Mellas, said Monday's hearing marked a good day for her daughter, though she has repeatedly cautioned during the trial that she will only celebrate if Knox walks free when a verdict is reached in late September.
Giulia Bongiorno, a lawyer for Sollecito, said that what had been so far only a defence theory — claiming that there was a risk of contamination and that DNA traces were too low to be attributed with certainty — has now been certified by independent experts.
"These aren't opinions, words. These are images," she said, referring to the clips shown in court.
But Francesco Maresca, a lawyer for the Kercher family, promised that a fierce cross-examination of the experts next week would prove the work of the forensic police had been up to snuff.
He added: "The Kercher family is very worried over this inquisitorial atmosphere around the serious job done during the investigation.""
The story can be found at:
http://www.thestar.com/news/world/article/1030161--glaring-dna-errors-made-in-amanda-knox-case-court-told
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NEW YORK TIMES: EARLIER STORY ON THIS REPORT: JUNE 29, 2011; CONSIDERABLY MORE DETAILED;
Italian Experts Question Evidence in Knox Case
By ELISABETTA POVOLEDO
Published: June 29, 2011
ROME — A report by forensic experts filed with an appeals court on Wednesday casts doubt on the DNA evidence used to convict Amanda Knox and her Italian ex-boyfriend for the 2007 murder of a British student. Lawyers for the defendants said the development significantly improved their chances of winning their appeal.
In a 145-page report filed to a tribunal in Perugia — and immediately leaked to the news media — two court-appointed independent experts said that the collection and testing of DNA traces in key exhibits were below international standards and that the evidence might have been contaminated.
Ms. Knox, 23, from Seattle, and her co-defendant Raffaele Sollecito, an Italian, were convicted in 2009 and sentenced to 26 and 25 years in prison, respectively, for the murder of Meredith Kercher, 21, a British exchange student at the University of Perugia who shared a home with Ms. Knox. Both have denied wrongdoing and their appeal trial started last November. An Ivorian man, Rudy Guede, was also convicted of the crime and sentenced to 16 years.
After Ms. Kercher’s half-naked body was found in her bedroom, her throat slit, on the morning on Nov. 2, 2007, prosecutors said she had been killed in a sexual escapade that spiraled out of control.
The forensic experts — Stefano Conti and Carla Vecchiotti from Rome’s Sapienza University — were appointed by the court after the defense requested an independent review of DNA traces found on two central pieces of evidence: a knife that prosecutors claim was used to kill Ms. Kercher and a bra clasp that belonged to the victim found on the floor at the scene 46 days after her murder.
During the first trial, experts for the prosecution determined that a small sample of Ms. Kercher’s DNA was on the blade of the knife — which had been found in a drawer in Mr. Sollecito’s kitchen — while Ms. Knox’s DNA was found on the handle. And the bra clasp, the first trial experts said, showed traces of Mr. Sollecito’s DNA.
In the report filed on Wednesday, the court-appointed experts concluded that while Ms. Knox’s DNA was in fact on the handle of the knife, the tests on the blade were “not reliable” because the correct international protocol for tests on small samples, called low copy number DNA analysis, had not been followed. The results were therefore inconclusive.
“The genetic profile, as obtained, appears unreliable because not supported by scientifically valid analytical procedures,” and so cannot be positively identified as belonging to Ms. Kercher, the report said.
The experts also said that both the knife and the bra clasp had been collected and handled without following international procedures, and that “it cannot be ruled out” that the evidence had been contaminated and that the conclusions were untrustworthy.
Defense lawyers on Wednesday said the report was further proof of their client’s innocence.
“Two key pieces of evidence have been destroyed,” said Carlo Della Vedova, one of Ms. Knox’s lawyers, who said that prosecutors would now be hard pressed to put his client and Mr. Sollecito, 26, in the bedroom. The report, he said, shows that “Raffaele was never in the room and that the knife is not the murder knife,” thus undermining the prosecution’s case.
Giulia Bongiorno, one of Mr. Sollecito’s defense lawyers, said that the defense had insisted from the start that there had been “errors and contamination” in the forensic procedures, and that the report and its indictment of the methods used to collect and test evidence was vindication of their suspicions. “There were no motives, no witness,” she said. “There was only the DNA, and now that has no scientific value.”
But others played down the report’s findings.
The lawyer for the Kercher family, Francesco Maresca, countered that the word of the independent experts would not be the last word, and said he would raise his objections during the last week in July, when the report will be formally discussed during a week of hearings.
He said that the scientific police and the consultants who carried out the original tests had far more experience than the independent experts appointed by the court. “I was surprised that these experts were so certain, and gave such strong, drastic opinions, given that they don’t have the same number of years of experience under their belt,” Mr. Maresca said.
Other accusers of Ms. Knox and Mr. Sollecito said that the DNA was just one piece of evidence in the case that they built against them, based on various testimonies, their lack of an alibi and what prosecutors say is other damaging physical evidence, which has not been reviewed. During one interrogation, Ms. Knox allowed that she was in the house when Ms. Kercher was murdered, an admission she later retracted, saying she had spoken under duress.
“The first jury decided looking at a wide range of evidence, the DNA was only part of it,” said one prosecutor, who was not authorized to speak publicly about the case. “Everything else still stands.”
The earlier New York Times story can be found at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/30/world/europe/30knox.html?scp=2&sq=%22amanda%20knox%22&st=cse
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PUBLISHER'S NOTE: The Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. The Star has a "topic" section which focuses on recent stories related to Dr. Charles Smith. It can be found at:
http://www.thestar.com/topic/charlessmith
Information on "The Charles Smith Blog Award"- and its nomination process - can be found at:
http://smithforensic.blogspot.com/2011/05/charles-smith-blog-award-nominations.html
Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog; hlevy15@gmail.com;
