Lawyer: Amanda Knox is a 'she-devil'
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China Daily via Agencies, September 27, 2011
'Mafia killing'
Knox was sentenced to 26 years in prison and Sollecito to 25 years. Prosecutors on Saturday asked the court to increase both terms to life.
The American's good looks and conflicting portrayals of her personality helped fuel worldwide interest in the case which has spawned more than a dozen books and a television movie.
Dubbed "Foxy Knoxy" by some in the press, the former University of Washington student has been cast by prosecutors as a cunning young woman with a penchant for extreme sex games, and by her supporters as a naive victim of bumbling Italian police and unreliable forensic evidence.
Many Americans regard her as an innocent student abroad who got trapped in a byzantine legal system thousands of miles from home.
A lawyer for Kercher's family, Francesco Maresca, defended the prosecution's case in court and made a plea to jurors not to be swayed by incessant media coverage of the case.
Juxtaposing a picture of a smiling Kercher with photos of her bloodied corpse to remind the court of the gruesome nature of the crime, he likened Kercher's murder to a mafia killing.
He pointed to her slashed throat, more than 40 wounds on her body and lack of any signs of struggle, which suggested her hands and legs had been held down by her murderers.
"I'm showing these photos to make you understand how this girl suffered," he said, calling Kercher "beautiful" and "full of life" before her slaying. "She met her death inside her own bedroom, where you think you are most safe."
Prosecutors say Knox led her boyfriend and a small-time drug dealer, Rudy Guede, in a sexual assault on Kercher that ended with the American stabbing her roommate with a kitchen knife.
Guede, an Ivorian drifter with a criminal record, was jailed in 2008 for taking part in the murder.
He also says he is innocent.
Knox maintains she spent the night of the murder with Sollecito in his apartment where they watched a film, smoked marijuana and had sex.
She has won support from many in the United States, where her family has helped keep attention on her case by appearing regularly on talk shows and news programs.
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