WebProNews

Tag: verdict

  • Amanda Knox: Sollecito Questioning Her Innocence?

    Amanda Knox just can’t catch a break. After being convicted last month for the now infamous 2007 murder of roommate Meredith Kercher, her ex-boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito is now admitting that he has questions about Knox’s behavior on the morning after Kercher’s murder, according to the Daily Mail.

    “Certainly I asked her questions,” Sollecito said in the interview for Italian TV, which aired in part on the Today show on Monday.

    He specified, “Why did you take a shower? Why did she spend so much time there?”.

    These are questions he says he doesn’t have the answers to. After the two have stuck together in their alibi for that night for so long and have refused to turn on each other in exchange for reduced jail time, why would he change his tune this late in the game?

    Sollecito could possibly be taking precautions by distancing himself from Knox, according to NBC legal analyst Lisa Bloom.

    “He’s saying that there’s some evidence that may apply to her that doesn’t apply to him.” she said. She could be right. There would be many benefits to distancing himself from Amanda Knox, however, earlier this month she denied the growing speculation.

    Knox states in her personal blog, “It has been claimed that, in this most recent round of closing arguments and in interviews since the latest guilty verdict, Raffaele and his defense attorneys have finally betrayed their resentment and started to put distance between him and me legally and personally. This is not the case. Actually, Attorney Bongiorno’s closing arguments and Raffaele’s latest statements pinpoint and attack a fundamental weakness in the prosecution’s case against both Raffaele and me that has been ignored for far too long: Raffaele is not a slave.”

    She then added, “Raffaele has plenty of reason for resentment, but not against me. The only reason he has been dragged into this is because he happens to be my alibi.”

    Knox also says that Sollecito has been in contact with her by email, and recently said this to her, “I don’t want to be punished for, nor have to continue to justify, those things that regard you and not me. Obviously the evidence demonstrates both of our innocence, but it seems that for the judges and the people this objectivity is of no importance.”

    So is this implication of his attempt at distance true or simply a ploy to insist on her guilt?

    Image via YouTube

  • Amanda Knox Verdict Expected Thursday

    Amanda Knox is sitting on pins and needles in her Seattle, Washington home today, as she awaits the verdict of her third murder trial which is presently in jury deliberations in Florence, Italy. A verdict is expected later on Thursday. Knox was previously convicted and served four years of prison time in Italy for the 2007 murder of her college roommate Meredith Kercher. When a court overturned that verdict, Knox returned home to the United States to start a new life. Several months ago she received word that yet a third trial would take place.

    While it was no doubt initially a huge relief to know she didn’t have to travel back to Italy for the third trial, that certainly hasn’t made these last few weeks any less daunting for the University of Washington student who wants nothing more than to live a normal life away from the public eye.

    Amanda Knox’s lawyer Carlo Dalla Vedova said he is “serene” about the impending verdict. He says the only conclusion the jury can draw is the “innocence of Amanda Knox.”

    Knox’s former boyfriend, Italian citizen Raffaele Sollecito was in the courtroom during the trial, accompanied by his father and other relatives. He took the stand back in November, claiming all allegations against him were “ridiculous.”

    If Amanda Knox is found guilty in this trial, Italy could request that she be extradited back to that country from the United States. Knox has said she will become a “fugitive” if found guilty again.

    The Amanda Knox trial has been a huge source of debate in the United States for years, with many believing the young woman is guilty and others believing she was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Her Italian trial certainly sheds credence on the American judicial system where one is innocent until proven guilty. Amanda Knox was deemed guilty in newspapers and on TV reports around the world from the time Meredith Kercher’s body was discovered.

    Probably the saddest part of this entire trial is that very little is ever said about Meredith Kercher. Everyone knows that Amanda Knox now lives in Seattle and attends the University of Washington, but can anyone recite a fact or two about who Meredith Kercher was? Probably not.

    Perhaps once a new verdict is read later on Thursday afternoon, Amanda Knox’s part in this can be put to rest and someone will shed light on Meredith Kercher’s life instead of her death. And maybe Amanda Knox will finally be able to put the entire horrific nightmare behind her.

    What do you think the jury’s verdict will be?

    Image via YouTube

  • Verdict Reached in Michael Jackson Death Trial

    Court officials have announced that the jury comprised of six men and six women in the Michael Jackson wrongful death case is about to deliver the much anticipated verdict.

    It’s scheduled to be read at 3:30 PM PT. TMZ will be live streaming the announcement on their website.

    Katherine Jackson and Michael’s three children are suing AEG, claiming the company negligently hired and supervised Dr. Conrad Murray. They’re also saying that he pushed Jackson way beyond his personal limits for his “This Is It” tour.

    Jackson’s mother sued concert promoter AEG Live LLC over the hiring of Murray. In 2009 Murray was the one who was convicted of involuntary manslaughter for giving Jackson an overdose of the anesthetic propofol.

    Katherine Jackson claimed AEG Live should have done a thorough background check on Murray.

    The company denied hiring Murray and said he had been picked by the singer as the doctor for his upcoming shows.

  • George Zimmerman Not Guilty

    A jury has found George Zimmerman not guilty on all counts in the trial of murder/manslaughter of Trayvon Martin.

    The jury deliberated for two days before returning the verdict. The case has polarized the opinions of the nation for months, with some saying that Zimmermann brutally took the life of a young black man with no cause, and others saying he was acting only in self-defense.

    A jury was tasked with determining beyond reasonable doubt whether Zimmerman killed Martin with malice aforethought, or even acted in a reckless manner that he knew could result in his death.

    According to Fox News, after the reading of the verdict, the judge told Zimmerman he was free to go: “You have no more business in this court.”

    And now to see what the reactions to the verdict will be. Prior to the reading of the verdict Seminole County Sheriff Don Eslinger said, “There is no party in this case who wants to see any violence. We have an expectation upon this announcement that our community will continue to act peacefully.”

    The trial and verdict echo the days of the O.J. Simpson trial and verdict, where a black man was accused of murder, but found not guilty in court. Though many have continued to believe that Simpson did commit the murders, they also agree that the burden of proof in the trial was not handled properly by the prosecution, and that the verdict was therefore appropriate judicially.

    There may be many who disagree with the verdict handed down my the jury in the Zimmerman case, not even finding him guilty on the secondary charge of manslaughter. But the question is whether or not the jury felt the prosecution had met that burden of proof: beyond reasonable doubt. Much of that had to do with whether they could prove that Zimmerman was not defending himself in the struggle with Martin, a task very hard to accomplish.

  • ‘Price Is Right’ Lawsuit Verdict Overturned

    ‘Price Is Right’ Lawsuit Verdict Overturned

    Do pregnancy discrimination laws extend to employment that is based on a woman’s physical attributes? Brandi Cochran thinks so. Unfortunately for her, a judge believes she will have to argue her case a second time.

    The Associated Press is reporting that a Los Angeles judge has found that the jury in Cochran’s discrimination trial was not properly instructed. Specifically, the judge determined that the jury should have been instructed to consider, when The Price is Right producers declined to have Cochran returning as a model, whether pregnancy discrimination was a “substantial factor.” The $8.5 million verdict awarded to her has now been wiped away and a retrial has been called for.

    While performing as a model on The Price is Right, the 41-year-old Cochran became pregnant and took maternity leave. When she tried to return to the show in 2010, she was turned down by producers, who told her they needed no more models. Cochran sued for pregnancy discrimination, alleging that her pregnancy was the reason the producers to let her go.

  • Oracle Likely Spent Millions Suing Google

    Oracle Likely Spent Millions Suing Google

    It was reported yesterday that in Google’s trial regarding Oracle’s accusations that the search giant infringed upon Java API patents in the development of its Android operating system, the jury has just found that no copyrights were violated. And apparently, Oracle never had much of a chance of winning, according to the foreman of the jury, who pointed out that the 12 were split 9-3 in Google’s favor. Now Penn Law Professor R. Polk Wagner speculates that Oracle might’ve spent as much as $10 million on the lengthy trial, all for naught.

    “I would assume this is a several million dollar trial,” Wagner told Ars Technica, adding, “Six weeks is a long trial, plus the case was fairly complex. I would not be surprised if (Oracle’s costs were) more than $10 million once you include the enormous amount of prep work.” Technology attorney Denise Howell points out that though Google too ran up a large tab for its defense, this is obviously easier to handle when one wins, and adds that Oracle might’ve actually spent tens of millions of dollars on the case. And even with the jury’s latest verdict, the trial isn’t over. Patent cases are typically ran by the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals, so the latest ruling isn’t yet set in stone.

    Still, the presiding Judge William Alsup has already dismissed the jury, and the damages phase of the trial has been cancelled. Oracle released a statement on the present state of the proceedings – “Oracle presented overwhelming evidence at trial that Google knew it would fragment and damage Java. We plan to continue to defend and uphold Java’s core write once run anywhere principle and ensure it is protected for the nine million Java developers and the community that depend on Java compatibility.”

    Oracle brought famous attorney David Boies on board, who had previously represented the Justice Department in the United States v. Microsoft and Al Gore in Bush v. Gore – and Boies will likely be running a tab for the next long while. Howell adds, “Oracle could definitely still get something out of this,” regarding the appeals process, though it’s evident that Oracle plainly wasted a lot of effort and money on little, if nothing.

  • Virginia Tech Verdict Gives Peace To Families Of Slain

    A verdict reached by a jury yesterday in a wrongful death case against Virginia Tech has awarded two victims’ families four million dollars each, but the money is not what matters, say the parents.

    Jurors sided with the Peterson and Pryde families, whose daughters Julia and Erin were killed in the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history when student gunman Seung-Hui Cho opened fire on his classmates in 2007. Cho fatally shot 32 people before turning the gun on himself, but not before he wounded 17 others. The families filed suit against the school for wrongful death, claiming officials didn’t do enough to warn students that they were in danger. During the trial, the parents’ attorneys claimed that campus police jumped to the conclusion that the first two victims were shot by a jealous boyfriend, and that the gunman was not a threat to others. They presented evidence that campus leaders heeded the police conclusion without question, then waited 2-1/2 hours before sending a campus-wide warning that a shooting had occurred. It did not say a gunman was still at large even though no one had been taken into custody at that time.

    Virginia Tech spokesman said in a statement, “We are disappointed with today’s decision and stand by our long-held position that the administration and law enforcement at Virginia Tech did their absolute best with the information available on April 16, 2007.”

    Both the Peterson and Pryde families were eligible to receive a share of the $11 million awarded after a lawsuit in 2008 and both rejected the money, instead making the decision to file a wrongful death suit.

    “When you know that something is right you’re not deterred from your course,” said Celeste Peterson. “We wanted the truth from the very beginning and we got it. All I know is today we got what we wanted.”