Arturo Gatti Murder

Boxing champion ARTURO GATTI's wife did not kill her husband, according to her lawyer - because she is too "fragile, young and skinny" to have committed murder.

Gatti was in Brazil on holiday with wife Amanda Rodrigues and their one-year-old son when he was found dead in a hotel room in Porto de Galihnas last Saturday (7/11/09).

Rodrigues was subsequently arrested on suspicion of murdering her husband after a drunken row, with police claiming she strangled the sporting legend to death with her purse strap.

She told police Gatti was drunk and that a third party committed the crime after her husband went to the apartment by himself. Officials are skeptical of the claim, with investigator Moises Teixeira saying, "It was technically impossible for a third person to have been in the flat. She did this alone." But Rodrigues' lawyer Celio Avelino has slammed the allegations, insisting, "(Rodrigues) is fragile, young and skinny. How could she kill a boxing champion?" And Rodrigues is now claiming she thought her husband had taken his own life as she slept.

Avelino adds, "When (Rodrigues) awoke, she presumed he had committed suicide. But she had nothing to do with it." Gatti's family have spoken out about the tragedy - and revealed the pair had a stormy relationship.
The boxer's sister Anna-Maria says, "She (Rodrigues) always said, 'I'm gonna kill you, I'm gonna kill you.' My mother told him to leave her. The only reason that he didn't want to leave her was the boy."

Scott Drake interviews Florida criminal defense attorney Mycki Ratzan who represented Gatti several years ago.