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CLOSING arguments were to begin today in the trial of American student Amanda Knox for the 2007 murder of her British housemate in the Italian university town of Perugia.

The killing of Meredith Kercher allegedly resulting from a drug-fuelled sexual misadventure involving Knox, her then boyfriend and a third person sparked sensational headlines in Britain.

Knox and Raffaele Sollecito, an Italian engineering student, have been held since a few days after the murder, which occurred late on November 1, 2007, with Halloween ghoulishness still in the air.

The third defendant in the case, Ivorian "drifter" Rudy Guede, was already convicted and sentenced to the maximum 30 years in prison for the murder in a "fast-track" trial judged solely on the basis of the investigation.

Internet postings heavily influenced media and public perceptions as the case unfolded, including a YouTube video of Guede making guttural noises and ghoulish faces, and saying:

"I'm a vampire ... I'm gonna suck your blood."

Guede has said he met Kercher on Halloween, and that they set a date for the night of the murder.

Knox, too, showed up on YouTube looking drunk, while her MySpace page displayed a picture of her laughing while handling a machine-gun.

Sollecito posted a photo of himself wearing something like a hazardous materials suit, brandishing a meat cleaver and holding a container of pink liquid in his other hand.

Central to the prosecutors' case is the supposed murder weapon, a knife found in Sollecito's apartment allegedly bearing Knox's DNA on the handle and the victim's DNA on the blade.

Knox, now 22, Sollecito, 25, and Guede, 22, are accused of killing Kercher after she refused to join in a group sex session.

Kercher was found semi-nude in a pool of blood with her throat cut in the house in Perugia, a medieval walled city in central Italy, that she shared with Knox. She was 21.

In the prosecutors' scenario, Guede held Kercher down while Sollecito and Knox stabbed her.

Kercher's family are seeking 30 million euros ($A48.7 million) from the alleged killers.

Knox's part-time employer at the time of the murder, bar owner and musician Patrick Lumumba of the Democratic Republic of Congo, is suing Knox for defamation.

She initially implicated Lumumba in the murder, and Perugia police held him for two weeks before releasing him without charge.

Prosecutor Giuliano Mignini is expected to make his sentencing request tomorrow.

Two judges and six jurors will decide the fate of Knox and Sollecito, who face 30 years in prison if convicted.

The jury is expected to begin deliberating on December 4, with a verdict expected the following day in the trial that began on January 16.

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concept		evidence	hits	links
	$drugwar_propaganda 70% [news] [concept]	$propaganda_theme2 $propaganda_theme3 $propaganda_theme5		Classic Modern Drug Propaganda Themes in Chemical Prohibition Drug War Propaganda (book)
	$propaganda_theme2 70% [news] [concept]	"murder" "Murderers" "killers" "danger" "perceptions" "accidents"	15	Madness,Crime,Violence,Illness (propaganda theme 2) http://www.drugwarfacts.org/crime.htm http://www.drugwarfacts.org/causes.htm Distortion 18: Cannabis and Mental Illness
	$propaganda_theme3 50% [news] [concept]	"American"	1	Survival of Society (propaganda theme 3)
	$propaganda_theme5 70% [news] [concept]	"Teen" "teens"	3	Children Corrupted (propaganda theme 5) http://www.drugwarfacts.org/adolesce.htm
	$drugs 90% [news] [concept]	$various_drugs
	$chemicals [news] [concept]	$alcohol		http://www.erowid.org/chemicals/chemicals.s...
	$depressant_intoxicant [news] [concept]	$alcohol
	$alcohol [news] [concept]	"drunk"	1	Stanton Peele Addiction Web Site http://www.drugwarfacts.org/alcohol.htm
	$various_drugs 90% [news] [concept]	"drug-fuelled"	1
	$youth 70% [news] [concept]	$propaganda_theme5		http://www.ssdp.org/ http://www.mapinc.org/youth.htm
	$school [news] [concept]	"university"	1	http://www.ssdp.org/
	$aggrandizement [news] [concept]	"officials"	2	Tyranny of Experts Aggrandizement of Government The Media As Enablers of Government Lies

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