(26 Sep 2011)
1. Wide of Amanda Knox entering courtroom, sitting down and putting head in her hands
2. Close up Amanda Knox joining hands and covering face
3. Kercher family lawyer, Francesco Maresca (seated, left) talking to prosecutor Giuliano Mignini (standing)
4. Wide of jury entering
5. Judge Claudio Pratillo Hellmann seated
6. SOUNDBITE (Italian) Francesco Maresca, Kercher''''s lawyer (from CCTV screen): ++QUALITY AS INCOMING++
"Meredith Kercher came to Perugia to study. She was beautiful, young and full of life. She was killed by having her throat cut, as it happens in Mafia killings. They cut the throat to punish somebody who has wronged."
7. Mid of Knox entering court
8. Knox putting hands over her face
9. Wide of penitentiary police vans leaving
10. Wide of Pietro Pacelli, lawyer for Patrick Lumumba, who was initially accused by Knox, talking to media, with Lumumba to left of Pacelli
11. SOUNDBITE (Italian) Pietro Pacelli, lawyer of Patrick Lumumba:
"At that time (at the time of the killing) Amanda was a concentrated mix of sex, drugs and alcohol. This is what the evidence and the witnesses show. She was not the same pretty girl she now is after 4 years of detention."
12. Pacelli talking to journalists
13. SOUNDBITE (English) Curt Knox, father of Amanda Knox:
"I think his portrayal of her personality is completely wrong. He obviously does not know who she is. An all-out verbal assault on her personality and her character is completely wrong."
14. Amanda Knox''''s father, Curt Knox with journalists
15. SOUNDBITE (English) Curt Knox, father of Amanda Knox:
"If I am asked who Amanda is, she is loving, she is caring, she is a family oriented person."
16. Close up of sign reading (Italian) "Appeals Court"
17. Wide of Perugia courthouse
STORYLINE
The lawyer for the family of Meredith Kercher on Monday compared her murder in Italy to that of a ''''mafia'''' hit.
"She was killed by having her throat cut, as it happens in Mafia killings," said Francesco Maresca in court in Perugia.
As Amanda Knox arrived in court for her appeals trial she held her head in hands.
Knox was convicted of sexually assaulting and murdering Meredith Kercher while they were studying in Perugia in 2007, and sentenced to 26 years.
She denies wrongdoing.
Early in the probe, Knox accused Diya "Patrick" Lumumba of being the murderer.
As a result of that claim, Lumumba was jailed for about two weeks - and then cleared and freed.
"Amanda was a concentrated mix of sex, drugs and alcohol. This is what the evidence and the witnesses show. She was not the same pretty girl she now is after 4 years of detention," said Carlo Pacelli, Lumumba''''s lawyer, of how Knox had changed since the time of the crime.
Kercher was stabbed to death in the apartment she shared with Knox.
The American student at one point told investigators she was home during the killing and had to cover her ears to drown out Kercher''''s screams while Lumumba was murdering her, according to court documents.
Knox maintains police pressure led her to accuse Lumumba, a Congolese national who owned a bar in Perugia where the American occasionally worked.
Knox''''s father Curt Knox said Pacelli''''s description of his daughter was entirely unjust.
"He obviously does not know who she is. An all-out verbal assault on her personality and her character is completely wrong," Curt Knox told reporters outside the court.
"If I am asked who Amanda is, she is loving, she is caring, she is a family oriented person," he added.
Knox''''s co-defendant in the appeals trial is her former boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito.
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