Amanda Knox Appeal Continues with Questionable Prosecution Witness

Antonio Curatolo, a key prosecution witness, originally told the trial court in Perugia that he had seen Amanda Knox near the crime scene on the night her roommate, Meredith Kercher, was murdered. He had described seeing her and her ex-boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, also convicted in the case, chatting in a square near the scene. Curatolo described seeing them conversing with one another and also seeing buses in the square.

During his testimony, Curatolo described the manner in which they were interacting but could not recall if it was actually Halloween night, a detail he had given during the original trial. The confusion stemmed from him not remembering if the date was actually Halloween night, the night of the murder or November 1st or 2nd. The one detail he seemed to still remember was that people were walking around with costumes.

However, he did claim to remember seeing police and other investigators at the scene of the Murder the morning after seeing Knox and Sollecito talking. The Police discovered the body of Kercher on November 2nd. Kercher was found stabbed to death and covered with a bed sheet.

Curatolo described the scene at the house where murder was committed. He claimed to have seen many police officials walking all around and he described the forensic investigators as 'extraterrestrials', on account of their white overalls.

The prosecution used the witness's testimony at trial to directly contradict the claims of Knox and Sollecito who had stated they spent the night at Sollecito's home on the night of the murder. During the appeal hearing on Saturday, the defense was able to bring to light aspects of Curatolo's character that the defence believes is both critical and casts considerable doubt upon his credibility.

Curatolo confirmed that he is a longstanding drug addict. He claimed that he had always done drugs, including heroine. He went on to mention that he did not believe heroine to be a hallucinogenic.

The defence believes that Curatolo's contradictory testimony about the date of the offence combined with his admitted history of drug abuse, casts considerable doubt on his credibility as a prosecution witness. Curatolo was also homeless at the time of the offence and currently is in prison for an unrelated offence.

The prosecution believes the confusion about the date is moot and that the witness was otherwise clear and lucid in giving his rendition of the evening in question.

Amanda Knox currently stands convicted of the murder of her former roommate Meredith Kercher, both of whom were students attending class in Perugia at the time. Knox is currently serving a 26-year prison sentence. Also convicted were Knox's ex-boyfriend Sollecito and drifter Rudy Guede.