The Truth Will Set Them Free
Injustice in Perugia
A site detailing the wrongful conviction of Amanda Knox & Raffaele Sollecito
Amanda Knox
Links
Amanda Knox was born July 9, 1987, in Seattle Washington. She is the daughter of Edda Mellas and Curt Knox. Amanda has a younger sister Deanna and two younger half sisters Ashley and Delaney. Amanda's parents divorced when she was a child.
Amanda began playing soccer at a young age. She was given the nickname Foxy Knoxy for her sly ball handling skills on the soccer field. No one knew at the time that the name would later be used against her. This name has been used by the media and prosecutors to destroy her character and portray Amanda as a seductress.
Education was very important to Amanda. She had her heart set on Seattle Prep because she had heard it was the most academically challenging high school in Seattle. She took the test and not only was she admitted to Seattle Prep, she was awarded a scholarship. She didn't take this opportunity for granted. She excelled in her studies. Amanda was an ambitious student. During the summer after freshman year, she participated in a student exchange program, spending three weeks living with a family in Japan.
Amanda graduated from Seattle Preparatory High School in the spring of 2005. After graduating high school, she attended the University of Washington, working toward a degree in linguistics. Amanda continued to excel in her studies. In the spring of 2007, she was named to the University of Washington's dean's list.
Amanda worked several jobs as a student to save the money needed to participate in the study-abroad program in Italy. She left Washington to spend her junior year studying abroad as part of a yearlong course with University for Foreigners Perugia in Italy.
Amanda shared a cottage with Meredith Kercher and two other women. She had a boyfriend named Raffaele who she met at a classical-music concert in late October. Amanda was just getting settled into her new environment when her world was changed forever.
Amanda's flatmate Meredith Kercher was murdered November 1st, 2007. Her body was found the following day. Amanda Knox and her boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito quickly became suspects.
In the early morning hours of November 6, 2007, the questioning became much more aggressive. Amanda was in a situation that she had absolutely no control of. She was thousands of miles from home, In a country where she had a very limited knowledge of the language. She was confronted by aggressive police officers who were accusing her of a horrible crime that she didn't commit. Amanda was terrified.
Amanda did not have a lawyer present during her interrogation. She was told it would be worse for her if she did. Amanda was told that she was being questioned as a witness but she was clearly being interrogated as a suspect. Italian law is very clear, no suspect is to be interrogated with out the presence of an attorney. The interrogation of Amanda Knox was illegal.
Amanda stated in court testimony that she was repeatedly hit on the back of the head and called a stupid liar. The interrogator that was hitting her told Amanda that she was trying to help her to remember, Amanda was told that they had proof that she was at the crime scene at the time of the murder and she was going to prison for 30 years.
Suffering from extreme exhaustion, after a long and grueling interrogation, twenty year old college student Amanda Knox gave in to the interrogators demands by describing an imaginary dream or vision. In this vision, she was in the kitchen covering her ears to block out screams while the man she worked for, Patrick Lumumba, was in Meredith's bedroom.
This so called confession was typed out by the police. The confession was not written by Amanda Knox. At least 12* members of the police force interrogated Amanda. Why was it necessary for 12 people to interrogate a 20 year old female college student?
In Italy, it is normal police policy to record interrogations. Amanda's interrogation was not recorded. Why wasn't the interrogation recorded?
Later in the morning of November 6th, 2007, Amanda hand wrote a letter explaining the interrogation.
Amanda wrote: "In regards to this "confession" that I made last night, I want to make it clear that I'm very doubtful of the verity of my statements because they were made under the pressures of stress, shock and extreme exhaustion."
Please listen to Amanda tell the details of her interrogation in her own words.
The Italian supreme court ruled that the interrogation of Amanda Knox was inadmissible in the trial. The court stated that the interrogation was illegal because Amanda didn't have an attorney present. The civil trial was running at the same time as the murder trial so the same jury had the results of the illegal interrogation read to them anyway.
Amanda Knox, her former boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito and Patrick Lumumba were arrested in Perugia Italy, on November 6th. 2007.
Amanda quickly became the attraction of the media. The prosecution portrayed Amanda as a sexually crazed killer. The media crucified her. She was called a she-devil, a diabolical person focused on sex, drugs and alcohol. Her myspace page was dissected. Photos that would be normally found on any twenty year old's myspace account were looked at as sexual. Her myspace page also provided the public with her now famous nickname "Foxy Knoxy." A picture of her laughing while handling a machine-gun in a museum during a vacation with her family was also used against her.
Lead investigator Edgardo Giobbi stated that his suspicions were raised just hours after the murder when he saw Amanda at the crime scene swivel her hips as she put on a pair of shoe covers. These observations were simply ridiculous. Amanda was considered guilty by the lead investigator before a single piece of evidence was even collected.
Amanda never stood a chance. She was found guilty in the court of public opinion long before her trial ever began.
During the trial, Amanda Knox was the focus. She was criticized for what she wore to the proceedings. She wore clothing that was given to her by her family. She wanted to show her appreciation to them. She was a young woman in a foreign land. She relied on her attorneys for advice. This was the one rare occasion where her attorneys faltered. They should have given their young client guidance. As the trial progressed, this was corrected.
Amanda's behavior was questioned repeatedly throughout the trial. Witnesses testified that she was affectionate with Raffaele outside of the cottage. There was also video footage showing Raffale holding Amanda and they were seen in the video kissing. She was seen as a sex addicted girl that couldn't control her urges. In reality, Amanda was crying and shaking after Meredith was found. Raffaele was comforting her. He was holding Amanda in his arms and they shared a few brief kisses. They definitely didn't look sexually aroused in any way. Amanda looked very frightened in the photos.
There were also pictures of one of Amanda's Italian housemates standing arm in arm with her boyfriend talking with a policewoman at the house on November 3rd. This photo wasn't spread all over the tabloids. Why no outrage about that photo? There was no outrage because it is a perfectly normal act of comforting someone you care about. Amanda's behavior was grossly misrepresented in the trial just like it had been and continued to be in the media.
Some witnesses testified that Amanda didn't show any emotion at all about Meredith's death. Most of these witnesses were friends of Meredith and other students that showed up at the police station the afternoon after Meredith's body was discovered. Keep in mind, Amanda had learned about Meredith's murder five hours before Meredith's friends had arrived to the police station. Amanda was seen shaking and crying at the cottage when she first heard the news. Meredith's friends were experiencing the emotions that Amanda had felt earlier in the day. Were these witnesses still crying and an unable to control their emotions five hours after they heard the news?
It's possible that Amanda's behavior did appear to be odd. She was in shock. Her friend was just found brutally murdered. People experience many emotions during times of extreme trauma. There is no correct way to act and individuals react differently. Amanda was seen crying and breaking down many times. If she was quiet and reserved at other times, she was simply dealing with the loss of her friend in her own unique way. Even if you disagree with my views on behavior, you simply cannot decide guilt based on how someone reacts to a traumatic event.
Here is a good article that talks about the many different emotions and behaviors that are witnessed from people after they have experienced a traumatic event. It also has a link to a case study showing the inability to properly determine guilt or innocence from behavior.
During the trial, prosecutor Giuliano Mignini was relentless in his attack on Amanda. Mignini described Amanda as a sex-and-drug-crazed sociopath. He described her dominance over Sollecito and Guede. He made outrageous quotes like this one:
“You can imagine Amanda telling Meredith, ‘You act like such a saint, now you are going to have sex with us.’”
What could possibly cause Amanda to turn on her friend in this extreme act of violence?
On the same day of Meredith's murder, Amanda and Meredith were getting along well. Meredith, Amanda and Raffaele were together in the apartment earlier that day. Raffaele made lunch while Amanda played songs on her guitar for Raffaele and Meredith.
Amanda never showed any behavior in her entire life that would lead anyone to believe that she could commit this horrible crime. Could it even be possible that these two young men would take orders from Amanda, a young woman that they both hardly knew?
There was no motive for the murder. Mignini tried several times to come up with one. During closing arguments he didn't bother to give any motive at all. He didn't need to. The jury wasn't sequestered. They listened for two years to the media's ruthless attacks on Amanda. When it came time for Amanda's lawyers to defend Amanda, no one seemed to have any interest. A majority of the media neglected to even show up for the defense presentation. The jury was seen on several occasions falling asleep. The judge was seen taking phone calls. The trial was just a technicality. They had made up their minds long ago.
Amanda is not a saint. No one ever said she was. Amanda was a sexually active young woman who smoked marijuana. Does that make her a sex crazed killer? Of course not. It was widely reported that all four women living in the cottage were sexually active. All were reported to smoke marijuana. If you tour college campuses throughout Europe and the US, you will find thousands of sexually active 20 year old students. Many of them smoke marijuana. I am not condoning any of this behavior. I am simply stating the facts. Amanda's behavior was not unusual to say the least.
There is no credible evidence linking Amanda Knox to the murder of Meredith Kercher.
On December 4th, 2009, Amanda Knox was found guilty on all counts and sentenced to 26 years in prison.
Amanda Knox has been wrongly convicted. The appeal is expected to start in the fall of 2010. The truth will set Amanda Knox free.
* It has been reported that up to 30 members of the Italian police force signed off on Amanda's signed statements. We have confirmation that at least 12 officers were active in the interrogation.
