Amanda Knox Update: Another Black Eye for Italy's Inquisitor

Amanda Knox last week in Italy (AP Photo/Pier Paolo Cito).

A crack in the prosecution's case against Amanda Knox widened considerably on Wednesday. Prosecutor and literal witch hunter Giuliano Mignini made DNA evidence found on the clasp of victim Meredith Kercher's bra and on a knife found in the apartment. The lurid story of sex and murder whipped up by the prosecution revolved largely around traces of Knox's DNA that were supposedly found on the handle of the knife, with traces of Kercher's on the blade, and elements of Knox boyfriend Sollecito's on the bra clasp.

The authorities used controversial methods in analyzing the two pieces of evidence, and independent DNA experts have long suspected that their conclusions were flawed: and the report by Professors Carla Vecchiotti and Stefano Conti of Sapienza University seems to confirm those suspicions.

We have obtained a copy of the report, and the independent experts differ strongly from those employed by the investigators. They did confirm the presence of Knox's DNA on the knife, but that's hardly surprising, given that it's a kitchen knife from Knox's own kitchen, and the defense has never argued this particular point. Vecchiotti and Conti dispute even the basic assumption that there are samples to be had from the knife blade and bra clasp, describing the methods used to make the identifications as "not supported by scientifically validated analysis." The report also pointed out that proper procedures were not followed in the gathering and storing of evidence, allowing for potential contamination and deterioration of evidence. Perhaps most damning of all, the cells originally identified as human on the knife blade don't even appear to be from a living creature: the independent experts assert that they are vegetable cells.

The scent of farce has never been far from the conduct of the investigation and prosecution, but mistaking a vegetable for a murder victim is a pathetically Clouseau-like misstep, even for Giuliano Mignini.

The report is revealing of what has been a pattern for the whole investigation: the behavior not of a man conducting a rigorous inquiry, but someone who has made his assumptions, and is simply gathering data to confirm conclusions based on his own impressions and biases. That's the behavior of a medieval inquisitor, not a modern investigator. With Mignini's strict Catholicism, and obsession with conspiracies and the occult, perhaps "inquisitor" is even how he sees himself. The blunders of the prosecution in this case are not the result of simple incompetence, they're the natural outgrowth of an intellectually lazy, dark-ages mindset that should be anathema to a person in Mignini's position.

In interviews about the case, Mignini often returns to Knox's behavior immediately after the murder. He waxes about how she didn't seem sad enough, sentiments echoed by many of the armchair vigilantes in the tabloid press who played a supporting role in Knox's downfall. One can't help but wonder if only Knox had known that she was expected to wail and rend her garments like her last son died in the Crusades, maybe she'd just be another face in the crowd whose life was briefly touched by tragedy. Unfortunately, she didn't behave the way Giuliano Mignini expects of a young woman in distress, and she's paid dearly for it.