Italy Knox - Parents of American suspect in murder case speak about daughter
NAME: ITA KNOX 20081029I
TAPE: EF08/1093
IN_TIME: 10:29:29:21
DURATION: 00:02:19:10
SOURCES: AP/ABC/AP Photos
DATELINE: Perugia - 28, 29 Oct 2008/ File
RESTRICTIONS: Check shotlist for details
SHOTLIST:
AP Television
FILE: Perugia, Italy - 3 November 2007
1. Wide pan left of Meredith Kercher's house
2. Amanda Knox, Meredith's flatmate who is accused of her murder, wandering next to police car by the house
ABC - No Access North America/Internet
Perugia, Italy - 28 October 2008
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Curt Knox, Amanda Knox's father:
"It was one in which we had high hopes that the evidence that was brought forth during these pre-trial hearings would actually allow the case to be dismissed. So, we're very disappointed in what has happened."
AP PHOTOS - No Access Canada/For Broadcast use only - Strictly No Access Online or Mobile
EDITORIAL USE ONLY
PHOTO RELEASED BY THE ITALIAN POLICE, AP PROVIDES ACCESS TO THIS PUBLICLY DISTRIBUTED HANDOUT PHOTO TO BE USED ONLY TO ILLUSTRATE NEWS REPORTING OR COMMENTARY ON THE FACTS OR EVENTS DEPICTED IN THIS IMAGE
Location and date unknown
4. This photo released by the Italian Police, shows 22-year-old British university student Meredith Kercher, who was found dead Friday, November 2, 2007 with her throat slashed in the bedroom of a house in the Umbrian town of Perugia.
ABC - No Access North America/Internet
Perugia, Italy - 28 October 2008
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Edda Mellas, Amanda Knox's mother: ++overlaid with File of Amanda Knox arriving for court++
"Her lawyers said that when the decision came from the court, she had a moment of upsetness (sic) and she cried for a minute and they talked to her and said, you know, this is kind of what we're expecting. This is what happens with most pre-trials. There are very few that are actually totally dismissed. And they continue to tell her you're innocent. We have to go to court, but you'll be found innocent."
AP Television
FILE: Perugia, Italy - 3 November 2007
6. Forensics team archiving evidence
7. Wide of police inspecting house
ABC - No Access North America/Internet
Perugia, Italy - 29 October 2008
8. SOUNDBITE (English) Curt Knox, Amanda Knox's father: ++overlaid with File of Amanda Knox arriving for court++
"Amanda is anything but the type of personality that they are portraying. For this whole scenario of theirs to work, I mean she's 180-degrees different than the type of person that would get into a position that they're describing."
AP Television
FILE: Perugia, Italy - 11 November 2007
9. Forensic expert in Meredith's room
ABC - No Access North America/Internet
Perugia, Italy - 29 October 2008
10. SOUNDBITE (English) Edda Mellas, Amanda Knox's mother:
"Well, I mean I just worry about her and the toll this is all going to take on her, on her life. Again, I don't fear that they're going to find her guilty because her lawyers really say that that's not going to happen. There's no evidence. There's no motive. There's nothing. However, the fact that she keeps having to go through all of this over and over again, and how that's going to affect her."
11. Wide of Knox's parents ++mute++
STORYLINE:
The parents of an American, who has been formally accused of the murder of the 21-year-old British student, Meredith Kercher spoke to the media on Wednesday in Perugia, where the preliminary trial had taken place.
On Wednesday, an Italian judge ruled that the American, Amanda Knox and Italian ex-boyfriend must remain in custody while awaiting trial in the killing of a British student in Italy, lawyers said.
Judge Paolo Micheli rejected defence lawyers' requests that Amanda Knox, a student from Seattle, and Raffaele Sollecito be held under house arrest until their trial starts December 4.
The two were indicted for the slaying of 21-year-old Meredith Kercher, who was found dead on 2 November, 2007, from a stab wound to her neck in the apartment she shared with Knox in the central Italian city of Perugia.
On Tuesday the judge convicted a third suspect in the case - Rudy Hermann Guede from the Ivory Coast - of murder, and sentenced him to 30 years in prison after a fast-track trial his defence had requested.
Both Knox and Sollecito along with Hermann denied wrongdoing.
Knox's father, Curt Knox said he was "disappointed" that his daughter has been committed to trial and thought the evidence would have cleared her of any wrong doing.
Defence lawyers had proposed that Knox, whom prosecutors consider a flight risk, be held at a community for recovering drug addicts and young offenders run by a Catholic charity near Perugia.
Knox's mother, Edda Mellas conceded that Amanda's lawyers expected the case would go to trial as very few cases in Italy are dismissed at the pre trial stage.
However she said their lawyers were confident their daughter would be found innocent.
"There's no evidence. There's no motive. There's nothing. However, the fact that she keeps having to go through all of this over and over again, and how that's going to affect her," she added.
Prosecutors allege that Kercher died during what began as a sex game, with Sollecito holding her by the shoulders from behind while Knox touched her with the point of a knife and Guede tried to sexually assault her.
Prosecutors say 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.
They say they found Sollecito's DNA on the victim's bra, although Sollecito's defence team say the bra bore multiple DNA traces and charge the evidence might have been inadvertently contaminated during the investigation.
Knox and Sollecito have been detained for almost a year, Sollecito in the nearby city of Terni and Knox in Perugia.