Italian police who investigated the Amanda Knox murder case gave a detailed defense of their forensic expertise today, rejecting accusations by a panel of experts that their methods were badly flawed and contaminated key evidence.
The appeal of the murder conviction by Knox and her former boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito resumed today after a summer break. Today's hearing also came a day after the sister of murder victim, British exchange student Meredith Kercher, issued a passionate plea for the court to assess "every single (piece) of evidence" so that justice can be done.
"My sister, a daughter brutally and selfishly taken from us nearing four years ago ? and yet a not a single day goes by that we can grasp any peace or closure," Kercher's sister, Stephanie, wrote. "It is extremely difficult to understand how evidence gathered with care and presented as valid at the original trial now risks becoming irrelevant."
"Meredith has been forgotten because she is no longer with us," her sister wrote. "Yet this should be about her and what really happened on that tragic evening."
The body of Kercher, a 21-year-old British exchange student, was found in 2007 in the Perugia, Italy, apartment she shared with Knox and two Italian female students.
Knox, 24, was sentenced in December 2009 to 26 years and Sollecito was ordered to serve 25 years in prison for Kercher's murder and sexual assault.
A third person, Rudy Guede, was also convicted in a separate trial for participating in the murder and is serving a 16-year sentence. He has exhausted his appeals.
Both Knox and Sollecito have insisted they are innocent their hope for exoneration were bolstered by a report by two DNA experts earlier this year that called into question police methods for handling and analyzing DNA evidence that was used to win a conviction.
The panel said that there was too little DNA on a knife that was the alleged murder weapon to test properly; that the DNA was improperly stored in plastic bags that would degrade DNA rather using the international standard of paper bags; and that investigators likely contaminated a bra clasp with DNA that placed Sollecito at the scene of the murder.
The key witness today was Patrizia Stefanoni, the police forensic scientist who carried out the original investigation.
Using a PowerPoint screen to defend her work to the courtroom, Stefanoni argued it is not true that there was not enough DNA on the knife to retest, stating that there are newer DNA kits available now that were not available at the time of Kercher's murder in 2007 that could read the DNA amount. She also argued there are no internationally accepted international protocols for DNA collection.
Stefanoni said they used U.S. made plastic sealed certified bags instead of paper in the DNA collection.
She is expected to defend her team's handling of the bra clasp before her testimony concludes. Stefanoni will return to the stand Tuesday.
Knox arrived at the courtroom today looking anxious and drawn. Her stepfather, Chris Mellas, who also attended today's session, described Knox as relieved that "things are getting back on track."
"I think she'll feel better, that things are progressing, once again," Mellas told ABC News. "She's been busying herself and looking over the court documents, and trying to help with the lawyers, any way she can. She's doing all right."
StefanoMedici/AP Photo
"I'm hoping that this thing just concludes quickly, and that Amanda and Raffaele's name is cleared," he said.
The Kercher family, who has kept a low profile throughout the much-publicized case, insisted in their letter to the court that they still had faith in the Perugia police and the judicial process, despite living in "weeks of anguish" and expressing "anxiety and trouble" at how the original DNA investigation had been condemned by two court-appointed experts.
"How can the DNA of the knife be considered a small amount when the same experts themselves cannot give an exact response to how much should be taken into consideration?," she wrote.
Mellas comment on the Kercher letter.
"I saw in her letter where she stated that it [the evidence] was collected appropriately," Mellas, told ABC News. "Well, perhaps they should go and review the crime scene videos. Because clearly it was not."
"They are independent experts," Mellas added. "They have said there were mistakes made and that the evidence cannot be trusted. I would like to see this thing done and over with and Amanda's and Raffaele's name cleared."
The appeals hearings are expected to continue through the week. After rebuttals later in September, an appeals verdict is expected by month-end.
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The appeals case of Amanda Knox, the American student convicted of killing her British roommate, resumed Monday, one day after the roommate's family revealed they are "troubled" over revelations about faulty DNA evidence in the trial.
In a letter to their Italian lawyer, the family of Meredith Kercher asked the appeals court to assess "every single (piece) of evidence" so that justice can be done.
"My sister, a daughter brutally and selfishly taken from us nearing 4 years ago ? and yet a not a single day goes by that we can grasp any peace or closure," Meredith's sister, Stephanie, wrote in part. "It is extremely difficult to understand how evidence gathered with care and presented as valid at the original trial now risks becoming irrelevant."
Knox arrived at the courtroom Monday looking anxious and drawn as her appeals case picked up where it left off in July, with the questioning of two experts appointed by the Perugia appeals court to conduct independent DNA test on crucial pieces of evidence ? the alleged murder weapon, a knife found in Sollecito's house, and the victim's bra clasp, found in the room where Kercher was murdered.
In a 145-page report to the court, the experts ? Carla Vecchiotti and Stefano Conti ? questioned much of the evidence that was collected in that original investigation, saying procedures to obtain it fell below international standards and may have led to contamination.
They also concluded that due to the low amounts of DNA used for the testing it was impossible to extract a genetic profile with any certainty.
Knox's stepfather, Chris Mellas, who also attended the session Monday, described Knox as relieved that "things are getting back on track."
"I think she'll feel better, that things are progressing, once again," Mellas told ABC News. "She's been busying herself and looking over the court documents, and trying to help with the lawyers, any way she can, she's doing alright."
"I'm hoping that this thing just concludes quickly, and that Amanda and Raffaele's name is cleared," he said.
On Monday, the independent experts faced questioning from Francesco Maresca, the lawyer representing the Kercher family,who focused in on Vecchiotti and Conti's expertise and the methods they used in their review of the DNA evidence in an attempt to show their work was interpretive and imprecise.
Prosecutors have also questioned some of the independent experts' findings, and maintain the evidence should stand.
Also called to the stand as the appeals trial resumed Monday was Patrizia Stefanoni ? the police forensic scientist who carried out the original investigation, and was so criticized by the independent experts' report and court appearance in July.
She has vowed to defend her work in court, and spent her first moments on the stand piecing through the independent DNA report to point out the things she found wrong or incorrect.
Using a PowerPoint screen to defend her work to the courtroom, Stefanoni argued it is not true that there was not enough DNA to retest, as Vecchiotti and Conti have claimed, saying that there are newer DNA kits available now that were not available at the time of Kercher's murder in 2007 that could read the DNA amount. She also argued there are no internationally accepted international protocols for DNA collection.
Stefanoni explained they used U.S. made plastic sealed certified bags instead of paper in the DNA collection, and she did not specify anti-contamination methods used in her report because these are the norm in her lab.
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