Pope Benedict XVI Failed To Remove Sex Abusing Priest

Vatican Declined to Defrock U.S. Priest Who Abused Boys


Top Vatican officials — including the future Pope Benedict XVI — did not defrock a priest who molested as many as 200 deaf boys, even though several American bishops repeatedly warned them that failure to act on the matter could embarrass the church, according to church files newly unearthed as part of a lawsuit.

The internal correspondence from bishops in Wisconsin directly to Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, the future pope, shows that while church officials tussled over whether the priest should be dismissed, their highest priority was protecting the church from scandal.

The documents emerge as Pope Benedict is facing other accusations that he and direct subordinates often did not alert civilian authorities or discipline priests involved in sexual abuse when he served as an archbishop in Germany and as the Vatican’s chief doctrinal enforcer.

The Wisconsin case involved an American priest, the Rev. Lawrence C. Murphy, who worked at a renowned school for deaf children from 1950 to 1974. But it is only one of thousands of cases forwarded over decades by bishops to the Vatican office called the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, led from 1981 to 2005 by Cardinal Ratzinger. It is still the office that decides whether accused priests should be given full canonical trials and defrocked.

In 1996, Cardinal Ratzinger failed to respond to two letters about the case from Rembert G. Weakland, Milwaukee’s archbishop at the time. After eight months, the second in command at the doctrinal office, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, now the Vatican’s secretary of state, instructed the Wisconsin bishops to begin a secret canonical trial that could lead to Father Murphy’s dismissal.

But Cardinal Bertone halted the process after Father Murphy personally wrote to Cardinal Ratzinger protesting that he should not be put on trial because he had already repented and was in poor health and that the case was beyond the church’s own statute of limitations.

“I simply want to live out the time that I have left in the dignity of my priesthood,” Father Murphy wrote near the end of his life to Cardinal Ratzinger. “I ask your kind assistance in this matter.” The files contain no response from Cardinal Ratzinger.

The New York Times obtained the documents, which the church fought to keep secret, from Jeff Anderson and Mike Finnegan, the lawyers for five men who have brought four lawsuits against the Archdiocese of Milwaukee. The documents include letters between bishops and the Vatican, victims’ affidavits, the handwritten notes of an expert on sexual disorders who interviewed Father Murphy and minutes of a final meeting on the case at the Vatican.

Father Murphy not only was never tried or disciplined by the church’s own justice system, but also got a pass from the police and prosecutors who ignored reports from his victims, according to the documents and interviews with victims. Three successive archbishops in Wisconsin were told that Father Murphy was sexually abusing children, the documents show, but never reported it to criminal or civil authorities.

Instead of being disciplined, Father Murphy was quietly moved by Archbishop William E. Cousins of Milwaukee to the Diocese of Superior in northern Wisconsin in 1974, where he spent his last 24 years working freely with children in parishes, schools and, as one lawsuit charges, a juvenile detention center. He died in 1998, still a priest.

Even as the pope himself in a recent letter to Irish Catholics has emphasized the need to cooperate with civil justice in abuse cases, the correspondence seems to indicate that the Vatican’s insistence on secrecy has often impeded such cooperation. At the same time, the officials’ reluctance to defrock a sex abuser shows that on a doctrinal level, the Vatican has tended to view the matter in terms of sin and repentance more than crime and punishment.

The Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, was shown the documents and was asked to respond to questions about the case. He provided a statement saying that Father Murphy had certainly violated “particularly vulnerable” children and the law, and that it was a “tragic case.” But he pointed out that the Vatican was not forwarded the case until 1996, years after civil authorities had investigated the case and dropped it.

Father Lombardi emphasized that neither the Code of Canon Law nor the Vatican norms issued in 1962, which instruct bishops to conduct canonical investigations and trials in secret, prohibited church officials from reporting child abuse to civil authorities. He did not address why that had never happened in this case.

As to why Father Murphy was never defrocked, he said that “the Code of Canon Law does not envision automatic penalties.” He said that Father Murphy’s poor health and the lack of more recent accusations against him were factors in the decision.

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The Vatican’s inaction is not unusual. Only 20 percent of the 3,000 accused priests whose cases went to the church’s doctrinal office between 2001 and 2010 were given full church trials, and only some of those were defrocked, according to a recent interview in an Italian newspaper with Msgr. Charles J. Scicluna, the chief internal prosecutor at that office. An additional 10 percent were defrocked immediately. Ten percent left voluntarily. But a majority — 60 percent — faced other “administrative and disciplinary provisions,” Monsignor Scicluna said, like being prohibited from celebrating Mass.

To many, Father Murphy appeared to be a saint: a hearing man gifted at communicating in American Sign Language and an effective fund-raiser for deaf causes. A priest of the Milwaukee Archdiocese, he started as a teacher at St. John’s School for the Deaf, in St. Francis, in 1950. He was promoted to run the school in 1963 even though students had disclosed to church officials in the 1950s that he was a predator.

Victims give similar accounts of Father Murphy’s pulling down their pants and touching them in his office, his car, his mother’s country house, on class excursions and fund-raising trips and in their dormitory beds at night. Arthur Budzinski said he was first molested when he went to Father Murphy for confession when he was about 12, in 1960.

“If he was a real mean guy, I would have stayed away,” said Mr. Budzinski, now 61, who worked for years as a journeyman printer. “But he was so friendly, and so nice and understanding. I knew he was wrong, but I couldn’t really believe it.”

Mr. Budzinski and a group of other deaf former students spent more than 30 years trying to raise the alarm, including passing out leaflets outside the Milwaukee cathedral. Mr. Budzinski’s friend Gary Smith said in an interview that Father Murphy molested him 50 or 60 times, starting at age 12. By the time he graduated from high school at St. John’s, Mr. Smith said, “I was a very, very angry man.”

In 1993, with complaints about Father Murphy landing on his desk, Archbishop Weakland hired a social worker specializing in treating sexual offenders to evaluate him. After four days of interviews, the social worker said that Father Murphy had admitted his acts, had probably molested about 200 boys and felt no remorse.

However, it was not until 1996 that Archbishop Weakland tried to have Father Murphy defrocked. The reason, he wrote to Cardinal Ratzinger, was to defuse the anger among the deaf and restore their trust in the church. He wrote that since he had become aware that “solicitation in the confessional might be part of the situation,” the case belonged at the doctrinal office.

With no response from Cardinal Ratzinger, Archbishop Weakland wrote a different Vatican office in March 1997 saying the matter was urgent because a lawyer was preparing to sue, the case could become public and “true scandal in the future seems very possible.”

Recently some bishops have argued that the 1962 norms dictating secret disciplinary procedures have long fallen out of use. But it is clear from these documents that in 1997, they were still in force.

But the effort to dismiss Father Murphy came to a sudden halt after the priest appealed to Cardinal Ratzinger for leniency.

In an interview, Archbishop Weakland said that he recalled a final meeting at the Vatican in May 1998 in which he failed to persuade Cardinal Bertone and other doctrinal officials to grant a canonical trial to defrock Father Murphy. (In 2002, Archbishop Weakland resigned after it became public that he had an affair with a man and used church money to pay him a settlement.)

Archbishop Weakland said this week in an interview, “The evidence was so complete, and so extensive that I thought he should be reduced to the lay state, and also that that would bring a certain amount of peace in the deaf community.”

Father Murphy died four months later at age 72 and was buried in his priestly vestments. Archbishop Weakland wrote a last letter to Cardinal Bertone explaining his regret that Father Murphy’s family had disobeyed the archbishop’s instructions that the funeral be small and private, and the coffin kept closed.

“In spite of these difficulties,” Archbishop Weakland wrote, “we are still hoping we can avoid undue publicity that would be negative toward the church.”


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Amanda Knox's Family Prepares Her Appeal, Report: No Malice Found

Report: Knox Jurors Found No Planning, Malice In Kercher's Slaying


Jurors believed American Amanda Knox played a role in the slaying of her British roommate, Meredith Kercher, but thought the death came about without any premeditation or animosity, according to a report released Thursday.

The 427-page report, written by Judge Giancarlo Massei and Assistant Judge Beatrice Cristiani, explains the reasons behind jurors' determination in December that Knox was guilty in the November 2007 stabbing death of exchange student Kercher while the two roomed together in Perugia, Italy.

The report blames "random contingencies" and "the combination of various factors" for Kercher's death.

"It is a crime that happened ... without any planning, without any animosity or rancorous feeling against the victim that in some way could be seen [as] a preparation and predisposition to the crime," it said.

Knox, 22, of Seattle, Washington, was sentenced to 26 years in prison for Kercher's death. Knox's ex-boyfriend, Italian Raffaele Sollecito, was sentenced to 25 years. A third man, Ivory Coast native Rudy Guede, was tried separately and was initially sentenced to 30 years, but an appeals court later reduced that to 16 years.

Knox's family issued a statement, saying they had "asked Amanda's lawyers to immediately begin the process of appeal."

"We know she is innocent as there is no forensic evidence that puts her in Meredith's room, no evidence of her at the scene of this horrible crime," the statement said. "Meredith was Amanda's friend. They liked each other and spent time together when not in school. Amanda would not hurt Meredith."

The family said the appeal would detail what they said was "a lot of conjecture in these motivations, a number of discrepancies as well as a number of inconsistencies and contradictions; as well as conclusions not supported by evidence."

Sollecito is also expected to appeal; both have denied involvement in Kercher's death.

During the 11-month trial of Knox and Sollecito, prosecutors argued Knox was a resentful American so angry with her British roommate that she exacted revenge during a twisted sex misadventure game at the students' home. They said Knox directed Sollecito and Guede to hold Kercher down as Knox played with a knife before killing her.

Defense attorneys for Knox and Sollecito said Guede acted alone. Knox testified in court that she was not home at the time of the slaying. She told jurors during her trial that she is not a "killer."

However, jurors rejected both of those theories, according to Thursday's report. They found Guede the main instigator -- not Knox, as prosecutors hypothesized.

The jurors believed that Guede went into Kercher's room and attempted to have sexual contact with her, but Kercher pushed him away. Knox and Sollecito then came into the room and attempted to help Guede have "his way" with Kercher, the report said. Sollecito held Kercher while Guede fondled her, the report said, but things spiraled out of control.

Sollecito poked Kercher with a knife, inflicting one wound measured at 4 cm (1.5 inches), and Knox poked her with a bigger knife after she screamed, inflicting a larger 8-cm (3-inch) wound, jurors found.

"The most plausible hypothesis is that Rudy decided by himself to enter Meredith's room," the report said. "The reaction and refusal of the girl must have been heard by Amanda and Raffaele, who actually were probably disturbed and intervened, given the unfolding of events. They backed Rudy, whom they allowed to enter the house" and ultimately became Kercher's killers because of events that followed, according to the judges.

All three, the jurors believed, were under the influence of drugs. "The motive is therefore of erotic sexual violent nature, which originating from Rudy's choice of evil, found its active collaboration from Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito."

While both Knox and Sollecito denied being at the crime scene, jurors noted that Knox's blood was found in the bathroom and Sollecito's DNA was found on Kercher's bra. The two cannot prove they were at Sollecito's home until the following day, as no evidence puts them there, according to the report.

A knife found in Sollecito's house, with Knox's DNA on the handle and Kercher's DNA on the blade, was the murder weapon, jurors believed, according to the report.

Both Knox and Sollecito must have felt remorse, the judges wrote, because they covered Kercher's body and closed the door of the room where she lay. Police had to force it open the next morning. The judges said that was "significant behavior."


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Pope Benedict XVI Attacked During Christmas Eve Mass

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Pope Knocked Down At Christmas Eve Mass


Pope Benedict XVI's Christmas Eve Mass at St. Peter's Basilica got off to a tumultuous start Thursday after an apparently deranged woman jumped the barriers and knocked him down on his way to the altar.

The 82-year-old pope quickly got up and was unhurt, said a Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Ciro Benedettini. But 87-year-old French Cardinal Roger Etchegaray, a longtime Vatican diplomat who was also dragged down, fractured his hip in the fall and will be operated on, Vatican spokesman Rev. Federico Lombardi said Friday.

The pope delivered his traditional Christmas Day blessing Friday, looking tired and unsteady but otherwise fine. The Vatican said his busy Christmas schedule would remain unchanged.

Footage aired on Italy's RAI state TV showed a woman dressed in a red hooded sweatshirt vaulting over the wooden barriers and rushing toward the pope before being swarmed by bodyguards.

Lombardi identified the woman as Susanna Maiolo, a Swiss-Italian national with psychiatric problems. Video shot by a witness showed Maiolo grabbing the pope's vestments as she was taken down, with Benedict seemingly falling on top of her.

Vatican officials speaking on condition of anonymity said Maiolo was involved in a similar incident last year in which she jumped the barricade as the pope passed. In that case, however, Maiolo never managed to reach the pope and was quietly tackled to the ground by security.

In both cases she wore a red sweat shirt.

The commotion occurred as the pope's procession was making its way toward the main altar and shocked gasps rang out through the crowd that packed the basilica. The procession came to a halt and security rushed to the trouble spot.

Benedettini said Maiolo was arrested by Vatican police. "During the procession an unstable person jumped a barrier and knocked down the Holy Father," Benedettini told The Associated Press by telephone. "(The pope) quickly got up and continued the procession."

Security guards tackle woman

MaryBeth Burns from Paris, Texas, was about four people away from Maiolo and was filming the pope's procession as the commotion started.

"I'm really mad because I had a perfect shot lined up," she said. "I'm still shaking."

Burns, who was visiting Italy with her family on a religious pilgrimage for Christmas, said the security guards immediately pulled the woman to the ground and the pope tumbled with them.

Benedict lost his miter and his staff in the fall. He remained on the ground for a few seconds before being helped back up by attendants. At that point a few shouts of "viva il papa!" (long live the pope!) rang out, followed by cheers from the faithful, witnesses said.

After getting up, Benedict, flanked by tense bodyguards, resumed his walk to the basilica's main altar to start the Mass. He did appear somewhat shaken and leaned heavily on aides and an armrest as he sat down in his chair.

Few people who were watching the Mass on giant screens set up in a rain-soaked St. Peter's Square even knew that the pope had fallen, with many saying that either they weren't looking or had arrived too late.

Benedict made no reference to the incident as the service started. As a choir sang, he sprinkled incense on the altar before opening the Mass with the traditional wish for peace in Latin.

Security Breaches

The latest incident was the first time a potential attacker came into direct contact with Benedict, and underscored concerns by security analysts who have frequently warned the pope is too exposed in his public appearances.

There have been other security breaches at the Vatican, in addition to this year's and last year's incidents.

In 2007, during an open-air audience in St. Peter's Square, a mentally unstable German man jumped a security barrier and grabbed the back of the pope's open car before being swarmed by security guards.

Then there was the assassination attempt against Pope John Paul II by Turkish gunman Mehmet Ali Agca in 1981. John Paul suffered a severe abdominal wound as he rode in an open jeep at the start of his weekly audience in the Vatican piazza.

The pope is protected by a combination of Swiss Guards, Vatican police and Italian police.

Delivers Homily

Since the Sept. 11 attacks on the U.S., the Vatican has tightened security at events where the pope is present. All visitors must pass by police to get into the square, with some going through metal detectors or being scanned by metal-detecting wands.

In a similar incident to Thursday's, Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi was attacked as he was greeting the crowd at a political rally earlier this month. A man with a history of psychological problems hurled a souvenir statuette at the politician, fracturing his nose and breaking two of his teeth.

Benedict celebrated this year's Christmas Eve Mass two hours earlier than the usual midnight starting time in a move by the Vatican to ease the pontiff's busy holiday schedule.

In his homily, delivered unflappably after the incident, Benedict urged the world to "wake up" from selfishness and petty affairs, and find time for God and spiritual matters.

"To wake up means to leave that private world of one's own and to enter the common reality," Benedict said. "Conflict and lack of reconciliation in the world stem from the fact that we are locked into our own interests and opinions, into our own little private world."

Benedict's next scheduled appearance is at noon on Christmas Day, when he is to deliver his traditional "Urbi et Orbi" Speech (Latin for "To the city and the world") from the basilica's balcony.




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Silvio Berlusconi Punched, Face Bloodied

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi struck in the face and badly bloodied at Milan Rally


A mentally ill man broke Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's nose and knocked two of his teeth out with a punch to the face at a rowdy rally in Milan Sunday.

Doctors said they will keep him in the hospital under observation for 24 hours. They said he was not badly injured.

It was not clear if the prime minister, who has confessed to having a face lift, will need more plastic surgery.

Italian TV showed the dazed premier - his face cut and his mouth a mass of blood - falling to the ground and then being hustled into a car.

The attacker, 42-year-old Massimo Tartaglia, a graphic designer with a history of mental problems, was quickly bundled away by police.

Berlusconi was gladhanding the crowd after delivering a tirade against the left at an evening rally in front of Milan's Duomo when he was hit.

Witness Doriano Riparbelli told Italian media that Tartaglia was holding a souvenir replica of the famously spikey cathedral and rammed it into Berlusconi's face.

Defense minister Ignazio La Russa, who also saw it happen, told the Corriere della Sera newspaper that the crowd was ready to lynch the attacker.

"Only scraps would have remained," he said.

Video of the aftermath showed a chaotic scene as crowds surged around the president, who is a hearty 73.

An aide was crawling on the roof of his limo as he was stuffed inside the car by security men.

At one point Berlusconi tried to climb out and hoist himself onto the car to show he was all right, but fell back, looking confused.

Distraught fans - some of whom appeared to believe he'd been shot - looked on in horror.

The Italian flair for drama quickly asserted itself.

"Democracy is at risk in this country," said Senate president Renato Schifani.

Far-right politician Umberto Bossi declared the punch "an act of terrorism."

Berlusconi spokesman Paolo Buonaiuti told CNN the growing political attacks on his boss led to the physical attack.

"There has been such a buildup of hatred toward the premier, and this is not good," Buonaiuti said. "This campaign of hatred has been building quite rapidly recently, and I am not surprised that what happened tonight took place."

Corriere della Sera said a handful of protesters heckled Berlusconi, shouting slogans that prompted him to tell the crowd, "They paint me as a monster, but I don't think I am one - firstly because I am good-looking and secondly because I'm a good guy."

Tartaglia was not among the protesters.

Berlusconi faces a number of bribery and corruption trials and has been caught up in a series of tawdry sex scandals.
His wife, actress Veronica Lario, announced in May she would seek a divorce amid allegations he was consorting with teenagers and prostitutes.

The Mail on Sunday in London reported that he spent Friday's European Union summit meeting doodling lady's underwear and then passing his sketches around to shocked world leaders.

The paper said Berlusconi drew a series of female undergarments through the ages - from Victorian bloomers to 21st Century thongs - as the leaders discussed climate change in Brussels.

Among those present: Britain's Gordon Brown, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Irish Prime Minister Brian Cowen.

Berlusconi -- a billionaire who controls many Italian institutions, including the football team AC Milan and major TV networks -- is the longest-serving Prime Minister of Italy, a position he has held three times since 1994.



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Hillary Clinton Drawn Into Amanda Knox Case...U.S. Backlash

U.S. backlash grows as Hillary Clinton is called in over the jailing of "Foxy Knoxy"


U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has been drawn into the battle to overturn Amanda Knox's conviction.

Amid a growing U.S. backlash against the verdict, the American Secretary of State has agreed to meet a senator from 22-year-old Knox's home state of Washington.

On Friday night, Knox was found guilty of the drug-fuelled sex murder of British student Meredith Kercher and jailed for 26 years.

Her conviction, alongside her Italian former boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito, came in tense late-night scenes in the Italian town of Perugia at the end of a year-long trial. Sollecito, 25, was jailed for 25 years.

Last night, Miss Kercher's family told of their anguish for the first time since her killer was jailed.

Her mother Arline, 64, said the entire family had been given a 'life sentence' and were 'living in a nightmare' for the two years since she was slain.

She also revealed how they keep the 21-year-old's bedroom exactly as it was when she left in the vain hope she will one day come home.

Miss Kercher's semi-naked body was found in November 2007 in a pool of blood in the bedroom of the home she and Knox shared in Perugia.

The court heard that Miss Kercher, from Coulsdon, Surrey, was subjected to a terrifying ordeal when she returned to her Italian home after an evening with friends.

Knox, Sollecito and another man, drifter Rudy Guede, attempted to involve the Leeds University student in a sex game, cutting her throat when she refused and leaving her to die in 'slow agony'. Guede, 22, was convicted of murder and sexual assault last year and jailed for 30 years.

After the verdicts, Knox's furious father Curt Knox vowed to fight to clear his daughter's name and spoke of his 'anger and disbelief' at the Italian justice system.

His campaign seems to be gaining support on Capitol Hill. Senator Maria Cantwell, from Washington state, declared there were 'serious questions about the Italian justice system'.

She said she was concerned there had been an 'anti-American' feeling at the trial and said she would be raising her concerns with Mrs Clinton.

'The prosecution did not present enough evidence for an impartial jury to conclude beyond a reasonable doubt that Miss Knox was guilty,' she said. 'Italian jurors were allowed to view highly negative news coverage about Miss Knox.'

She said Knox, who called herself Foxy Knoxy on a web page, had been a victim of 'harsh treatment' and branded handling of evidence 'negligent'.

Mrs Clinton was asked about the trial in an appearance on a U.S. news programme.

She said: 'Of course I'll meet with Senator Cantwell or anyone who has a concern but I can't offer any opinion about that at this time.'

She said she had not expressed any concerns to the Italian government. Last night, Knox's Italian lawyer distanced himself from the senator's claims. Luciano Ghirga said: 'That's all we need, Hillary Clinton involved. I have the same political sympathies as Hillary but this sort of thing does not help us in any way.'

Prosecutor Giuliano Mignini said: 'This senator should not interfere in something she has no idea about. I am happy with how the trial went.'

Knox plans to appeal against her conviction, but if it is unsuccessful she is likely to have to serve the bulk of her 26-year sentence inside an Italian jail. As in Britain, prisoners can be released on licence, but Knox is unlikely to be eligible for even day release for at least 20 years.

She could make an application to serve her sentence in the U.S.

On Saturday, Knox's father, mother Edda Mellas, her sister and half-sisters visited her at Capanne prison, just outside Perugia.



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What's Next For Amanda Knox?

Parents visit Knox. She sought comfort from visiting family members on her first day in prison since being convicted of murdering her British roommate. NBC’s Keith Miller reports.

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Amanda Knox's father calls her guilty verdict "a travesty of justice".

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Amanda Knox's Next Move



After a grueling, 11-month trial, the young American co-ed was found guilty of murder by an Italian court. Barbie Latza Nadeau on how she'll try to shorten her sentence.

Amanda Knox put her face in her hands when she was convicted of sexually assaulting and murdering Meredith Kercher. Then she turned to her lawyer and wept in his arms. “Condannato” said the judge after deliberations that had begun around 10:30 that morning finally ended just after 9 p.m. “Amanda Marie Knox is condemned to 26 years in prison.”

The reaction in the courtroom was nothing short of explosive. As the judge read out the sentences for sexual assault, murder, staging a crime scene, and criminal defamation, Knox’s younger sister Deanna’s cries filled the room. At one point the stepmother of Raffaele Sollecito, Knox’s former boyfriend who was sentenced to 25 years for his part in the murder, yelled out “Fuck you,” then cried loudly in a fit of hysteria. Knox’s family cried and hugged. The family of Meredith Kercher sat stoically, at one point staring in awe at the parents of the woman who was just convicted of killing their daughter.

It wasn’t the life sentence with nine months of isolation that the prosecutor had asked for, but it was a harsh penalty for the 22-year-old American whose trial in the small city of Perugia, Italy, had captivated the world for 11 months. The prosecutor presented forensic evidence and painted a circumstantial caricature of Knox as a beautiful young woman capable of murder. The defense tried its best to sow seeds of uncertainty with words like “contamination” and “reasonable doubt.” But in the end, the two judges and six lay jurors trusted the sanctity of the DNA evidence, and doubted the words of Knox and Sollecito.

The case has been a media sensation ever since Kercher’s bloodied corpse was found in the apartment she shared with Knox in November 2007. For those who believed that Knox was guilty, the most damning evidence was the presence of her DNA mixed with Kercher’s blood in the house, and her statement that she was in the house at the time of the murder. Those who believed she was innocent have maintained throughout that the evidence was fabricated or contaminated. But for the family of Meredith Kercher, tonight's sentence offered a modicum of closure. “This is the justice we were looking for,” said Francesco Maresca, lawyer for the Kercher family, after the hearing. “The family is satisfied.”

The Knox family is not. They have vowed to continue to fight for her innocence. When asked if they would fight this in appeal, her father Curt Knox responded, “Hell, yes.”

Italian cases are automatically appealed and Knox may be able to shave a few years off her lengthy sentence during the process, which will take place within a year and a half. Until then, she will spend her days in prison a convicted murderess. “We were expecting this, but that does not make it easier,” said Knox’s lawyer Luciano Ghirga.

Despite the verdict, many still believe it does nothing to clarify exactly what happened the night Kercher was killed.




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Amanda Knox - Meredith Kercher Virtual Murder Scene

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Amanda Knox's Family Immediately Plans To Appeal Her Conviction

(Video from Europe) Amanda Knox found guilty. An Italian court convicted American student Amanda Knox, 22, of murdering her British roommate in a drunken sex game two years ago. NBC's Keith Miller reports from Perugia.

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An American Defense Attorney explains the Italian Criminal Justice System.

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Victim’s family satisfied with Knox conviction


The family of a slain British woman said Saturday they were pleased with the murder conviction of American student Amanda Knox but said there was no sense of celebration.

Meredith Kercher's relatives made their first comments since a jury in Perugia, Italy, announced early Saturday that they had convicted Knox and sentenced her to 26 years in prison for the 2007 murder.

The court also convicted Knox's co-defendant and former boyfriend, Italian Raffaele Sollecito, and gave him a 25-year jail term.

"Ultimately we are pleased with the decision, pleased that we've got a decision, but it's not a time for celebration," Lyle Kercher, the victim's brother, said.

Kercher's sister, Stephanie, said the verdict "does bring a a little bit of justice, for us and for her."

"Life will never be the same without Mez," she said.

Kercher, 21, was Knox's roommate while they studied in Perugia.

Her body was found in a pool of blood with her throat slit on Nov. 2, 2007 at the apartment they shared. Prosecutors said the Leeds University student was murdered the previous night.

Knox, family react to verdict

As soon as the judge read the verdict just after midnight following some 13 hours of deliberations, Knox began weeping and murmured, “No, no,” then hugged one of her lawyers.

Minutes later, the 22-year-old Knox, who is from Seattle and the 25-year-old Sollecito, were put in police vans with sirens blaring and driven back to jail.

Prosecutors had sought life imprisonment, Italy’s stiffest sentence. Courts often give less severe punishment than what prosecutors demand.

The American’s father, Curt Knox, asked if he would fight on for his daughter, replied, with tears in his eyes: “Hell, yes.”

“This is just wrong,” her stepmother, Cassandra Knox, said, turning around immediately after hearing the verdict. Her family had insisted she was innocent and a victim of character assassination.

One of Knox’s lawyers, Luciano Ghirga, was asked if she was desperate.

“Yes, I challenge anyone not to be,” he replied.

A group of local youths who gathered outside the courthouse shouted insults and “assassin” at the Knox entourage as they walked in to hear the verdict.

The family said Knox will appeal the verdict.

In a statement, U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., blasted the Italian legal system.

"I am saddened by the verdict and I have serious questions about the Italian justice system and whether anti-Americanism tainted this trial," Cantwell said. "The prosecution did not present enough evidence for an impartial jury to conclude beyond a reasonable doubt that Ms. Knox was guilty."

"Italian jurors were not sequestered and were allowed to view highly negative news coverage about Ms. Knox," Cantwell said. The senator also cited the "harsh" treatment of Knox after her arrest and "the negligent handling of evidence by investigators."

Seattle friends, relatives react

Relatives and friends in Seattle clasped hands as they watched TV and waited for the verdict. Her uncle, Mick Huff, cried, "Oh God, no" when it was announced.

Other friends buried their faces in their hands and shook their heads.

"They didn't listen to the facts of the case," said Elisabeth Huff, Knox's grandmother. "All they did was listen to the media's lies."

Madison Paxton, a friend of Knox's, said: "They're convicting a made-up person. They they're convicting 'foxy Knoxy.' That's not Amanda."

In a statement, the family said: "We are extremely disappointed in the verdict rendered today against our daughter. ... It appears clear to us that the attacks on Amanda's character in much of the media and by the prosecution had a significant impact on the judges and jurors and apparently overshadowed the lack of evidence in the prosecution's case against her."

Fumes of drugs

The prosecutors contend on the night of the murder, Knox and Sollecito met at the apartment where Kercher and Knox lived. They say a fourth person was there, Rudy Hermann Guede, an Ivory Coast citizen who has been convicted in the murder and sentenced to 30 years in prison. Guede, who is appealing his conviction, says he was in the house the night of the murder but did not kill Kercher.

The prosecution says Knox and Kercher started arguing, and that Knox joined the two men in brutally attacking and sexually assaulting the Briton under "the fumes of drugs and possibly alcohol."

Throughout the trial, prosecutors depicted Knox as a promiscuous and manipulative she-devil whose personality clashed with her roommate's. They say Knox had grown to hate Kercher.

During the trial, the most intimate details of Knox's life were examined, from her lax hygiene — allegedly a point of contention with Kercher — to her sex life, even including a sex toy.

Knox said Kercher was a friend whose slaying shocked and saddened her.

Defense lawyers have described the American, who made the dean's list at the University of Washington, as a smart and cheerful woman, at one point even comparing her to film character Amelie, the innocent and dreamy girl in the 2001 French movie of the same title.

That is the film Knox and Sollecito say they were watching at his home on the night of the murder, where they say they smoked marijuana and had sex. Knox said she went home the next morning to find the door to the house open and Kercher dead.

The prosecution maintains that a 6 1/2-inch knife authorities found at Sollecito's house could be the murder weapon; they say Kercher's DNA was found on the blade and Knox's on the handle. However, defense lawyers argue the knife was too big to match Kercher's wounds and the amount of DNA collected was too small to determine with certainty whose it was.

Violence is purposeless

The defense maintained there was not enough evidence for a conviction and no clear motive.

However, prosecutor Manuela Comodi said violent crimes can lack a motive. "We live at a time where violence is purposeless," she told the jury.

Knox gave contradictory versions of the night of the slaying, saying at one point she was home and had to cover her ears to block out Kercher's screams and accusing a Congolese man of the killing. The man, Patrick Diya Lumumba, owns a pub in Perugia where Knox worked. He was jailed briefly but was later cleared and is seeking defamation damages from Knox.

Knox later contended that police pressure led her to initially accuse an innocent man.



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Amanda Knox Found Guilty! 26 Year Sentence!

Amanda Knox found guilty. Msnbc’s Ed Schultz talks with criminal defense attorney Theodore Simon about the conviction of Amanda Knox for the murder of her British roommate, Meredith Kercher, in Italy.

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Knox's father buys daughter plane ticket home. Amanda Knox's dad said he was "hopeful" his daughter would soon be returning home. ITV's Robert Moore reports.

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Amanda Knox accused of murdering her roommate, Meredith Kercher makes an emotional plea in her defense.

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Amanda Knox guilty of murdering Meredith Kercher


American student Amanda Knox and her former boyfriend have been found guilty of murdering her flatmate Meredith Kercher after an 11-month trial in the Italian city of Perugia.

Knox, 22, and 25-year-old Raffaele Sollecito were in the dock to hear the jurors deliver their verdict.

The pair are expected to appeal agaisnt the decision.

Meredith Kercher, 21, from Coulsden, Surrey, had been studying at Perugia's University for Foreigners. She was found dead on 2 November 2007 in the bedroom of the house she shared with fellow student Knox.

Prosecutors alleged that Sollecito held Kercher down while Rudy Guede, a 22-year-old Ivory Coast-born drifter, tried to sexually assault her and Knox stabbed her.

In October 2008 Guede was given a 30-year sentence for the murder after opting for a fast-track trial. He is appealing against his conviction.

Knox, from Seattle, denied murdering Kercher, and on Thursday appealed to the jury not to convict her, saying she "was confident my conscience is clean".

Using the fluent Italian she has learned during two years in jail, Knox said: "I could be pulling out my hair, taking apart my cell but I don't do these things. I just take a breath and try and be positive in moments like this." Turning to the judges and jury, she said: "Now it's your turn and I thank you."

Prosecutors claimed that Knox's DNA was found on the handle of the likely murder weapon – a kitchen knife found in Sollecito's house – and that traces of Kercher's DNA were on the blade.

Knox said she had spent the night before Kercher's body was found at Sollecito's flat, and was shocked when she realised police suspected her.

Knox and Sollecito were remanded in custody shortly after the killing, when they gave conflicting statements over their whereabouts on the night of the murder.

Sollecito said he was at his flat in Perugia using his computer, and he did not remember whether Knox spent the whole night with him or just part of it.

During the trial, Knox claimed that she had been mistreated by Italian police who questioned her. She said a policewoman hit her on the head twice during interrogation.

Knox claimed police pressure initially led her to name Diya "Patrick" Lumumba as the culprit. Lumumba, a Congolese man who owned a pub in Perugia, was held briefly in the case but later cleared. He is seeking damages from Knox for defamation.

"It was always a crescendo," Knox told the court. "When I said I was with Raffaele all the time they told me I was a liar. I was scared, I thought: maybe they are right."




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Amanda Knox Trial: Prosecution Rests...Life Sentence Sought

Prosecution makes final push in Knox trial. Closing arguments are underway in the Italian murder trial of American college student Amanda Knox. NBC’s Michelle Kosinski reports from Perugia with the latest.

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Life sentences sought in Amanda Knox case


Prosecutors on Saturday requested life in prison for Amanda Knox and her ex-boyfriend, who are accused in the fatal stabbing of her British roommate during a drug-fueled sex game — charges the U.S. woman dismissed as "pure fantasy."

In their closing arguments, the prosecutors said Amanda Knox and Italian Raffaele Sollecito should be convicted on charges of murder and sexual violence for the 2007 slaying of Meredith Kercher.

They deny wrongdoing.

Knox, who is from Seattle, took a deep breath when Prosecutor Giuliano Mignini requested life imprisonment — Italy's stiffest punishment. She then addressed the court, saying that the accusations against her were "pure fantasy."

"Meredith was my friend, I didn't hate her," she said in Italian, fighting back tears.

The Briton's body, her throat slit, was found in a pool of blood on Nov. 2, 2007, in the apartment she shared with Knox in the central Italian town of Perugia.

Prosecutors argued that Knox resented her British roommate and killed her, together with Sollecito and Rudy Hermann Guede, of Ivory Coast, under "the fumes of drugs and possibly alcohol."

They said Knox hit Kercher's head against a wall, then tried to strangle her, as Sollecito held her and Guede sexually assaulted her.

Guede was sentenced to 30 years in prison last year for the killing after a fast-track trial he had requested. He also denies wrongdoing and is appealing his conviction.

"The murder and the sexual violence were carried out for futile reasons," Mignini said. "Meredith will never come back."


Verdict expected in early December

He requested nine months of daytime solitary confinement for Knox and two months for Sollecito. A verdict by the eight-member jury is expected in early December.

Knox, 22, and Sollecito, 25, have been jailed for more than two years since being arrested shortly after the slaying.

According to prosecutors, a knife with a 6 1/2-inch blade, with Kercher's DNA on the blade and Knox's on the handle, was found at Sollecito's house.

Defense lawyers argue that the knife is too big to match Kercher's wounds and that the amount of what prosecutors say is Kercher's DNA is too low to be attributed with certainty.

Prosecutors also maintain Sollecito's DNA was found on the clasp of Kercher's bra, although his defense team contends that the evidence might have been inadvertently contaminated during the investigation.

During Saturday's hearing, prosecutors showed an animated video reconstructing what they say were the different phases of the murder, with cartoon characters representing the defendants and the victim.

Photos showing Kercher's wounds and bruises also were shown in the video. Knox kept her head down during the presentation, while Sollecito watched it intently.

In their closing arguments, prosecutors also reviewed technical data on the use of Sollecito's computer the night Kercher was slain.

According to Knox, who took the stand last June, she spent the night of Nov. 1 with Sollecito at his home, watching a movie on his computer and smoking pot. Witnesses for the prosecution have argued that there was no sign of the defendant using his computer during the hours 21-year-old Kercher was stabbed to death.

Mignini also asked the court to convict the defendants on lesser charges, including staging a break-in and the theft of cash and Kercher's cell phones. He said Knox and Sollecito staged a burglary in the apartment by breaking a window in a bedroom in an attempt to sidetrack the investigation.

Knox also is being tried on charges of defamation for allegedly accusing Diya "Patrick" Lumumba — a Congolese man who owns a pub in Perugia where she worked — of being the killer. Because of her accusation, Lumumba was briefly jailed. He was later cleared and is seeking damages from Knox.

Defense lawyers will make their own closing arguments beginning late next week.



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Italy, France, Finland Willing To Aid Wounded Iranian Protesters...19 Reported Dead In Tehran

UPI.com----

STOCKHOLM, Sweden -- A European Union-wide proposal to coordinate aid for wounded Iranian demonstrators was expected to be discussed Wednesday in Stockholm, ministers said.

Ministers of Italy, France and Finland called for a common EU response for people seeking assistance in the violent aftermath of Iran's June 12 election in which hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was declared the landslide winner over his nearest rival, moderate Mir Hossein Mousavi.

In demonstrations in Tehran Saturday, official Iranian media outlets reported at least 13 people died and more than 400 were wounded.

Embassies of several EU countries opened their gates to wounded protesters, including Italy, which said it instructed its mission in Tehran to assist "where there is a request or need for help from injured demonstrators," EUobserver reported Monday.

However, Sweden, which is about to assume the rotating EU presidency, said it cannot grant asylum. Belgium also said it would not allow opposition protesters to seek refuge in its embassy in the Iranian capital.

The Austrian foreign ministry said its embassy in the Iranian capital would render first aid, but no one has come to its compound.

A spokesman for Norway, which is not a European Union member but is recognized as an international negotiator, said its embassy in Tehran had "not accepted any refugees," the EUobserver said.

Czech Foreign Minister Jan Kohout said that the Iranian Foreign Ministry on Monday summoned the Czech charge d'affaires and "his 26 colleagues from the European Union" in Tehran. Through a spokesman, Kohout said the EU diplomats were summoned "and they were not allowed to present their positions."


19 Reported Dead In Tehran, Iran----

TEHRAN, June 20 (UPI) -- At least 19 people were killed Saturday in clashes between police and protesters in Tehran, hospital sources told CNN.

CNN said there were unconfirmed reports the death toll was much higher, at least 150. Video posted on the Web showed police using nightsticks, water cannon, tear gas and fire hoses, with some footage of protesters who looked like they had been shot.

The massive protests occurred despite a warning Friday from Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, that opposition presidential candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi and other anti-government leaders could be held liable for any damage done by demonstrators.

Most of the demonstrations since the government proclaimed President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had defeated Mousavi 2-1 in last week's presidential election have been peaceful. On Saturday, some protesters fought back when police confronted them, witnesses told The New York Times.

Press TV, a government-run broadcaster, reported the government saying 300 police officers had been injured. Brig. Gen. Ahmad-Reza Radan, the acting police chief, told the Fars News Agency police had received about 2,000 complaints from people asking for vigorous action against the protesters.

Khamenei, in a speech during Friday prayers, said Ahmadinejad had won an "overwhelming victory" and banned any further demonstrations.


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