American college student sentenced to 26 years in Italy for murder
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0
Molenir
You know, based on the evidence I've read about, I'm surprised at this verdict. Everything was circumstantial, and the fact that the girl lived with the victim, her DNA being on a knife, amazingly enough found in their apartment, is no surprise. Add the lack of motive, and quite frankly it seems to me like she should have been found not guilty. I don't know how the court system works in Italy though, so maybe appeals can work. Any way you look at this, its a sad situation.
0
nimbus
"The prosecution maintains that a 6 1/2-inch knife authorities found at Sollecito’s house could be the murder weapon.....defense lawyers argue the knife was too big to match Kercher’s wounds..."
Italy does not have crime labs to determine if the knife is the murder weapon or not? It could be????
0
nandakandamanda
Well, they gave the first guy 30 years, so the sentence of these two was always going to have to be close. Maybe they will all get reduced sentences in due course. Gotta start out harsh, and then reduce?
0
5SpeedRacer5
This is the culmination of a very long trial. I am not going to take any sides, but it appears that the prosecution went WAY out of its way to show this Knox person as a pretty, well, slutty vulgar drug-using out -of-control type. Add in the fact that she lied to police to point a finger at an uninvolved black man, and mix it with a bit of anti-American sentiment, and you have a murder conviction.
Her story is really not that good. She swore up and down that she was there watching the girl get killed by this black guy, but when his alibi checked, she swore that she was far away sleeping with her boyfriend the whole night and returned the next morning. Why did she lie? A female police officer hit her...twice... she says.
I think that the prosecution had the most problem with a motive, but, well, Knox seems enough like a whack-job that it appeared she could have done it for grins. And drugs were involved, etc. etc.
0
5SpeedRacer5
Her own boyfriend, Sollecito, would not support her alibi. Eventually, she will just blame the whole thing on him, but he has much less of a motive than she does, so... maybe she is just going to accept the 26 years.
There was a fight between Knox and Kercher earlier in the night before Knox allegedly left.
Knox and Kercher were always fighting anyway.
Who knows. Yes it is circumstantial, but like this Ichihashi guy, if you put enough pieces of a puzzle together, it starts to make a picture even if you don't have every last piece.
0
dolphingirl
nimbus: I thought the same thing about the wording 'could be the murder weapon'. Perhaps that is just mistranslation cause if they couldn't show means or motive then it's very surprising that they got a conviction here. Plus, I don't see how her hygiene or her sex life could have been relevant.
Anyway, ugly picture that's for sure. And sad for all involved. Hopefully they are punishing the right people on this one.
0
presto345
No confession. No witnesses. No clear evidence. Italian justice.
0
dammit
Molenir, from what I read the knife was found at Knox's boyfriend's apartment.
Dolphingirl, her sex life and hygiene were only important in painting her to look like a dirty slag as far as I'm aware.
The reporting I've seen on this makes it really look as though they've convicted all three with no real evidence, but I hope there's a lot they're not telling us because I really hate it when authorities are so desperate for a conviction that they'll accuse anyone and manage to convict them because they happen to live on the same planet as the victim or something.
I hope they did do it, because if not the odds are it was a cop or a politician who committed the crime, and they'll never be released so it can covered up. What a horrible thought.
0
Azrael
This is no occasion for celebration as the Kerchers said. At least justice has been done. Meredith Kercher met a terrifying end that I do not wish to anyone. One can understand the Knoxes to an extent - a parent will never cease to believe in their child... but wishful thinking cannot exculpate a person. They even hired a PR agency to handle a campaign in the US to paint Amanda innocent, which made reading US news and compare them to international reports quite interesting. I think the Knoxes were off-target in that sense, because what influence may the US have over a sovereign first world nation such as Italy? They should have focused their campaign towards Italy instead. I think Sollecito played the victim yet he was as guilty as Amanda, but in any case, sentence has been passed based on facts. As for Guede, he's already in prison.
I hope Meredith Kercher, the true victim in all this, may rest in peace.
0
Mayuki
@Molenir
Wrong. The knife with the victim's DNA was found at Amanda's boyfriend's apartment, where Meredith had never been.
@ dolphingirl and dammit
Wrong. The prosecution's case was that Amanda and Meredith argued about Amanda bringing men back to the flat and about Amanda's lax hygiene habits. That argument and tension contributed to Amanda's motive to humiliate and ultimately kill Meredith, according to the prosecution.
@5SpeedRacer5
Er, what? Why attribute it to anti-American sentiment when an Italian national was convicted of the same offence and received a 25 year sentence?
0
Molenir
You're forgetting, he was dating an American girl and was thus tainted by association.
I truly hope that the girl really is guilty. And has not just been convicted based on the minuscule evidence reported. In sincerely hope there is evidence they haven't reported which proves beyond any reasonable doubt that she is guilty. The way it looks, from everything I've read, is that this is a wholly circumstantial case, with no clear motive. This suggests that she could in fact be innocent. I want to believe she is guilty. I want to believe that this court just sentenced this woman to 26 years in jail for murdering this girl, and that justice has been done. But I fear that the opposite has occurred. That the murderer just got away with destroying 2 more lives.
0
Azrael
I may be mistaken, but DNA is always minuscule.
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