Amanda Knox's lawyers are to appeal her murder conviction, while claims of anti-Americanism and trial by media add fuel to the fire, writes PADDY AGNEW
AFTER 22-YEAR-OLD American student Amanda Knox was given a 26-year sentence last Friday for the murder of her 21-year-old English flatmate, Meredith Kercher, the Italian justice system has come in for extensive criticism, especially from US sources. Was justice served?
Washington Democrat senator Maria Cantwell probably spoke for many Americans when she voiced the fear that “anti-Americanism” may have “tainted the trial”, while arguing that the prosecution’s evidence was simply not convincing.
The Knox family, understandably, expressed its disappointment but chose to do so by highlighting “attacks on Amanda’s character” by the media and the prosecution, saying: “[these attacks] had a significant impact on the judges and jurors and apparently overshadowed the lack of evidence in the prosecution’s case against Amanda”.
In a dignified news conference on Saturday, the Kercher family inevitably had a rather different view, saying they were “pleased that we’ve got a decision”.
Three people have now been convicted of the murder: Amanda Knox, her then boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito (25), and Ivory Coast national Rudy Guede. Sollecito was tried along with Knox and received a 25-year sentence last Friday while Guede had already been given a 30-year sentence in October 2008, after opting to be tried under a “fast track” legal process.
So have we had “closure” on this case? Hardly. From the start, it has systematically prompted as many questions as answers. It remains a crime with no obvious motive, no agreed murder weapon and no confession.
The case began on the morning of November 2nd, 2007, when police came knocking at the door of 7, Via della Pergola, in the lovely Umbrian hillside town of Perugia, a house that Kercher shared with, among others, Knox. Perugia has long been a favourite destination for foreign students. Except that this time the foreign idyll went tragically wrong.
The police had gone to Via della Pergola looking for the owner (Kercher) of two mobile phones that had been handed into the police. Instead, they found a murder scene. When they broke down the door to Kercher’s room, they found her lifeless, semi-naked body under a duvet on her bed. She was covered in bruises and more importantly, her windpipe had been crushed and her throat partially slashed.
It was at this point that Knox’s behaviour first aroused suspicion. On the day the body was discovered, she and Sollecito were picked up by TV cameras, embracing one another and kissing outside the crime scene house. For many, the attractive Knox looked like someone more concerned about the camera angles than the fact her housemate had just been murdered. Two days later, she and Sollecito were spotted by reporters as, giggling and much amused. They went shopping for sexy lingerie. All in all, some media commentators suggested, neither seemed very upset about Kercher’s murder.
Nor did Knox’s behaviour subsequent to her arrest on November 6th much help her. It was widely reported that during her interrogation in the police barracks, she had done “cartwheels” to pass the time while she had also brought her textbooks with her in order to study.
More importantly, in initial interrogations Knox had accused Congolese bar owner Patrick Lumumba of the killing, saying that he had been in the house at the time. Thanks to the evidence of a regular bar client who testified that Lumumba was in the bar at the time of the killing (some time from 8.30pm to 11pm on November 1st), he was released without charge.
Why had Knox accused an obviously innocent man? Had she and Sollecito tried to stage a false break-in? What to make of Sollecito’s apparent fascination with violent literature, recounting tales of killing female vampires (Kercher had “dressed up” as a female vampire on that Halloween night)? What to make of Knox’s MySpace pseudonym “Foxy Knoxy”, with its online account of sexual adventures and a short story describing the drugging and raping of a woman? Was the original gathering of forensic evidence totally botched, as the defence claimed? Why did Sollecito and Knox contradict one another in their initial interrogations?
According to Italian media reports, the jury had no doubts. The six civilian jurors and two judges voted unanimously for a guilty verdict against Knox and Sollecito. Knox’s lawyers have confirmed that they will appeal. As with many Italian legal proceedings, this one will “run and run”.