Amanda Knox's parents gain sympathy on 'Oprah'

"How do you intend to set Amanda free?"

Oprah Winfrey takes Edda Mellas' hand during a taping of the Oprah Winfrey show. (OprahWinfrey.com)

That's how Oprah Winfrey closed a teaser promoting her interview with the parents of Amanda Knox, the 21-year-old Seattle native who was convicted of murder in an Italian court for the killing of British student Meredith Kercher.
Since the December conviction, Curt Knox and Edda Mellas have asserted Amanda's innocence and vowed to fight for her release. If their plan includes an appeal to the court of public opinion, then a seat in Oprah's studio, a question like the one above and a hand hold like the one shown to the right could mean they're onto something.

AMANDA KNOX'S PARENTS ON OPRAH
Related videos

· The weekly call from Amanda Knox
· Knox's sisters speak out
· ABC News' Elizabeth Vargas discusses the case

AMANDA KNOX CASE
Recent seattlepi.com coverage

· Debate continues over Knox's guilt
· Amanda Knox guilty of murder
· Verdict reaction: Family grieves, some blame Italy
· Donald Trump on Amanda Knox: 'Boycott Italy'
· Amanda Knox's parents appear on Larry King

Online, Oprah tells the story in pieces, beginning with the basics many of us in Seattle already know: In November 2007, the body of Meredith Kercher was found in a house she shared with University of Washington student Amanda Knox in the city of Perugia, Italy, while both were studying abroad. Two years later, after a tumultuous trial in a case that became an instant international media sensation, Knox and her former boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, were convicted in the murder. Knox was sentenced to 26 years.
Knox and Mellas told Oprah all the evidence indicates that Rudy Guede -- a man convicted earlier in the killing -- was the only murderer. They said they're waiting for the release of a "motivation document" to understand the jury's process in reaching its verdict before they move forward with an appeal.
Knox's parents also confirmed what I've heard for some time -- that Amanda is still taking University of Washington classes, doing Italian and German assignments from prison.
"It keeps the light on at the end of the tunnel, that this is not wasted time for her as she's working toward her graduation of college, because she's going to get out of there," Knox told Oprah. "She's absolutely innocent. You go through a trial by media versus a trial inside the courtroom. Inside the courtroom, there is not the evidence to come up with a guilty verdict. It is so far past that to where she should be [found] innocent.'"
Knox attorney Theodore Simon was also on the show, calling the "lack of evidence" "profound and compelling."
If it seems like the show did a lot for the argument that Knox's conviction was unfounded and invalid, that's because it apparently did. No criticism in the Oprah online story goes unaddressed by Knox's parents. And once addressed, they're left alone.
As Oprah usually does, she focused on the human element, making the tears come more out of sympathy for a distressed family than from an exploration of the crime.
The most revealing video in the online package is this one, showing the Knox family gathered around the phone for Amanda's weekly call from prison. Here's a key segment from the show's accompanying online story:

Edda and Curt both say the hardest moments for them is trying to explain to Amanda why she is in this position. On one particular day, Curt says he held Amanda for 45 minutes while she cried. "I think it was one of those days [where Amanda was wondering]: 'Why is this happening to me? I haven't done anything. I've told the truth,'" Edda says. "And how do you explain that to her? That mistakes happen and she's in the middle of this massive mistake and that it will get fixed and trying to make sure she she knows that she will get out of there."

Not so Foxy Knoxy: Killer Amanda looks pale and spotty as she arrives at court for murder appeal

By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 3:18 PM on 24th November 2010

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Amanda Knox arrived at court for the start of her appeal against the murder conviction looking pale, spotty and much less glamorous than she had during her infamous trial.
And the granny-style pale blue cardigan she was wearing did not do much to disguise the year she has spent behind bars for killing 21-year-old Briton Meredith Kercher.
The American, jailed for 26 years after what judges said was a frenzied sex game that spiralled out of control, appeared tired and drawn.
It was a surprisingly low-key outing given she was due to see her ex-boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito in court, their first meeting in 12 months since sentence was passed.

Haggard: Wearing a blue cardigan, Amanda Knox looks pale and drawn as she is led into court in Perugia for an appeal hearing

Concerned: The usually glamorous American, dubbed Foxy Knoxy by world media during her murder trial, is sharing a cell with another female inmate

The Italian was sent to prison for 25 years for his role in the murder, but is also appealing.
The appeal trial was immediately adjourned until December 11, with two more hearings set for December 18 and January 15.
Knox, 23, had always protested her innocence. Her stepfather Chris Mellas said: 'Amanda is actually fine, she's looking forward to it.

Media glare: Friends and family have said Knox is confident her appeal will be successful and said she had been the victim of a miscarriage of justice

Denial: The 23-year-old smiles at one of her lawyers as she enters the court room

'She's hopeful for a good appeal, I think she feels and certainly the lawyers feel that we have a very strong case for her being innocent, which, you know, is the case.
'Amanda thinks it's amazing. Since she read it, it's been like waiting for Christmas trying to get this appeal going because she feels it's so strong that she will get out.
'We're requesting that the evidence be reviewed by third party people who are not biased - people not from the prosecution or defence, people who do not have any real interest in the matter other than the interest of science.'

Appeal: Raffaele Sollecito, Knox's former boyfriend who was also convicted in the 2007 murder of Meredith Kercher, arrives at court for the hearing

Victim: Meredith's semi-naked body was found with her throat cut in the house she shared with Knox. Right, the U.S. student during her trial

She has been sharing a cell with another female inmate at a prison near Perugia.
Meredith Kercher's semi-naked body was found in November 2007, locked in her blood-splattered bedroom in the house she shared with Knox and two other students in the university town of Perugia.
Her throat had been cut.
Prosecuters have accused Knox or persuading Sollecito and a third man, Rudy Guede, to take part in an extreme sex game involving Kercher, which then turned violent.
They said Knox was furious at the student for criticising her for a lack of cleanliness and promiscuity.

Crime scene: The house in Perugia where Meredith was killed during a sex game that descended into violence

Guede was sentenced to 30 years, which was later reduced to 16 years on appeal.
Knox's family, along with parts of the U.S. media, have said that he conviction was a miscarriage of justice.
Madison Paxton, a friend who travelled from her hometown of Seattle for the hearing, said: 'I think mistakes are made in every justice system throughout the world and mistakes were made in this one and I think it will be fixed.'


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1332606/Amanda-Knox-looks-pale-drawn-arrives-court-murder-appeal.html#ixzz16DMqqeVM

Brutal Killer Amanda Knox

A bloodbath ... the crime scene where Meredith Kercher was murdered

DNA is vital to Knox’s mercy bid

APPEAL court will hear the American had no motive to kill student Meredith Kercher

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• Jail meeting with killer ban for star
• Star Firth for role in Meredith film
• Knox family never said sorry
• Knox family weep on Oprah
• Kercher killer's sentence cut

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2. Gillian McKeith: I’m pregnant
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5. The golden ticket

From NICK FRANCIS in Perugia, Italy

Published: Today

BRITISH student Meredith Kercher was murdered in a brutal fight with her flatmates which was then made to look like a random sex attack, according to a top forensics expert.

Expert ... Luciano Garofano

In December last year, Amanda Knox and her Italian ex-boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito were found guilty of sexual assault and the murder in Perugia, Italy.

They were sentenced to 26 and 25 years, respectively.
However, in an appeal launched today, the pair will claim the third suspect in the case - Ivory Coast-born waiter Rudy Guede, 23, who was sentenced to 30 years but had it reduced to 16 on appeal - acted alone and killed Meredith, 21, during a burglary which turned into a sex attack.

But retired DNA expert Luciano Garofano believes neither American "Foxy Knoxy" nor the Italian courts have got the story completely right.

Murdered ... Surrey student Meredith Kercher, 21

Garofano told The Sun last night: "The scene was deliberately made to look like a rape after Meredith was killed.
"Her bra was found ripped off, but when the blood spray from her slashed throat was analysed, it showed it sprayed in a very neat V shape across her cleavage.
"It was not on the whole of her breasts, as it would have been if she was naked."
Garofano, 56, once advised the UN on where war crimes had been committed during the Bosnian war. If there was a CSI series set in Italy, it would be based on the work of this man.
Garofano has more than 32 years of forensics experience and used to work for Italy's elite Carabinieri police. He is also a member of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences.

Despite having no official involvement in the Kercher case, Garofano has spent the past three years poring over all the evidence - from police reports to court files - including information not disclosed in court.

Guilty plea ... Rudy Guede

He took a special interest in the case as it occurred on "his patch". Crucially, Garofano would have been head of the case had the Carabinieri received the emergency call, but the Polizia took it. Under Italian law, whichever force answers the initial call sees the case through.
In court, prosecutors said Londoner Meredith's bra was ripped by Knox, 23, and Sollecito, 26, while he raped her, and her semi-naked body was proof of a sex game gone wrong.
But Garofano insists: "I believe Meredith was killed as a result of a fight, not rape. If we look at the photo of the crime scene you can see the top left corner of the room is not covered in blood.
"Yet to the left of the corner, blood has been sprayed up the white door of the wardrobe. They are droplets, not spurts of blood.
"This shows that Meredith's killers were in front of her when they made the stab, as the artery would have spurted outwards - the blood spurt went on the attackers.
"Meredith's head had a bruise on the back of it. This is where she was pushed against a wall.

"The inside of Meredith's leg was also bruised. This is consistent with a karate move she may have pulled off in an act of defence.

Heading back to court ... American student Amanda Knox is appealing her murder conviction

"We know Meredith was a karate expert. Meredith then probably hit Knox. I say this because drops of Knox's blood were found at the crime scene, consistent with a nose bleed.
"Someone then restrains Meredith, maybe Knox, maybe Sollecito. While one restrains, the other stabs Meredith in the neck.

Boyfriend ... Raffaele Sollecito is also
appealing his murder conviction

"Blood spurts over the attackers, which is why the wall is clean, but then Meredith slumps to her knees. We see blood spray across the white cupboard at kneeling height, where Meredith is breathing out the blood that has welled up in her lungs.

"A little to the left you will notice a pool of blood. Meredith was probably lying down by this point and bleeding heavily.
"She was then moved and continued to cough blood, which has sprayed on to the outside of the wardrobe and on to her chest.
"Meredith bled to death in a lot of pain. The attack was very quick and happened in a small area. The rest of the room is not disturbed. Her bedside table has a glass of water untouched and a letter perched. If the fight had been prolonged these things would have moved.
"That is why the idea of rape is far-fetched. Rape would have taken a long time and Meredith could have put up a fight. There is also too little DNA evidence to suggest she had been raped."
Garofano also explains the involvement of Rudy Guede. He was a mutual friend of Knox and Meredith and may have been in a relationship with the victim.

Garofano says: "Guede said he was sitting on the toilet when he heard the attack. There is evidence he was in the loo.
"Someone at some point attempts to stem the bleeding from Meredith's neck with a wedge of white towels.

House of horrors ... the building in the Italian city of Perugia where Meredith was brutally murdered

"Guede claims this was him and there is no reason to doubt that. But Guede then helped make the scene look like a break-in and rape."

Finally, Garofano reveals how Meredith's killers botched their attempts to cover up the murder.
He says: "The rock 'thrown' through the window is too big to have fitted through the gap.

"We also see that the glass of the smashed window falls all over the ransacked objects in the room. Yet Knox and Sollecito claim the window was broken by an intruder, allowing the intruder to climb inside and ransack the room, as well as rape and kill Meredith.

Staged ... rock that smashed window 'would not fit the gap'

"If this was the case, the glass would be underneath the other mess. The window was smashed after the room was messed up.
"The terrible events leading to Meredith's death were committed by people already inside.
"I believe the police have prosecuted and convicted the right people, even if they got some of the details wrong."

n.francis@the-sun.co.uk

Read more: http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/features/3243013/Italian-DNA-expert-gives-his-verdict-on-the-murder-of-Meredith-Kercher.html#ixzz16BG38zJ7

Appeal hearing dates

2010
24nov Amanda and Raffie First Appeal Process

11dec Continution of above

16dec Guede Second Appeal Process

2011
15feb Curt and Edda slander

24feb Sollecito family for releasing tape to tel

17may Amanda slander