Murder: White Woman Falsely Accused An African Man

[I Love Nigeria]

Amanda Knox falsely accused a Black man, an African from the Congo of the needless senseless murder which she committed with other cohorts of hers.

Amanda Knox in her young life, caused so much heartache around the world.. here in the United States... then in England, home of the murdered person, as well as in Italy and of course, in the Congo.

Amanda Knox murdered and then lied about in a racially motivated manner similar to Joseph Stewart in Boston who killed his pregnant wife and falsely accused a Black man... and similar as well to Susan Smith who drowned her own children and again, accused the usual suspects... a Black man!

Amanda Knox is therefore a murderer, a liar and a racist... all at once!

Falsely accusing a Congolese man of the killing was just egregiously wrong. The man, Patrick Diya Lumumba, owns a pub in Perugia where Knox worked. He was jailed briefly but was later cleared and is seeking defamation damages from Knox.

Knox later contended that police pressure led her to initially accuse an innocent man... I know some believe that we now live in a post racial world or a color blind world ... But here we are... you cannot not even make this stuff up - ILN


December 5, 2009
Italian Jury Convicts U.S. Student of Murder
By RACHEL DONADIO
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/05/wo...gewanted=print

Ms. Knox was also found guilty of defamation, for having accused her former boss in a bar where she worked, Patrick Lumumba, of the crime in both oral and written testimony. He was jailed before being released. Ms. Knox has said the police put pressure on her to accuse Mr. Lumumba.

The circumstantial evidence was also fraught. Ms. Knox said that she had spent the night of the murder at Mr. Sollecito’s house, where the two smoked marijuana and had sex. She said she had gone home the next morning and found some spots of blood on the bathroom floor, but took a shower anyway before finding Ms. Kercher’s body. Mr. Sollecito has said he does not remember whether or not Ms. Knox spent the whole night at his house. Mr. Guede has admitted to being at the house on the night of the murder and his DNA was found on Ms. Kercher’s body

PERUGIA, Italy — After one of the most closely watched trials in Italy, an American college student and her former Italian boyfriend were found guilty early on Saturday of murdering her housemate two years ago in this picturesque university town.

The polarizing case gripped Italy and drew intense international media attention to a pair of fresh-faced young people who had no clear motive or violent pasts.

Prosecutors had accused Amanda Knox, 22, then a student at the University of Washington who was studying here, and her boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, 25, of slitting the throat of her housemate, Meredith Kercher, 21, of Surrey, England, in November 2007 after a scuffle escalated into their coercing her into a sexual game.

After deliberating for more than 12 hours, a jury of six civilians and two judges found Ms. Knox and Mr. Sollecito guilty on all the major charges. The judge finished reading the verdict after midnight to a courtroom packed with the families and friends of the defendants, along with a host of international journalists and local spectators.

Ms. Knox was sentenced to 26 years in prison and Mr. Sollecito to 25 years. Prosecutors had been seeking life, Italy’s stiffest sentence, for both. It was not immediately clear why the sentences differed. Under Italian law, the jury has 90 days to release the reasoning for its decisions.

A third defendant, Rudy Guede, 22, is already serving a 30-year sentence for sexual assault and murder; the judge ruled that he was one of three assailants. All three deny wrongdoing. The trial in Mr. Guede’s appeal is under way.

In a brick-vaulted courtroom humming with tension, Ms. Knox wept when the verdict was read, while Mr. Sollecito remained impassive. Mr. Sollecito’s stepmother could be heard sobbing and shouted at him to “be strong.” Ms. Knox’s mother and sisters were in tears. Her father, Curt Knox, responded tensely that the family would fight on, appealing the decision.

The Knox family said in a statement that the prosecution had “failed to explain why there is no evidence of Amanda in the room where Meredith was so horribly and tragically murdered.” They also criticized “attacks on Amanda’s character in much of the media and by the prosecution.”

In the international media, Ms. Knox has alternately been depicted as an American girl running wild on her junior year abroad or as a wholesome honors student unwittingly caught up in an Italian legal nightmare.

The verdict did not appear resolve a host of questions about what happened the night of Nov. 2, 2007, when Ms. Kercher was killed. Some people argued that the prosecution had failed to present a coherent narrative or motive for the crime, while others said the defense had failed to adequately dispute the forensic evidence.

Although held under an international spotlight, the trial was conducted in a small-town court. After the verdict, the Knox family and lawyers were caught in a mob of people exiting the courtroom into the glare of television cameras.

A lawyer for the Kercher family, Francesco Maresca, called the ruling “a good sentence that fills us with satisfaction.” He added, “I think justice has been done for the Kercher family.”

In addition to the murder charges, the jury also found Ms. Knox and Mr. Sollecito guilty of unlawful possession of a weapon — a knife that prosecutors said was involved in the murder — and of staging a crime scene. Prosecutors contended that the three had faked a burglary to cover up the murder.

Ms. Knox was also found guilty of defamation, for having accused her former boss in a bar where she worked, Patrick Lumumba, of the crime in both oral and written testimony. He was jailed before being released. Ms. Knox has said the police put pressure on her to accuse Mr. Lumumba.

Addressing the court the day before the verdict, Ms. Knox said she was “afraid of being branded a murderer.”

In their closing arguments, prosecutors showed the jury an animated simulation of the night of the crime. It showed a cartoon version of Ms. Knox getting into a fight with Ms. Kercher in the victim’s room, while Mr. Sollecito held a knife and Mr. Guede held her from behind and reached a hand into her underwear.

The animation also included graphic photos from Ms. Kercher’s autopsy. They showed bruises suggesting fingerprints under her chin, several small cuts and one gaping knife wound in her neck. Forensic experts testified that the markings on Ms. Kercher’s body suggested multiple assailants. Lawyers representing for Ms. Knox and Mr. Sollecito argued that there was only one killer, Mr. Guede.

The forensic evidence was contested. Prosecutors said the murder weapon was a kitchen knife later found scrubbed clean in Mr. Sollecito’s kitchen with Ms. Knox’s DNA on the handle and Ms. Kercher’s DNA on the tip.

Defense lawyers said that the DNA evidence was not strong enough and that the blade did not match some of Ms. Kercher’s wounds. A second knife, with which prosecutors contend that Mr. Sollecito taunted Ms. Kercher, was never found.

The circumstantial evidence was also fraught. Ms. Knox said that she had spent the night of the murder at Mr. Sollecito’s house, where the two smoked marijuana and had sex. She said she had gone home the next morning and found some spots of blood on the bathroom floor, but took a shower anyway before finding Ms. Kercher’s body. Mr. Sollecito has said he does not remember whether or not Ms. Knox spent the whole night at his house. Mr. Guede has admitted to being at the house on the night of the murder and his DNA was found on Ms. Kercher’s body. In Italy, it is common for sentences to be reduced in two potential rounds of appeals.

[Rose]

The Americans are upset over the accurate portrayal of Amanda Knox, and are only concerned with "winning". If you watched Dateline tonight they explained Lumumba had threatened to fire her over her work ethics and hire the girl she murdered...so she obviously grew extremely hateful towards them both. Plus her roommate had been complaining about Amanda's constant drug use and bring a slew of different men to the apartment for sex which she was uncomfortable with that. Amanda proved by lying on Lumumba that she was capable of practically anything.

Lumumba said he would have to order her off the dance floor and back to work on more than one occasion. After a short time during her shift she'd be back dancing and cavorting with the patrons instead of doing what he was paying her for. It's not unusual for them to become lax resentful when Blacks/Africans are their superiors...so she was full of rage against the victim and her boss. She's guilty as sin and got what she deserved. I personally do not believe the Italian and Ivorian man knew murder was on the menu that night and Amanda orchestrated the entire episode trying to kill two birds with one stone. I know and have witnessed that smiling deceit and connivance severally and am not moved by Amanda's feigned innocence one bit!. The police said she was turning cartwheels in the station when they took her there for questioning. She got caught up in a web of stinking lies! They were right to call her a cold manipulative little liar. Americans hate that facade is crumbling for all the world to see.

[Rose]

I also find it interesting that the Ivorian got 30 years (Amanda and Raphael received 26 and 25 years respectively) although he was not the killer...and they know this.

[denker]

Profile: Kercher killer Rudy Guede

Rudy Guede fled from Italy and was arrested in Germany

The murder of British student Meredith Kercher, 21, at her rented flat in Italy last year, has been the focus of intense media speculation.


One man, Rudy Hermann Guede, 21, who has joint Italian and Ivorian nationality, was been convicted of her killing last year.


The two other suspects, American Amanda Knox, 21, and Miss Knox's Italian ex-lover Raffaele Sollecito, 24, have now also been found guilty of the murder and sentenced to 26 and 25 years respectively.


Rudy Guede was sentenced to 30 years in prison.
He fled to Germany after the murder but police began searching for him after finding a bloody fingerprint on a pillow that did not match the other suspects.


He was arrested in Mainz for being on a train without a ticket and was extradited to Italy to face murder charges.
Under Italian law, Guede took a special fast-track trial which took place behind closed doors.


Guede chose to be tried separately from Miss Knox and Mr Sollecito because he feared a pact between the former lovers.
He had admitted he was in Miss Kercher's home the night she was murdered but denied any wrongdoing.


He said he was in the bathroom of the flat when the crime was committed and heard screams.
However, the Italian judge did not believe him and found him guilty of murder.


He was adopted by a family living in Perugia, although they are said to have since broken all contact with him.
His appeal is under way with a verdict due later in December.



http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7693501.stm

[Rose]

I believe Rudy is innocent of murder, but the lure of white arse and childlike gullibility and trusting of Amanda and Raphael landed him where he is today. It's sad how some folks feel so special and validated while in the company of whites that they'll do anything asked of them. I sure would like to know the race of his adoptive family. The diabolical actress has a group advocating for her in Seattle, but Rudy is completely out in the cold. How sobering all this must be for him. Hopefully his sentenced will at least be reduced now that the other two have been convicted. Too bad his wake up call is one of the worst ones imaginable.

He was adopted by a family living in Perugia, although they are said to have since broken all contact with him.
His appeal is under way with a verdict due later in December.

[denker]

It's sad how some folks feel so special and validated while in the company of whites that they'll do anything asked of them.

....or they indulge in worst diabolical obsession in banality and in outrageous behavior when they felt rejected by the white folks...?

[Bill Carson]

I believe Rudy is innocent of murder, but the lure of white arse and childlike gullibility and trusting of Amanda and Raphael landed him where he is today. It's sad how some folks feel so special and validated while in the company of whites that they'll do anything asked of them. I sure would like to know the race of his adoptive family. The diabolical actress has a group advocating for her in Seattle, but Rudy is completely out in the cold. How sobering all this must be for him. Hopefully his sentenced will at least be reduced now that the other two have been convicted. Too bad his wake up call is one of the worst ones imaginable.

Rose,

Take a guess the race of his adoptive parents?…… (yes, you are right… brown eye Caucasians due to the Moors raping their women a few centuries ago)….

The problem with unbalanced Nubian youths, once they are allowed into Caucasian environment they jettison all traces of their identity and spend all their time trying to proof to their part-time Caucasian friends that they are loyal and harmless (especially, if rewarded with a Caucasian demoiselle).

I have a good friend in Italy that the opinionated, glorified Caucasians Social Service/Mafia Government kidnapped their beautiful Nubian Children and before they knew what was happening the Nubian Children were allocated to different families all over the Tomato producing country….. my friend has been trying to get the Children back, but he knows he is facing a big battle…..

Don’t be surprise if Rudy was kidnapped and handed to the descendants of Moorish invaders as house Pet……

[Fjord]

Guede may not have been directly involve din the murder, but his story is strange:

- he went to Kercher' house on the evening of Nov 1, 2007
- he and Kercher had consensual sexual intercourse
- he started to feel queasy, having eaten a kebab the night before
- he went to the bathroom; sat on the lavatory and started listening to his Ipod
- he heard Kercher's & Knox's voices, arguing about some money missing,
- he was listening to music but halfway through the third track he heard a piercing scream
- he rushed into Miss Kercher's bedroom where he saw a man, who he later suggested could have been Mr Sollecito, who tried to stab him with a knife.
- he staggered to the hallway, then Guede heard the man say: "Let's go, there's a black guy in the house."
- he heard footsteps leaving the house and looked out of the window where he saw a silhouette that he later identified as Miss Knox's
- He then tried to save the life of Miss Kercher, who was by now lying in a pool of blood with her throat cut.
- He tried to stem the flow of blood with towels, but then panicked and left the house.
- he felt agonised "seeing Meredith in these terms; she was dying. She tried to tell me something, but I couldn't understand her. I held her hand, I asked her what had happened. ... In that moment, I entered into a state of shock".
- He fled the house and a few days later left the country. He was arrested on a train in Germany and extradited back to Italy.

Some story. The ending is strange.

*He was observed dancing in a nightclub later on the night of the murder

He would almost definitely not hav ebeen convicted for murder in a US court, but Italian laws are a different animal. Plus, he chose this speedy, closed trial; too bad. He probably got sh1tty representation too.
.
.

[chaos.com]

I do not believe rudy is innocent. we may never know.
If i am in a room and i hear screams, the first thing i would do is to be calling emergency numbers not running to germany.
basically what amanda knox tried may have worked in America from what i have heard about accusing black men of things. It did not work in this case and she has gone down.
But let us not start playing the race card here.
Lumumba was innocent and cleared, rudy was not.

[Rose]

hmmm....

We don’t know the full story and perhaps we WILL never know it, perhaps Amanda Knox herself (if the story is true about her use of drugs that weekend) is unsure about what happened also but a big part of me wants her to be innocent which means the lack-of -credible-evidence theory which has been put forth, coupled with the paranoia of the Italians as described by you, has me somewhat convinced. I feel for her and her people.

But I wonder how much energy would have been put into this story by journalists if Amanda had been a young Black AmericaN student with similar dubious history of sex and drugs attached to her name. I suspect that even WITHOUT such a history, few if any American journalists - from Seattle or otherwise - would be investigating, considering any possibilities of innocence or in any way giving her the benefit of the doubt ; there would hardly be sympathetic or empathetic to her plight and would scarcely have thought of “innocent till proven guilty”. Perhaps you too, like the Italian public, would NOT see her as “20, hardly a sophisticate” but would find a mind “clouded by hashish” to be reasonable evidence to help convict her if only in the press.

Furthermore, no matter how crazy, paranoid, irresponsible, egotistical or just plain crooked the prosecutors or judges are there, I doubt that those tiny facts would have been sufficient to bring it to the public’s attention if the “angel face” had been less angelic and the skin had been a shade “dusky”. Particularly, I’d bet doughnuts to dollars that no “investigative” journalist would have had the courage to look past the color of her skin, particularly if it meant speaking up about her possible sins against the white prosecutors proven sins and worse, the murder of a young WHITE American girl, crying out to be avenged. . She would have been sold down the river accompanied by a deafening and deadly silence.

I'm now having second thoughts about Sollecito. Click link for full profiles on the main trial protagonists.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009...cused-profiles

The prosecutor, Giuliano Mignini, has said that Sollecito was warned by a tutor at college about watching violent pornography.

Guede, who has always maintained his innocence, was found guilty of murdering Kercher in a fast-track trial in October last year and sentenced to 30 years in prison.

The 22-year-old was born in Ivory Coast and brought to Perugia as a child by his father but later had to fend for himself after his father returned to Africa. He found work and accommodation with a wealthy Perugia family. He played basketball and was a member of the city's team in 2004 and 2005.

The Congo-born Lumumba owned a bar called Le Chic where Knox occasionally worked. The 40-year-old was arrested in November 2007 after Knox implicated him in the killing, telling police he entered Kercher's bedroom in their shared house on the night of 1 November while she covered her ears in the kitchen.

He was only freed thanks to a Swiss academic who had talked politics with him at Le Chic that night – the sole customer. Back in Zurich, the man heard by chance about Lumumba's arrest and contacted police with an alibi. "That is one person in all this that I would really like to see again," Lumumba said in September last year.

The bar owner and musician, who is now a free man and has been cleared of any involvement in the crime, has described Knox as "a lion disguised as a lamb". He is seeking defamation damages from her.

"Why did she accuse me?" Lumumba asked last year. "The black is always the killer in films, and I am convinced that is why she named me as her way of derailing the investigation."

He closed down Le Chic in August last year and is trying to rebuild his life.

"I am staying in Perugia but I have to decide on my future now. I just want a normal life but it will take time for scars to heal."

[Rose]

Rose,

Take a guess the race of his adoptive parents?…… (yes, you are right… brown eye Caucasians due to the Moors raping their women a few centuries ago)….

The problem with unbalanced Nubian youths, once they are allowed into Caucasian environment they jettison all traces of their identity and spend all their time trying to proof to their part-time Caucasian friends that they are loyal and harmless (especially, if rewarded with a Caucasian demoiselle).

I have a good friend in Italy that the opinionated, glorified Caucasians Social Service/Mafia Government kidnapped their beautiful Nubian Children and before they knew what was happening the Nubian Children were allocated to different families all over the Tomato producing country….. my friend has been trying to get the Children back, but he knows he is facing a big battle…..

Don’t be surprise if Rudy was kidnapped and handed to the descendants of Moorish invaders as house Pet……

Rudy is up a creek. See portion of his profile below.

[Fjord]

This has all the ingredients of a media magnet: Causcasian middle-class American girl, British girl, an Italian man, an African man, sex, drugs, stabbing, death...

The Italian justice system has worked reasonably well here, the media attention notwithstanding.

Lumumba, absent any planned further action, has already been awarded €48,000; the police will pay 8,000, Knox's will pay the balance; this, of course, does not compensate for the injustice he's suffered.
.

[Rose]

Fjord, I believe there's a lot of truth in what you reported about Rudy and the circumstances he now finds himself in. If he had a good enough grasp of Amanda’s personality like Lumumba then you can understand him fleeing. His story is not that far fetched to me. Did you hear anything about a casual relationship he may have had with the victim?

[Rose]

I do not believe rudy is innocent. we may never know.
If i am in a room and i hear screams, the first thing i would do is to be calling emergency numbers not running to germany.
basically what amanda knox tried may have worked in America from what i have heard about accusing black men of things. It did not work in this case and she has gone down.
But let us not start playing the race card here.
Lumumba was innocent and cleared, rudy was not.

Oh please! The race card was first played when Amanda accused Lumumba...remember?

[Rose]

This has all the ingredients of a media magnet: Causcasian middle-class American girl, British girl, an Italian man, an African man, sex, drugs, stabbing, death...

The Italian justice system has worked reasonably well here, the media attention notwithstanding.

Lumumba, absent any planned further action, has already been awarded €48,000; the police will pay 8,000, Knox's will pay the balance; this, of course, does not compensate for the injustice he's suffered.

I see many Americans are desperately trying to find evidence the Italians bungled this case. I hope they do not dare try and appeal to Obama.

[HolyPagan]

I see many Americans are desperately trying to find evidence the Italians bungled this case. I hope they do not dare try and appeal to Obama.

A young Beautiful, Girl with her future ahead of her was murdered...in cold blood...They can spin it all they want....Meredith Kercher is dead and somebody killed her and all the evidence points to those 3.

[chaos.com]

Oh please! The race card was first played when Amanda accused Lumumba...remember?

yes and he got cleared, so why do you think rudy is also a race card victim?

[Fjord]

I see many Americans are desperately trying to find evidence the Italians bungled this case. I hope they do not dare try and appeal to Obama.

Appeal to Obama, for what? The idea is beyond laughable. So what if they try hard to appeal to the US president??

The Italian system of justice is superior to the American system in a case like this. Knox and her ex could appeal; they would have their time. Knox was being the criminal who'll cover up their tracks; Lumumba was an easy target, it could've been someone else.
.

[I Love Nigeria]

Rose wrote

I see many Americans are desperately trying to find evidence the Italians bungled this case. I hope they do not dare try and appeal to Obama.

AND that will not be the first time


Legal history in the preceding decades, are indicative and illustrative of how legal systems outside the US is maligned and ridiculed.

1. An American, Michael Fay, vandalized cars in Singapore and was tried and sentenced and Singapore was criticized so much... the focus was on Singapore instead of the idiocy of the offender.

2 Many American military men have been defendants in Japanese courts frequently, for rapes, for rapes and murders of Japanese women, frequently, the defendants are shielded and the Japanese legal system is subjected to scrutinies and parodies. And another year rolls by, then, there another rape and the process repeats.

3. Italy recently tried several Americans (CIA agents and military intelligence) for kidnapping some Arabs in Italy, soon after September 11, 2001... the Arabs were subsequently found innocent... the Italian courts were completely ignored by the US... the Italian court sentenced the CIA guys in absentia... and Italian court received all criticisms.

4. Meanwhile, when Mexicans, for instance, commit murders in the US, we do not want to hear what their families or government have to say... in fact, there have been cases, where the UN Protocols/conventions/treaties have been violated/ignored... the US fails to inform Mexican Consular Services of the fact that Mexicans are being held as defendants and this have been litigated more than once recently.

5. Is race a factor? Does race remain a factor in these things? You Bet!


There are many cases outside of the US, in which an American is a defendant... and the default position always seem to be to defend the American no matter how heinous or egregious the offense is.

I know it is America duty to defend her citizens anywhere in the world... I will like to be defended and rescued as an American citizen.... but, I should also comport myself as an American citizen... wherever I go... I should obey local laws and norms... don't break foreign laws, then, seek to avoid the consequences by nick picking the justice system in the locales ... I am not above the law anywhere... When in Rome, act the Romans do... or be seen as arrogant or unsophisticated .... uncouth or both.

I quite understand using back door channel to lobby for citizens in legal trouble... this is frequently practiced... but, this is quite different from denigrating, maligning and ridiculing the justice system of other nations and subverting them... after our guys brake foreign laws carelessly or arrogantly or stupidly... like Amanda Knox did in this case under consideration here.

[I Love Nigeria]

http://community.nytimes.com/comment...e/05italy.html

http://www.nytimes.com/imagepages/20...cnd_knox3.html


Amanda Knox was taken to court Friday to hear the verdict in her murder trial in Perugia, Italy.


Amanda Knox arrived Friday for her sentencing in Perugia, Italy. Ms. Knox, 22, was sentenced to 26 years in prison

[Rose]

@ILN,

There are many cases outside of the US, in which an American is a defendant... and the default position always seem to be to defend the American no matter how heinous or egregious the offense is.

I know it is America duty to defend her citizens anywhere in the world... I will like to be defended and rescued as an American citizen.... but, I should also comport myself as an American citizen... wherever I go... I should obey local laws and norms... don't break foreign laws, then, seek to avoid the consequences by nick picking the justice system in the locales ... I am not above the law anywhere... When in Rome, act the Romans do... or be seen as arrogant or unsophisticated .... uncouth or both.

I quite understand using back door channel to lobby for citizens in legal trouble... this is frequently practiced... but, this is quite different from denigrating, maligning and ridiculing the justice system of other nations and subverting them... after our guys brake foreign laws carelessly or arrogantly or stupidly... like Amanda Knox did in this case under consideration here.

IMO when Americans commit crimes in other countries deep down people know they are guilty, but it becomes all about winning and maintaining an "image". I reflected on all the foreign citizens in American jails and have concluded Americans hate for others to sit in judgment of us, but it's ok and just the other way around. I've heard of multiple rapes by American GIs in Japan and other locations, and have noticed they always find a way to dismiss the foreign judicial system as flawed. Now that it's happening to American servicewomen by fellow Americans in and around Iraq...citizens want fulll investigations and the culprits prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. Like you, I watch my arse when I'm away from home.

[Rose]

yes and he got cleared, so why do you think rudy is also a race card victim?

It's not unusual for whites to scapegoat Blacks as a means of covering their own crimes. I'm sure Amanda had a lot of confidence in her natural ability to lie and manipulate others while I believe Rudy was there more to socialize, smoke and the possibility of sex. I'll change my position if there's any evidence Rudy understood in advance what was to go down that night. Because of his precarious situation in Italy, I do not believe Rudy went to the apartment with the intention of harming Meredith.

Being that Raphael was into violent porn, I can see him falling in cahoots with Amanda particularly if he felt rejected by Meredith. I read many of the guys Amanda brought to the apartment became more interested in Meredith which only fueled Amanda's rage and jealousy. I read, in fact, that she did lose her job at Lumumba's place to Meredith so she perceived the poor girl as a serious competitor and hated/plotted against her in all likelihood. I'm always distrustful of "fake" men and women like Amanda and watch who I keep company with. I'm also very peculiar when it comes to visiting people I do not know that well. I have a fear of being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

[I Love Nigeria]

Tell it sister!

Rose, you insightful analysis, is identical with mine... let those who would learn from these types of incidents ... learn... and just as the cliche goes... a word is enough for the wise. Those who want to ignore the obvious, can go on, on their merry way, to doing just that.

[I Love Nigeria]

Just as expected? Predictably!

December 6, 2009
Italy Verdict Draws Ire in the U.S.
By RACHEL DONADIO
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/06/wo...gewanted=print

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.

[Rose]

@ILN,

I knew it! The bottomline is they do not want to accept the evidence against Amanda. They know she's guilty as sin. The fact that she tried to frame Lumumba speaks volume about her true character but no one seems concerned about that.

Ms. Cantwell said she would convey her concerns to Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton.

[Fjord]

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

All the Americans talking nonsense about "reasonable doubt", and "lack of evidence" 're only exhibiting their ignorance of a justice system superior to that of the US. The fundamental things to remember are that this isn't the adversarial system, and that in cases like this, Italian courts are more interested in justice being served: they're courts of justice, not courts of law.

And: the jusdges in this case, two of them, will have to write opinions. That's a system. Knox will get another go if she wants, but she'll be in jail while all that goes on.
.

[chaos.com]

TBH i could not care less about the family in the US moaning about the trial.

true rudy might be a framed victim but we do not know that and it always pays to watch the company you keep.

[Fjord]

true rudy might be a framed victim but we do not know that and it always pays to watch the company you keep.

Guede was almost certainly not framed.

.

[Rose]

Unlike in the American system, where appeals center on issues of law, not fact

True. But they didn't feel the same when OJ beat them at their own game.

[Rose]

This comment expresses much of what I feel towards Amanda. No one better come to me with a petition calling for justice for this conniving woman. Folks, look for Dateline's show which aired last night.

Amanda Knox is very likely guilty. I’ve been following the case from the beginning. The reasons to suspect her guilt are abundant and at times overwhelming. She may remind the author of this story of their daughter and thus inspire sympathy. I sympathize with that feeling because in fact Amanda reminds me personally of myself - she looks a little like me some years back and we went to near by schools, and I would never do what I think she did, but that doesn’t change —— the facts of the case which show that she very likely did it.

If you go through and really read all the interviews objectively and look at the lists of clues they did find, etc. Amanda was jealous of Meredith. Meredith had a certain serene grace glow about her — that as fresh faces as Amanda was - she felt overshadowed. Amanda lost her job at a bar to Meredith. This enraged Amanda because it was not just a paycheck to her but it was status and a social life. And jealousy had already been intense between the girls. Meredith was also uncomfortable w/ Amanda’s sexual exploits and Amanda felt all the more angered to be judged by the girl that the men she was sleeping with really wanted even more. I think Amanda did help her boyfriend and Rudy rape Meredith and Amanda stabbed her to death in the process. Go back and really read up on the case, it very much looks like she did it.