An American in the Italian Wheels of Justice

[tonysam]

The trial took nearly a year. But now that an Italian jury has determined that Amanda Knox, a 22-year-old American student, is guilty of murdering her British housemate in Perugia, Italy, in 2007, the legal wrangling has in some ways just begun.

The verdict was delivered at the unusual hour of midnight local time, with little explanation but a sentence. From that odd timing that capped a drawn-out trial, to the circumstantial evidence introduced, to the jury — made up of two judges and six civilians — that was not sequestered, the proceedings were so distinct from the American justice system. And so confounding to some.

“It’s a strange case to American ears,” said Alan M. Dershowitz, a prominent criminal defense attorney and Harvard University law professor.

And yet, Mr. Dershowitz called the verdict “totally predictable,” saying that the trial was just a “confirmation of the investigation.”

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A very interesting piece.

[DesertFlower]

1. IMO it's a screwed up system.

amanda was found guilty not because of evidence but because of her life style.

[PM Martin]

2. Italy is not really Democratic.

Considering their Prime Minister owns the media.....

[tonysam]

3. The article really clarifies a lot of things.

It sounds almost like my phony "due process" hearing when I was terminated. It was nothing but a rubber stamp bunch of crap. The district had no evidence other than character assassination, while I was not allowed witnesses for my side. I still have to go to a lawyer to try and sue the school district.

[struggle4progress]

4. links:

... Ms. Knox was also convicted of defamation, as she originally accused her boss, Patrick Lumumba, of the crime before changing her story ...
December 5, 2009, 7:24 PM
An American in the Italian Wheels of Justice
By LIZ ROBBINS
http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/12/05/an-american-in-the-italian-wheels-of-justice/?hp

... Ms. Knox said she had been pressured by the Italian authorities to offer false testimony, in which she accused her boss at a bar where she worked of the crime. In written testimony to the police, she said she had been in the house’s kitchen blocking out Ms. Kercher’s screams as Ms. Kercher was killed by the boss, Patrick Lumumba, originally of Congo ... On Friday, Ms. Knox said that she had been at Mr. Sollecito’s house the evening of the crime, where the two smoked marijuana, watched the French film “Amélie” and had sex ... While no definitive murder weapon has been found, the police said an eight-inch kitchen knife at Mr. Sollecito’s house bore traces of Ms. Kercher’s DNA near the tip and Ms. Knox’s near the handle ...
American Testifies in Her Murder Trial in Italy
By RACHEL DONADIO
Published: June 12, 2009
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/13/world/europe/13italy.html?_r=1

... photos of the 23-year-old student which he had posted on his blog site ... showed him dressed in a surgeon's outfit, holding a meat cleaver in one hand and a container of bleach in the other ... The doctor's son, who was due to graduate from his computer studies degree this month, had been studying at the town's main university ...
Murdered Meredith: Flatmate's 'crazy' boyfriend poses with a meat cleaver and bleach
Last updated at 11:28 07 November 2007
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-492160/Murdered-Meredith-Flatmates-crazy-boyfriend-poses-meat-cleaver-bleach.html

... as the trial resumed Ms Comodi spent several minutes trying to get her laptop to work and could be heard muttering under her breath as her repeated attempts failed. Fellow prosecutor Mignini stepped in to try and help but he was unable to resolve the problem so Sollecito offered to help pointing out he was a computer studies graduate. He was quickly able to establish that the prosecution's laptop did not have the correct programme to play the DVD with the evidence and offered his own - not before spending several minutes clicking through the files on the screen ...
Raffaele Sollecito fixes computer equipment in Meredith Kercher murder trial
Computer studies graduate Raffaele Sollecito stepped in to help prosecutors after their laptop in his murder trial failed to work and show crucial evidence against him.
By Nick Pisa in Perugia
Published: 12:45AM BST 09 May 2009
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/italy/5298060/Raffaele-Sollecito-fixes-computer-equipment-in-Meredith-Kercher-murder-trial.html

... Giuliano Mignini, the lead prosecutor, pressed Knox on her so-called “confession” to police a few hours after the murder, in which she accused Patrick Lumumba, the owner of the Le Chic bar where she worked, of killing Kercher while Knox was in the kitchen blocking out the sound with her hands over her ears. Italy’s Supreme Court has thrown out the “confession” because Knox had no lawyer at the time, but she repeated her accusation against Lumumba in a note written in jail. She has since insisted that she spent the evening of Kercher’s death at the home of Sollecito ... She also accused the police of suggesting her “confession” and accusation against Lumumba to her. But under questioning by Mignini, she said no police officer had named Lumumba to her ...
From The Sunday Times
June 14, 2009
Amanda Knox tells of Meredith Kercher’s ‘yucky’ death
The student accused of killing her UK flatmate likened her death to a scene from CSI
John Follain in Perugia
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article6493655.ece

... In her prison diaries, which are part of the prosecution evidence, Ms Knox accused Mr Sollecito of having lied when he told investigators that Ms Knox had not been at his flat for the entire evening and night of the murder, as she claimed. He later said that he could not remember whether she had been present throughout or not because they had been smoking cannabis and his memory was hazy ... Manuela Comodi, the deputy prosecutor, said that the prosecution had not called either Ms Knox or Mr Sollecito as witnesses “because there is no point. Every time they were questioned during the pre-trial investigation they lied or tried to derail the inquiry ...
From The Times
January 19, 2009
Amanda Knox flirts with Raffaele Sollecito at Meredith Kercher murder trial
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article5540939.ece

... Rudy Guede was identified by police after his bloody fingerprint was found on a cushion at the scene of the crime ...
Rudy Guede: Portrait of Meredith's murderer as he begins 30 year sentence
By NICK PISA
Last updated at 10:20 AM on 29th October 2008
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1081457/Rudy-Guede-Portrait-Merediths-murderer-begins-30-year-sentence.html

A 21-year-old man has been jailed for 30 years in Italy for murdering British exchange student Meredith Kercher. Rudy Hermann Guede was found guilty after a trial behind closed doors. ... Guede, who had joint Italian and Ivory Coast nationality, had opted for a fast-track trial because he feared the former lovers would form a pact to frame him. He had admitted to being in the house at the time of the murder but, like his co-defendants, denied any wrongdoing. His lawyers claimed the murder weapon had been found at Mr Sollecito's house and had Miss Knox's DNA on the handle ...
Man convicted of Kercher murder
Meredith Kercher's partially-clothed body was found locked in her bedroom
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/7695294.stm

... As Mr Guede was arrested, one of the three original suspects, Diya "Patrick" Lumumba, a Congolese bar owner and reggae musician, was released due to lack of evidence. His Polish-born wife, Alexandra, and his numerous friends in Perugia said that they had always believed he was innocent. Mr Lumumba was arrested on November 6 in Perugia along with Ms Kercher’s American flatmate, Amanda Knox, 20, and her Italian boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, 23. Mr Lumumba said after returning home that while in prison he had often wondered why Ms Knox had named him “when I have never been in Meredith’s house in my life” ...
From Times Online
November 21, 2007
Fourth Meredith Kercher suspect Rudy Hermann Guede in court in Germany
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article2913150.ece

Rudy Hermann Guede, the Ivory Coast immigrant suspected of sexually assaulting and killing Meredith Kercher in Perugia, went dancing at a dance club after her murder until 4:30 in the morning. Witnesses have testified to police that they saw Guede at the Domus disco from 2 a.m. on Friday, Nov. 2 ... Guede, who has admitted that he had sex with Kercher but claims he is not the "real killer," is being held in Germany awaiting extradition to Italy on suspicion of the murder. He referred to the fact that he went dancing after Kercher was killed in Internet chat with friends, intercepted by police before his capture in Germany last week. In testimony to German police and his Italian defense lawyers, Guede said he met Kercher shortly after 8:30 p.m. at the cottage on the night of the murder for consensual sex, but that "an Italian man" he did not know followed them in and killed her while he was in the bathroom ... In his latest account to his lawyers, reported in Italian newspapers today, Guede -- the only one of three suspects to admit unconditionally that he was at the house on the evening of the murder -- said he and Kercher had "flirted," but that she had said they could not have sex because he did not have a condom. He then went to the toilet because he had eaten a "spicy kebab" which had given him stomach pains ... Guede reportedly said that his efforts to save Kercher failed, but he heard her dying words, which were either the initials "A.F." or the sound "af" ...
Suspect in Slaying of British Coed Seen Dancing at Disco Hours After Murder
Monday, November 26, 2007
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,312934,00.html

THE prosecutor investigating the murder of British student Meredith Kercher has been charged with abuse of power after he allegedly tapped the phones of journalists and police officers. Giuliano Mignini was charged with Michele Giuttari, the former head of a unit involved in investigating a serial killer who terrorised Florence for 15 years. The phone tapping allegations all relate to that inquiry and Mignini will continue to investigate the murder of Meredith, 20, who was found with her throat cut six months ago.
Sunday Mirror, Apr 27, 2008
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4161/is_20080427/ai_n25371234/