Why Amanda Knox & Raffaele Sollecito May Be Acquitted in Fall 2010- Illegality of Motivation Report

The attorneys for Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito will appeal the December 4 2009 conviction of their respective clients for the November 1 2007 murder of Meredith Kercher in Perugia, Italy. They must file for an appeal within 45 days of March 4, the date on which they received the required 'motivazione report', written by six judges- including Judge Giancarlo Massei,- which explains the grounds on which the Corte d'Assise convicted the American and Italian students. The report, in Italian, is 427 pages. Knox is working on the English translation- although two of her attorneys are Italian.

In a CBS News interview, the mother of Amanda Knox, Edda Mellas, says she feels encouraged by what she knows of the report, which attorneys are reviewing page by page. "We knew it was going to be hard to try and justify the wrongful conviction of somebody that's innocent. And so we knew that there would be huge holes... and in the report itself, our lawyers are seeing large amounts of things that they can fight in the appeal, so that's really encouraging," said Mellas.

Knox's lawyers have told Mellas that the judges have contradicted themselves many times in the report. "They [the judges] say one thing and then later on, they say something that's totally opposite to that... and that's not allowed under Italian law. It has to be very clear," Mellas told CBS News. She said there were things brought up in the 'motivation' report that were not brought up in court. This also is not allowed under Italian law.

Mellas has high hopes that the appeal process will lead to her daughter's acquittal. She said that apart from Knox's Italian lawyers, other Italians have told her that the appeal system in Italy works. "It's meant to overturn wrongful convictions like this- we just have to keep hoping that this will get fixed... we just have to keep hoping that will happen," said Mellas. According to lawyers in Perugia, Knox and Sollecito have a strong chance of being acquitted upon appeal.

Examples of Contradictions in the 427-page Motivazione Report.

One Knife v. Two Knives. One example of the contradictions said to be in the report that states the reasons for the conviction of Knox and Sollecito concerns 'the knife'. The judges said there was a second knife belonging to Sollecito. Since this point was not discussed in court during the trial, it is invalid and cannot be introduced into a new trial. Note: Sollecito did possess two small penknives but they tested negative for DNA and were discounted as murder weapons.

Pre-meditated v. Not Pre-meditated. The report says the murder was not pre-meditated. Yet, if Knox and Sollecito had committed the murder- and without premeditation- why would the couple have been accused of taking a kitchen knife from Sollecito's apartment to the cottage where the murder occurred? Such an act indicates premeditation. Note: The knife in question was randomly chosen by the Italian police from a kitchen drawer in Sollecito's apartment. The defense has shown that said knife is not the murder weapon. In fact, the prosecution has not yet produced the actual murder weapon. The size and shape of the murder knife was outlined in blood on Meredith's bed linen in two places. That knife remains missing.

Hate v. No Animosity. One other example of the report's many contradictions encountered by the lawyers is between statements made by Chief Prosecutor Giuliano Mignini and the judges who wrote the report. Mignini said, "Amanda nurtured her hate for Meredith, but that night that hate could explode. For Amanda the moment had come to take revenge on that prissy girl. That is what she must have thought. And in a crescendo of threats and increasing violence, Meredith's ordeal begins." The six judges in their report contrarily stated that Knox killed Kercher 'without any animosity or feeling of resentment' and as a result of 'casual contingencies'. Note: It is unclear what Mignini bases his assumption on regarding what Amanda 'must have thought'.

The husband of Edda Mellas and stepfather of Amanda Knox, Chris Mellas, gave his opinion of the judges' report. "This report reads like a fiction novel... much of what is discussed in the report is not based in court-covered fact," said Mellas. The fact that many items in the report are either contradictory or not brought up in court strengthens the strong possibility that Knox and Sollecito will be acquitted upon the first appeal. A new judge and jury will review the evidence and decide to either uphold or overturn the convictions. The hearing will be held this fall.

Wrongful Convictions. While Italy processes numerous wrongful convictions, so does the USA. For just one example, Joshua Kezer served sixteen years of a sixty-year sentence in a Mississippi jail for a murder that he had not committed. When his case was re-opened, the judge immediately recognized there was no evidence against him and rather than order a new trial, he simply exonerated Kezer. Law Enforcement has two strong suspects for the real killer of Mischelle Lawless. Kezer said at the time of his conviction, "It wasn't me." But through the eyes of those who believed him to be guilty, he looked guilty. Now, even the murder victim's family and the star witness who was badgered by police into testifying against him know that Kezer is innocent.

Most people might agree that no innocent man or woman should be accused, convicted, and sentenced for a crime he did not commit. In the case of Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito, that is what has happened even though all the lies, botched forensic tests yielding wrongful reports, and manufactured evidence have been effectively refuted by their defense lawyers. And even though Chief Prosecutor Mignini- who was recently convicted of mishandling the serial-killer case 'The Monster of Florence'- has been shown to have grossly mishandled the Meredith Kercher murder case. Yet, Knox and Sollecito have been lumped together with Rudy Guédé, the man who was also convicted of Meredith Kercher's murder but whose DNA in High Count Numbers was found throughout the murder scene and inside the victim's body. To learn the authentic facts about Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito, Injustice In Perugia and Science Spheres.

Sources: cbsnews; westseattleherald; abcnews; abcnews2; celebrifi; uktelegraph; cbsnews2;

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