"The testimony has clearly been taking a toll on Knox, who has been tense throughout the appeals process. She returned from a break in this morning's hearing looking particularly rattled as she passed the television cameras that record her daily entrances. After sitting down, she put her hands over her face.
Knox's father, Curt Knox, summed up the anxiety his daughter is enduring.
"It's life or she gets to come home," he told "Good Morning America" today. "That's a pretty big thing to have on your mind as a 24 year old.........
Also making a summation was a lawyer for the woman who owned the cottage that Knox and Kercher shared and where the murder occurred.
She was unable to rent the house for 17 months while police kept the crime scene sealed, and it has been almost impossible to rent it because it has been dubbed the "cottage of horrors," the lawyer said. Knox has previously been ordered to pay 10,000 euros to her former landlord, but the landlord is asking that the figure be increased."
REPORTERS PHOEBE NATANSON AND NIKKI BATTTISTE: ABC NEWS;
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"The lawyer for Amanda Knox slain roommate showed an Italian appeals court today autopsy pictures of the more than 40 wounds on her body because he wanted the jury to know "how this girl suffered," the ABC News story by reporters Phoebe Natanson and Nikki Battiste published earlier today under the heading, "Amanda Knox's Grueling Day: Called 'She Devil,' Shown Roommate's Wounds," begins.
"The photos and summation presented by the lawyer for Meredith Kercher's family capped a grueling day for Knox who was earlier described as a "she devil," a "liar" and a woman who has an "angelic" side as well as a "diabolic" side," the story continues.
"The Kerchers' lawyer Francesco Maresca was one of several civil lawyers who addressed the court today in a series of summations in the appeal by Knox, 24, and her ex-boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito, 27. Both have been convicted of killing Kercher in November 2007. Knox is serving a 26 year prison term while Sollecito was given a 25 year term.
The stakes are excruciatingly high for the former Seattle college student. While Knox and Sollecito are hoping that will be let out of the Italian prison where they have been confined for the last four years, prosecutors have asked the appeals court to increase their sentences to life in prison.
Maresca was the third lawyer to speak today and he presented the jury with a second look at autopsy photos that had been shown earlier in the appeal. While the court was cleared when the grisly photos were originally shown, spectators were allowed to remain in the courtroom today.
The lawyer held up a lovely photo of Kercher when she was alive and said, "I don't know why such a happy girl was killed."
He then proceeded to show photos of her naked and bloodied body, including a picture of the ugly and fatal gash on Kercher's neck. Some of the jurors looked away. The lawyer said that the lack of any defensive wounds on Kercher indicated that she was
"I'm showing these photos to make you understand how this girl suffered," Maresca told the court.
"We are asking for justice," he said.
Some court observers were shocked by the gruesome photos, and the Knox family was appalled that they have been so heavily used in the appeals process.
Knox's mother, Edda Mellas, called the repeated use of the photos "disgusting." She told ABC News that she found the "personal attack on my daughter a sign of desperation because they have no evidence."
A third person, Rudy Guede, was also convicted in a separate trial of taking part in the murder. He has been sentenced to 16 years in prison.
Earlier in the day, a lawyer described Knox as a "she devil."
Attorney Carlo Pacelli represented Diya "Patrick" Lumumba, a Congolese man who owned a bar where Knox worked part-time. During the nearly 50 hours of her interrogation, Knox implicated Lumumba in Kercher's death, telling police she had a "vision" that Lumumba was present.
Knox tried to retract her statement in the morning, saying the police had confused her with their extended grilling and tough tactics and their insistence that Lumumba was involved because they found a text message Knox had sent to Lumumba hours before Kercher was killed. Italy's Supreme Court threw out her "vision" statement.
Pacelli called Knox a "liar" and said, "The gapless evidence is proof of her guilt."
He said Knox's statement to police destroyed Lumumba as "a man, father and husband."
Knox, he said, is not "the daughter everyone wants." Instead she has a "double soul... on one side angelic," but on the other side "satanic, diabolic." Knox looked down during Pacelli's scathing description of her character, looking very tense.
Outside of the courtroom, Lumumba said, "I ask for justice, not vendetta."
"She is a great actress.... I know her better than most," said Lumumba. "I don't know if she was the assassin, but she lied because she needed time."
The testimony has clearly been taking a toll on Knox, who has been tense throughout the appeals process. She returned from a break in this morning's hearing looking particularly rattled as she passed the television cameras that record her daily entrances. After sitting down, she put her hands over her face.
Knox's father, Curt Knox, summed up the anxiety his daughter is enduring.
"It's life or she gets to come home," he told "Good Morning America" today. "That's a pretty big thing to have on your mind as a 24 year old."
Knox's mother told GMA her daughter is having a hard time sleeping and eating.
Also making a summation was a lawyer for the woman who owned the cottage that Knox and Kercher shared and where the murder occurred.
She was unable to rent the house for 17 months while police kept the crime scene sealed, and it has been almost impossible to rent it because it has been dubbed the "cottage of horrors," the lawyer said. Knox has previously been ordered to pay 10,000 euros to her former landlord, but the landlord is asking that the figure be increased.
A lawyer for Kercher is scheduled to speak today.
Amanda Knox Family Clings to Optimism
The legal teams for Knox and Sollecito will make their summations later this week, followed by rebuttals. Knox and Sollecito will get to make statements in their own defense before the six jurors and two judges retire to deliberate. The prosecution needs a majority vote of the jury to keep Knox and Sollecito in prison. An evenly split vote means they would be freed.
The Knox family began the appeals summations with high hopes largely because court appointed experts have harshly criticized the DNA evidence that helped convict Knox and Sollecito in 2009.
"I'm super optimistic," Knox's younger sister Deanna Knox told GMA.
Deanna Knox said her sister does not realize how polarizing her case is.
"The tiny, tiny bit that she sees is when she walks into court," she said. Deanna Knox said her family is acknowledged on the streets with either looks of sympathy or disgust.
"I have had someone spit on me," Deanna Knox told GMA.
She said if Amanda Knox is freed, the family intends to celebrate all of the birthdays and holidays that she missed while in prison."
The story can be found at:
http://abcnews.go.com/International/amanda-knox-appears-scared-called-liar-diabolic-soul/story?id=14596941
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;
