Judges deny defense motion in co-ed trial

PERUGIA, Italy, Sept. 14 (UPI) -- Italian judges Monday turned down a defense request to annul the trial of a U.S. student and her Italian boyfriend accused of killing a British co-ed.

As the trial of Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito resumed in Perugia, Italy, after a summer break, the presiding judges rejected Sollecito's request to annul the proceedings on grounds defense experts weren't allowed enough access to DNA tests, especially on the knife that prosecutors say was used by the pair to kill Meredith Kercher in November 2007, the Italian news agency ANSA reported.

Defense attorneys also claimed because they weren't allowed to examine the scene of Kercher's slaying, their rights were violated. But trial judges disagreed, ANSA reported, ruling a re-examination the crime scene was not technically possible and therefore no violation of defense rights occurred.

The news agency said reporters and photographers jostled among each other as the trial resumed to get a glimpse of Knox entering the courtroom, reportedly clad in a sweatshirt featuring the Beatles.

Knox, 22, and Sollecito, 26, are accused of killing of Kercher, 20, whom prosecutors say was slain because she refused to participate in a "drug-fueled sex game."

Police said Kercher was found half-naked in bed with a knife wound to her neck. Knox testified in June she wasn't present at the villa the two shared in the northern Italian university town, saying she was instead visiting Sollecito at his home. CNN reported that Knox says she returned to her villa the next morning to find Kercher's body.

Prosecutors, however, contend that Knox gave confusing and contradictory answers about her whereabouts. A third defendant already has been convicted.