Friday, September 23, 2011

Italy today - US student Amanda Knox's murder appeal ...

Uploaded by on Sep 23, 2011
Prosecutors have begun their closing arguments in a bid to persuade an appeals court to uphold the murder conviction of American student Amanda Knox in killing of her room mate Merdith Kercher.

Knox and her one-time boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito of Italy, who is also appealing, were convicted of sexually assaulting and murdering Knox's British roommate, Meredith Kercher.

Prosecutor Giancarlo Costagliola opened the arguments in the final phase of the 10-month long appeals trial in the highly contentious case.

Knox was sentenced to 26 years in prison; Sollecito to 25.

Knox's family hope that a review of the DNA evidence used in the original trial - which indicated it may have been flawed - will help persuade the court that her conviction should be overturned.

Amanda Knox's mother, Edda Mellas said: "The truth is finally coming out. So that's good. Today is going to be hard because again she has to listen to people say horrible, untrue things about her, that'll be hard. But we hope at the end that it will turn out correct."

A verdict is expected in early October.

Meredith's sister Stephanie Kercher expressed regret that the media coverage of the case had become focused solely on Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito, who were convicted of the killing in the Italian town of Perugia in 2007.

Speaking on Italian television show Porta a Porta, she said: "In these four years, Meredith has been completely forgotten. But we need to find justice for her, we need to find the truth for her.

"There's not much of Meredith in the media. There aren't photos of her in the media. The focus has completely moved away from Meredith to Amanda and Raffaele."

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