Did Amanda Knox get a fair trial?

On Friday, an Italian jury found Amanda Knox, an American exchange student, and her Italian boyfriend guilty of murder in the slaying of Meredith Kercher, a British student. Knox has gotten 26 years, the boyfriend 25. Her family is already planning an appeal, and a U.S. senator is asking the federal government to intervene, questioning whether anti-Americanism played a role in the process.

The case was heavily covered by the European media. Many of Knox's friends said they portrayed her in an incredibly negative light as "Foxy Knoxy," a sex-crazed caricature of herself. And there was the whole allegation that Kercher was murdered during an attempted orgy. Some observers, meanwhile, have criticized the evidence -- as in, the lack of same. (The authorities say that Knox and the boyfriend gave conflicting statements regarding their whereabouts that night, which is what originally led to their arrests.)

More about the case here.

Hat Tip: Many thanks, Keith G in PV!

(AP Photo/Pier Paolo Cito)

Comments

[Marvin]

Heck no. I originally wrote this case off as our media sympathizing with another White girl in distress. But, over the weekend I tried to read up on the case and there's zero evidence that she committed the crime. She was also interrogated for 14 hours and beaten by Italian police. Gee, wonder why they got a conflicting story out of her after that? Heck, they KNOW who did it already.

This is about anti-Americanism probably due in large part to that CIA kidnapping case.

[Kevin]

I have to agree with Marvin, this girl was convicted in the media not the courtroom. In addition, the jury system in Italy is made up of 6 citizens and two professional Judges. The Judges have great influence on the citizen jurors.

With that said, it still amazes me that Americans get into trouble in other countries and expect to be treated the same as on American soil. Wake up folks, there is a whole lotta World out there that aint America

[Liam England]

I am British, and I have never heard such rubbish from the American media. If Amanda is so innocent, why did she tell police that she was in the same house as Meredith on the night of the murder, and she told police she could hear Lumumba murdering Meredith. Amanda said she could hear Meredith screaming loudly, and she had to put her hands over her ears it was distressing her so much. She has practically ruined Lumumbas life, who has now lost his business. Amanda's DNA was discovered on the handle of a knife and Meredith's on the blade tip, and the knife was at Sollecito's house (where Meredith had never been). No evidence, huh?

This is not anti-americanism. Two other non-americans were handed life sentences, so how the hell can it be prejudiced against your country? Rudy Guede is originally from the Ivory Coast in Africa. I don't hear Africans accusing Italy of being prejudiced against Africans or Black people.

Could it be that Americans just can't take defeat? Or is it because you believe Americans are untouchable? Shame on you all!

[Damn Colonist]

Still angry about the revolution, Liam?

[Tam]

LOL

[Grahame Rhodes]

Amanda Knox is guilty because what you will not hear from the american media is the two witnesses who saw and heard the murder take place. This is not to mention the shop keeper who sold cleaning materials the following morning to Knox. plus the turning off of cell phones at the same time by the two guilty people namely Knox and her lover.
Further: If Knox was a black girl you americans would not care one way or the other. The American Media are such hypocrits

[Matt]

I am an American and it's obvious that Kevin and Marvin read nothing. If you followed the case in depth as I have...Justice was done!!

[Grahame Rhodes]

And another thing. To say "Amanda was beaten by the Italian police." is a load of crap. She was not hit with rubber hoses. Oh dear me!!! She was hit twice across the back of the head. What else did they do to her. Maybe they insulted her, poor baby, She was interregated for fifteen hours. OVER A FOUR DAY PERIOD.... you dweebs.
WOW!!!!!Such brutality.

[Jimmy]

Lessons to be learned: dont do cartwheels at the police station when your room mate just have been brutally murdered. Dont go out and buy cleaning products BEFORE you call the police. Dont accuse an innocent man of being implementet in the murder. Call the police BEFORE they show up. In this case, the postal police showed up before Knox and Rafael had a chance to call the police. And dont smile and do your best to look pretty while you are in court. Even young, pretty girls should not get away with murder.

[Marvin]

The DNA "evidence" on the knife was too small for an accurate test and not enough to even be repeated. You have to believe in some crazy murder-orgy theory to have 3 people involved in the murder. Weren't these two girls roommates, that explains why she was there.

Graham, so you're saying she wasn't beaten, they just hit her a few times? We know damned well what happens when cops interrogate people for 14 hours. You'll confess to the Holocaust after that much time especially when violence is used.

[Pat this]

To further Marvins comment, we know damned well how FOREIGN cops interrogate AMERICANS.

[Signor Angry]

Being American, Amanda probably just assumed that by blaming the black man she could walk away, and by the time anyone realized there was something wrong he'd have been executed anyhow. Isn't that how it works in America, the land where juries pluck their verdicts out of bibles? It's telling that a verdict that gave two life sentences to Italians, is seen as anti-American. That kind of arrogance is almost enough to make one, well, anti-American.

[sly]

We may never know what exactly happened in that house but this "anti-Americanism" charge by us is just nuts. An Italian and a Cote d'Ivorian were also convicted in this case. That would mean the Italians are anti-Cote d'Ivoire and, oh, yeah, anti-Italian too. It was a largely circumstantial case, but we prosecute & win circumstantial cases all the time in this country. Finally we have a long history of guilty people who accuse innocent minorities of murder (Susan Smith anyone?). As for the business about an "orgy", is it really hard to believe that 4 college kids were experimenting with sex? Really???

I suspect that if Amanda Knox didn't look like the all American girl next door type the American media wouldn't give a rat's a$$.

[Grahame Rhodes]

Hey Marvin.... Grow up and read all the fact of the case. Obviously your experance of interrogation comes from watching too many movies. If you bother to read the time line on the attchement to this article you just might get a clue.

[Kevin]

To be honest, some freaky stuff was going on behind closed doors long before this murder took place.

My earlier post was to say that she was convicted in the media long before she was convicted at trial. The jury was not sequestered and could have been easily influenced by all the hype.

I have not looked at the evidence or know all the facts.Her guilt is not for me to judge. My only point is that the media tried this case long before it reached the Judge and Jury.

[Liam is a pathetic wanker]

Wow, just wow.

I never used to be anti-american, but I am now.

Hope you never come to my neck of the woods. Because I WILL get away with it, and I won't blame a black man, like so many white racist americans do.

[Liam England]

Here in Britain, I'd say 98% of people see Amanda as a cold calculated liar. We are also sick and tired of listening to Americans whining on and on about "Anti-Americanism". Also, how on earth can a country like the US honestly have the nerve to question another country's judicial system? Have you all forgotten about Guantanamo Bay, and the way those people have been treated by the US?? Or how about OJ and Jacko?? How about the killing of thousands of people in the Iraq war based upon an accusation that there were weapons of mass distruction? And you have the audacity to look down your noses at the Italian justice system.

If Hillary Clinton gets involved in this, you people are going to be the laughing stocks of the world.

[Damon]

Signor hit it on the head.

The anti-amercian angle although valid in some cases i'm sure, just does not make any sense with the facts of the case as they have been presented to the WORLD.

[KC Cicero]

To understand the politics involved in the case, you should read "The Monster of Florence" -- and get a glimpse into the rotton Italian justice system in Perugia. The same prosecutor charged an Italian journalist critical of his Mass Conspiracy Of Satanists Theory and held him in jail from @ a year. And tried to do the same to the American author!

The whole "orgy" crap was simply made up from nothing. Nada. No evidence.

Of course, many Americans are railroaded HERE on little or no evidence beyond a coerced "confession". But this gal did not confess to killing anyone -- and her command of Italian -- 2 years ago -- was scant. Unlike the British, the Italians do not RECORD interrogations, so there is no way of determining what actually was said or done. (Most US law enforcement agencies don't either, which accounts for substantial injustices here, too)

A British student was brutally murdered. The man who did it fled the country -- but left behind massive physical evidence of his crime. BEFORE forensics had been done, the prosecutor came up with this theory that Amanda and her Italian boyfriend were involved -- and Amanda was coerced by the cops to implicate the WRONG black guy (turned out he had an iron-clad alibi).

When the forensics came back -- clearly implicating the guy from the Ivory Coast and ONLY him -- the prosecutor was stuck -- and did what prosecutors (especially in Italy, and specifically in Perugia) often do: Amend the facts to fit the theory. He could not back down after the press frenzy he had fueled. Better to ruin the lives of two innocent kids than lose face (especially if, like this prosecutor, you are personally under indictment for other misconduct.)

Any American school that sends their students to Perugia is crazy. Anti-Americanism is not as bad as in some places, but they are mad at us over the whole Iraq insanity and our kidnapping of folks in their borders.

[Searching]

Liam... wasn't that false information about the WMD's in fact provided by British intelligence?... and wasn't that British soldiers I saw fighting side by side with Americans to take Saddam down?

Don't you get sick of sticking your nose in the air.. It's got to be painful.
Also, I am sick of Americans doing the dirty work for you wankers.
If we let those in Getmo Go.. they would be at your Sharia law loving arse before you know it.
A simple Thank you would suffice.

[sly]

I don't know what Italians you guys have met, but personally I've found Italians to be the most gracious, engaging, and pro-America people of just about any European country. Silvio Berlusconi was the only European leader other than Tony Blair to support Bush. Seriously, Italians are great people. You'd be hard pressed to find kinder people anywhere. Italy is not France.

[Johns]

My guess is most of those on here saying other countries are decidedly worse than America have never been abroad...

[Gino]

* Security cameras caught footage of Knox heading to the apartment shortly before the murder, when she claimed to be home with her boyfriend.

* Knox claimed to have spend some of the evening when the murder took place reading Harry Potter. A copy of Harry Potter was observed by police at the crime scene, but not at Sollecito’s house, where she claimed to spend the entire night.

* Both Knox and her boyfriend—also a suspect—turned their mobile phones off about the same time the night of the murder and not turned on again until the morning after the murder which forensics showed was not their normal usage pattern, as both reportedly normally used their phones late into the evening. However, Knox's reported explanation was that she had turned her phone off because she did not want her boss, Lumumba, to call her back to the bar to work that evening.

* Witnesses reported hearing more than one person running from the murder.

* A witness places Knox and Sollecito in the hills above the house looking down to it about the time of the murder or shortly thereafter presumably concerned about whether the victim’s screams would bring any response.

* Knox said she stayed at Sollecito’s house all night and awoke about 10:30AM. However, a witness placed her at a local grocery store waiting for it to open at 7:30 AM., where she allegedly bought bleach and other cleaning products. Police reportedly later found a receipt for these cleaning supplies when investigating Sollecito’s residence.

* Knox first found at the flat the morning after the murder with a mop and bucket, which she said she had gotten to mop up water that Sollecito had spilled when a water pipe broke when he was cooking pasta the night of the murder.

* One of the flat roommates testified that Knox had a scratch or welt on her neck the morning after the murder which wasn’t there a day earlier.

* Knox and Sollecito have changed their stories several times, even trying to implicate the other. For example, Knox has stated that she saw blood on Sollecito’s hands that evening but assumed it was from the fish he had prepared for dinner. Also, she reportedly suggested that he may have arose from bed to complete the murder and then brought back the murder weapon (with Kercher’s DNA on it) and pressed it into her sleeping hand in order to implicate her.

* Reportedly, Knox showed no fear of being at the flat after the murder, but instead expressed concern about rent obligations and of finding another place to live.

* Guede, the drug dealer who has already been convicted in Kercher’s killing, stated that Knox and Sollecito were with him and that the murder began about money (presumably the theft of the victim’s rent money), which was stolen from the flat. However, Guede’s story has changed several times.

* Evidence shows murderer(s) staged the flat after the murder to simulate a burglary, foolishly breaking a window from the inside that was too high for any burglar to access and taking nothing of value except the victim’s cell phones and likely her rent money. For example, a laptop was found in clear view.

* Reportedly, there was evidence of extensive cleaning and staging of the crime scene. For example, only one print of Knox’s could be found including in her own bedroom—although opinions vary as to whether this could actually be normal in one’s own residence since the number of clear, unsmudged prints in any residence can vary--and some prints in blood were reportedly cleaned up so well that they only became visible with luminol enhancement. The prosecution has suggested that only someone closely tied to the apartment, such as Knox, would have the motive to complete such a thorough cleanup so as to limit the evidence tying them to the scene.

* Reportedly, some experts have suggested that the wounds and bruising on the victim’s body suggest that there were multiple attackers. Kercher was found with multiple superficial neck wounds in addition to the fatal wound, suggesting that Kercher was tortured prior to being killed. This might match the prosecutor’s theory of a forced sex game “gone wrong.” However, the medical examiner, who was among the first people testifying in Knox’s trial, stated that there was likely only a single attacker, presumably the already-convicted Guede.

* When the victim’s body was found and throughout meetings with police and the victim’s friends, Knox expressed no sadness or normal emotions of terrible loss as all of the others did. Knox reportedly displayed an odd demeanor, which included hitting herself on the head at the police station prior to being fingerprinted, doing “cartwheels and stretches” while waiting to speak with police, sitting on Sollecito’s lap, sticking her tongue out at him and resting her feet on his legs and otherwise acting not maintaining a solemn demeanor.

* Knox and Sollecito were videotaped in a lingerie store buying underwear within the days after the murder. A witness reportedly overheard the couple flirting and talking about the “wild sex” they would have when they got home. Photos and video of Kercher smiling in the store have been posted on the Internet. However, the defense has stated that Knox was shopping for emergency underwear since her home had been sealed off as a crime scene, and that furthermore, the “witness” only spoke Italian and therefore would not have understood Knox, who at that point was not fluent in Italian.

* Reportedly, Knox’s and Sollecito’s bare footprints were found outside the victim’s bedroom door in luminol imaging.

* Reportedly, Knox and Sollecito had details of the victim’s body and manner of death that only the murderers could have known. For example, Knox supposedly made statements to the police that suggested that she knew the body had been moved. Also, Knox made three calls to her mother on the morning that Kercher’s body was discovered. Both she and her mother have allegedly stated that the topic of the first phone call, which was made prior to the discovery of Kercher’s body, was Knox’s growing concern and fear that there might be “someone in the house.” However, during a visit to Knox's Italian jail Knox’s mother was secretly videotaped discussing this first phone call, noting that Knox had discussed “a foot” having been discovered in Kercher’s room. The timing of this call indicates that Kercher’s body, which was eventually found with one foot sticking out from under a duvet, had not yet been discovered.

* Knox and Sollecito reportedly gave conflicting statements about their whereabouts to police and in emails to friends and family.

* An independent investigator engaged by a panel of judges reviewed and found the forensic evidence to be reliable and done in conformity with international protocol.

* When the police first arrived on location to investigate the two cell phones that had been found in the garden, Sollecito and Knox stated that they had just called the police. In fact, there was no record of such a call from either of their phones.

* In an email to family and friends on Nov 4 detailing her behavior the night of the murder and the day after, during the early investigation, Knox describes how she returned to her flat the morning after the murder, noticed blood on the sink spout, blood on the bath mat, (didn’t mention the 10" streak of blood on the bath door) but took a shower thinking that maybe her roommate victim had just been messy with her menstruation. Police were skeptical as to why Knox would take a shower on such a cold day, as the apartment had no heat on.

* Knox claimed that the victim had always locked her door, when in fact her other roommates say this was not the case.

* Knox’s key was reported to open any lock in the apartment, yet she did not attempt to open Meredith’s room, even when she claimed to be suspicious and worried about the condition of the apartment (open front door, blood stains, etc.)

* Knox falsely fingered her boss as the murderer. He had recently demoted her at her job and reportedly offered Knox’s position to her roommate, soon-victim Kercher.

* Knox and a man of “north African descent” were observed washing clothing and shoes in a local Laundromat in the days after the murder.

* Knox told the police the morning after the murder that she wasn’t concerned about Meredith’s bedroom door being locked “because she always kept it locked.” Roommates stated that her door was never locked. However, it is unclear why this would make Knox worry if indeed it was customary for Kercher’s door to be locked.

[Marvin]

I lived in Italy for 3 1/2 years. Their government sucks.

[Searching]

I loved the Italian people. I found them to be very friendly. Also,the Militia guys are soooo hot. I think it is those cute berets.

[The Golfer]

I am staying away from this one. From what the American media has put out, she was railroaded.

But International media, justice was done.

So where is the truth? Somewhere in between.

[Kevin]

Seems like alot of work to steal rent money

[Bobo]

@ Marvin: you do know the Judicial is not the Government, do you?

[Regina]

Um, how were there 2 "witnesses" who didn't bother reporting the crime to the police?

Just wondering.

[Beelzebub]

After a very careful review of the evidence in this case, I've come to the conclusion that Amanda Knox is absolutely guilty! - of being a very hot piece of arse!

[Maria]

I guess we will never know what really happened that night because everyone lies. From what I've been able to gather out of all the "so-called evidence" it appears to be a witch-hunt against these two young people. The only truth is that Meredith was killed and another man was tried and found guilty of that crime. However, I really don't believe that neither Amanda Knox nor her boyfriend received a fair trial - they simply were tried in the court of public opinion and we all know the result: guilty verdicts. If they both committed this crime then they should definitely pay for it, but if they didn't and the police together with the prosecutor and all those who wanted to find them guilty from the beginning, concocted and fabricated this fairy-tell of circumstancial evidence without a confession or with untainted truth and accurate evidence BEYOND A REAONSABLE DOUBT WHICH WERE MANY), then I say SHAME ON ALL OF YOU because you have all failed in seeking and finding the truth. There is no justice when the just person is surrounded by the wicked one - not only murderers but liars, and people who bear false witness against another as well!

[Keith G. in P.V.]

If you want news about a foreign situation, you CANNOT depend on American media. Read U.S. coverage AND European coverage. You'll think there are 2 different cases. The truth may well be somewhere in between.

Justice in the U.S. ain't so pure. Read "Picking Cotton" or "Victims of Justice". Neither is unusual, but the first was a largely "honest" mistake, the later lying, cheating and fabricating evidence in the Jeanine Nicarico case. Google "Tim Cole Texas justice" and read about Texas justice.

"Convicted by the media?" Surely you jest. Read the Star's coverage and tell me what the REAL evidence is against the Mohlers?

Read the letter sent to Bill Clinton 3 years before Bush took office, from the "Project for the New American Century" and signed by Elliott Abrams, Richard Armitage, William Bennett, John Bolton, Francis Fukuyama, William Kristol, Richard Perle, Donald Rumsfeld, Paul Wolfowitz and James Woolsey. (You may be familiar with some of those names.) And you think Berlusconi is a fraud?

If you don't think and read critically, you're going to get duped over and over and over.

[Quentin Zoerhof]

I would have voted for acquittal because there is a boatload of doubt. But in truth I don't know whether Amanda is a murderer, an accessory to a murder, or completely innocent. Anyone who says they are certain that justice was done is a fool. Of this much I am certain" procedurally the trial was a disaster and the prosecutor an acute insult to his profession.

[AnnJenson78]

I am hoping that our British and Italian friends understand that Ms. Knox's family hired a PR firm; and I can't help but think our U.S. media has fallen under its spell. Certainly the American media presented incomplete coverage of the proceedings. There is much I learned about actual evidence by consulting media outside the U.S.

I started out convinced of Amanda's innocence, but no longer.
Once you stop listening to American media, which is almost irresponsibly sympathetic to Amanda, and get a fuller picture of actual details, timelines, witnesses, events (not to mention Amanda's startling cascade of lies and fabrications), you get a sequence of details which becomes more and more convincing.

I think the idea that the Italian court was overpowered by the tabloid portrayals, or deliberated to show dislike of America, is ridiculous.

Not all Americans have fallen under the spell of the Knox family PR machine. I am sorry for what they are going through. And I can only imagine that a "not guilty" verdict, with its book deals and TV appearances, would have eased an enormous financial burden; but there are many Americans, myself among them, who believe that justice was done here. I only hope that the PR machine and media, and the more vocal protesters, do not harm our relationship with our British and Italian friends.

[a.theist]

Europeans do not like us. Stay out of Europe. In fact, if you do not need to leave the USA, don't.

[Thomas]

Some folks seem confused about who bears the burden of proof in a criminal trial (even in Italy). Hint: it isn't the defendant!

It isn't anti-Americanism that led to Knox's conviction (though that is an element to the media coverage particularly in the UK). No, what led to her conviction is a startling confusion about how the world works and what counts as evidence. The fact that a foreigner acted in a way that the Italians found strange or inappropriate doesn't count as evidence for the proposition that she's a murderer.

[will_44]

This is one of those crimes where compelling arguments can be made for both a guilty verdict and acquital. As a member of the world community, and as a patriotic American; I am willing to assume custody of Ms. Knox, and accept responsibility for her rehabilitation. I believe after some intensive one-on-one therapy, I will be able to determine her level of innocence.

[Drasil]

If I want to know what's happening in
England and Europe, I generally read what's on BBC. If I want to know what's happening here in the US, Tarot cards work fine.

[Big John]

They abused the poor girl during her interrogation? Shocking! They should have used an interrogation technique that Americans approve of, you know, like waterboarding.

[John Winters]

Stop looking for attention you embarrassing twits. And Let Amanda out of jail!

[john]

Blaire is a war criminal and should be in Prison along with his buddy Bush – these kind of vitriol attacks are from someone who is scared stiff of justice knocking on his door and is desperately trying to divert attention. He thinks if Jones can do it so can I. The man has no integrity and no moral fiber that alone fiber at all.

[air yeezys]

God helps those who help themselves..