Judges reject Knox and Sollecito's appeals

It was four weeks ago that British study abroad student Meredith Kercher was found dead in her bedroom, half-clothed with stab wounds to her throat, yet investigations are still underway in the international murder mystery involving UW student Amanda Knox.

Despite continued protestations of innocence, Knox and Italian student Raffaele Sollecito will remain in jail without bail until the case is resolved, a three-judge panel ruled Friday.

Knox and Sollecito have been in confinement in Perugia's Capanne prison since Nov. 6, when Italian police officials took them into custody for their alleged role in Kercher's murder.

Prosecutors for Kercher's family argued for the suspects' sustained detention in a closed court hearing, citing DNA findings and an intercepted conversation between Knox and her parents in jail as evidence for keeping the suspects in prison, according to a Dec. 1 Seattle Post-Intelligencer article ("Parents of Knox, ex-boyfriend visit after court setback").

Francesco Maresca, the Kercher family attorney, confirmed reports that prosecutors had presented a conversation secretly taped between Knox and her parents.

"It's stupid. I can't say otherwise; I was there and I can't lie about that," she is reported to have said.

Knox's attorney Luciano Ghirga was cited in Italy's daily La Stampa as saying the quote was in reference to Sollecito's apartment, not Knox's home.

In the same bugged conversation, Knox claimed she did not realize she was being questioned as a suspect, and was denied a lawyer on one occasion, according to a Dec. 1 article in Sky News ("Knox 'unaware' she was murder suspect).

As the case has lingered on, a myriad of evidence has been alternately presented and disputed against Knox and Sollecito as police officials continue to search for the truth of what happened that night.

Substantiated evidence includes:

Video surveillance shows a figure entering Knox and Kercher's home the night of her death. Police officials have argued that the person in question was Knox, while judges and Knox's lawyers have argued that it is difficult to tell who the figure is, and whether it is a man or a woman.

A kitchen knife with traces of Kercher's and Knox's DNA was found in the possession of Sollecito. The knife in question was not the supposed murder weapon, and Knox's lawyers have argued that due to the depth and angle of Kercher's wounds, it would be unlikely that a woman stabbed her.

A bloody fingerprint found on Kercher's pillow matched that of Ivory Coast native Rudy Hermann Guede, an acquaintance of Kercher's. Guede was arrested in Germany and awaits extradition.

Another bloody fingerprint, this time of Knox's, was found on the bathroom sink of Kercher and Knox's home. Further tests showed that the blood on the print was not Kercher's, but Knox's own.

DNA tests confirm that Guede had sex with Kercher the night of her death. Guede's lawyers claim that their client and Kercher had an intimate relationship.

[Reach reporter Arla Shephard at news@thedaily.washington.edu.]