An Italian court has reversed the ruling of an earlier appellate court that found Amanda Knox not guilty in the murder of her roommate Meredith Kercher in Perugia, Italy. The latest court actually handed down a longer sentence against Knox who has remained in Seattle, Washington with her family. The case has drawn attention to a number of flaws in the Italian legal system and I have serious reservations over this ruling. I believe that there is evidence that Knox committed the crime but the evidence is highly circumstantial and much of the crime scene was contaminated by poor police work.
This is the fourth verdict in the sensational murder case. The earlier appeals jury overturned the convictions of Knox and Sollecito four years before that ruling. While it has shocked many, it was a victory for the rule of law given the lack of evidence and serious mistakes of police in the course of the investigation. We have previously discussed the problems in the physical evidence and false statements made in the case against the couple. We also discussed the ludicrous slander charges made against the parents.
The defamation claim stems from her accusing her former boss in a bar where she worked, Patrick Lumumba, in testimony. Later she said that the police pressured her into accusing Lumumba. The use of defamation to charge people for such testimony (considered privileged in the U.S.) is a terrible practice.
What is clear after this case is that the police investigators are virtually “libel proof” in light of their numerous and mind boggling mistakes. I fear great sympathy for the parents of Kircher. There was a foundation to suspect both Knox and Sollecito, whose testimony changed in fundamental ways and retained serious gaps. However, the police so bungled this case, the threads of evidence left ample doubt. The prosecutors relied on open speculation based on highly questionable forensic evidence such as Sollecito’s DNA on the bra strap. The evidence against Knox was even weaker. None of this dispels suspicions of the couple or their contemptful conduct before and after the murder. The earlier jury proved itself dispassionate and disciplined is separating speculation from fact in overturning the convictions.
The decision this week pushed aside those problems over the 2007 murder. It seemed to punish Knox for not appearing in Italy (which is her right) and gave her 28 years and six months in prison. Her former Italian boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito and co-defendant was sentenced to 25 years. She was previously given 26 years.
Her lawyer Knox’s attorney, Carlo Dalla Vedova qouted Dante in response noting that Dante reserved the lower circle of hell for those who betrayed trust in reference to the police. It was a curious choice since many people in Italy view that particular circle as made for Knox.
Knox issued a statement that she was “frightened and saddened by this unjust verdict” and “expected better from the Italian justice system.” Her counsel will now appeal but her domestic counsel will not to be prepared for an extradition demand. However, while Presiding Judge Alessando Nencini ordered the 29-year-old Sollecito’s passport revoked, he made no requests for Knox’s movements to be limited, saying she was “justifiably abroad.”
As I discussed on ABC News, extradition may be hard to fight even though this could still take years before she is faced by re-incarceration. It must first go to the Italian Supreme Court, then to the Foreign Ministry for an extradition request, then to the State Department, and potentially to a court to review the basis for extradition. However, that review is limited. While this case looks like double jeopardy with four verdicts, the Italians are likely to argue that the system is simply different and that no final stage was reached in the process until it was heard by the Italian Supreme Court. The Italian system has multiple fact-based proceedings of this kind. It is a system that has been heavily criticized for its inefficiency and inconsistency. However, a court could easily conclude that this is not multiple convictions for the same offense. In the end, this will become a diplomatic issue and the U.S. (particularly when it is demanding the extradition of Edward Snowden) is unlikely to refuse a close ally. We demand more extraditions from other countries than we sent to other countries. The issue is not likely to be a close one for the Obama Administration in ordering the U.S. Attorney in Seattle to carry out an extradition demand from Italy. However, that could be years away since the Italian system moves at a glacial pace.
Two Italian judges and six jurors reached the decision after about six hours of deliberation.
In the bizarre world of American celebrity crimes, the store of the conviction ran with the apparently equally important story that Knox has been dropped from the CBS reality show “Big Brother.” Knox had hope to win the $500,000 grand prize by being the last person evicted on “Big Brother.” Somehow a conviction for murdering your last roommate is viewed as a bar on participation with the roommates on the reality show. A bit too real.
Translated raw materials from the case – they are out there. More balanced reporting without emotion. Be careful, a lot are being spun by protagonists on both sides. I’ve read some but not all.
As for the legal stuff – what do you think? Maybe I’m a lawyer
But thinking she did it is not enough to convict.
That I’d the core question – is there enough. I think she’s “good for it” but I have not seen all the evidence – there is a case against her and Sollecito – there is evidence – is it a good enough case.
The written judgment won’t come out for weeks – wait and read it. Then decide. Journalists are lazy, and few US journalists read Italian – I have experience of journals on deadline regularly taking the PR flacks stuff, topping and tailing it and presenting it as their own. True crime writers usually want to get something sensational out while the case is still a big story – which makes them very sloppy and prone to exaggeration or trying to conjure up sensational revelations. Seattleites and most Americans made up their minds early, and tend to “neener-neener” with fingers in ears when they hear anything that points to guilt on Konx’s part – based on the theory that a good looking middle class white American girl couldn’t be guilty.
Zipser wrote “try again to find a credible source”
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I am curious what your sources are.
I have not followed the trial so I defer to those who have. But, I’m going to do something I VERY rarely do and shoot from the hip on this. I think she’s good for it. Just my gut, nothing else.
Dredd, Then The Truth Bail/Bonds could sponsor a Little League team like in Bad News Bears[Chico’s Bail/Bonds].
You know – the get the American thing is unlikely. Italy has a sad problem with racism, Sollecito is Italian – why not just settle for the black guy? Why pursue the middle class nice Italian boy?
Mespo – false confessions do happen – the Lumumba accusation is harder to explain away – as for her and her mother leaving him for 3 weeks with the false accusation hanging over him…
Simms:
“She “lied” after being questioned by police for hours, without sleep and without counsel.”
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Well, that’s certainly her version but I’ve seen it posited many times before by felons with admission remorse. She also said the police were “out to get her” due to anti-Americanism but a respected American journalist at the trial said none of that was apparent. It’s a sad coincidence that both the guilty and the innocent say the same things.
Adapted from a true crime writer – wow that’s someone reliable with no desire to sensationalize his excerpt to help sell his book – and in the Daily Mail, who of course want something boring in their 48 point headline – try again to find a credible source
It may BE ON the Daily Mail… It is however, Adapted from The Annals Of Unsolved Crime by Edward J. Epstein
Hardly a fluff piece…..
I already cited some of it and frankly I have read enough of your posts to see any discussion with you as a pointless exercise with someone totally closed minded, who simply reads tabloids that confirm what you think.
OK… You are the one who said that there was a lot of evidence…
What is this evidence you claim knowledge of?
do you think that with that much BLOOD during a stabbing, that a person could
be present and not leave a finger print or shoe print?
By the way, I don’t watch CSI, I watch actual crime documentaries.
Now, you said…. “On arrival Knox and Sollecito told the postal police that there had been a breakin ….”
It would seem to me, if they were guilty, they would NOT have wanted the police of ANY KIND in the apartment….
So, why would they even mention a break in if they KNEW that further searching by the police would reveal a dead body?
The daily mail is about as reliable ad the daily news – I would not take its word on anything.
A stabbing would produce a lot of blood – and indeed it did. Bloody footprints included women’s size 7 – and what is not denied is that mixed blood of Knox and Kircher was found in the bathroom in 3 places, sink, bidet, Q-tips.
Knox appeared at open at 7:30am at a store to buy cleaning materials including two bottles of bleach – found at Sollecito’s apartment – so some mixed blood in the bathroom, bleach at Sollecito’s – some washing in the apartment where the murder took place – more extensive at Sollecito’s place is plausible.
Look the issue Seattle Girl is simple – there is no evidence that exonerates Knox or Sollecito – the question is whether there is enough to find them safely guilty. Frankly anyone who argues that they are clearly innocent is not reading the evidence.
The case then went to appeal, and an independent panel of forensic experts was appointed to review the crucial DNA evidence. It found in its 145-page report that the collection of the DNA evidence linking Sollecito to the crime scene was utterly flawed.
Not only were the police claims about the DNA not consistent with the actual lab reports, but a video showed the key items were picked up with a dirty glove that might have transferred DNA samples from the suspects. This meant cross-contamination was possible.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-2390600/Amanda-Knox-case-The-real-crime-Foxy-Knoxy-EVER-charged-murder.html#ixzz2s0WhqTw7
Ah yes, Knox was cleaning the apartment at that point
I think you are seeing the CSI effect here – DNA is not as common as you think. The evidence of the mechanics of her murder suggest that she was first strangled – not fatally, and then stabbed with two different blades, only one found at the scene. The lack of defensive activity has been advanced to suggest that one or more persons were restraining her while she was strangled/throat cut by another. Aspirated blood and shadowing (areas where there was none) led to the conclusion that at least her bra and other clothing was removed after death and she took some time to die.
The postal police were the first on the scene and they found Sollectito and Knox already there. The postal police had gone to the apartment because of a cellphone traced to it found in a garden – one of Kircher’s two phones. On arrival Knox and Sollecito told the postal police that there had been a breakin – and importantly that Knox and Sollecito had called the regular police – the Carabineri – records show no call had been made. The police decided to do a protective sweep of the apartment to see if the burglar was still there. When they came to Kircher’s locked bedroom door, Knox told them it was not a matter for concern, that Knox always locked her door, event “to take a shower.” Nonetheless, they broke in and found Kircher dead. Subsequently the roommates unanimously stated that Kircher was not in the habit of locking her door and had done it only once, when she made a trip home to England.
To maintain this, chief prosecutor Giuliano Mignini posited a conspiracy by teaming up the two insiders, Knox and Sollecito, with the outside burglar, Guede.
Mignini had previously achieved considerable notoriety in Italy in a case in 2001 when he unsuccessfully attempted to attribute the suicide of a doctor to a secret satanic cult.
Now, the prosecutor proposed a similar satanic scenario in which Guede, Sollecito and Knox went to the cottage together and then attempted to force Kercher to have sex with them.
When she refused, Guede and Sollecito took turns molesting her. Knox, whom he described as a ‘she-devil’, then stabbed her to death.
One stumbling block was the total absence of evidence that Guede was with either Knox or Sollecito, or that he had ever met Sollecito. While two witnesses had seen Guede running away, no one had seen Knox or Sollecito with him at the cottage.
Nor did Guede claim that either Knox or Sollecito were with him. His story was that Kercher herself had invited him to the cottage and they had consensual sexual contact. Lacking a condom, he left the room and went to the bathroom.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-2390600/Amanda-Knox-case-The-real-crime-Foxy-Knoxy-EVER-charged-murder.html#ixzz2s0TlZ8zL
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Now, LOGIC would tell me that this guy Guede would want to point the finger at Knox and her boyfriend… and it seems even he has not said anything
about them being at the flat when this happened…..
This guy Guede is NOT seem like the kind of guy to cover for anybody……
if they were there, he would have said so….
and the lack of either Knox and her boyfriends DNA at the scene seems rather compelling as to their innocents….
a stabbing like that would produce a LOT of blood…. Logic tells me that there is NO WAY to be in a room with that kind of violence and not transfer some of your DNA at the scene…. and yet, NONE of her prints were found….
with that kind of blodd, there would be NO WAY to not leave a print somewhere…..
and this prosecutor has a history of some outlandish claims
of satanic cult murders…..
nick spinelli
Bron, “The truth shall make you free.”
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“The Truth” would be a good name for a bail bond business, and that motto would work wonders.