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Setback for Amanda Knox as Guede loses final appeal
But a mysterious letter claiming Knox and former boyfriend are innocent could also be key to her fate
The family and supporters of the jailed Seattle student Amanda Knox suffered a serious legal setback yesterday when the murder conviction of the third suspect in the killing of Knox's flatmate Meredith Kercher was upheld by a high court in Rome.
Ivory Coast immigrant Rudy Guede's final appeal under Italian law against his conviction and 16-year jail term was turned down and Guede (above) has no further recourse to argue his innocence.
Put simply, no judge or magistrate has believed Guede's story that he was in the bathroom of the apartment the two girls shared in Perugia, listening to music on his iPod while someone else stabbed Meredith. According to Guede's story, when he came out of the bathroom he found Meredith bleeding to death and tried to staunch the flow of blood – hence the discovery of his DNA by investigators.
Under Italian law, all documentation from Guede's various hearings can now be introduced into the appeal trial of Knox and her former boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, which reconvenes in Perugia tomorrow. The problem for Knox and Sollecito is that Guede's trial documents will include the judges' reasons for convicting Guede and denying his appeals: namely, that they believe all three – Guede, Knox and Sollecito - killed Meredith together.
"Guede can now be called to testify and we are considering, along with the prosecutors, if we will request that Saturday or not," said the Kercher family's attorney Francesco Maresca in Rome. "We will ask that the high court decision be admitted, as it stabilises the facts and is an important point of reference, with judges confirming the reconstruction of events and the involvement of the other two suspects in this dramatic ordeal in which a young woman lost her life."
If Guede is called, it is unclear whether he would be considered a reliable witness given that no court has believed his story so far. And the situation is further complicated by conflicting stories about Guede’s take on Knox and Sollecito.
In prison letters to his attorneys, Guede has pointed the finger squarely at Knox and Sollecito, calling them "slandering assasins" who just blame others instead of admitting their own guilt.
But Guede is also the subject of a mysterious 10-page letter from prison, written on blue notepaper in the feathery script of convicted child murderer Mario Alessi, and now sitting in a lawyer's office in Parma.
Alessi claims to have heard the real story of what happened while stuck in a prison cell across from Guede. Three other inmates signed each page of Alessi's letter bolstering his story - that Guede said repeatedly in his cell and the prison yard that Knox and Sollecito had nothing to do with the crime. (Guede denies the conversations).
Concerned that it might "disappear" from his prison cell, Alessi then mailed his carefully crafted letter (with smaller prison notes from its co-signers stapled and taped to several pages) to his attorney, Laura Ferraboschi, a deeply religious public defender in Parma. It remains there today, safely pinned under a glass paperweight in her grandiose law office adorned with religious icons and pictures of saints.
"He [Alessi] sent it to me for safekeeping and it wouldn't be right for me to give it to anyone except a judge who requests it," Ferraboschi said, when asked about the letter.
Will the judge overseeing Knox and Sollecito's appeal in Perugia request it? If he does, it could be entered into evidence alongside further controversial letters, these from a Neapolitan mafia snitch named Luciano Aviello.
Aviello claims that his own brother killed Kercher, and then made him bury the murder weapon in a nearby brick wall. His letters and writings were confiscated last week in a raid of his prison cell by Perugia police who hint they also found evidence that may prove how and why the allegations were likely fabricated.
Since Knox and Sollecito were convicted and jailed a year ago - she for 26 years, he for 25 - these stories of intrigue have found their way out from behind the prison walls across Italy, from the sex offender ward in Viterbo to the high security penitentiaries in Prato and Turin.
Whether or not the letters, and Guede's own testimony, make it into the appellate court of Perugia will be the subject of deliberations tomorrow.
Outside the courtroom, the public opinion battle over Knox's guilt or innocence continues in Italy, the US and Britain, despite her guilty verdict last December.
Meredith Kercher's bereaved family this month broke a three-year silence to speak out against Knox’s "minor celebrity" status and the high-profile publicity campaign her family and supporters have been waging to claim wrongful conviction. After Saturday, appeal hearings are scheduled to resume their once-a-week schedule on January 15. ·
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I would be in shock if Guede won his appeal. He left evidence allover the crime scene and there is no credible evidence of anyone participating in the murder followed by rape of Meredith. The parking garage CCTV cam only captured two people arriving at the apartment the night she was murdered. Meredith and Rudy Guede. Guede said he was on the toilet when she was murdered and he did not include Amanda or Raffaele in his alibi until he conjured up his third alibi. In his second alibi he described a man that looks nothing like Raffaele. What good would his testimony be. While in prison four inmates said they heard Guede say Amanda and Raffaele were not there. Give me a break. The authorities were caught lying in court and the media numerous times. Get those kids out of there. My opinions are based on 11 months of intensive study of this case.
Ms Vogt, isn't it about time you understand that Amanda and Raffaele had nothing to do with this crime?
, I am an AK supporter, as well as a RS supporter. My husband, Steve Moore is also an active supporter.
"Amanda Knox suffered a serious legal setback yesterday..." is an opinion (I'm not sure who's..). The reason I say this is that:
WE ARE JUMPING UP AND DOWN EXCITED!!! This is the most encouraging thing EVER.
Andrea Vogt has utterly failed in her responsibilities as a journalist. Rulings in Guede's case and the statements of other prisoners who claim to know about the case have very little to do with Amanda's appeal. Amanda proved her innocence at her first trial at least when viewed by a competent judge and an impartial jury. Rudy Guede committed this crime so why would it bother Amanda's defense team if he is convicted.
I would like nothing more than to see him stand up and give his side of the story. Guede was not friends or acquaintances in any sense of the word with the victim. She was in a relationship with an Italian young man who was out of town at the time of the crime. Guede says Meredith invited him over for a date, they had consensual sexual contact, and that somebody else came in and killed her while he sat on the toilet. He doesn't call police or an ambulance, even though prompt medical attention could probably have saved her. The cuts on his hands are not from the victim fighting back but from his heroic attempts to protect her from the real attacker. Later that night he is seen dancing at a disco. The next day he flees to Germany. Only an idiot would believe that story.
Rudy Guede had in the weeks prior to the crime been on a crime spree that exactly mirrored what was found at the cottage. In one incident he got caught robbing a house and threatened the owner with a knife during his escape.
Andrea Vogt is basically on the Barbie Nadeau plan. She reports what she would like to be the truth, not what is the truth. Both women are driven by ambition and hate. The problem is that both Andrea and Barbie will take a severe hit when Amanda and Raffaele are released and the truth comes out. Real journalists on CBS, ABC, CNN, and in the New York Times have been asking the hard questions all along and they are breathing fire. The trial has been called a â??kangaroo courtâ??, a â??public lynchingâ??, and â??an injustice of biblical proportions.â?? An understatement.