Lawyers challenge DNA at Italian murder trial of US student accused of killing roommate

Lawyers challenge DNA at murder trial in Italy

PERUGIA, Italy — Lawyers for an American student and her former boyfriend challenged key DNA findings at an Italian murder trial Monday and demanded that indictments accusing the two of killing her former British roommate be tossed out.

Amanda Knox and co-defendant Raffaele Sollecito are being tried in the central Italian city of Perugia for the 2007 slaying of Meredith Kercher. The two, who were both in court as the trial resumed after a summer break, deny wrongdoing.

Defense lawyers for Knox and Sollecito say some documentation supporting the attribution of DNA samples that prosecutors say link the defendants to the case were not made available to the defense in a timely manner. They asked that the indictment be thrown out, saying their defense strategy was hindered by the lack of access to the documentation.

According to the prosecutors, Knox’s DNA was found on the handle of a knife that might have been used in the slaying, while Kercher’s DNA was found on the blade. The knife was found at Sollecito’s apartment.

Knox’s lawyer Carlo Dalla Vedova told the court Monday that they received no specifics as to how forensic experts decided that Kercher’s DNA was on the knife’s blade, thus limiting their ability to dispute that claim. He also said the DNA traces allegedly belonging to Kercher on the knife’s blade were “too low” to be attributed with certainty.

“Since the beginning, we’ve always just discussed who the DNA belonged to, but no one has explained why and how the forensic experts reached that conclusion,” Dalla Vedova said.

Italian prosecutors say forensics and DNA experts have followed procedures while submitting the results of DNA tests to the court.

Both defendants were escorted in court Monday by police guards. Knox smiled to lawyers and family members as she walked in.

Prosecutors allege that Kercher was killed during a sex game and that Knox fatally stabbed her in the throat.

A third person, Rudy Hermann Guede of the Ivory Coast, was convicted in a separate trial last year and sentenced to 30 years in prison. He denies wrongdoing and has appealed his conviction.