"An American writer, Douglas Preston, assisted Knox's defenders by telling of his alleged mistreatment by the lead prosecutor on the Knox case. A criminal investigator, several forensic experts and a retired FBI agent also publicly rebutted evidence they said had been manipulated or wrongly analyzed by Italian law enforcement. Their key forensic rebuttal involved so-called "low copy DNA" samples taken from the alleged murder weapon, a kitchen knife seized at Sollecito's apartment allegedly containing both Knox's and Kercher's DNA. Waterbury, the Redmond biotech entrepreneur, labeled the DNA testing as "pretend science."
During Knox's appeal this summer and fall, an independent review of the knife DNA essentially agreed with Knox's defenders, finding that the sample was too low to be admitted as evidence.
But prosecutors pushed back on that finding during the appeal, and emphasized other evidence, including alleged telltales of a staged break-in at Knox and Kercher's home.
Knox's defenders, in Seattle and online, have deployed strong rhetoric in her defense."
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"A homegrown group of Amanda Knox's most dedicated defenders are planning a private gathering at a Seattle hotel every early Monday, hoping for a celebration but bracing for something else," the Seattle Times story by reporter Jonathan Martin published earlier today under the heading, "Amanda Knox supporters, on edge, gather in Seattle for verdict," begins.
"A verdict in the Italian appeals trial of Knox, the former University of Washington student convicted in the bloody and sensational 2007 murder of her roommate, Meredith Kercher, is expected as early as 3 a.m. Pacific time," the story continues.
"Knox is expected speak around midnight Pacific to the Italian court and jurors.
The early-morning gathering is to be held by Friends of Amanda, an ad hoc group of family friends, attorneys, forensic scientists and retired law enforcement. The group formed to battle inflammatory descriptions of Knox, but evolved into an innocence campaign seeking to debunk key forensic evidence.
"I think it's had a hugely positive effect," said Mark Waterbury, a Redmond forensic scientist who did not know Knox before the case, but wrote a book debunking the DNA evidence presented against her.
A cottage industry has grown up around the case, with at least 10 books, a television movie and dozens of websites dedicated to parsing evidence as well as Knox's psyche. Defenders such as Waterbury have been ridiculed and celebrated.
Opinions of the case are hot enough that organizers of Monday's event asked that its location not be disclosed, to prevent anti-Knox protesters from crashing.
Most of Knox's large family -- including her parents, sister and two stepsisters, aunts and several classmates -- were in Perugia on Monday, anticipating a celebration.
The Italian court is hearing a "de novo" appeal, allowing it to re-examine all the evidence. The six jurors and two presiding judges could vacate the conviction, or they could reaffirm the 2009 trial verdict and give Knox a life sentence, as prosecutors have asked.
Anne Bremner, a Seattle attorney and spokeswoman for Friends of Amanda, said Knox, now 24, could potentially be held in prison or required to stay in Italy even if her conviction is vacated, should prosecutors appeal.
"Given the history of this case, her attorneys have prepped for any eventuality," Bremner said.
It also is unlikely that Knox would return to Seattle immediately if she is released, to give her time relax and to avoid the sensational international media frenzy in an undisclosed location.
Knox has repeatedly said she hopes to return home, and her family has said she is likely to write a book. In recent weeks, supporters have been asking local business leaders to consider hiring Knox if she returns.
"I think Seattle is about the best place for a person like Amanda Knox," said Bremner. "It is not the type of town that hassles people who are famous," citing Bill Gates and Mary Kay LeTourneau, Bremner's former client.
Knox has done correspondence course work at the University of Washington while in prison, but has not graduated, according to the UW.
Knox grew up in West Seattle with a younger sister. Her parents, Curt and Edda Knox, divorced while she was a toddler. Her parents each remarried, and retained homes within blocks of each other.
Knox, a Seattle Prep graduate, was a dean's list student studying Romance languages when she enrolled in University for Foreigners in Perugia in October 2007. She had saved $7,000 for her junior year abroad, working at a University District coffee shop and an art gallery and Seattle Mariners games.
She rented a room in a home with three other girls, including Kercher, in a hillside home just outside of Perugia. Just weeks before the murder, she met Raffaele Sollecito, an Italian computer science student, at a classical music recital. "I'm in love," she wrote in a message to friends back in Seattle.
On Nov. 4, 2007, days after Kercher's body was found, Knox wrote a letter to her mother, Edda Mellas, saying she wanted to stay in Perugia.
"I am not afraid of Italy. I am not afraid of anything in particular. I am afraid because I am confused," Knox wrote.
She was arrested the next day, and in a statement that was later thrown out by an Italian court, implicated her boss, Patrick Lumumba. She wrote a new statement on Nov. 6, 2007, saying she'd been at home with Sollecito the night of the murder.
She has steadfastly professed her innocence ever since. She was convicted in 2009 and sentenced to 26 years in prison.
Knox's family remained silent for months after arrest on the advice of Italian lawyers, declining interview requests from The Seattle Times and other outlets, even as British and Italian tabloids inaccurately sensationalized her as hard partying and sexually voracious.
In response to that coverage and leaks from Italian law enforcement, which also proved inaccurate, the parents of several of Knox's classmates at Seattle Prep formed Friends of Amanda to defend her.
Bremner, who came on later, described the effort as "turning a supertanker of bad information coming from leaks out of a closed proceeding."
Their website has now received nearly 800,000 hits, and the group has raised at least $80,000 to defray her legal bills well over $1 million.
King County Superior Court judge Mike Heavey, whose daughter attended Seattle Prep with Knox, wrote a letter on court letterhead to the presiding Italian judge, questioning the conduct of Knox's prosecutor and police and asking the trial to be moved out of Perugia. The state Judicial Conduct Commission admonished him in 2010 for improperly influencing a pending case.
Others, however, agreed. An American writer, Douglas Preston, assisted Knox's defenders by telling of his alleged mistreatment by the lead prosecutor on the Knox case. A criminal investigator, several forensic experts and a retired FBI agent also publicly rebutted evidence they said had been manipulated or wrongly analyzed by Italian law enforcement.
Their key forensic rebuttal involved so-called "low copy DNA" samples taken from the alleged murder weapon, a kitchen knife seized at Sollecito's apartment allegedly containing both Knox's and Kercher's DNA. Waterbury, the Redmond biotech entrepreneur, labeled the DNA testing as "pretend science."
During Knox's appeal this summer and fall, an independent review of the knife DNA essentially agreed with Knox's defenders, finding that the sample was too low to be admitted as evidence.
But prosecutors pushed back on that finding during the appeal, and emphasized other evidence, including alleged telltales of a staged break-in at Knox and Kercher's home.
Knox's defenders, in Seattle and online, have deployed strong rhetoric in her defense.
At a Seattle University symposium in April, Steve Moore, a retired FBI agent who once oversaw Al Queda investigations, compared Knox's prosecution to a "lynching."
"This will be an academy class in most forensic academies, I hope," said Moore. "This is the worst case I have ever seen in a western country.""The story can be found at:
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/theblotter/2016387763_amanda_knox_supporters_on_edge.html
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;
