Why Italy's top court threw out Amanda Knox conviction
Judges slammed Amanda Knox's prosecutors for reducing the case to a 鈥榝rantic search for one or more guilty parties to consign to international public opinion.'
Amanda Knox talking to members of the media outside her mother's home in Seattle in March 2015. Italy's top criminal court has scathingly faulted prosecutors for presenting a flawed and hastily constructed case against Amanda Knox and her former Italian boyfriend, saying on Monday that it threw out their convictions for the 2007 murder of her British roommate, in part because there was no proof they were in the bedroom where the woman was fatally stabbed.
(Ted S. Warren/AP/File)
Italy鈥檚 highest criminal court on Monday threw out prosecutors鈥� convictions of Amanda Knox and her former boyfriend, saying that there was nothing linking them to the scene of the crime and blaming investigators for bowing to international pressure in one of the country's most publicized legal sagas in years.
The Court of Cassation freed Ms. Knox and Raffaele Sollecito in March, reported 海角大神.
But this is the first time the court has explained its decision to acquit the two of murdering Knox鈥檚 British roommate Meredith Kercher in the Italian college town of Perugia in 2007, according to The Associated Press.
The prosecution鈥檚 case was flawed from the start, wrote the court in a formal explanation.
Firstly, there was an 鈥渁bsolute lack of biological traces鈥� of Knox or Mr. Sollecito both in the room where the victim was stabbed and on her body, said the panel.
Had investigators presented more substantiated findings, 鈥溾�榠n all probability鈥� the defendants鈥� guilt or innocence could have been determined from the earliest stages,鈥� reported the AP.
The judges went on to detail examples of what they called 鈥渟tunning weakness or investigative bouts of amnesia and 鈥� blameworthy omissions of investigative activity.鈥�
For instance, even basic information like the time of death was disputed, which reflected a "deplorable approximation,鈥� wrote the panel.
Investigators had also mishandled potential evidence, such as causing 鈥渁n electric shock鈥� while trying to charge the computers of Knox and Ms. Kercher, 鈥渨hich perhaps could have furnished information useful to the investigation,鈥� the judges said.
The victim鈥檚 bra clasp 鈥� a key piece of evidence as prosecutors argued it carried a trace of Sollecito鈥檚 DNA 鈥� was left on the floor of the murder scene for 46 days, said the panel. It was then passed around by officials 鈥渨earing dirty latex gloves."
How could a murder case of this magnitude be so faultily constructed?
Judges are pointing to the pressure of 鈥渢he international spotlight.鈥�
Prosecutors suddenly became so urgent in accelerating the investigation that it soon became a 鈥渇rantic search for one or more guilty parties to consign to international public opinion,鈥� wrote the judges.
This sense of urgency, they added, 鈥渃ertainly didn't help the search for substantial truth.鈥�
Knox and Sollecito were arrested in 2007 and later served nearly four years in an Italian prison. Both have always maintained their innocence.
Knox, now 28, expressed her relief in a statement posted on her website Monday.
鈥淚 am deeply grateful that the Italian Supreme Court has filed its opinion and forcefully declared my innocence. This has been a long struggle for me, my family, my friends, and my supporters,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 will now begin the rest of my life with one of my goals being to help others who have been wrongfully accused.鈥�
This report contains material from The Associated Press.