New evidence in the retrial of American student Amanda Knox and her onetime Italian boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito suggests that the alleged murder weapon used to kill British student Meredith Kercher never came in contact with the victim. A forensic analysis of the knife the prosecution says Knox used to kill Kercher had trace amounts of DNA on the handle. After the forensic expert Andrea Berti analyzed the DNA she came to the conclusion that it belonged to Knox. Berti told the Italian court on Wednesday that there was no trace of Kercher's DNA on the knife.
"The amount of DNA was limited, and therefore complex to analyze," NBC reports Berti as saying. "We therefore used high performance techniques, and tested it twice. We found two genetic profiles. We found no trace of a man. The trace didn't show a match with Meredith Kercher. In the case of Amanda Knox, there was an 83 to 100 percent match with the DNA profile." Berti told the Italian court the DNA on the knife was tested twice in order in order to make sure of it was accurate.
The knife used in the trial of Amanda Knox was introduced as evidence 2009. Knox always maintained that she and Sollecito had nothing to do with Kercher's death. Knox said she was coerced into a confession and named her former boss as an accomplice because she was tired, confused and pressured by the Italian police. The knife that helped convict Knox and Sollecito in 2009 came from Sollecito's apartment, where Knox was a frequent guest. Knox's attorney told the Associated Press that the expert testimony backs their argument.
Knox and her attorneys have always maintained that the knife was used solely for cooking and was never apart of a murder plot. After hearing what the expert witness had to say Knox's lawyer, Luca Maori told the AP, "It means that Amanda took the knife exclusively for cooking matters, to keep in the kitchen and to use it." Maori said that the prosecution's argument regarding the knife did not make sense. "It is something very important. It is absurd to use [the knife] for a murder and put it back in a drawer."
Meredith Kercher was killed in Perugia, Italy in 2007. She was studying abroad and shared a house with Amanda Knox and two other women. In 2007 Kercher was found murdered in her bedroom, she was naked and her throat was cut. Focus shifted to Kercher's roommate Amanda Knox and her boyfriend after Knox was accused of inappropriate behavior. Knox initially confessed to the murder but later retracted her statement. In 2009 Knox and Sollecito were each sentenced to over 20-years in prison.
While the trials of Knox and Sollecito were going on another man by the name of Rudy Guede was tried and convicted of killing Meredith Kercher. Guede was sentenced to 16-years for the murder. It is alleged that a former cellmate of Guede said the Ivorian man confessed to the murder and even acknowledged that Knox and Sollecito were innocent. Guede has stated that he never said that and is innocent of killing Kercher. Knox and Sollecito say they do not know Rudy Guede.
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