Meredith Kercher murder case

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The Meredith Kercher murder is a criminal case in recent Italian legal history . The 21-year-old British exchange student Meredith Kercher was robbed and murdered on November 1, 2007 in Perugia, Italy, in the apartment she shared with three other women . Rudy Hermann Guede was identified as the perpetrator and convicted in 2008.

Kercher's roommate Amanda Knox and her friend Raffaele Sollecito were accused by the prosecutor of complicity and also charged with murder.

On December 4, 2009, the court sentenced Knox and Sollecito to long prison terms. On October 3, 2011, the Perugia Court of Appeal overturned the judgment. After a renewed appeal, this time by the public prosecutor, the acquittals were overturned on March 26, 2013 by the court of cassation in Rome and the two defendants were again sentenced to long prison terms by the court of appeal in Florence on January 30, 2014. On March 27, 2015, Knox and Sollecito were finally acquitted by the Italian Supreme Court .

The interest of the Italian, British, US and German-speaking tabloids in the case in particular was aroused by the fact that the main prosecutor, Public Prosecutor Giuliano Mignini, had spoken of a “ satanic rite” and “ demonic motives” in the indictment . However, this was already rejected by the court in the first guilty verdict. The ongoing intense interest of the media in the investigations of the Italian public prosecutor's office, which have since been resumed, and the various legal proceedings ensured that the case remained public for several years afterwards.

Sequence of events

The apartment where Meredith Kercher was murdered: (A) her room, (B) her bathroom, (C) Amanda Knox's room. The red dots are the markings used by forensics. The dead woman lay in the middle of her room. (D) the small corridor, (E) balcony / terrace, (F) living room with integrated kitchen, (G) entrance of the apartment. Furniture in Kercher's room (A) is graphically indicated in light gray: her bed at the bottom left, the closet at the top left, her desk with a desk chair by the window at the top right. In the bathroom (B) there were also some forensic police marker boards not shown here.

In the early evening of November 1, 2007, the flat of the shared apartment in Via della Pergola 7 ( Lage ) was deserted. Meredith Kercher had dinner with three English women in one of their apartments and went home early with a friend. At 8:55 p.m., the two of them parted ways - 460 m from Kercher's apartment. She died there after a first forensic report between 9 p.m. and 11 p.m., after a second report between 9 p.m. and 4 a.m., of massive blood loss from stab wounds to the neck and from suffocation, possibly after strangulation.

Amanda Knox 2016

Raffaele Sollecito, then a 23-year-old computer science student from Bari , called the police from the scene of the crime at noon the following day and reported a break-in, blood and a missing person. With him was his girlfriend at the time, Kercher's 20-year-old roommate, Amanda Knox from Seattle . Before the Carabinieri arrived, two officers from the Post and Telecommunications Police appeared in front of the house to investigate the discovery of two cell phones near another house. Knox and Sollecito informed them that they were waiting for the carabinieri because a window had broken and they had discovered blood stains in the bathroom.

When they showed the officials the situation in the house, another roommate and three friends arrived at the home. The cell phones found could be attributed to Kercher, but the officers refused to break open the locked door of Kercher's room. After one of the friends of her roommate kicked in the door, they saw Kercher's body lifeless on the floor under a duvet. The officers ordered everyone present to leave the home immediately and cordoned off the scene.

In addition to the two mobile phones, the victim was missing her apartment keys, two credit cards and 300 euros in cash.

Circumstantial trials and judgments

The investigative authorities rated Sollecito and Knox's alibis as weak and their statements as contradicting. In addition, the police found Knox's behavior extremely strange in the days following the murder, so that they were suspected. On November 6, 2007, both were arrested. During her interrogation, Knox incriminated the Congolese Diya "Patrick" Lumumba, who was subsequently arrested. On November 9, 2007, a court ruled that the three arrested persons were to be held in pre-trial detention on suspicion of collective sexual assault and homicide . There are "clear indications of her guilt," said the judge. Lumumba was released a little later. The investigators found incriminating traces of DNA from Knox and Sollecito, which, however, were declared insufficient by an independent expert report during the appeal process.

The main suspect a few days later was Rudy Hermann Guede, then 20 years old, from Abidjan ( Ivory Coast ). His bloody fingerprints and later DNA samples would have proven his presence at the crime scene. After the crime, Guede took the train to Germany and communicated with an English journalist about the murder on Facebook . He was arrested by the German police on November 20, 2007 in Mainz . In a separate trial on October 28, 2008, the court sentenced him to 30 years' imprisonment for rape and murder, which was reduced to 16 years on December 16, 2010 in the second (and last) appeal.

On December 4, 2009, the jury ruled that several people were involved in the murder and sentenced Sollecito to 25 years and Knox to 26 years. None of the convicts confessed. The judgments were based on circumstantial evidence .

The Court of Appeal in Perugia overturned the sentences against Sollecito and Knox for murder on October 3, 2011 and both spoke freely on the grounds that they had not committed the act ( Italian "per non aver commesso il fatto" ). Two academics from La Sapienza University had left virtually nothing of the main evidence of the prosecution in their report. A three-year libel sentence against Knox, which she had already served, was upheld by the court. After 14 hours of interrogation by the police, she had wrongly accused Lumumba of the murder of Kercher. The public prosecutor under Giuliano Mignini announced an appeal to the Supreme Court, which took place on February 14, 2012.

Claudio Pratillo Hellmann, the president of the Perugia jury, said the case was unlikely to be resolved and that Knox and Sollecito could "also be responsible for Meredith's death," but there was no evidence. "Those who were examined at the trial were judged to be inadequate to convict the two defendants." Rudy Guede, the only one still convicted, announced a motion to retrial his trial. The defense lawyers demanded that after the acquittal of Knox and Sollecito, the case should be reopened.

On March 26, 2013, it was announced that the Court of Cassation would reopen the case after finding errors. While the public prosecutor's office and the lawyers of Meredith Kercher's parents welcomed the verdict, the lawyers of Sollecito and Knox were "dismayed" by the verdict. On September 30, 2013, the new trial began in Florence.

On January 30, 2014, in the absence of the defendants, the Florence Court of Appeal delivered the fourth judgment in this criminal case. The eight judges and jury again found Knox and Sollecito guilty of murder and sentenced Knox to 28 years and 6 months in prison and Sollecito to 25 years in prison. The reasons for the judgment were published in April 2014. Lawyers for Knox and Sollecito laid in June 2014 the Court of Appeal an appeal in Florence.

On March 27, 2015, the Italian Supreme Court finally acquitted Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito of the allegation of murder, and Knox's conviction on false charges was upheld.

International attention

The case attracted international attention, with clear differences in the media reports of different countries: tabloids in Great Britain portrayed Knox as absolutely guilty, while US media presented her as the victim of an Italian judicial tribe. The American journalist Nina Burleigh, who had also published a book on the case, spoke of the “hair-raising misogyny” of the Italian authorities on the occasion of the acquittal on appeal, who had organized a medieval witch hunt on the strange, attractive young woman.

On November 12, 2007, the New York Times quoted the headline of a Perugia newspaper: “Who is Amanda? From a first-class student to an ice-cold ogre. ”The Times Italy correspondent Peter Kiefer tried his hand at a first picture of the three main suspects in this article:

“The three suspects don't fit the picture. First there is Ms. Knox, who doesn't fit into a murderess scheme: 20 years old, wealthy and good-looking, a language student from Seattle. The police assume that they did not act alone. The third and fatal wound on Frau Kercher's neck came from a man. Mrs. Knox's Italian friend, Raffaele Sollecito, 24, blond and with a sensitive look through his glasses, was also arrested; also Diya Lumumba, 44, from the Congo, owner of the bar called Le Chic, where Mrs. Knox worked as a waitress. "

- New York Times

According to media reports, the acquittal in the appeal process in 2011 was achieved not least through a change in public opinion: The chief prosecutor Giuliano Mignini, who spoke of a "satanic motive", was convicted of abuse of office for his behavior in other investigations; The many investigative errors also seriously damaged the credibility of the prosecution. Commentators also pointed to the extent of the media prejudice of the accused as "angels with the eyes of ice".

The following important information is missing from this article or section:
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The case in the media (selection)

Books

  • Kimberly Brown: The Amanda Knox Story: A Murder in Perugia. (Kindle edition with audio / video). Vook, April 27, 2011
  • Nina Burleigh: The Fatal Gift of Beauty: The Trials of Amanda Knox. Broadway Books, 2011, ISBN 978-0-307-58858-6 . OCLC 699763845
  • Candace Dempsey: Murder in Italy: the Shocking Slaying of a British Student, the Accused American Girl, and an International Scandal. Berkley Books, 2010, ISBN 978-0-425-23083-1 .
  • Rocco Girlanda: Io vengo con te. Colloqui in Carcere con Amanda Knox. [I'm coming with you. Prison talks with Amanda Knox]. Edizioni Piemme, 2010, ISBN 978-88-566-1562-3 . (Italian)
  • Gary C. King: The Murder of Meredith Kercher. John Blake Publishing, 2010, ISBN 978-1-84454-902-3 .
  • Barbie Latza Nadeau: Angel Face: the True Story of Student Killer Amanda Knox. Beast Books, 2010, ISBN 978-0-9842951-3-5 .
  • John Follain: A Death in Italy: The Definitive Account of the Amanda Knox Case. St Martins Pr Inc, 2013, ISBN 978-1250019387 .
  • Douglas Preston , Mario Spezi : The angel with the ice eyes. Knaur TB, 2013, ISBN 978-3-426-51346-0 .
  • Raffaele Sollecito: Honor Bound: My Journey to Hell and Back with Amanda Knox. Gallery Books, 2012, ISBN 978-1451695984 .
  • Amanda Knox: Time to be heard. Droemer, 2013, ISBN 978-3426276068 .

Television reports

  • American Girl, Italian Nightmare. CBS 48 Hours documentary, aired April 2009 in the US
  • Beyond the Headlines: Amanda Knox. Lifetime documentary, aired February 21, 2011 in the United States
  • A Long Way From Home. CBS 48 Hours documentary, aired in the US in April 2008
  • Murder Abroad: The Amanda Knox Story. CNN documentary aired May 8, 2011 in the US
  • Sex, Lies and the Murder of Meredith Kercher. Channel 4 Cutting Edge documentary airing in the UK on April 17, 2008
  • On May 2, 2013, ZDF broadcast an interview with Amanda Knox on the Lanz program .

Film adaptations

Web links

Commons : Meredith Kercher murder case  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Amanda Knox: Who is Rudy Guede? In: The Telegraph . October 2, 2011.
  2. ↑ Elisabetta Povoledo: Amanda Knox Freed After Appeal in Italian Court. In: New York Times . October 3, 2011
  3. ↑ The Amanda Knox case is reopened. In: DiePresse.com . March 26, 2013.
  4. ↑ The court sentenced Amanda Knox to 28 years in prison. In: Zeit Online . January 30, 2014.
  5. ↑ Murder Trial: Italy's Supreme Court acquits Amanda Knox In: Spiegel Online . March 27, 2015.
  6. ↑ Murder Trial: Italy's Supreme Court acquits Amanda Knox In: Spiegel Online . March 27, 2015.
  7. ↑ Lena Jakat: A bloody footprint and satanic verses. In: Süddeutsche.de . 4th October 2011.
  8. ↑ Amanda Knox: Media circus with murder suspect In: Spiegel Online . March 26, 2013.
  9. ↑ a b The Times: Meredith Kercher murder: why the timings are critical. November 13, 2007, accessed October 6, 2011 .
  10. ^ The Times: New DNA found on murdered student's bra not a match to three jailed suspects. January 31, 2008, accessed October 6, 2011 .
  11. ↑ Candace Dempsey: Murder in Italy: The Shocking Slaying of a British Student, the Accused American Girl, and an International Scandal . 2010, ISBN 978-0-425-23083-1 , pp. 57-61 .
  12. ↑ Telegraph: Meredith Kercher murder: Judge's report. November 9, 2007, accessed October 6, 2011 .
  13. ↑ Candace Dempsey: Murder in Italy: The Shocking Slaying of a British Student, the Accused American Girl, and an International Scandal . 2010, ISBN 978-0-425-23083-1 , pp. 61-62 .
  14. ↑ Candace Dempsey: Murder in Italy: The Shocking Slaying of a British Student, the Accused American Girl, and an International Scandal . 2010, ISBN 978-0-425-23083-1 , pp. 62-65 .
  15. ↑ The mirror: Mafia supergrass claims Amanda Knox is innocent of murdering Meredith Kercher. June 10, 2010, accessed October 11, 2011 .
  16. ^ DiePresse.com: Italy: American student suspected of murder. January 16, 2009, accessed October 11, 2011 .
  17. ^ "Amanda Knox's Odd Behavior Focus of Testimony," ABC News, March 13, 2009.
  18. ↑ "I do not know what is true" , Süddeutsche Zeitung, 23 November 2007.
  19. ↑ "Mama, I can do it" , Der Spiegel, October 3, 2011.
  20. ^ Fourth Meredith suspect arrested in Germany
  21. ↑ 30 years imprisonment for murder of student , Süddeutsche Zeitung, October 29, 2008.
  22. Jump up ↑ The sentence against Ivorians reduced from 30 to 16 years , Der Standard, December 22, 2009.
  23. ↑ 26 years imprisonment for the "angel with ice eyes" , Der Standard, December 5, 2009.
  24. ↑ Amanda Knox thanks supporters , n-tv, October 4, 2011.
  25. ↑ Amanda Knox acquitted , NZZ Online, October 4, 2011 (with video of the verdict)
  26. ↑ Delitto Mez, assolti Amanda e Raffaele. Lacrime e abbracci, entrambi sono liberi , Corriere della Sera, October 3, 2011 (Italian; with video of the verdict)
  27. ↑ Andrea Bachstein: Amanda Knox is free after four years , Süddeutsche Zeitung, October 4, 2011.
  28. ↑ Amanda Knox - Madonna or Murderess? , Stern, October 2, 2011.
  29. ↑ "Thank you to everyone who shared my suffering" , ORF.at, October 4, 2011.
  30. ↑ Livia Borghese: Italian prosecutors appeal decision to overturn Amanda Knox conviction , CNN, February 14, 2012 (English)
  31. ↑ The murder of Kercher will remain unsolved, according to Richter , Der Standard, October 6, 2011.
  32. ↑ The Amanda Knox case is reopened. In: DiePresse.com . March 26, 2013.
  33. ↑ I would like to visit Meredith's grave on Die Welt, accessed September 30, 2013
  34. ↑ Von der Femme fatale zur Heiligen on Spiegel Online, accessed September 30, 2013
  35. ↑ dpa: Amanda Knox sentenced to 28 years imprisonment in a new trial. Rheinische Post, January 31, 2014, accessed on January 31, 2014 .
  36. ^ Reasons for the verdict in the Amanda Knox case: Judges see controversy as a motive , Spiegel Online, April 30, 2014
  37. ↑ Murder Trial in Italy: Knox and Sollecito Appeal , Spiegel Online, June 17, 2014
  38. ↑ Hans-Jürgen Schlamp: acquittal for Amanda Knox: "The eyes of the angel". Spiegel Online , March 27, 2015, accessed March 28, 2015 .
  39. ↑ Stephanie Kirchgaessner: Meredith Kercher murder: Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito acquitted. In: theguardian.com. March 27, 2015, accessed March 28, 2015 .
  40. ↑ Los Angeles Times: The scapegoating of Amanda Knox
  41. ↑ New York Times, November 13, 2007.
  42. ^ Süddeutsche Zeitung: acquittal for Amanda Knox: easy game for the defenders
  43. ↑ The Guardian: Giuliano Mignini: Knox prosecutor Who believes he is the victim of conspiracy
  44. ^ ORF: Medial battle over the question of guilt
  45. ↑ Frankfurter Rundschau: The witch hunt
  46. ↑ zdf.de (Mediathek), Amanda Knox at Markus Lanz: "I am not a monster" ( Memento of the original from May 4, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , sueddeutsche.de @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / web.de