Did Amanda Knox Get Away With Murder?

I will add the pics later..... Did Amanda Knox Get Away With Murder? Many people throughout the world followed the case of Amanda Knox who was accused of killing her flat mate, Meredith Kercher in Perugia, Italy while going to college. A lot of people in the United States and overseas who followed the trail, that took place in Italy, claimed the media was biased, especially the way the American media portrayed Amanda Knox as they only reported favorable reports about the accused murderer. There were websites that popped up on the internet supporting her innocence and gaining followers to have Amanda’s side through the trial. Some of the opposition, feel she was given special treatment in the media because of her good looks, others claim she was treated poorly because she was an American who was known for her partying and promiscuous ways. These actions were documented in a prison diary where Knox admitted having intercourse on the train to Italy with a young man she had just met. She had the public asking themselves, “Is she too pretty to have murdered?” But her actions had the public wondering, see figure 1, Amanda Knox is seen smiling in the court room where she is bring tried for murder. In this paper, I am going to present why I think the evidence shows Amanda Knox is guilty but had her verdict overturned because of sloppy police work and the glamorization of Amanda as “Angel Face”. Figure 1. A photo of Amanda Marie Knox smiling as she enters the courtroom. (The Daily Mail. Barcroft Media) One of the first things people notice when reading about this case is that there is a lack of a motive. Why would Amanda Knox want to kill her flat mate? There was really no reason. None of Knox’s DNA was found in the bedroom in which Miss Kercher was stabbed to death, according to Nick Squires of The Telegraph. Squires also wrote that Rudy Guede, the drifter that was convicted of the murder, said that Knox was not in the house on the night of the murder. Amanda Knox was questioned after the murder and told police that she heard Kercher screaming the night of the murder but did not have a lawyer present and only knew basic Italian. As just stated, Knox knew basic Italian but she knew enough Italian to accuse local bar owner, Patrick Lumumba, of the murders, when later another black man would be accused and convicted of playing a part in the murder of Meredith Kercher. Lumumba, an innocent man, was held by police after Knox’s accusations. This can only lead one to think that Knox might have been trying to throw the Italian Police off her scent. No one even suspected Rude Guede of Meredith Kercher’s murder at the time and a lot of locals found it odd that a totally different man of African decent was placed behind bars for the same crime. I think this is evidence of how heartless Amanda Knox was to accuse another man that she knows did not commit a crime and let him sit behind bars away from his young family. It’s either very heartless or the work of a clever fox. Later, Lumumba filed a lawsuit against Knox for defamation of character for $740,000. When she accused Lumumba, she also admitted to being in the house at the time of the murder, hearing Meredith Kercher’s screams, and recalled covering her ears. She later recounted this statement and said that she was pressured by the Italian police for a confession. Amanda Knox said, in a five page statement, that she was at then boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito’s house the night of the crime. Sollecito could not back up Knox’s alibi as he was on drugs and could not remember as printed in The Telegraph by writer Nick Squires. Even if Mr. Sollecito was very intoxicated the night of the Kercher murder, it’s very suspicious that he did not remember being with his girlfriend or not. If he cannot remember being with his then girlfriend, Amanda Knox, how does he even remember where he was at all that night? When we focus on Mr. Raffaele Sollecito’s alibi, which is important because he too was tried for Meredith Kercher’s death, we see that he claims to be at home on his computer downloading cartoons and watching the movie Amelie. In Squires article, it tells us that experts examined his computer and there was no such activity that night. Another fact to take note of is that Knox and Sollecito turned off their phones the night of the murder, from around 8:40pm, and turned them back on around 6am. In Barbie Latza Nadeau’s book, Angel Face; The True Story of Student Killer Amanda Knox, Knox rarely turned off her phone just in case her mother in Seattle called, arising more suspicion. One detail that I could not get past was that Sollecito claimed he was too intoxicated to remember if Knox was with him that night, but he remembers he was downloading Amelie. Figure 2. This photo shows the horrific scene of the crime along with the bathroom. (The Daily Mail. Barcroft Media) After searching Sollecito’s apartment, the police found a knife with Amanda Knox’s DNA along with Meredith Kercher’s. When questioned about the knife and DNA, Sollecito claimed that Kercher had cooked before at his house, but this was proven to be a lie in court. Why would he make that up? Did he not know Kercher had contact with the knife? Being that Kercher was killed with a knife and there was DNA of the victim of the boyfriend of her flatmate, I do not see why this point was not pushed more in court considering the Italian Police proved that there was a staged break-in in the flat that the murder occurred. Nick Squires of The Telegraph, reports that police found glass on top of clothes that had been scattered on the floor but that the break-in was done from the inside of the flat (3). During the trial, Prosecutors accused Sollecito and Knox of staging a break-in to appear as if a burglary turned into rape and murder. This is commonly done on television shows when one commits murder that is not premeditated. Please see figure 2, that shows how horribly bloody this scene of the murder was. The amount of blood shows just how violent this murder was. It appears as if Guede, Knox and Sollecito were in the flat, along with the victim, Meredith Kercher the night she was killed. Guede was definitely there as he defecated in the restroom and did not flush the toilet. It was also proven, with DNA testing, that his semen was found inside Kercher’s vagina, on her purse, clothing and left a handprint in her blood. Sollecito claims to have been so intoxicated on drugs and alcohol that he does not remember being with Amanda that night, but somehow the victim’s DNA is on a knife at his flat when searched by police. It was also claimed by the police that his DNA was found deep in the clasp of the bra that was cut off the victim as she was stabbed to death. Italian Police maintain that Knox’s DNA was mixed with Kercher’s DNA on the knife that was considered to be the murder weapon and she did admit to being there when first questioned by police. There was also a bloody shoeprint that did not match Guede’s shoes but was obviously made while the blood was still fresh and this is a clear indicator that there was someone else with Guede there that night. The other party would have heard Meredith Kercher screaming or struggling if she was being raped by Guede and would have possible been found by police or come forward to testify against him, but this was not the case. This shoeprint, see figure3, shows that there was another participant in the flat at the time of Miss Kercher’s murder. The shoeprint was Sollecito’s size and the knife that was found at his apartment was cleaned with bleach, commonly used to clean blood after a violent crime. The bra clasp that had a very small amount of Sollecito’s DNA on it was found six weeks after the crime and was showed in Italian Police video shortly after the crime, being kicked around like clutter. Now for Knox, nothing can take away from the fact that she has no alibi the night of the murder. She has no proof she was not at the flat. In fact, she admitted being there to police and bragged around town to people both Kercher and Knox knew that she found the body and described details that had not been released to the public yet. If Knox was innocent, she was not doing herself any favors be boasting about finding a body as if it was not a big deal. She was also witnessed kissing Sollecito the day the body was found inside Knox’s home. This is not the body language of a young girl who has just lost her flatmate to a horrific murder. When she was brought into the police station for questioning, Amanda Knox was witnesses doing cartwheels and even did the splits during her wait. Not knowing that Sollecito had already been arrested. Figure 3. This is a photo taken of the shoeprint at the crime that was attributed to Sollecito. (The Daily Mail. Barcroft Media) What is not widely known is that Amanda Knox wrote an award winning essay while in prison in Capanne. The arrogant author details a violent sex party that is fueled by drugs. This is another example of odd behavior by Knox after the murder. After she was arrested on suspicion of the murder, details emerged that on Knox’s MySpace she had written a fictional story about the drugging and raping of a young woman according to Squires article (3). By the time the appeals trial came, Miss Knox knew fluent Italian which is a testament to her intelligence. Amanda Knox, Raffaele Sollecito and Rudy Guede were all placed at the scene of the crime by the prosecution during the first trial, and it was supposed that the murder was the result of a sex game gone wrong. All accused parties had a history of drug use and Knox documented her promiscuity in her diary. Patrizia Stefanoni examined the DNA evidence in 2007 after the murder. Pictures showed her collecting evidence with gloves and she also wore gloves when analyzing the DNA at the laboratory. In a photograph used by the defense, it shows Stefanoni wearing a bracelet outside of the glove that could have transported DNA and contaminated the evidence. She still maintains that there was no contamination on crucial pieces of evidence linking the American student to the murder. Stefanoni told the appeals court that she could rule out contamination on the knife, which she is positive contained Meredith Kercher’s DNA profile. On October 3, 2011, in an Italian Court, Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito won their appeal and were freed from prison due to lack of evidence. Meredith Kercher’s family gasped in horror as the verdict was read and told press that they felt Meredith had been forgotten during the process of the trial. Amanda Knox flew home in time for Halloween, where she dressed up as a cat burglar, see figure 4, on the fourth anniversary of Kercher’s death, this upsets many who believe she is guilty of the murder and that she staged the break-in. Figure 4. Amanda Knox shortly after her release from Italian Jail on Halloween 2011, dressed as a cat burglar. (The Daily Mail. Brooks/INFphoto.com) Between the behavior, pre-trial evidence and post-murder actions, I believe that Amanda Marie Knox is guilty of playing a part in Meredith Kercher’s brutal stabbing death in a sex game gone wrong. Evidence show’s that she was present during the murder and that it was not lingering DNA just because she lived there. Her knowledge of the crime scene shows she knew where in the room Kercher was found, and how she was laying as she died. The DNA on the knife at Sollecito’s flat shows that both Kercher’s blood and Amanda’s DNA were present on the knife and matched the wounds on Kercher’s neck. I believe that if the Italian Crime Scene Police had been prepared to handle a high profile case such as this, properly handled the DNA covered items and interrogated Amanda Knox by the book, then the original “guilty” verdict would have been the final judgment. Works Cited Meredith Kercher's Bathroom Sink and Walls. 2008. Photograph. The Daily Mail. Barcroft Media, Perugia. Web. 6 Dec 2011. Bloody shoeprint in flat where Kercher was murdered. 2008. Photograph. The Daily Mail. Barcroft Media, Perugia. Web. 6 Dec 2011. Smiling Amanda Knox spears in court for trial. 2008. Photograph. The Daily Mail. Barcroft Media, Perugia. Web. 6 Dec 2011. Amanda Knox dressed up as a cat burglar. 2011. Photograph. The Daily Mail. Brooks/INFphoto.com, Perugia. Web. 6 Dec 2011. Nadeau, Barbie Latza. Angel Face: the True Story of Student Killer Amanda Knox. New York: Beast, 2010. Print. Nadeau, Barbie. "The Italian Job." The Daily Beast 6 Oct. 2009: 1-3. Print. Squires, Nick. "Amanda Know Won Essay Competition with Story about Violent Sex Party."The Telegraph [Rome] 7 Dec. 2009: 1-3. Print. Squires, Nick. "Amanda Knox: Guilty or Innocent, Five Reasons Why." The Telegraph. 3 Oct. 2011. Web. 1 Nov. 2011.