Equivocal reactions to the Amanda Knox case
A verdict has been rendered, acquitting her of the murder charge, but the questions about this fascinating case will go on for years.
Amanda Knox Defense Fund
The recent Amanda Knox verdict — or Knox-Sollecito verdict, or Meredith Kercher murder verdict, depending on your vantage point — seems to have generated declarative certitudes among local and other commentators. Yet, on examination, the whole matter would appear deserving of more equivocal reactions.
This should be said at the outset: No matter the country or jurisdiction involved, judges, jurors, prosecutors, and defense attorneys can be wise, stupid, honest, corrupt, independent, or influenced by political or media pressure. The excellent TV series, "Law and Order," makes quite clear in its episodes, often stolen from real-life cases, that the guilty sometimes are freed and the innocent punished. It doesn't just happen on television.
Another point: Human character is hard to read. We see it often in wartime. Seemingly mild and passive troopers show great heroism in combat. More macho fellow troopers do not fire their weapons. Former Boy Scouts commit atrocities and war crimes totally inconsistent with their prior lives. Ex-bad boys perform noble acts.
Here at home a lot of intelligent Seattleites, including some in the media, knew Ted Bundy as a handsome, personable law student and volunteer in moderate Republican politics.
A childhood friend of mine, a popular president of his high-school class, was the younger brother of a badly wounded World War II hero. When we both were in grade school, he proudly showed me his brother's bemedaled uniform hanging in his bedroom closet. Later, sponsored by Sen. Henry (Scoop) Jackson, he received an appointment to West Point, where I once visited and attended an Army football game with him. After a stint as a U.S. Army Ranger, he became a Southern California stockbroker with a wife and family. In the 1970s he found that his wife had a lover. She left their home, took their children, and moved with the lover to Spokane. My pal thereupon shot and killed the lover. He later wrote me, from the state penitentiary in Walla Walla, that committing the murder "had been like swatting a fly." A few years later he committed suicide in his cell in Shelton.
A University of Washington fraternity brother, also popular and genial, walked out the frat house's front door one noon hour, telling me that he "was going to visit my uncle in a hospital downtown." As it turned out, there was no uncle. My fraternity brother never returned but left all his belongings in his room. He disappeared from view until, a few years later, he was convicted of having murdered his grandparents, who had raised him, at their home in eastern Washington.
That is not to say that Amanda Knox, the convicted and then released local girl, was a monster behind her innocent Northwest face. If in fact she was innocent of Meredith Kercher's murder, as the Italian appeals court found, we all should rejoice at her homecoming. But there are many parts of the case that are cause for perplexity.
An Associated Press story Wednesday, written from Perugia, Italy, listed some of them. Another AP story, later in the day, quoted the Appeals Court presiding judge, Claudio Portillo Hellmann, as stating that Knox and Sollecito might in fact have known what happened in the 2007 murder of Kercher and that "the truth that was created in the trial" was not necessarily "the real truth."
"They [Knox and Sollecito] could also be responsible" for the murder, Judge Hellmann said, "but the proof isn't there."
Knox told prosecutors, following Kercher's killing, that she had been in their apartment that night and had covered her ears to drown out Kercher's screams as she was raped and killed. Both she and Raffaelle Sollecito, her co-defendant (and member of a prominent family), subsequently told conflicting stories of their whereabouts during the crime's commission. In one version, Knox said she had returned home after smoking hash and having sex with Sollecito at his apartment, discovering Kercher's body only later after taking a shower. Knox then falsely accused of the crime the owner of a local bar where she had worked. He has sued Knox for defamation. She then asserted that police had beaten her during interrogation. Police slander charges against her are pending.
Prosecutors and police assert that Knox's behavior in the hours after Kercher's murder showed disregard for her housemate's fate. Knox reportedly turned cartwheels and did splits at the police station as she awaited police questioning after the murder. She and Sollecito were observed by a clerk to be kissing and caressing while buying a G-string in a lingerie store the day after the murder. Knox explained her actions as those of someone who "tends to act a little silly" under stress. And that may be exactly what was happening. Stress triggers wide variations in behavior in different individuals.
Rudy Guede, a small-time Perugia drug dealer, was convicted in a separate trial of sexually assaulting and stabbing Kercher. He continues to assert that he was present in Kercher's room but did not kill her. He says Knox and Sollecito did it but has offered no proof. The high-court ruling affirming Guede's conviction said that Guede did not act alone but did not name Knox and Sollecito as accomplices. After Knox's and Sollecito's release on appeal, Guede has asked for reopening of his own case.
A local public relations consultant, David Marriott, has coordinated a public-relations effort on Knox's behalf since her initial conviction four years ago. It has emphasized family, childhood, and teenage photos of Knox in wholesome surroundings, intended to counteract the impact of Knox's own accounts of her sex-and-drugs, Paris-Hilton lifestyle in Perugia. It portrayed Knox as victim of a goofy Italian legal system and boneheaded police and prosecutors. The Knox family has in large part financed the campaign and, according to estimates, has spent most of its total assets to do so. Family members and friends visited Knox often during her four years in prison and were omnipresent during her trials. Sen. Maria Cantwell actively intervened to bring pressure on Italian authorities.
It appears Knox will have little problem getting the money she will need in the aftermath of her ordeal. Her loyal and loving family must be repaid. She needs to pay the money and court costs she owes to the bar owner she falsely accused. Depending on the outcome of the police slander charges against her, she may or may not owe more money in that case.
Early reports indicate that she can expect seven-figure compensation from exclusive TV and talk-show interviews, magazine interviews, any book she might write about her experience, and/or public appearances and autograph sessions at meetings or conventions. At least one commercial and TV film are being discussed. Knox will be able to meet current financial obligations and have enough left over to become wealthy for life. Her initial expressed desire, to return as an ordinary student to the University of Washington campus, would seem to have little chance of happening.
Snce the appeals court has reversed her lower-court conviction, Knox must be regarded as innocent, as is our tradition.
My heart goes out in particular to her family but also to the family of the raped and murdered Meredith Kercher, whose family still feels that justice has not been done and closure not reached. I have wondered, since Knox's return home, what our local reaction would have been if Kercher, the murdered girl, had been from Seattle and Knox, just released, had been from the United Kingdom and if the Kercher family had been the ones returning sadly to Sea-Tac late at night. Would all those TV cameras and breathless reporters have been out there?
The story, of course, is not over. Italian prosecutors have appealed the Appeals Court decision to the Italian Supreme Court. Years from now, you can be certain, the case will continue to be examined and reexamined in cable-TV movies and specials — yet another famous murder case with central-casting characters. In meantime, right now, a lot of anguish and uncertainty linger amidst the welcome-home cheers for Knox.
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Comments:
Posted Fri, Oct 7, 9:13 a.m. Inappropriate
If you see her hanging out with Tonya Harding, head for the hills.
Posted Fri, Oct 7, 9:20 a.m. Inappropriate
guilty, no doubt! the whole thing is sad!
Posted Fri, Oct 7, 10:16 a.m. Inappropriate
I agree with the Italian appeals court judge that both Knox and Solliceto know more about what happened that night than they have ever been willing to admit to the authorities. While I don't think they are actual murderers, at the same time I doubt if their hands are entirely clean in this. (If O. J. Simpson had been from Seattle, would we all have welcomed him back and cheered for him after his 'acquittal'?)
Posted Fri, Oct 7, 10:35 a.m. Inappropriate
Who the heck knows what happened that night? Certainly by reading about it in the local media we don't have a clear picture. We do know that Mr. Guede fled the country and had his DNA on Ms. Kercher. We also know that Ms. Knox only knew Ms. Kercher for a short period of time. And we know that Ms. Knox was under the influence during the time of the murder. Very little has been written in the local papers about the actions of Mr. Sollecito. But his DNA is not on Ms. Kercher, nor his finger prints on the murder weapon.
It appears to me that Ms. Knox and Mr. Sollecito are guilty of not coming to the aid of Ms. Kercher. Whether they could have done so in their diminished capacity from the drugs has not been established either.
What is clear to us budding home CSI experts is that murder by stabbing leaves a lot of blood splatters everywhere. If Ms. Knox and Mr. Sollecito participated in the actual stabbing, where is the blood splatter evidence? Is there blood on the sink handles where someone washed up afterwards? Are there foot prints in the splatters? Are their splatters on the walls? Is there any blood splatters in anyone's clothing?
If it was a sex murder by some ritualistic cult practice, as suggested by the fleet street level of media, does any of the three suspects have any previous history with such cults or practices?
In any case I doubt Ms. Knox will ever sleep without nightmares of the murder and her time in jail.
Posted Fri, Oct 7, 11:07 a.m. Inappropriate
I have followed this Kercher drama from the beginning and I am sorry to say that the true murderer will be difficult to find as the investigation was most insufficient to say the least of it. There is however one man Rudy Guede who is strongly involved in this since he has left ample traces of blood foot prints hand prints and even semen on and inside the victim. As for the other two involved Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito there is no trace no DNA no motive no murderweapon and no testimony that link them to the scene. The only possible explanation would be that they have flown like birds in the room where the murder took place if they have anything to do with the murder. The contradictory statements made at the so called interrogations have no value at all since they were extorted by using coercion. Then I find it most remarklable that Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito should have been even aquainted with Rudy Guede who were inferior to them in every aspect of the word. They didn't know him and why should they engage in a crazy sex game gone wrong if they were in love with each other. I strongly beleive they spent the night together and were more interested in each other than meeting Rudy Guede to have crazy kinky sex. All this part of the story is a product of mr Migninis perverted fantasy. So neither technically nor theoretically there is a reason to beleive that Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito were at the crime scene, knew of the crime until they the next day entered the cottage in which Amanda and Meredith lived or were in any way involved in the crime. It is also proven that Amanda was induced by the police to beleive that Patrick Lumumba was involved. So no matter how close you look at this case Amanda and Raffaele had nothing to do with it. So who did it? A more thourough investigation from the start would certainly have cast light on this. Now it is too late because of Mignini the incompetent prosecuter
Posted Fri, Oct 7, 1:51 p.m. Inappropriate
The Italian "justice" system can be charitably described with a word beginning with 'C' and ending with 'K'. It is unfortunate Ms. Knox was unlucky enough to get caught up in it, and I for one am very happy for her release and return to the U.S.
And I am hoping with all my heart that she is able to become filthy rotten stinking rich via a book and/or movie deal. She deserves to be made whole after her ordeal, and such a deal would be the only realistic way to accomplish that...
Posted Fri, Oct 7, 2:51 p.m. Inappropriate
If nothing else, Ted's piece affirms his final point - that discussions and arguments about the Knox case will go on, and on. No doubt. but a few points re this legal roller coaster are worth considering:
a) the much-maligned Italian legal system - it actually worked as designed. The system has 3 parts - a lower court trial, then two appeals (automatic, not dependent on finding error, etc.) before a final resolution. The 1st appeal level is meant to rigorously look at the factual/evidentiary basis of the lower court finding. The appeals court did so, and reversed the verdict. With all the clucking about the Italian system, I'm thinking we have some folks here in jail or death row or beyond who could have used some automatic appeals and thorough evidence reviews.
b) The judge's recent statement that Sollecito/Knox "could be responsible but the proof isn't there" is meaningless. If there's no proof, there's no proof.
c) I've been struck again and again by some parallels in this case to the character Meursault in Camus' "The Stranger," who is convicted at least in part by appearances, i.e. he didn't show the "expected" grief on the death of his mother, didn't want to see the body, smokes in front of the coffin, is seemingly indifferent, and so could be portrayed as an uncaring monster. Ted mentions Knox's cartwheels and splits, kissing Sollecito, buying lingerie (because she had no access to her wardrobe, as it was fenced off by police at the murder scene), as if, and certainly as many believe, they are signs of guilt or at least indifference rather than nervous/normal/necessary reactions. Knox certainly had a better legal team than Meursault.
It seems I've proved Ted's point about the discussion going on!!
Posted Fri, Oct 7, 4:13 p.m. Inappropriate
It would seem that Wikipedia has a pretty good outline of the known events of the trial, the purported evidence and the characters involved.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Meredith_Kercher
Posted Sat, Oct 8, 6:48 a.m. Inappropriate
Thanks for the comments. Mike James makes especially good points about the Italian legal system. In many ways it is superior to ours, as he points out. It took a beating, in particular, from Knox allies who
sought to discredit it.
As my piece pointed out, Knox's behavior after the murder might have seemed inappropriate to prosecutors, police, and others but was entirely consistent with stress-related behavior seomtimes
observed in such situations. I did not think of the parallels to Meursault in "The Stronger" but should have.
I've gotten phone calls and e-mails, independent of the comment stream, asking my gut feelings about what happened in Perugia. Obviously,
the only thing certain is that Guede, the drug dealer, participated in the sexual assault and murder. His DNA was all over the scene. The court confirming his conviction said he had accomplices, the implication being that Knox and Sollecitto were his accomplices. On the other hand, the court might have been mistaken.
The most troubling thing to me is Knox's false accusation of murder against a man who was innocent. Also troubling, of course, are the
various stories told by Knox and Sollecitto about their whereabouts and activities on the night of the murder. Neither of those things, however,
means they were guilty of murder.
It is conceivable but difficult to believe that they did the killing.
Their behavior after the murder, however, leads to an inescapable conclusion that they had knowledge they felt they had to hide. They spent four years in jail because of it, which is unfortunate if they were wholly uninvolved and ignorant.
I am mildly offended by the circus-like environment which attended Knox's return home. A quite return to family, without mobilizing supporters and
notifying media re Knox's arrival time and flite number, might have been more appropriate, given the fact that the Kercher family still has not found closure regarding their daughter's tragic murder. I hope Knox will avoid the talk-show circuit and conduct herself with restraint in the months ahead.
Posted Mon, Oct 10, 1:21 p.m. Inappropriate
Knox has no choice but to become a traveling circus. She has millions to collect and pay back for her freedom. Events have totally overtaken her life, she has to write that book, make those media events, do the dog and pony show for whoever has money to pay. What she says of course should be done with restraint if she would like to become a normal person again. But who knows what the truth is.
"What lurks in the hearts of men? Only the SHADOW knows!"
Posted Mon, Oct 10, 9:36 p.m. Inappropriate
"The most troubling thing to me is Knox's false accusation of murder against a man who was innocent."
The claim is that she was interrogated so long by police and they suggested it was a black man and she fingered her boss. All police interrogations are usually long and unpleasant affairs but throwing her boss under the bus to save herself? Not good.
The point needs to be made that her conviction of slander against him was UPHELD by the appeals court. She is a convicted liar and owes $29k in fines for it to her former boss.
It is sad that the cry is that she was unjustly accused and yet she did that to her former boss. She did not recant her statements against him to police; the police cleared him on their own.
So she unjustly accused someone of a crime and would have been content to allow him to rot in jail for something he didn't do.
She may not be a murderer but she is not exactly an innocent.
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