Category: DNA and luminol

Friday, May 29, 2009

Trial: More On The Violent Crimes Unit’s Reconstruction Of The Violent, Prolonged Attack

Posted by Peter Quennell

Grim-faced expert witnesses from the Violent Crimes Unit in Rome enter court

1. Reconstruction Of The Attack On Meredith

Judge Massei closed the court for much of the time. No English-language reporters were there.

Nevertheless, reports in La Nazione and other Italian media described the reconstruction of the final attack on Meredith in the court with the aid of many photographs and graphics.

Giuseppe Codispoti, Director of the Analysis of Violent Crime Unit, said in his deposition that the evidence pointed to three subjects in addition to the victim being present in the room at the time.

The evidence included the many wounds on Meredith, the state of her clothing, and the locations and shapes of the bloodstains on the walls, the wardrobe, and the floor.

Wounds to Meredith’s right hand pointed to a desperate attempt to ward off one or several attackers with knives while she was being held by her other arm.

The director of the Violent Crime department, Edgardo Giobbi, told the court that when, on the day after the murder, he handed Knox (not yet a suspect) a pair of shoe covers before entering the apartment below hers, she swiveled her hips and said “oopla.” This attitude made him turn his “investigative attention” on her, he said.

This was dramatic and telling testimony, and for some in the courtroom apparently quite hard to take.

Below: One of the images used in their detailed reconstruction of the final frenzied act in Meredith’s bedroom that suggested three people had to be involved.

2. Prior Testimony That Relates

Judge Micheli summarized the same forensic evidence and concluded for purposes of convicting Rudy Guede and of sending Knox and Sollecito to trial that it did point to three people being involved.

Judge Micheli also concluded that, as part of a cover-up, Meredith was later moved from the location below (by the wardrobe and the window) to where she was found, several feet to the left (by the bed).

3. Defensive PR Reaction To This Tough Talk

In their attempt to ridicule and undermine this compelling evidence, CBS News (48 Hours) in their recent very slanted report repeatedly showed bizarre caricatures of this scene by an Italian cartoonist.

None were remotely correct. That was not, we think, CBS News’s finest hour. They have been very silent on it since.

The paid Candace Dempsey defense blog on the Seattle PI website took a shot at ridiculing the reconstruction image above.

Something rather incoherent to do with not being specific enough about the figures. But the image above was one of a number that the witnesses used.

As real crime experts in the field would all know, it was deliberately not more specific because it incorporated only the known hard evidence.

Contacts of ours in NYC associated with law enforcement are giving the reconstruction an A. It was a careful and clever bit of work.

Trial: La Nazione On Testimony About The Attack And What The Blood Traces Suggest

Posted by Peter Quennell

La Nazione is one of Perugia’s newspapers. Click above for their early report, in Italian.

1) On today’s testimony.on what the blood traces suggest

Before Meredith died, she struggled to free herself from the constraint of one of the attackers, and she brought her left hand up to her devastated neck after the fatal knife attack. This is the evidence proven by the bloodstains found on the hand of the English student and, in particular, her index finger.

This is one of the elements that helps to reconstruct the dynamics of the crime conducted by the forensics experts of the Violent Crime Unit to be presented in today’s depositions in their case against Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito accused of the murder and rape of their friend..

2) On the testimony scheduled to come next

The tight schedule of hearings ordered by the President of the Court, Giancarlo Massei, includes 5 and June 6 to hear the witnesses for the civil parties (lawyers Francesco Maresca and Serena Perna) who assist the victim’s family.

Testifying on the 5th should be the advisers (legal and medical forensic geneticist) while on the 6th it will be the turn of Meredith’s mother, Arline, and then her sister Stephanie and brother Lyle. They will talk about why she had chosen to study in Perugia, and the last telephone contacts before her murder.

On June 12th Amanda Knox is expected to be examined by her lawyers, Luciano Ghirga and Carlo Dalla Vedova. The enigmatic Seattle student might still decide to escape the barrage of questions at the last minute.

On the 13th the first witness will be Patrick Lumumba, the civil party up against the American for libelous slander. And then the witnesses for the defenses will commence testifying.

DNA Evidence: The Myths Start To Come Crashing Down

Posted by Nicki

[click for larger image; rule and annotations by Kermit]

The DNA evidence is proving to be as well-handled and as incriminating as DNA evidence ever is at such trials.

The last two hearings have very publicly exposed several of the key myths which have been aggressively propagated over the Internet and through other media for many months.

Let’s first speak about the double knife DNA. It has now become pretty obvious that:

• It doesn’t match half of Italy as falsely claimed
• It doesn’t have a 20% chance of being Meredith’s as falsely claimed
• Stefanoni never declared herself that the DNA “was unreliable” as falsely claimed
• The DNA has not been amplified “500 times” as falsely claimed

Patrizia Stefanoni has not stated that Meredith’s DNA was extracted 500 times from the knife sample, as some people with what seemed a google-level knowledge of molecular biology were claiming to muddy the waters.

The DNA was actually extracted 50 times from Meredith’s specimens and was used to compare it to other biological traces, including the one found on the knife. And it provided the forensic team with good samples to be compared to the traces found on the knife.

Two genetic profiles are identical and therefore belong to the same individual if a) they are in the same position, and b) they have identical shape and dimension. In this case, each peak produced in the original samples exactly corresponds to the peaks yielded by the knife sample, position, shape and dimension”¦ Say so long to the “matching half of Italy” myth!

Furthermore, Stefanoni excluded any possibility of contamination in the lab, stating that it had never once occurred in her lab for at least the last seven years, and every precaution was taken in order to exclude possibility of contamination so that different traces are not mixed. 

Contamination during the collection phase was also excluded: the forensic team that found the knife was a different one from those who searched the cottage, so how could Meredith’s DNA possibly have been “transferred to the knife”? 

Furthermore, the knife was put in a shoe box after it was bagged, and it stayed there until it reached the lab. And once again… DNA doesn’t fly, it doesn’t creep, and it sure doesnt penetrate a plastic bag!

Now let’s speak about the bra clasp.

The DNA found on the clasp has been defined as abundant and identified as belonging to Sollecito without any doubt. It should have been collected earlier in the process, but DNA evidence is often collected weeks or months after the crime when an object involved is unearthed.

The chances that it has been contaminated are at zero: the sample was found under the pillow on November 2, during the first search, and collected on December 18th when the second search took place by a different team.

During this entire time, the clasp was laying on the floor of what has been testified to have been a completely sealed crime scene. So when and how could any contamination occur?

Excluding a spontaneous migration of Sollecito “˜s DNA on the clasp from some unidentified location in the murder room or in the cottage, it could have only taken place during either the first or the second handling of the sample, so the fact that the clasp was recovered weeks later really bears no relevance.

And additionally, where could any abundant amount of Sollecito “˜s biological matter come from, if besides that on the bra clasp, the DNA corresponding to his genetic profile was only found on a cigarette butt? 

Perhaps this is why Sollecito’s lawyer Ms Buongiorno is now claiming that the bra clasp was contaminated in the laboratory. She is reduced to having to claim that in effect Dr Stefanoni applies strict laboratory procedures when testing Guede”˜s or other peoples’ specimens, but somehow miserably fails when the samples belong to Sollecito and Knox.

Finally, let’s not forget that Rudy Guede’s DNA was not found “all over” the victim, but only on the right side of her bra, on the left cuff of her jumper, and inside her body. If passive transfer of DNA is so easy to happen, and if Guede is the only one who physically attacked Meredith, how comes his DNA was found only in these three places on the victim’s body?

DNA is NOT easy to transfer. Dr Stefanoni is absolutely correct when she says that “transfer of DNA must not be taken for granted nor it is easy to happen, and more likely to take place if the original trace is aqueous, not if it is dry”.

About the possibility of contamination having taken place in the lab, this is a risk that everyone working with PCR is well aware of. It is certainly not probable that it could occur every time a biological sample is tested. In fact, it is very unlikely to happen when the routine strict precautions are taken.

And there is no doubt that Dr Stefanoni was extremely cautious when handling any of these samples. 

I can see the reason for the improbable reach of the defense teams: since their clients deny any involvement, the positive DNA results “must” be contaminated - what else could they possibly say? Regarding this evidence, it is the only argument that they have available.

Finally, Dr Stefanoni has an international reputation and is considered one of the best in the field today. Questioning her credentials really makes no sense at all. But those too have come under attack.

Edited to add: On the issue of DNA transfer, from today’s hearing (La Nazione)

“The contamination theory has been discussed again today: Ms Bongiorno repeatedly asked the forensic witnesses information regarding the techniques used to collect the samples found in Meredith’s house, but PM Manuela Comodi showed the Court that contamination did not occurr by asking the forensic witnesses: “Using the same gloves, you have touched the victim’s socks after working on other samples. Could you tell me what the result of the sock analyses was?”

The witness answered:  “No foreign DNA nor genetic traces have been found”. Another demonstration that DNA passive transfer just doesn’t occur so easily.  Differently, the probabilities of obtaining a contaminated sample would be so high that DNA testing would hardly be of any use in crime investigations.

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

More Forensic Testimony: The Court Agenda For Friday And Saturday

Posted by Peter Quennell

Italian media are reporting that forensic evidence will probably again be the exclusive focus this week.

Giuseppe Codisposti and Piero Sbardella of the forensic team from Rome should testify on the second collection of evidence and the prints found on the pillow.

Both names also appear on the witness list of the Sollecito defense team, though it is possible they will appear just this one time and then be cross-examined.

An expert called Roberto Politti is also announced as a witness. He may be part of the same team, or he may be a biomedical expert of the same name in Italy who has published on the contamination of biological samples.

Italian commentary seems to suggest a general perception that the defense teams have not made very many dents so far in this key area of the evidence.

Saturday, May 23, 2009

Trial: The Seattle PI’s Report On Saturday’s Forensic Testimony

Posted by Peter Quennell

Click above for Andrea Vogt’s report.

1) On the mixed-blood traces found in a bathroom and bedroom

In the courtroom… an unflappable Stefanoni said she thought it would have been “strange” that three traces of blood with both Kercher and Knox’s genetic profile would have been left at different times.

The mixed blood traces were identified on the sink, on the bidet near the drain and on a box of Q-tips sitting on the sink.

“Fortunately these were found all on white surfaces, perhaps had the sink not been white ceramic or the transparent cotton box been a different color—pink for example—we might not have found anything with the naked eye because the traces were so diluted.”

2) On the collection methods used for one sample

Knox’s attorney, Carlo Dalla Vedova of Rome, questioned Stefanoni about the methods used by a colleague from Perugia’s local forensic division, who took samples from two different places in the bidet with the same cotton swab.

Stefanoni said the two traces seen sampling in the video were actually one continuous trace, linked by a very light-colored drip that extended from the top to the drain. Had there been any contamination or DNA of another person present, she added, it would have been revealed during the genetic analysis of the sample.

“In any hypothetical, accidental case of contamination by whomever or wherever, once we do the analysis and see the genetic profile, we can see that there has been contamination from another person. There would be problems apparent in the data analysis,” she responded.

3) On the DNA on the knife found in Sollecito’s apartment

Friday Stefanoni said she was able to identify the genetic profile of Knox on the handle of the large kitchen knife that is the alleged murder weapon, and that of Kercher on the blade. The sample of Kercher’s DNA was so small, only one identifying test was performed, however, and could not be repeated for verification. Still, Stefanoni insisted that the one test that was conducted produced a reliable result.

 

Friday, May 22, 2009

Trial: Patrizia Stefanoni Seen Here With One Of Her Teams

Posted by Peter Quennell

[click for larger image]

These teams seem to professionals we know watching the case to be smart, efficient, and well-organized.

And large. The numbers involved in the various searches and analyses have been quite considerable.

They all arrived in Perugia from Rome of course. From the equivalent of Scotland Yard or the FBI.

Trial: The Morning Report By Sky New’s Nick Pisa

Posted by Peter Quennell

Click above for the full story.

DNA from Meredith Kercher murder suspect Amanda Knox was found on the handle of a kitchen knife and Miss Kercher’s DNA was on the tip, a court has heard…

On Friday, forensic scientist Patrizia Stefanoni told the court how her team had recorded 460 biological traces at the crime scene.

Dr Stefanoni also said DNA traces were found on a black-handled kitchen knife recovered from Sollecito’s flat - which the court has been told is compatible with the murder weapon.

She showed photographs of the knife and pointed out the areas of the handle where Knox’s DNA was found, and the tip of the blade where Miss Kercher’s was found.

Dr Stefanoni told the court that blood tests on the knife had proved negative, and in earlier hearings the judge and jury were told that the knife had been cleaned.

DNA from Knox and Miss Kercher was also found in blood stains found in the bidet of the bathroom, the sink and on a box of cotton wool buds, the court heard.

Dr Stefanoni said the bloodstains were “slightly pink as if the result of being washed”....

The court heard how DNA from Sollecito was found on a metal clasp that had been cut away from Miss Kercher’s bra and which was found at the scene.

A blood stain found in the bedroom of flatmate Laura Romanelli was also found to have DNA from Knox and Miss Kercher.

That last line sure surprised us! But we think Nick Pisa may have intended to write Filomena Romanelli and not Laura Romanelli at that point.

Mixed-blood evidence found in either bedroom would appears to be very important new news, and even tougher for the defense teams than the mixed bathroom traces.

We remain grateful for Nick Pisa’s fast reports. The London Times, in contrast, has not posted any report on the trial for quite some time now.

Today’s Witness Patrizia Stefanoni Shakes Hands With Prosecutor Giuliano Mignini

Posted by Peter Quennell

[click for larger image]

Italian media have reported that the first part of Ms Stefanoni’s deposition was a sort of seminar on how to catalogue and collect forensic evidence and exhibits.

From La Nazione: “We use kits which are internationally recognized and marketed. This means that a researcher in Sydney, Australia, looking at the same tube would see the same outcome in terms of results of the DNA. For our investigation of the death of Meredith, two different special kits were used to analyze the DNA and other genetic traces.”

She then testified that 460 biological traces were collected and analyzed. And that 360-degree images of each room were taken in advance of each of the team’s search for more evidence. She excluded contamination by her operatives.

“In collecting traces of bloodstains, it is crucial for the operator not to come into contact with them, not to alter the scene, and to avoid being infected by bacteria or viruses. Therefore we use special gloves, boots, masks and coveralls.”

Ms Stefanoni’ found no biological evidence under Meredith’s short fingernails, which she found not unexpected as Meredith was apparently fighting off a knife attack and then down on her hands and knees.

It is perhaps worth recalling that Ms Stefanoni presented essentially the same evidence at the trial of Rudy Guede. Judge Micheli seems to have found it extremely credible, as it forms a large part of his report.

Judge Micheli then awarded Guede a term of 30 years in prison, and Prosecutor Mignini had only asked for 25.

The Trial Resumes: The Court Agenda For Friday And Saturday

Posted by Peter Quennell

Italian media have reported the following agenda for Friday and Saturday.

Probably all day Friday: Patrizia Stefanoni. leader of the forensic team, who will testify on the crime scene and what was found where and how it was collected.

Probably all day Saturday: Francesco Camana, who will testify on the bloody footprints revealed with luminol, and then Giuseppe Codisposti and Piero Sbardella, who will testify on the second collection of evidence and the prints found on the pillow.

We are anticipating (see our right column for dates) that there will be no court sessions next Friday and Saturday because a public holiday in Italy renders this traditionally a long weekend.

Meredith’s mother and perhaps other members of the Kercher family are expected to testify at the next session on 5 or 6 June.

And in a Seattle PI interview, Curt Knox has confirmed that Amanda Knox wants to testify at the session after that on 12 or 13 June.

Soon thereafter, all Italian courts will cease sessions for a period of some weeks during the vacation period.

The defense phase of the trial will resume in September and the trial may be over in October and the verdicts and sentences, if any, announced then.

If the verdicts are “guilty” appeals are automatic under the Italian system..

Monday, May 11, 2009

Trial: The Beast On The Footprints -  And Meredith’s House

Posted by Peter Quennell

Click above for Barbie Nadeau’s report on last Friday and Saturday at court.

Amanda Knox’s father is interviewed. And we are quoted on Meredith’s house as follows.

The Daily Beast also discovered that administrators of one of the blogs that follows the Kercher trial, True Justice for Meredith Kercher, is considering buying the House of Horrors to make sure it isn’t forgotten. “Increasingly, Meredith’s followers seem to hope that the groundswell for Meredith evolves into something tangible.

Making an offer for the Via della Pergola house, perhaps establishing a memorial garden there, is one possible objective,” Peter Quennell, who runs the True Justice site, tells me. “Meredith is clearly coming to stand for something transcendent. She already seems an iconic presence for many followers of the case.”

In our incoming emails, compassion for Meredith is mounting higher and higher, and this flows in part from an obvious sadness that the house might revert to a student rental or grim tourist attraction.

The Kercher family have not testified about Meredith at the trial yet - that might happen in three weeks. We feel it appropriate to simply float this possibility and no more for now.