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Tag: Italy trial

  • Meredith Kercher’s Murder Case, Still Not “At Rest”

    Criticism, anguish, and remembrance still, and will always, linger upon the night that Meredith Kercher was brutally murdered, like a nightmare that one cannot escape. Her family is simply in search of the truth, so that their loved one could finally rest in complete peace. Yet, the case continues and brings forth the same raw emotions as if it occurred yesterday.

    During November of 2007, Kercher was found dead in her bedroom, with multiple stab wounds and her throat slashed, at her home where she resided with other exchange students in Perugia, Italy. Amanda Knox, Kercher’s roommate, and Raffaele Sollecito, Knox’s boyfriend at the time, were both arrested, questioned, tried, and eventually convicted of the murder in 2009. Knox faced twenty-six years in prison, Sollecito faced twenty-five years, and Rudy Guede, who was also a key figure in the investigation, was sentenced to sixteen years in a separate trial.

    Through all of this, media sensationalism elevated rather quickly, and two distinct images of Amanda Knox were formulated to be seen by the public. There was the image of a “party-girl” who used alcohol, drugs, and sex for excitement and the image of a “good-girl” who succeeded in both academic and athletic fields. No median existed for Knox, as she was alleged either to be an angelic woman, who was capable of no harm, or an evil one, who hid the truth well. The sub-human context of Knox during the trial allowed for her past transgressions to be put on display and under a microscope. Her family stood firm by her side, financially, emotionally, and mentally, and continue to do so.

    In 2011, after being in prison for approximately four years, Knox and Sollecito were acquitted based on flawed DNA evidence, after a lengthy appeals process. In March of 2013, their acquittals were overturned by Italy’s highest courts and both are facing a “re-run of their appeal”. The first court hearing occurred on Monday, September 30, 2013, in Florence, Italy, which discussed procedural issues and the dates of upcoming hearings. According to reports, Sollecito plans on attending some of the hearings, and Knox refuses to appear at all. It has been two years since their release from prison, and the case continues yet again. Prosecutors have criticized the appeals court for dismissing, what they believed was, sufficient DNA evidence, which forced them to begin the process again. If the conviction is confirmed, Italy will request for her extradition.

    Amanda Knox currently lives in Seattle, Washington and studies creative writing. She insists on her innocence and believes that the truth has already been revealed, during the appeals process. Knox has suggested how she would like to visit Kercher’s grave, but Kercher’s family requested her to stay away. She is also writing a book, “Waiting to be Heard”, which is due to be released on April 30, 2014.

    Amid all of this controversy, Meredith Kercher cannot be forgotten. Amanda Knox will always be associated with the brutal murder, no matter what the outcome is. There will always be individuals in support of her, who believe that she has suffered immense pain, and those against her, who believe that justice should be served. It is whole-heartedly desired that ‘the truth’ shall find its way, through the barricades of flawed DNA evidence, numerous contradictions, and media sensationalism.

    Image via Wikimedia Commons

  • Amanda Knox to Face New Murder Trial in Italy

    The retrial of Amanda Knox for the now-famous 2007 murder of British student Meredith Kercher is due to open in Italy soon, according to the BBC, but the American will not be in court. Ms. Knox spent four long years in prison before her acquittal and she has always insisted that she is innocent.

    Ms. Knox and her Italian ex-boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito were found guilty in 2009, then acquitted on appeal in 2011. However in March, Italy’s highest court overturned both acquittals, ordering a fresh appeals process. The court strongly criticised the way the appeals court had dismissed important DNA evidence, ordering the whole process to begin all over again.

    The retrial that the prosecution has taken to Italy’s Supreme Court will open in the central Italian city of Florence. Reportedly, the first session is will most likely discuss procedural issues such as dates for further hearings.

    Ms. Knox, 26, is not required to be present for the retrial, however, if her previous conviction is confirmed, Italy can be expected to request her extradition. Earlier this month, she said she expected to win another acquittal, but that “common sense” told her not to return to Italy. “I was already imprisoned as innocent person in Italy,” she said. “I just can’t relive that.”

    “I thought about what it would be like to live my entire life in prison and to lose everything, to lose what I’ve been able to come back to and rebuild. I think about it all the time. It’s so scary. Everything is at stake.”

    Meredith Kercher, a 21-year-old student from Coulsdon, south London, was found dead in an apartment that she shared with Ms. Knox, a fellow exchange student. Prosecutors said Kercher, who had been repeatedly stabbed, apparently died in a sex game that went wrong.

    Ms. Knox insists that on the night of Kercher’s death she was at Mr Sollecito’s apartment, smoking marijuana while watching a movie. Another man, Rudy Guede from Ivory Coast, was convicted in a separate trial and sentenced to 16 years for his role in the killing.

    According to The Daily Beast, this is how it got to this point in Italian court proceedings: Guede’s murder conviction is final, having passed all three levels of the Italian judicial system, which would be first level, second level and high court. He is eligible for parole in 2016, but on Monday, Knox and Sollecito will have the chance to again appeal their first-level murder convictions in a new second, or appellate, trial.

    Italian law differs from American law in that this second appellate trial is not considered double jeopardy, because they are not being tried twice for the same crime, they are still being tried for the same crime. This step is merely a continuation of the original Italian judicial process. As crazy as it sounds, it is simply just how the justice system works in Italy.

    Image via wikimedia commons