The Italian Job

It has been 10 months since Amanda Knox and her ex-lover Rafaelle Sollecito first entered the frescoed courtroom in Perugia, Italy, to stand trial for the sexual assault and murder of Knox's British roommate Meredith Kercher. (Kercher was found dead in her bedroom the morning of Nov. 2, 2007, with multiple knife wounds to her neck.) The prosecution and defense finished presenting their evidence two weeks ago; finally, they'll begin their closing arguments on Friday. Those could take up to six weeks or longer, especially if the judge asks for an independent review of any evidence. Afterward, two judges will lead a six-member layperson jury in deciding whether Knox and Sollecito should spend the rest of their lives in an Italian prison. This is how the evidence stacks up in the case.

 

Death in Italy

Barbie Nadeau

An Italian judge believes that a young Seattle woman instigated a vicious 'extreme sex' killing. Her student friends say she is just a dorky sweetheart. Deconstructing the grim tale of Amanda Knox.

Amanda Knox's Shaky Defense Team

Knox Takes the Stand

Italy Gears Up for Amanda Knox Trial Frenzy

Defending Amanda Knox

Sex Murder Prison Diaries

Murder Most Wired

Fourth Suspect in Kercher Murder

 

Evidence: Rudy Guede
Who it hurts: Knox and Sollecito
Rudy Guede is the 24-year-old Ivory Coast native convicted in a fast-track trial last October for his role in Kercher's murder. He is serving a 30-year sentence (his appeal begins on Nov. 19). Guede, who refused to testify in the Knox trial, has admitted that he was in the house when Kercher was killed. He says Kercher invited him there and that the two were making out when a stomach cramp from a bad kebab sent him to the bathroom. He was on the toilet with his iPod headphones on through four songs and, when he came out, Kercher was dying. He says he tried to save Kercher by using a towel to sop up the blood on her neck wounds, but he was scared after a man he says looked like Sollecito told him that "they'll pin this on the black guy." Guede fled to Germany, where he was later arrested for skipping a train fare. His feces (found in a toilet), along with his DNA and fingerprints from Kercher's bedroom, link him to the crime scene. The sentencing judge who convicted him, though, did not see him as a lone assailant. Instead, the judge wrote in his sentencing report that he believed Guede acted with Knox and Sollecito.

Evidence: Murder dynamic
Who it hurts: Knox and Sollecito
One of the most complicated aspects of Kercher's tragic death is how the murder itself played out. The prosecution believes that Knox, Sollecito, and Guede taunted Kercher in a sex game that quickly escalated to violence and ended in murder. Countless forensic experts, including those who performed the autopsies on Kercher's body, have testified that more than one person killed her based on the size and location of her injuries and the fact that she didn't fight back—no hair or skin was found under her fingernails. The defense has confused matters more: Knox's forensic specialist testified that Kercher had been killed by only one person from the front, but Sollecito's expert testified that Kercher had been killed by one person from behind.

Evidence: Knox's confession
Who it hurts: Knox
On Nov. 5, 2007, Sollecito was called to the Perugia police station for questioning about Kercher's murder. Knox testified last June that she did not want to be alone, so she accompanied him. During his interrogation, Sollecito admitted to police that he did not know for sure if Knox actually spent the night of the murder at his house, as she had told police earlier. Since Knox was at the police station, the head of the murder squad decided to ask her a few questions. Her interrogation started at about 11 p.m., and, by 5:45 a.m., Knox had told police that she was in the house when Kercher died—and that Patrick Lumumba, the owner of the nightclub where she worked, was the assailant. She even described Kercher's screams. She, Sollecito, and Lumumba were arrested. The next day, Knox wrote a five-page memorandum reiterating everything she said the night before. But since there was no lawyer present during her interrogation—and so far no one has produced an audiotape of the interrogation—Knox's attorneys were able to have her verbal confession thrown out of evidence. The five-page memorandum still holds.

Evidence: False-accusation charge
Who it hurts: Knox
Knox and Sollecito are jointly charged with sexual assault, murder, staging a crime, and theft. Knox is additionally charged with falsely implicating Lumumba. It turned out he had nothing to do with the crime, and he furnished an airtight alibi. Knox's defense says she was coerced into naming him and that the police mentioned Lumumba's name first. Witnesses have testified that extreme stress can cause false memories and that Knox, a young woman in a foreign country, was under incredible pressure. Still, the charge of false accusation may be hard to overcome. Lumumba was dragged from his home in front of his wife and children, and he spent two weeks in prison before being released due to lack of evidence. He lost his nightclub, which remained part of the investigation even after he was released. Lumumba is also filing a $740,000 civil suit against Knox for defamation of character.

Evidence: Conflicting alibis
Who it hurts: Unknown
Knox maintains that she spent the night of Nov. 1, 2007, at Sollecito's house. Sollecito did not take the stand during this trial, and his lawyer told NEWSWEEK that it was, at least in part, because he could not corroborate Knox's alibi. In fact, before his arrest Sollecito told police that he was smoking pot and downloading cartoons on his computer the night of the murder. He said Knox was there, but that she left, and that he could not remember when or if she came back. Knox says the two cooked dinner, watched a movie, smoked pot, and had sex. A parade of bizarre witnesses—including a homeless man who slept on a park bench near the scene of the crime, and who said he did not wear a watch that night—testified in the trial that Knox and Sollecito were near the house close to the time of Kercher's murder. Computer experts for the prosecution testified that there was no activity on Sollecito's computer during the time he was allegedly downloading files. But an expert witness for Sollecito offered evidence that someone was on his computer the night he was at the police station, implying that his alibi had been tampered with.

Evidence: Cartwheels, splits, vibrator, and motive
Who it hurts: The prosecution
Early on in the trial, police officers and Kercher's friends testified that Knox performed cartwheels and did the splits at the police station while waiting to talk to investigators about the murder. While this behavior was inappropriate for someone whose roommate was just found with her throat slit, Knox's gymnastics won't likely have any impact on the final outcome of this case. Nor will her pink "Rampant Rabbit" vibrator that she kept in a transparent beauty case in the women's shared bathroom. When Kercher's British girlfriends took the stand, they testified about how uncomfortable the presence of the sex toy made Kercher feel. It was placed into evidence because the prosecution felt that its presentation in their home was used to intimidate Kercher. But the vibrator was not the murder weapon, it was not used in the crime, and it is not likely to be a factor for the judges deciding her case. The prosecution has also done little to prove a motive in this case. Countless witnesses have testified that the two young women got along, and while Kercher was clearly unhappy with the sexual and hygienic habits of her American roommate, there has been no proof offered that the murder was premeditated.

Evidence: Courtroom behavior
Who it hurts: Knox
Italian courts are respectable institutions where rules of decorum are strictly followed. But Knox behaved boorishly throughout the trial, and the jury will have noticed. She enters the courtroom like a beauty queen, pandering to the cameras and sometimes answering journalists' questions with a coy smile. She also wore a "Let It Be" T shirt on Valentine's Day, and has been spotted passing around chocolates, winking at Sollecito, and laying her head down on the defense table. The Italian press has had a ball with Knox's courtroom antics (and those of her family). The jury is not sequestered, and the members are free to read about the case, which means they will certainly have been exposed to rampant criticism of her conduct.