GIST: "In the wake of Amanda Knox's acquittal last Friday of the murder of her former roommate Meredith Kercher in November 2007
in Perugia, Italy, critiques of Italy's justice system are inevitable.
Had the system initially erred because it relied on a false confession,
a dodgy witnesses, or flawed forensics? Probably yes to all those
failings, but when 48 Hours sent me to Perugia to cover the story, I
learned something pretty basic was being ignored - common sense.........Now
a bit skeptical, on February 8, 2008, we met Knox lead prosecutor
Giuliano Mignini at the Kefe Bar in Perugia for a drink -- apertivo --
and, hopefully, insight. Mignini told us there was no cause for our
confusion. He assured us that he had a key witness who could prove the
three people in custody (Knox, Raffaele Sollecito, and Rudy Guede) had
killed Meredith Kercher in the late hours of November 1, 2007 and then
fled the scene together.The witness, Mignini explained, was an
elderly woman who lived near the house Knox shared with Kercher. The
witness described a terrifying scream in the night she'd heard coming
from the house. Then she claimed to have heard - not seen - three
people running away from the crime scene. Mignini said he was
completely convinced that the witness's account of hearing exactly three
people running was the proof he needed to show that Knox, Sollecito and
Guede were the killers. But we asked ourselves, how could anyone
"hear" exactly three people running? Sure, you can hear multiple
footsteps, but to say exactly three, made no sense. So we next
turned to forensic science and on Valentine's Day 2008, we went to the
sprawling headquarters of Italy's Scientific Police in Rome. Some of
the hallways are lined with photos of mafia dons, drug kingpins, and
infamous killers. And to our surprise, there, among the framed images
on this walk of shame, was a photo of Amanda Knox. Even though Knox
would not be formally indicted for murder for another eight months,
Italian police had, at least figuratively, nailed her trophy to the
wall. Eduardo Giobbi, part of the top echelon of the Scientific
Police, told us his agency - one steeped in fingerprints, DNA, and
forensic methods - had not used scientific evidence to lead them to
Amanda Knox for the murder of Meredith Kercher. Instead, Giobbi
bragged, he and his fellow investigators had noted Knox's often quirky
behavior and found a killer hiding behind her antics. Forensic science
in the Knox case, it seemed, be damned, at least in the critical initial
days."
The entire story can be found at:
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/amanda-knox-through-the-years-a-48-hours-reporters-journey/
PS: For latest coverage of the Mark Lundy retrial go to: http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/mark-lundy-murder-retrial
PUBLISHER'S NOTE:
Dear Reader. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog. We are following this case.
