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Thursday, January 30, 2014

Amanda Knox approves release of new book hours before verdict due in retrial for murder of Meredith Kercher

Desperate Amanda Knox has approved a book's release claiming there is no way she could have killed British student Meredith Kercher - just with hours before a verdict is due at her retrial. The publication, called The Forgotten Killer, was released on Tuesday and also has been sanctioned by her co-accused and former boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito’s family. It comes as a verdict in their retrial is expected later today. The book claims to be the first time the murder of foreign exchange student Meredith, 21, has been dissected by criminal experts, who have been 'looking at the case for several years to form an objective opinion", according to the book’s compiler Tom Wright, who is a very close friend of the Knox family and set up the website and support group www.friendsofamanda.org . He enlisted the help of New York Times No 1 best selling author Douglas Preston to interview leading judicial and criminal figures to find out what really happened on that fateful night in Perugia, Italy, on 2 November 2007. A chapter is dedicated to each expert from the criminal, judicial and law enforcement world. These include John Douglas, who served as a special agent for the FBI for 25 years, and was the Bureau’s pioneer of behavioural profiling and criminal investigative analysis. Emmy Award winning filmmaker Mark Olshaker wrote in the book and has worked closely with many of the nation’s leading experts in law enforcement and criminal justice. It has been timed to come out a little over 24 hours before the verdict is due to be deliberated by the Italian appeal court. Knox and Sollecito have always proclaimed their innocence and stayed away from the court in Florence in fear of a guilty verdict. But Tom, who has known Knox, 26, since she was an infant, says the facts are overwhelming and that’s what drove him to compile this book. Tom is also a Hollywood writer and producer and wrote the Wesley Snipes movie New Jack City. "My family have known her family for maybe 15 years, we knew Amanda from middle school onwards, and knew this whole thing was impossible. "But no one has ever really addressed the crimes, I thought it was really important that another view was presented by third party experts, they could observe all the assailant points in a reasoned rational manner,’ says Tom. "The experts had all contacted us on the website, and all had similar feelings on the case, but I wanted the world’s best, the ones with the most credibility. "No one has zeroed in on the facts. "No one has got to the heart of the crime itself. "It's taken us years to access all the information we needed to make this book. "The Friends of Amanda group became incredibly important to verify the facts and reach out to a network of support and expert opinion. "The family have gone through such pain and suffering, it’s given all who worked on the book the motivation to make it as honest and truthful as possible. "I really wanted the best on the case, whose knowledge of criminal cases and judicial proceedings are top notch. "I hope this becomes the definitive book." The 80-page book goes into minute detail regarding the criminology, forensic science, crime scene analysis, and legal procedure. Other authors in the book include Steve Moore, ex-FBI special agent, who worked on Al-Qaeda investigations and terror attacks, and family friend, retired judge Michael Heavey, who founded the organisation Judges for Justice, which champions the rights of people wrongly convicted. "It would be a gross injustice if they were found guilty," says Tom. "But the way the system has performed in the past, who knows? "You would never have it in this country that a prosecutor can keep coming back to the courts, appealing and appealing. "I hope justice prevails

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