Convicted killer Amanda Knox's appeal resumes today with her confidence rising that their may be "light at the end of the tunnel" following an explosive new DNA report.
Knox , 24, is serving 26 years for the brutal sex murder of British student Meredith Kercher, 21, who was found semi naked and with her throat slashed in her bedroom of the house they shared.
However, in recent months there has been growing disquiet regarding the verdict amid suggestions of a bungled forensic investigation with police and prosecutors pushing at all costs for a conviction.
Knox's best friend Madison Paxton said: "I saw her in prison a few days ago and she was confident. There is light at the end of the tunnel especially since the new DNA report.
"It feels different this time, with people willing to listen and she is really hopeful."
Key to her conviction in December 2009 was DNA evidence presented in her trial which said that genetic material from her had been found on the handle of a 30cm kitchen knife thought to be the murder weapon.
It was discovered in the kitchen of her co-accused and former boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito, 26, who was given 25 years for the murder. DNA from Meredith was said to have been on the blade.
In Sollecito's case, his DNA was said to have been found on Meredith's bloodied bra clasp but this was not recovered from the scene until six weeks after she died and video footage showed it had also been moved.
As a result, defence lawyers for both in the original trial argued that the evidence was contaminated and flawed and should not have been used. An initial request for a review was rejected.
Earlier this year appeal judge Claudio Pratillo Hellman agreed to a fresh request and two independent experts, Carla Vecchiotti and Stefano Conti from Rome's La Sapienza university, were appointed to examine the evidence.
Last month their explosive report was leaked and they ruled that it was ''not certain that DNA from Meredith was on the knife'' and that ''contamination on the bra clasp could not be excluded".
They added: "It cannot be excluded that the results obtained may have been derived from ambient contamination or during the handling of the evidence.
"With regard to the bra clasp we believe that the results are not reliable because scientific elements do not exist which can rule out the possibility of contamination from elsewhere."
The experts also stressed that "international standards of searching for and gathering evidence were not followed with regard to the knife and the bra clasp".
With regard to the knife the experts said that the DNA provided a "low copy number" and that "due care and caution should then have been used in attributing the result to Meredith Kercher, although we agree with the findings that the genetic evidence on the handle is Knox's".
Miss Paxton, who has moved from Knox's hometown of Seattle to be near her, added: "We are hopeful but at the same time we are scared because we know the prosecution will throw something in, another wild accusation.
"We are anticipating something from them, they seem to be going out of their way to keep two innocent people in jail but we are hoping the judge and jury see the report for what it is.
"Amanda has started thinking about finally going home - we have even been talking about apartments we are going to get together but there will be no celebrations until she is free.
"We just want the court to see that a mistake was made and even though she and Raffaele were convicted they are both innocent. It would be great if we even got an apology but I doubt we will."
University of Leeds student Meredith from Coulsdon, Surrey, was discovered with her throat cut in November 2007, in the hilltop town of Perugia, just two months after she arrived in Italy during her year abroad.
A third defendant, drug dealer Rudy Guede, an immigrant from the Ivory Coast, was also jailed in connection with the brutal killing.
He was handed a 30-year sentence for murder and sexual violence following a fast-track trial in October 2008 which was later cut to 16 years.
A final decision on the appeal is expected at the end of September.
Source: http://uk.news.yahoo.com/knox-appeal-dna-comes-under-spotlight-105541702.html
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