Amanda Knox and ex-boyfriend guilty of Kercher Italy murder

I just was listening to the BBC News myself, and the same saga was reported.

ATB from George

… but is there universal confidence in the Italian judicial system?

Two times through plus appeals, I'd say yes. Her story never passed muster and, interestingly, after all these years there has never been an alternative theory of the crime except to blame it all on the third participant. Never a thought for the dead girl just self absorption.

 ... is there Universal confidence in British Justice? Or any other for that matter. 

Justice in any given territory tends to conform to the ethical, moral norms of the society it serves, so that there are many cases where foreign systems seem more flawed than those at home.

ATB from George

The local news reports I see and read in Seattle may well be biased, but based on US standards, the DNA evidence in the case would not be admissible in our courts due to cross-contamination and failure of the Italian authorities to follow basic forensic protocols. I'm not sure if DNA was used in this latest trial.

Secondly, this latest trial would be considered double jeopardy and so would not occur in the US. Not really relevant since the trial is taking place in Italy. However, it may become relevant if extradition is called for by Italian authorities, in which case the US may refuse based on the notion of double jeopardy.

The latest conviction is a shameful farce based on false information supplied by the original horribly corrupt prosecutor in the case and his absurd devil worship cult theories , lies , misinformation and media manipulation . Amanda Knox's  story certainly passes muster with me and a lot of other sensible and objective people  around the world.  Anyone who takes the time to examine the actual facts of the case closely will see what travesty of justice  this latest conviction is. 

Drew

The first two lines of your response include some groups famous for working with each other in complete harmony and singularity of purpose.  That may make sense to you but I doubt you have as many like minded adherents as you think. Go back and re-read all the background again and ask yourself again .....how plausible is her story ? Then ask yourself, is all the media brainwashed? Is all the Italian legal profession colluding? Perhaps they're just coming to a different conclusion than you. Or perhaps the attorney representing the dead girls family got it right......(the case) "has no winners or losers. It's a tragedy that involves four young people." I've always found the Knox family's response to the changing situation somewhat subdued. I suspect they understand the truth of this idea of a tragedy for all involved quite well. And perhaps they also know their daughter.

Throughout this entire saga i have come to two conclusions.

Firstly I really have absolutely no idea what happenned that night.

Secondly, and more importantly, a young woman died and we have spent the majority of the time talking about Ms Knox not the victim or her bereaved family. Ms Knox is not the victim here.

Bruce

Bruce,

i also have no idea what happened that night,

but if Ms Knox did not commit the crime then she is a victim of rough justice.

Debs

 And if she did she deserves everything she has got and more.  Either way I'm pretty sure the poor girl that died and her family didn't deserve it.  We will never know what happened but we do know that Ms Knox accused a demonstrably innocent third party of the crime and he went to jail for it

I have only one comment to make on this. The reason their original conviction was overturned was because the DNA evidence was extremely suspect. This was the only hard evidence the prosecution had. What's changed? I doubt Knox would have been convicted in the UK or the US based on the evidence given. Having said that, I'm sure the forensic evidence would have been better collected and handled.

The only thing that depresses me more than the (seemingly) eternal to-ing and fro-ing on this case, which can't be good for anyone involved, is to imagine how interested the world's media would be by this story if Amanda Knox were less easy on the eye.

How many possible miscarriages of justice involving ugly people are being discussed in several countries right now? I doubt you'd need to take both hands out of your pockets to count them all.

Mark

Silvio Berlusconi is ugly.

If the Italian justice system had an ounce of credibility he would be a convict in prison now, instead of living free as a gangster Billionaire.

Debs

True - from what I have read my perception is that there was probably insufficient evidence to properly convict - but that doesn't mean that I think that she didn't do it !!

It is easy enough to be an arm-chair self-appointed arbiter of the Law. Has anyone here read, verbatim, the evidence?

I doubt it.

Even so is anyone here so qualified on the Italian Law that they are able to be more authoritative than the Jusists concern in this case?

ATB from George

I wouldn't be surprised if the next appeal is successful.

Can she appeal from the "Safety" of the USA, or would she have to be present in Italy ?

Would she be better advised to fight any extradition attempt ?

Quite separately, can anyone sumarise the various allegations made ? eg did the various defendents each point a finger at one another. I simply can't recall.

If an appeal against an appeal can be heard in her absence, why would she need to be present to appeal that appeal?

There will be no need to fight extradition - the US won't surrender one of its own to the Italian justice system.

Too many seem to think it's easy to be an arm chair detective/lawyer/judge and jury.

The US is always demanding other nations surrender people to face it's justice system. Why would it think it was above reciprocating?

The reason that the US might not extradite her is because she was already found not guilty once, and the Italians let her leave.  Now that she is here, they might invoke double jeopardy as the reason to not return her to Italy...a legal concept that apparently does not apply in Italy (?), but she is not in Italy now, she is here, where it is prohibited.

That said, it remains to be seen what is done here.  After all, we do have American arrogance exceptionalism.

All kidding aside, another contributing factor to not sending her back is that as others have pointed out, it is anything but obvious what happened that fateful night to bring about the death of an innocent young lady.  Perhaps were it a more cut and dry case of obvious guilt the US would be more inclined to extradite her.

I'm not certain the US is going to have a "choice" in the matter. Aren't they legally bound by extradition treaties? Granted, the US could seek loopholes (there are probably many to be found), or invoke the World Court. Or test just how prepared Italy is to enforce extradition. As of now Amanda is preparing an appeal (to the latest appeal), and plans to legally defend herself by all means possible, from within the US. She wants to be exonerated; right now she is a convicted murderer. 

I haven't seen the USA let too many laws get in the way of anything it wants to do in the last decade plus, in either domestic or foreign affairs.

Now that I've mentioned Amanda as being a convicted murderer, I wonder how that has affected her status as a student at the University of Washington, where my daughter also attends classes. Should Ms Knox now be barred from campus? I'll have to look into the University's policy, though somehow I don't see her as a threat.

The us will not surrender Knox to yet more Italian justice whatever international law says and no one will be able to make them.

What is your basis for that statement?