Prosecutors probed over £150,000 video meant to prove Knox's guilt

Officials accused of wasting public funds on cartoonish re-enactment of Kercher murder

Milan

Two prosecutors who called for Amanda Knox to spend the rest of her life in jail after claiming she killed Meredith Kercher are now themselves under investigation.

Giuliano Mignini and Manuela Comodi are accused of wasting public funds on commissioning a controversial video, presented to jurors, which showed images of Ms Knox and her then boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito murdering the British exchange student.

Ms Knox, 24, was dramatically cleared of the killing last October when the appeals court in Perugia accepted that pivotal DNA evidence used to convict her and Mr Sollecito, 27, had been fatally flawed. A third person, an unemployed drifter Rudy Guede, is serving 16 years for the murder in November 2007.

Now, in a further embarrassment to Ms Comodi and Mr Mignini, both of whom staked their reputation on the case, the Umbria audit court prosecutor Agostino Chiappiniello has said he suspects the two of inappropriately spending €182,000 (£148,000) on a crude and cartoonish 20-minute video, which purports to show events leading up to and including the brutal slaying. It was shown during the original 2009 trial, which saw Ms Knox jailed for 26 years and Mr Sollecito for 25 years.

Both were freed last October. But they must wait until later this year to see if the Supreme Court of Cassation, Italy's highest criminal legal body, absolves them definitively of the murder charges. This is because in February this year the prosecution appealed to the court to reinstate the murder convictions.

The gung-ho Mr Mignini, who led the prosecution of Ms Knox in the first trial, is no stranger to controversy. Since their release, the friends and families of both Ms Knox and Mr Sollecito have criticised the investigating magistrate, who after leading the prosecution in the first trial, reappeared in the second, despite being accused of abuse of office in the interim in a separate case. In both trials, his interventions were notable for the outlandish motivations and personality traits he attributed to the defendants. He promoted the idea that the murder was the result of a sex-game that got out of control, despite having little or no evidence to support the theory. "That gentleman should understand once and for all that he was wrong," Mr Sollecito's father, Francesco, said after his son's release.

Last October, the chief appeals judge, Claudio Pratillo Hellmann, said that both Ms Knox and Mr Sollecito were "completely innocent" of murder and assault ahead of the final appeal verdict by the Supreme Court of Cassation.

Judge Hellmann also criticised the conduct of the investigators after Ms Knox's arrest. "Her rights were ignored and she was not even appointed a lawyer, a right which she had, seeing as she was being accused of a serious crime."

Judges at the Cassation court may only overturn the first-appeal verdict on technical grounds. Thus, no new evidence may be introduced and the prosecution's room for manoeuvre is limited. The pair could not be retried for the same crimes. Ms Knox is back in her home town of Seattle in the US. Mr Sollecito has returned to university.

Independent Comment
blog comments powered by Disqus
Top stories
News in pictures
World news in pictures
UK news in pictures
UK news in pictures
More stories
       
Independent
Travel Shop
Lake Como and the Bernina Express
Seven nights half-board from £749pp Find out more
Dubrovnik and the Dalmatian coast
Seven nights half-board from only £859pp Find out more
Prague city break
Three nights from only £199pp Find out more
 
Independent Dating
and  

By clicking 'Search' you
are agreeing to our
Terms of Use.

iJobs Job Widget
iJobs General

Lighting Design Engineer

£33000 - £35000 Per Annum: The Green Recruitment Company: The Green Recruitmen...

Are you a Primary School Teacher in the Clacton area?

£110 - £135 per day: Randstad Education Chelmsford: Teaching opportunites in t...

September teaching roles - Primary

£21000 - £32000 per annum: Randstad Education Chelmsford: Primary Teaching opp...

Primary Teaching vacancies, starting in September - Southend

£21000 - £32000 per annum: Randstad Education Chelmsford: Primary School teach...

Day In a Page

'To farm I have to rape the countryside. It’s got to be wrong': The true effect of the badger cull

The true effect of the badger cull

'To farm I have to rape the countryside. It’s got to be wrong'
Theatre review: Daniel Radcliffe gives an admirably honest performance in Michael Grandage's The Cripple of Inishmaan

First night: The Cripple of Inishmaan

Daniel Radcliffe gives an admirably honest performance in Michael Grandage's comedy
Girls Guides drop religious reference but pledge to self and the Queen

Guides drop religious reference but pledge to self and the Queen

After 103 years, organisation changes oath to welcome 'all girls, of all faiths, and none'
Steve Tongue: Joe Kinnear was one of the boys and a breath of fresh air... 21 years ago

Steve Tongue

Joe Kinnear was one of the boys and a breath of fresh air... 21 years ago
Chris Froome: Free from 'pain in neck' after Bradley Wiggins' exit

Chris Froome: Free from 'pain in neck' after Wiggins' exit

Sky's lead rider says he is in fantastic form for the Tour and happy pecking order debate is over
Hannah England: I've got the right times – now to focus on the chess

Hannah England: Keeping Track

I've got the right times – now to focus on the chess
Beards, brawn and body art

Beards, brawn and body art

Meet London’s new batch of male models
Scandi-geeks descend on Nordicana for fan-convention

Scandi-geeks descend on Nordicana for fan-convention

British love of shows such as The Bridge, Borgen and The Killing shows no sign of fading
Behind the rhetoric what is really being done to combat desertification?

The Great Green Wall of Africa,

Behind the rhetoric what is really being done to combat desertification?
Laughter Inc: the cheering growth of the chuckle industry

Laughter Inc

The cheering growth of the chuckle industry
The bad science scandal: how fact-fabrication is damaging UK's global name for research

The bad science scandal

How fact-fabrication is damaging UK's global name for research
To the manor born: The female aristocrats battling to inherit the title

Female aristocrats battle to inherit the title

A passionate protest is gathering pace among the women of Britain's aristocracy, who believe that men should no longer automatically inherit the family pile and title.
Love struck: Photographs of JFK's visit to Berlin 50 years ago reveal a nation instantly smitten

In pictures: JFK's visit to Berlin in 1963

Photographer Ulrich Mack accompanied Kennedy on the entire trip. The results are an astonishing record of a watershed moment.
Eat shoots and leaves: Mark Hix gets creative with fresh peas, mangetouts and sugar snaps

Mark Hix gets creative with English peas

English peas and their offsprings, such as mangetouts and sugar snaps, are great tossed into a salad, says our chef.
Ceviche with a smile: Chef Martin Morales has turned South America's elegant cuisine into one of London's hottest food trends

Chef Martin Morales: Ceviche with a smile

Morales has turned South America's elegant cuisine into one of London's hottest food trends