Francesco Maresca, the lawyer for the family of Meredith Kercher, has expressed his disgust at a new eight-part show dramatising the Brit student’s horrific 2007 murder
Meredith Kercher’s family lawyer has launched a blistering broadside against Amanda Knox following the release of the American’s new Disney series.
The 38-year-old has executive-produced KJ Steinberg’s eight-parter, The Twisted Tale of Amanda Knox, which is based closely on her memoir. Actress Grace Van Patten plays Knox in the Disney-owned Hulu series. Now, following the show’s New York premiere on Tuesday, for which the American appeared on the red carpet grinning alongside Monica Lewinsky, attorney Francesco Maresca has hit out.
He told the Mirror: “The important thing is that Amanda Knox clearly wants this case to continue. It would be nice and dignified to watch a program or TV show where everything is reconstructed, remembering the life and smile of poor Meredith.”
Mr Maresca added: “Instead, once again, we have to witness an attempt to reshuffle the cards, and where the trailer states, ‘Amanda fights tirelessly to prove her innocence and regain her freedom’. Once again, the focus is on Knox.”
When the show was first announced last year, Meredith’s sister Stephanie said: “It is difficult to understand how this serves any purpose.” At the time, Mr Maresca said Knox’s projects continued to be “inappropriate and disrespectful towards the memory of Meredith,” claiming the Perugia trial had become a vehicle for Knox to monetise her notoriety.
“Mrs Knox, after so many years, should respect the silence and memory,” he said, as filming took place in the Italian town where the 21-year-old was killed.
In November 2007, Leeds University student Meredith was sexually assaulted before her throat was slashed and she was stabbed 47 times while studying in Perugia. Her flatmate Knox and her then-boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, were initially convicted of her murder along with drifter Rudy Guede.
The couple were found guilty in 2009 but freed on appeal two years later. Their guilty verdict was reinstated in 2014 but quashed by Italy’s top court in March 2015.
Mum-of-two Knox has since capitalised on her experience, writing a book, recording numerous podcasts, and making several speaking appearances, some in Italy. Despite the objections from locals in Perugia and those close to Meredith, Knox pressed ahead with the series, with Lewinsky acting as executive producer.
Their initial friendship, formed in 2017 at a speaking event two years after Italy’s highest court cleared Knox and Sollecito, has developed into a professional partnership.
This week, ahead of the premiere, she also spoke about explaining the case to her four-year-old daughter, Eureka, telling her: “It’s very simple. When Mommy was young, Mommy went to Italy, and she made friends and she had fun, but then someone hurt her friend, and the police thought Mommy hurt her friend, and so they put Mommy in jail.
“Mommy was in jail for a long time, and she was very sad. But then one day, Mommy proved that she was innocent, and she got to go home, and then she met your daddy and had you and lived happily ever after.”
Critics say the Hulu series and Knox’s repeated public retellings amount to a relentless attempt to monetise a tragedy in which she was tangentially involved, rather than a genuine reckoning. Others have questioned whether such projects serve any purpose beyond self-promotion, noting the continued pain for Meredith’s family and the sensationalism of revisiting the widely reported case.
Guede was released after serving 13 years and has since been investigated for allegedly physically and sexually assaulting a former girlfriend since being freed.