The Evidence, Please

For three months, the jurors in the Meredith Kercher murder trial in Perugia, Italy, have heard about sex toys, G-strings and cartwheels. Witnesses have included an Albanian drug dealer, a homeless man and an elderly woman who described her problems with constipation. Outside the courtroom talking heads and armchair investigators have analyzed the crime scene, criticized the way evidence was collected and debated the differences between the American and Italian legal systems and whether the Seattle defendant Amanda Knox would be better off were she tried at home. (Article continued below...)

Now, 17 months after Kercher's brutal murder, the theatrics are over. The two judges and six jurors are finally getting to the meat of the trial: the scientific evidence. Experts say it will make all the difference in this case against 21-year-old Amanda Knox and 25-year-old Raffaele Sollecito, who stand accused of sexual assault and murder. In November 2007, Kercher was stabbed in the neck three times and left to bleed to death on the floor of her bedroom in the villa she shared with Knox and two Italian women. Both Knox and Sollecito maintain their innocence. Rudy Guede, an Ivory Coast native and local drifter, was convicted in a fast-track trial last October for sexual assault and murder and is serving a 30-year sentence, which is under appeal. He will testify for the prosecution on April 4. Francesco Maresca, the attorney representing the Kercher family, equates the prosecution's case so far to preparing a fine meal. "Up to this point, we have seen the equivalent of the side dishes," Maresca told NEWSWEEK in his office in Florence. "From this point we will start to see the real substance."

In fact, on Friday morning journalists were kicked out of the courtroom while the jury watched graphic autopsy photos of Kercher after the crime. Testimony by the chief medical examiner Luca Lalli focused on whether or not Kercher had been sexually assaulted before her neck was slashed. Journalists were banned from the courtroom, but lawyers relayed much of the testimony afterward. They said that Lalli described cuts on her hands, indicating that he felt they were made as Kercher defended herself. He told the jury that there were 23 cuts, bruises and lesions on Kercher's body. Those inside the courtroom say he testified that while there was evidence of sexual activity, sexual assault was inconclusive. But he also testified that the bruises on her body implied that sexual intercourse was forced and violent. When asked, he also said that he believes that more than one person was involved in Kercher's murder, though on cross-examination admitted that it could have also been done by one assailant.

With the theatrics now out of the way, this scientific evidence will finally bring the circumstances of this murder into better focus. The prosecution has always maintained that Knox, Sollecito and Guede tried to initiate a sex game that went awry. Maresca says that while he is sure the accused did not go into Kercher's room with the intent to kill her, there is ample evidence proving that what started as a game ended in her tragic murder. "Kids this age are all into quick thrills," he told NEWSWEEK. "What started as a threat or a game to scare Mez escalated to violence and ended in murder."

Paul Ciolino, a Chicago private investigator and an investigative consultant for CBS News's "48 Hours," has visited Perugia and studied the evidence in the Kercher murder case. He believes the crime scene was so badly compromised and that any hard evidence should not stand up in court. "I have seen crime scenes and investigations that were just as bad as the Perugia one. The problem is that the police then compound these issues and start lying about the evidence," which he alleges is what is happening in Perugia. "When a prosecutor blesses these actions, this is where wrongful convictions happen."