Amanda Knox

[Maurice]

Daily Telegraph

by Anita Singh:



(front page photo of Hayden Panettiere and Paolo Romio portraying Knox and Sollecito)



The similarity is uncanny and unsettling. But these are not the killers Amanda Knox and Hayden Sollecito but actors Hayden Panettiere and Paolo Romio on a film set in Rome.



Every detail of the now infamous images of Knox and Sollecito talking following the murder of the British student Meredith Kercher three years ago have been recreated, even down to the colours of their coats and scarves.



THE AMANDA KNOX STORY, which also stars Colin Firth as a journalist, will focus on the American student nicknamed Foxy Knoxy, who was jailed for 26 years for Miss Kercher's murder.



The production has been heavily criticised by the family of Miss Kercher.



"I don't see how they can make a film called THE AMANDA KNOX STORY when the story is really all about my daughter. It's all very odd," said her mother Arline Kercher.



Miss Kercher, 21, from Coulsdon, Surrey, was found with her throat slashed at the flat she shared with Knox while studying in Perugia in 2007. Prosecutors claimed she had refused to take part in a sex game.



Knox, 23, is serving a 26-year sentence after being convicted of murder last year. Sollecito, 26, and Rudy Guede, a 23-year-old drifter, were also jailed for the killing.



The film is scheduled for release next year.

[margeurite]

I think this is a bit too soon considering knox's appeal is still going on. It is disrespectful to the families - I'm pretty sure they won't have approved this and it's a shame that their feelings haven't been taken into account.

[will.15]

Amanda Knox: The judge who could set her free

I admit it is unlikely, but what would that do to the movie?

[icetorch]

As a result of the trial, I found myself watching a man on TV who often passes me in the street (here in Croydon, South London). He lives just about a minute's walk from me. It was quite a shock to learn that it was Meredith Kercher's father. How on Earth you ever come to terms with something like that, I can't imagine.

[julian_craster]

If Knox is released, she will make millions of $$$$.........talk shows, books, press interviews, movie rights....

[batman]

How on Earth you ever come to terms with something like that, I can't imagine.

It may take years, but you have to reach a stage of acceptance, otherwise you own life will not be worth living. You never 'get over it', but life does become bearable and, if you are lucky, you can start to enjoy life again.

[didi-5]

It seems in poor taste to make a film of this so soon after the event, and especially given the fact Knox is appealing her conviction. I do feel for the families of all concerned as they can probably do without this tragic murder being made into 'entertainment'.

[Kitty Whiskers]

I have to agree, it's very poor taste. Such a tawdry story for her family to have blasted on the big screen. And not just the big screen, if it's a hit then it becomes magazines, talk shows and DVDs. How are they supposed to feel if the actress playing Knox get an Oscar nod? Maybe in ten years, but it's all too, too soon right now, IMHO.

[julian_craster]

If Knox is released, she will make millions of $$$$.........talk shows, books, press interviews, movie rights....

According to unconfirmed reports in the Italian media, a US television network has put a private jet at the disposal of the Knox family.....

"Well now," said Maresca when his turn came to speak. "The Kercher family has problems finding the tickets to come here to hear the outcome on Monday morning."

The Guardian
Amanda Knox said to have plane on standby if appeal is upheld | World news | The Guardian

[julian_craster]

Could Amanda Knox be the new Roxie Hart [Roxie Hart (1942) - IMDb ] (also see Chicago) in the US media ?

[Mr Sloane]

Could Amanda Knox be the new Roxie Hart [Roxie Hart (1942) - IMDb ] (also see Chicago) in the US media ?

It is a while since I saw Roxie Hart but is n't Roxie actually innocent.

[CaptainWaggett]

It is a while since I saw Roxie Hart but is n't Roxie actually innocent.

She certainly is, though not in any other versions of the story.

[julian_craster]

'I am innocent' Amanda Knox tells Italian court

'I am innocent' Amanda Knox tells Italian court - Europe, World - The Independent

[julian_craster]

Guilty or Innocent ?

From:
Amanda Knox: Guilty or innocent, five reasons why - Telegraph

FIVE REASONS KNOX IS GUILTY

1) The confession.
Knox confessed that she was in the house on the night of the murder and that she heard Miss Kercher scream, identifying a Congolese bar owner, Patrick Lumumba, as the assailant. She told the court during the trial that the confession was made under duress but then repeated the entire account in a five page memorandum the next morning.


2) The false accusation.
The prosecution said the fact that Knox falsely accused Lumumba of being the killer was a sign of her own guilt and an attempt to throw them off her trail. He was arrested in a dawn raid by armed police and spent two weeks in jail. It was only by chance that a Swiss businessman read about the case and came forward to say he had been talking to Lumumba in his bar on the night of the murder — offering him a rock-solid alibi. Lumumba says Knox nearly ruined his life and is suing her for defamation.

3) The alibi.
Sollecito could not back up Knox’s alibi on the night of the murder.
She claimed she spent the evening with him, smoking marijuana, watching the French film Amelie and making love. But Sollecito told police he could not remember if Knox was with him that evening or not.
Even assuming his memory was hazy because of the drugs, it seemed odd that a young man who had just embarked on a new relationship could not recall whether he had spent the night with his girlfriend or not.


4) Computer and telephone records.
Sollecito claimed he used his computer to download and watch cartoons and Amelie. But computer experts told the court that there was no activity on his laptop between 9.10pm on Nov 1, and 5.32am the next morning — the time frame in which the murder took place.
Knox and Sollecito turned off their mobile phones on the night of the murder, from around 8.40pm, and turned them back on at around 6am, inviting further suspicion.


5) The staged break-in.
A bedroom belonging to one of Miss Kercher’s Italian flatmates was ransacked on the night of the murder, with a window smashed with a rock. But police said the break-in was staged - broken glass from the window was found on top of clothes scattered on the floor, suggesting the window was broken after the contents of the room were messed up. Prosecutors accused Knox and her boyfriend of staging the break-in to make the killing look like a burglary that had turned into rape and murder.




FIVE REASONS KNOX IS INNOCENT

1) Lack of motive.
There still seems to be no convincing motive for the murder.
Prosecutors said tensions between Knox and Miss Kercher had reached boiling point over disagreements about housework, hygiene and boyfriends. They claimed Knox was driven to rage by jealousy towards her British flatmate. But it seemed far-fetched to claim that such relatively minor differences would lead Knox to kill.

2) Lack of DNA.
None of Knox’s DNA was found in the bedroom in which Miss Kercher was stabbed to death. The prosecution claimed that Knox’s DNA was on the handle of the presumed murder weapon, a kitchen knife, and Kercher’s genetic material on the blade, linking the American to the killing.
They also said that Sollecito’s DNA was found on the clasp, which had been cut or torn off the bra, proving that he took part in the attack too.
But a review of the evidence by two independent experts from La Sapienza University in Rome found that the DNA traces were too low to be reliable and so small that they could not be retested.
The bra clasp was only found six weeks after the initial crime scene investigation, by which time it had been kicked around the floor of Miss Kercher’s bedroom, leading to a high risk of contamination.



3) No witnesses.
The prosecution struggled to come up with witnesses who could place Knox and Sollecito at the scene of the crime. A homeless drug addict, Antonio Curatolo, told the initial trial that he had seen Knox and her boyfriend arguing on the night of the murder near the scene of the crime. But during the appeal he gave confusing and contradictory evidence, mixing up dates, and admitted to regularly using heroin, further undermining his credibility.
Even Rudy Guede, the Ivory Coast-born drifter who was also convicted of the murder, initially said that Knox was not in the house on the night of the murder. He changed his story a few months after his arrest, saying that on coming out of the bathroom he had grappled with a stranger, who could have been Sollecito, and that he saw Knox’s silhouette outside the house.



4) Doubts over the murder weapon.
Police and prosecutors said Miss Kercher was killed with a 6.5 inch long kitchen knife found in Sollecito’s apartment. But the blade of the knife did not match two out of three of the wounds to her neck.
Nor did it match a bloody, knife-shaped smear on Miss Kercher’s bedclothes. The trial judge said that two knives must have been used; the second has never been found.



5) The false confession.
The defence said that when Knox "confessed" to being in the house on the night of the murder and could remember hearing Miss Kercher scream, she was traumatised and acting under extreme psychological pressure after an all night interrogation by police. Knox told the trial that during the questioning she had been cuffed around the head by an officer and told that if she did not start cooperating she would face decades in jail. She was questioned without a lawyer being present and at the time she knew only basic Italian.

[Dame Starry]

'I am innocent' Amanda Knox tells Italian court

Alfie Hinds always reckoned he was innocent too - about as innocent as the Krays!

[julian_craster]

Anything Amanda Knox says in court needs to be completely disregarded by the judges/jury, I think....

It was an Oscar-winning performance, scripted by herself and her legal advisors....

[jimw1]

Knox and Sollecito cleared of murder

BBC News - Amanda Knox wins Meredith Kercher murder appeal

[julian_craster]

Overjoyed: Around a dozen Knox supporters shouted 'She's free!' and 'We did it!' as they watched proceedings from a hotel in Seattle

[didi-5]

My sympathies are with the Kercher family. I have nothing whatever to say about Amanda Knox.

[DB7]

An epic fail from the Mail.