Knox appeal: DNA evidence could be contaminated

AMERICAN student Amanda Knox received a major boost in the appeal of her Italian murder conviction when independent analysts rejected the prosecution’s claims of finding DNA on two crucial pieces of evidence used to convict Knox of killing her roommate.

Knox, looking pale and fragile, smiled slightly at her mother at the start of the hearing that could determine whether she is released from prison or must finish her 26-year sentence.

The investigators who collected the genetic evidence used to convict Knox of murder in Italy made a series of glaring errors, including using a dirty glove and not wearing caps, two independent forensic experts said.

The experts had been appointed by an Italian appeals court to review the DNA evidence used in Knox’s trial, including some found on a kitchen knife believed to be the murder weapon and some found on the clasp of the victim’s bra.

That evidence played a crucial role in securing the convictions of Knox and her co-defendant Raffaele Sollecito in the 2007 murder of Meredith Kercher, a Briton who shared an apartment with Knox while they were both exchange students in the city of Perugia.

Knox, 24, and Sollecito, 27, have denied wrongdoing and have appealed. The evidence review was granted at the request of their defence teams.

In the first trial, prosecutors maintained that Knox’s DNA was found on the handle of the kitchen knife and Kercher’s DNA was found on the blade. They say Sollecito’s DNA was found on the clasp of Kercher’s bra.

But the independent experts told the appeals court that the collection of evidence fell below international standards and may have resulted in contamination.

One of the two experts, Stefano Conti, cited several cases of forensic police entering the crime scene or coming into contact with objects there not wearing protective equipment such as masks or hair caps.

“There are various circumstances do not adhere to protocols and procedures,” the forensic expert told the court.

A ripple of laughter went through the courtroom at one point as the court was shown video of the detectives collecting DNA evidence, and doing the exact opposite of what the experts had just described was the proper method.

DNA evidence is supposed to be placed in paper bags, not plastic, and it should not be wiped, the experts said. The evidence in the Knox case was placed in plastic bags and video showed the investigators swiping cotton buds for evidence, and not changing their gloves at the proper moments.

In addition, the experts presented a catalogue of inconsistencies and errors allegedly committed by the prosecution’s forensic team. These include how the evidence could have been contaminated, the original reports were missing certain data, the DNA was not quantified at times, and how control tests were not used.

The independent experts, both from La Sapienza University in Rome, will be questioned and cross-examined in the next hearing, scheduled for Saturday. That will be the last hearing before the summer break.