Amanda Knox Trial

raburrell

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Knox spent four years in prison, I believe. If she did it, certainly not enough, but whether in Italy or here, the prosecution still has to prove a case. To me, they never did.
 

DancingMaenid

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I don't know that her trial was not fair or speedy, or that the case was bungled, but regardless, she wasn't tried in the U.S., so U.S. laws don't apply.

I get you were saying it in a general sense, but while it's a nice thought... :Shrug:

Well, I think now that it's been drawn out and left up in the air for so long, "speedy" has gone out the window. I don't think someone should have to wonder for an extended period of time whether they're going to be arrested and extradited or not, especially after they've been given reason to think that the case is over.
 

blacbird

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I think if she did it, then two years in prison obviously isn't justice. But I also think that even the worst criminals are entitled to certain rights such as a speedy and fair trial, and when the prosecution messes up that badly in that regard, then that is an injustice against the accused..

Before we start blaming the Italian judicial system, let's recognize that it's not at all unusual for an accused person in the U.S. to spend two or more years in jail awaiting trial. And that jails in the U.S. are generally worse places than are prisons.

caw
 

cornflake

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Well, I think now that it's been drawn out and left up in the air for so long, "speedy" has gone out the window. I don't think someone should have to wonder for an extended period of time whether they're going to be arrested and extradited or not, especially after they've been given reason to think that the case is over.

She went on trial a bit over a year after the crime. The retrial was completed something like nine months after it was ordered.

The right to a speedy trial doesn't have to do with appeals, or with whether you'll be arrested. She got what we'd consider not-drawn-out trial times and trials. :Shrug:

There are tons and tons of people in the U.S. who wait much longer for trial, who wait years for appeals back and forth, etc. That's not rare. Waiting to know if you'll be arrested has nothing to do with anything - that can go on forever, if it's a crime without a statute of limitations and you're a suspect but the case is weak.
 

Lillith1991

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Personally, I think it ceased mattering long ago. Considering how much that she's been through, I'm happy with this decision, regardless of the truth. Best of luck to her in her writing career.

Of course it matters if she did it or not, and if she did then she clearly didn't spend enough time locked up. Murder is murder, attractive young woman or not at the time of the crime. If she didn't do it however, then for most the idea of what she endured would be even more disturbing. While people tend to turn the other cheek to police or court misconduct when they think the person guilty, they also tend to be horrified when they find out the person isn't guilty. Right now her status is basically in limbo, because we just don't know one way or the other with 100% certainty and may never know.
 

backslashbaby

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Meh, she should have gotten 4 years in jail just for trying to pin it on her innocent boss, imho. And then I think a year or so of her time was for fabricating police abuse, right? You get in trouble for that sort of thing over there.
 

Perks

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Meh, she should have gotten 4 years in jail just for trying to pin it on her innocent boss, imho. And then I think a year or so of her time was for fabricating police abuse, right? You get in trouble for that sort of thing over there.

Now there's a point.

I have read up on this case and I cannot remember such a hodge podge of evidence that never supported a narrative that even made one bit of sense. Nothing makes sense in the Meredith Kercher murder.
 

Sheryl Nantus

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Now there's a point.

I have read up on this case and I cannot remember such a hodge podge of evidence that never supported a narrative that even made one bit of sense. Nothing makes sense in the Meredith Kercher murder.

I think part of the problem was that the police totally messed up the crime scene from the start.

Sounded a lot like the Jon Benet Ramsay case where the evidence, if there was any, was compromised from the beginning by inept police.

I suspect part of the final outcome was determined by politics - the US would have to deal with a request for extradition and it wouldn't have happened without a lot of yelling and screaming from the Knox family and their supporters. It could have gone on for years and never been truly resolved to anyone's satisfaction.

The decision might have been the best way out of a sticky political situation. Given that part of this happened because the prosecutor "had a dream" about the crime... yeah, might have been for the best.

JMO YMMV.
 

cornflake

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I think part of the problem was that the police totally messed up the crime scene from the start.

Sounded a lot like the Jon Benet Ramsay case where the evidence, if there was any, was compromised from the beginning by inept police.

I suspect part of the final outcome was determined by politics - the US would have to deal with a request for extradition and it wouldn't have happened without a lot of yelling and screaming from the Knox family and their supporters. It could have gone on for years and never been truly resolved to anyone's satisfaction.

The decision might have been the best way out of a sticky political situation. Given that part of this happened because the prosecutor "had a dream" about the crime... yeah, might have been for the best.

JMO YMMV.

There was - and remains - evidence in the Ramsay case. There were utterly unprofessional, inept as hell cops and a DA who just let the entire thing slip away. Her mother is dead, though, so... :Shrug:
 

robeiae

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Last word:

http://www.cnn.com/2015/09/08/europe/italy-court-amanda-knox/

On Monday, Italy's highest court issued the last word on the case in the form of a 52-page reasoning to justify why it decided to definitively throw out the convictions last March.
Citing "glaring errors," "investigative amnesia," and "guilty omissions," the five-judge panel said that the prosecutors who won the original murder conviction failed to prove a "whole truth" to back up the scenario that Knox, Sollecito and Ivory Coast native Rudy Guede killed Kercher.