Prosecutor targets forensic experts in Knox trial (Reuters)
PERUGIA, Italy (Reuters) – An Italian prosecutor attacked on Saturday the "embarrassing" work of forensic experts who discredited evidence used to convict American student Amanda Knox for the murder of her British housemate. Wrapping up the prosecution's case in Knox's appeals trial, prosecutor Manuela Comodi launched a vigorous defense of DNA evidence used in the trial, holding up a white bra in court at one stage to make her point. Knox, a 24-year-old from Seattle, is serving a 26-year term after being found guilty of murdering Meredith Kercher during a drug-fueled ###### game. The English exchange student's body was found in 2007 in the apartment the two shared in Perugia, a university town in the Umbrian hills. Knox's <a href="http://www.dutyfreecigarettes-discount.com/parliament-c-39.html"><strong>buy online cigarettes</strong></a> former Italian boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito was jailed for 25 years for taking part in the murder. Much of Knox's appeals trial has focused on a review by forensic experts. This shed doubt on DNA evidence found on Kercher's bra clasp and a knife identified as the murder weapon, boosting the American's hopes of being freed. As the trial nears its end, prosecutors have argued there is more than enough damning evidence against Knox and blamed the media for portraying her as a victim of a botched justice system. Comodi focused her attack on Saturday on the credibility of the experts behind the review. She said they were unwilling to embrace new technologies and had little field experience. "Would <a href="http://www.dutyfreecigarettes-discount.com/winston-c-37.html"><strong>Winston cigarettes</strong></a> you entrust the marriage of your only daughter to a cook who knew all the recipes by heart but has never cooked?" Comodi asked the panel of lay and professional judges. She then tried meticulously to tear the report apart, including its conclusion that traces of Sollecito's DNA found on Kercher's bra clasp could have been due to contamination. If contamination had occurred, DNA belonging to others would also have been found on the clasp, Comodi argued. A claim that Sollecito's DNA could have made its way on to the clasp because it was on Knox's underwear that was washed together with Kercher's bra seemed highly improbable given the laundry was washed at a high temperature, she argued. Pulling out a white bra from her bag, Comodi said Sollecito's DNA ended up on the clasp when he pulled one end of Kercher's bra strap and cut off the bra with his other hand. She also attacked the review's contention that traces of starch found on the knife identified as the murder weapon suggested it had not been washed, which in turn meant that it could not have been used to murder Kercher. Comodi, however, argued that the knife was "spotlessly clean" and that the traces of starch stemmed not from cutting potatoes or bread but from talc in gloves used by police. Her hair in a pony tail, Knox -- flanked by her lawyers and a prison official -- listened without displaying emotion during the prosecution's arguments. An equally impassive Sollecito sat a few places away in the courtroom. The court is expected to hear on Monday from lawyers for Kercher's family and Patrick Lumumba, a Congolese bar owner Knox had accused of committing the murder. A verdict in the appeals trial is expected after concluding arguments <a href="http://www.fendibyfendi-discount.com/"><strong>cheap fendi</strong></a> from the defense at the end of next week, nearly four years after the murder stunned Italy. Rudy Guede, an Ivorian drifter with a criminal record, is also serving time for taking part in Kercher's murder. All three found guilty have maintained their innocence. (Editing by Robert Woodward)
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