Italy Verdict Draws Ire in the US
PERUGIA, Italy — Tensions and cultural misunderstandings ran high on Saturday after an American college student was found guilty of murdering her British housemate.
Rather than clarifying the saga of what prosecutors said was a drug-fueled orgy gone fatally awry, the conviction of Amanda Knox, 22, a Seattle college student, for killing her roommate, Meredith Kercher, 21, seemed only to heighten the conflicting public opinions that had formed in two years of fierce international news coverage.
In a statement after the verdict was delivered early Saturday, Senator Maria Cantwell, Democrat of Washington, said, “I have serious questions about the Italian justice system and whether anti-Americanism tainted this trial.” She added, “The prosecution did not present enough evidence for an impartial jury to conclude beyond a reasonable doubt that Ms. Knox was guilty,” and said Ms. Knox had received “harsh treatment” after her arrest.
Ms. Cantwell said she would convey her concerns to Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton.
Ms. Knox’s family vowed to fight on and continue their campaign to free their daughter. Asked if he would appeal, Ms. Knox’s father, Curt Knox, replied, with tears in his eyes, “Hell, yes.”
The trial has unfolded in the media as much as in the courts. In the United States, Ms. Knox is often depicted as an innocent abroad, a fresh-faced young woman caught up in the vagaries of the Italian justice system.
Yet in the Italian press, Ms. Knox is often depicted as a party girl who liked to smoke marijuana and bring home men — and who accused another man, Patrick Lumumba, of the crime in oral and written testimony before changing her story. On Saturday she was found guilty of defaming Mr. Lumumba, whose defense lawyer called her a “little she-devil” in closing arguments last week.
The trial has also tapped into longstanding town-gown tensions in Perugia, where residents blame foreign students like Ms. Knox for helping transform the picturesque city into a pub crawl.
The Knox family insisted that this larger cultural clash obscured the focus on what really happened here on Nov. 2, 2007.
“It appears clear to us that the attacks on Amanda’s character in much of the media and by the prosecution had a significant impact on the judges and jurors and apparently overshadowed the lack of evidence in the prosecution’s case against her,” the family said in a statement.
Ms. Knox was sentenced to 26 years in prison, and her former Italian boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, 25, to 25 years. A third defendant, Rudy Guede, 22, is already serving a 30-year sentence for sexual assault and murder. He has admitted to being at the house the night of the murder, and his DNA was found on Ms. Kercher’s body. His appeal is under way.
Amid the attention over whether justice had been served for Ms. Knox, the victim’s family held a rare news conference, soberly expressing “satisfaction” but “not triumph” with the verdicts.
“Ultimately we are pleased with the decision, pleased that we’ve got a decision, but it’s not a time for celebration, it’s not a moment of triumph,” Lyle Kercher, the victim’s brother, said.
Another brother, John Kercher Jr., said, “It’s not ever going to be the same without Mez,” using a nickname for his sister. “Her presence is missed every time we meet up as a family.”
Ms. Kercher’s father, John, a journalist, kept a sphinx-like calm and did not speak at the news conference. Asked if they were convinced by the verdict, Ms. Kercher’s mother, Arline, said, “You have to go on the evidence, because there is nothing else.”
In the Italian justice system, the end of this yearlong trial closes only the first chapter. Unlike in the American system, where appeals center on issues of law, not fact, in the Italian system, defendants can ask to retry the entire case from scratch in the first round of appeals.
From there, the case can go to Italy’s highest court, which rules only on the legal aspects. Unlike the United States Supreme Court, it has no discriminatory power and is required to hear every appeal.
It may be years before a definitive sentence is reached, and even longer before the story is fully known.
PERUGIA, Italy — Tensions and cultural misunderstandings ran high on Saturday after an American college student was found guilty of murdering her British housemate.
Rather than clarifying the saga of what prosecutors said was a drug-fueled orgy gone fatally awry, the conviction of Amanda Knox, 22, a Seattle college student, for killing her roommate, Meredith Kercher, 21, seemed only to heighten the conflicting public opinions that had formed in two years of fierce international news coverage.
In a statement after the verdict was delivered early Saturday, Senator Maria Cantwell, Democrat of Washington, said, “I have serious questions about the Italian justice system and whether anti-Americanism tainted this trial.” She added, “The prosecution did not present enough evidence for an impartial jury to conclude beyond a reasonable doubt that Ms. Knox was guilty,” and said Ms. Knox had received “harsh treatment” after her arrest.
Ms. Cantwell said she would convey her concerns to Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton.
Ms. Knox’s family vowed to fight on and continue their campaign to free their daughter. Asked if he would appeal, Ms. Knox’s father, Curt Knox, replied, with tears in his eyes, “Hell, yes.”
The trial has unfolded in the media as much as in the courts. In the United States, Ms. Knox is often depicted as an innocent abroad, a fresh-faced young woman caught up in the vagaries of the Italian justice system.
Yet in the Italian press, Ms. Knox is often depicted as a party girl who liked to smoke marijuana and bring home men — and who accused another man, Patrick Lumumba, of the crime in oral and written testimony before changing her story. On Saturday she was found guilty of defaming Mr. Lumumba, whose defense lawyer called her a “little she-devil” in closing arguments last week.
The trial has also tapped into longstanding town-gown tensions in Perugia, where residents blame foreign students like Ms. Knox for helping transform the picturesque city into a pub crawl.
The Knox family insisted that this larger cultural clash obscured the focus on what really happened here on Nov. 2, 2007.
“It appears clear to us that the attacks on Amanda’s character in much of the media and by the prosecution had a significant impact on the judges and jurors and apparently overshadowed the lack of evidence in the prosecution’s case against her,” the family said in a statement.
Ms. Knox was sentenced to 26 years in prison, and her former Italian boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, 25, to 25 years. A third defendant, Rudy Guede, 22, is already serving a 30-year sentence for sexual assault and murder. He has admitted to being at the house the night of the murder, and his DNA was found on Ms. Kercher’s body. His appeal is under way.
Amid the attention over whether justice had been served for Ms. Knox, the victim’s family held a rare news conference, soberly expressing “satisfaction” but “not triumph” with the verdicts.
“Ultimately we are pleased with the decision, pleased that we’ve got a decision, but it’s not a time for celebration, it’s not a moment of triumph,” Lyle Kercher, the victim’s brother, said.
Another brother, John Kercher Jr., said, “It’s not ever going to be the same without Mez,” using a nickname for his sister. “Her presence is missed every time we meet up as a family.”
Ms. Kercher’s father, John, a journalist, kept a sphinx-like calm and did not speak at the news conference. Asked if they were convinced by the verdict, Ms. Kercher’s mother, Arline, said, “You have to go on the evidence, because there is nothing else.”
In the Italian justice system, the end of this yearlong trial closes only the first chapter. Unlike in the American system, where appeals center on issues of law, not fact, in the Italian system, defendants can ask to retry the entire case from scratch in the first round of appeals.
From there, the case can go to Italy’s highest court, which rules only on the legal aspects. Unlike the United States Supreme Court, it has no discriminatory power and is required to hear every appeal.
It may be years before a definitive sentence is reached, and even longer before the story is fully known.
Source: New York Times
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