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Subscribe to RSSThe Italian appeals court that overturned the murder conviction of American student Amanda Knox is now explaining its ruling in a newly-released report. NBC's Stephanie Gosk reports.
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I hope there is a legal avenue for Knox to sue the government for false imprisonment and emotional distress. The Italian government should also owe all the costs of defending her case as well. There should also be a penalty for the Prosecutors and the judge who allowed this witch hunt to proceed without proper evidence. On the only positive side of this travesty, the court did correct itself and released 2 innocent people, however there is much change needed to correct a legal system that failed so miserably.
Italy is the same country that wants to try 7 seismologists for manslaughter for not predicting an earthquake. What does that say about the Italian justice system?
Prosecutorial misconduct is rampant in the US. Better to expose it here than in Italy.
You realize the Amanda Knox trial was a media circus??? Like the lead up to the Iraq War, the media pushed one way to get it started, then pushed the other way to stop it. In the process a lot of advertising was sold at the expense of innocent lives.
She got her just day in court both times. We do the same thing here in the States. If prosecutors think they have solid evidence and judges believe so too, then cases go forward. But, either a true mistake can be made or even though the right person was caught, just legal practices could not legally find the person guilty, appeals are made to correct a conviction not for the sake of the person per se, but to keep a in line with the laws they have sworn to uphold and so that justice can be rightly ruled, even if some of those rules does not sit well with everyone.
I personally think she did it. Now was it legally possible to convict her of the crime, apparently not.
ML,
I always find people like you interesting. From your posts you appear to be an educated person with a firm command of the English language yet your conclusions rarely seem logical. On what possible evidence could you believe these two kids guilty of an act so evil. What would turn two kids who just met from happy go lucky college kids neither of whom had ever been in the slightest trouble into sadistic murderers in 10 short days. The prosecution determined guilt with absolutely no evidence and presented bizzare theories one after the other and entered them as evidence. There was no credible evIdence of any motive whatsoever. The idea of two bright kids waking up one day and out of the blue deciding to commit sadosexual murder of a friend is absurd.
As to the Justice Systems of both countries you again have shown a rather nonlinear thought process. The process failed almost completely without the Knox family's ability to raise almost $2,000,000 dollars and focus media attention these two kids would have spent the next 20 years in jail. Prosecutors decide where to spend money and which cases go forward and which don't and making a name for themselves for future political advancement often perverts the system of justice. Meredith Kercher deserved more from the Italian legal system than a bungled investigation and these kids will never get the four years of their lives back. Our system has become almost entirely by money with the prosecutor able to marshal resources that dwarf the average persons ability to afford. Because my family is relatively affluent my children would stand a far better chance in court than a kid a couple of miles away in West Philadelphia.
jkh
JKH,
I agree with almost everything you have said except for one thing. They did not necessarily have to wake up and decide to commit the crime. They were under the influence of drugs and playing a sexual game. There is the chance that it went to far, there was an accident, there was an argument in the heat of the moment with an altered state of mind, etc... Most crimes are in the heat of the moment, that is why the tag "pre-meditated" carries such a significant increase in punishment when applied.
I don't know if she (they) did it or not, and cannot really form a complete opinion because of the botched investigation. However, to say it is not believable that they could have committed the crime is, in my opinion, illogical.
Please tell me how two lovers, in the first throes of love and smoking marijuana (you do know what smoking marijuana does to you, don't you) become sadistic killers. It's just not possible. You believe they killed her just because you want to believe it (Amanda Knox is too good looking....it upsets people....all those sexy pictures that first came out).
My personal guess is that after they made love and smoked marijuana, rather than pick up a knife and slash the roommate....they most likely fell asleep.
TeaTime: Apparently you don't smoke weed (actually, neither do I) - but when one is under the influence of marijuana you don't become violent.....exactly the opposite. You become laconic, mellow, sleepy, and hungry. period. There are no violent arguments when under the influence of MJ
there was never any credible evidence against these two young people, only a made up fairy tale of a story by the prosecutor and relentless persecution in the Italian press. I cannot understand how a prosecutor can be so hell bent to convict someone regardless of evidence or lack there of. Happens in the US also.
Reminds me of election advertising for District Attorney. It seems like all they want to talk about is how many people they have convicted. With that emphasis, I can't help wondering how many of those convicted were actually guilty.
Itlay served Hitler in world war 2 and they helped Hitler kill Americans, And they got their ass kicked for it
This girls only "crime" was that she was an American. The Italian prosecutor saw the chance to make himself famous and he went for it. An innocent girl be damned! All he wanted was the fame of taking down an American, even if he had to fabricate the entire case to do so.
Ought to go after the prosecutor if he ever sets foot in the us. Arrest him for harrassment, false imprisonment, lying and on and on...
If you have a high profile case or money you have the ticket to freedom. There are far too many innocent people incarcerated and far too few criminals incarcerated.
What's more likely: Young, evil, satanic kids or an overzealous prosecuter? If you think it's the former, get help.
Keith: satanic kids on marijuana....an oxymoron
Same problem I have with American prosecutions. Prosecutors, and sometimes police, will try to make a theory fit with a version of events. To do that, you are no longer obeying your responsibility to the Constitution. You don't GET to create hypothetical scenarios, and then try to sell them to juries as "fact." You take the evidence, you honestly prove your case. You don't get to fill in the blanks in your case with your opinion of the events that took place. You certainly dont get to present these to a jury as evidence. The ease and comfort many law enforcement officials take with doing things like this is horrifying. It's against the Constitution, which means, ultimately that the very people responsible for enforcing the law are willfully committing a crime to gain convictions. And this travesty isnt just accepted, it is ENCOURAGED.
All anyone has to do is research "The Monster Of Florence" and you will have all the background on the douchebag prosecutor in the Knox case. The Monster case happened before the Knox case and almost mirrored the accusations and vilification practices used on Amanda. Giuliano Mignini is a man of questionable mental intelligence and stabilty. if you add Amanda to his record, he has accused a total of 23 people of "satanic killings" all of whom have been cleared by the courts. This was nothing more than a delusional attempt by a power hungry man to make a name for himself. Why he is still a prosecutor is anyone's guess.
Prosecutorial misconduct (and police lying, tampering with witnesses and fudging evidence) need to carry much higher penalties. Only when they know they can't get away with it will public servants become self-policing. How many innocent people have taken a plea deal to avoid truly grotesque prosecutorial abuses of power? Prosecutors should be able to be prosecuted for hiding exculpatory evidence from the Court. Note that many DAs are doing honest work. But, what is the power to weed out overly political DAs who ignore evidence of innocence or bully defendants to cop a lesser plea where the evidence is ambiguous?