DNA allegedly found on knife linking Amanda Knox of West Seattle and her boyfriend to the Nov. 1, 2007 murder of her college roommate in Italy, Meredith Kercher, is reported to be "contaminated" according to new forensics team appointed for her appeal.
The Internet publication la Repubblica, stepfather of West Seattle raised Amanda Knox, Chris Mellas, now inside the courtroom (at the time of this report,) and Janet Huff, Amanda's Aunt, the DNA on the knife, the alleged murder weapon prosecutors claimed Knox, her boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito, and drifter Rudy Guede used to murder Meredith Kercher is unreliable.
Knox's defense team has always claimed that the knife did not have proper DNA testing, that the stab wounds on Ms. Kercher were inconsistent with the size of the knife, and that, during the current appeal process, it would be these findings that would most likely set Knox free. Information is still coming in.
Huff emailed the West Seattle Herald, "Great news this morning!! Just spoke with Edda and Chris. "DNA report shows NO evidence of Amanda or Raffaele on any of the items (knife, bra). Strong probability of "contamination" which is Italian speak for police planted it. No proper collection procedures were followed(...) Italian press is going berserk over there. Stay tuned."
To clarify, Amanda's mother Edda, and stepfather Chris Mellas, Arbor Heights residents, are currently in the courtroom texting Huff and others. Like the knife, Knox's lawyers have claimed the bra clasp worn by Ms. Kercher, found on the floor of her room after the murder, had been contaminated by improper handling of the item. On YouTube we see the forensics team examining the clasp just following the murder and also handing faucets and door knobs without changing gloves. The new forensic team, Stefano Conti and Carla Vecchiotti from Rome's Sapienza University, say in the report filed to the Perugia court on Tuesday and that the genetic profile attributed to Miss Kercher is "unreliable" and cannot be attributed with certainty. They said results may have been contaminated on both the blade and bra clasp.
We will update This is a related Herald article:
Here is the report translated into English from Italian-Late edit: Portions of the report::
(KNIFE)
With regard to genetic tests carried out on the track A (handle of the
knife) it agrees with the conclusion reached by the CT for attributing the
genetic profile obtained from this sampling Amanda Marie Knox.
With regard to the track B (knife blade) we believe that the findings
are not reliable expenditure made for the following reasons:
1. There is no evidence of a scientifically conclusive nature of any blood on the knife blade;
2. The test performed by the electrophoretic pattern shows that the sample indicated by the B (knife blade) was a case of Low Copy Number (LCN), and as such, all the precautions indicated by International Scientific Community should have been applied;
3. Taking into account that any of the recommendations of the International scientific community were not followed, concerning the processing of samples Low Copy
Number (LCN), the experts do not you share some conclusions about the attribution of profile detected on the track B (knife blade) to the victim Meredith Kercher, since the genetic profile, as obtained, is unreliable in that is not supported by scientifically validated analytical procedures;
4. international procedures of inspection and international protocols for collecting and sampling the exhibit were not followed ;
5. It can not be excluded that the results obtained from sampling B (blade knife) may result from contamination phenomena occurring in a any stage of the repertoire and / or manipulation and / or analytical processes
performed.
Knife, more:
1. There was no blood on the knife.
2 and 4 Accepted scientific procedures for collecting and analyzing the knife specimen were not followed.
3 The experts do not agree with the prosecution witnesses’ interpretations of the results since the profile was unreliable.
5 Contamination cannot be ruled out
Bra clasp:
Partially unrecognizable because of corrosion
1. There is no evidence of flaking cells, no cytology
2. The interpretation of the DNA profile was erroneous
3. The Y (sex) chromosome was misinterpreted
4. Methods did not follow international procedures of inspection and international protocols for collecting and sampling of the exhibit.
5. Contamination cannot be excluded
FIND 165B (HOOKS FOR BRA)
With regard to the 65B Rep. (bra hooks) believe that
are not reliable technical assessments carried out for the following reasons:
I. there is no evidence scientifically conclusive Presumed
flaking cells on the specimen;
2. There was an erroneous interpretation of the electrophoretic pattern of Autosomal STRs;
3. there was a misinterpretation of its electrophoretic pattern
the Y chromosome;
4. were not followed international procedures of inspection and
international protocols for collecting and sampling of the exhibit;
5. can not be excluded that the results obtained may result from phenomena contammazione of environmental and / or contammazione occurred in any phase of the repertoire and / or manipulation of that finding.