13 Replies to "Amanda Knox trial: Jury gets the case"

• Meg December 4, 2009 (8:50 am)

  Regardless of whether or not the jury finds Amanda innocent the family is in my thoughts today. This had to have been a very trying event.

• John Michael O'Loughlin December 4, 2009 (8:51 am)

  There are very good reasons why a Juror or Judge does well to be certain beyond a reasonable doubt that an accused is guilty of a crime before casting a vote for conviction…

  I urge the Italian Judges and Jury who would vote Amanda and Raffaele guilty to be certain of their verdict beyond a reasonable doubt in their hearts and in their minds before they would convict and send any young man and young woman to a maximum security prison to spend the rest of their lives. I know that they can recess the trial and review evidence in January of 2010 if they have any lingering doubts, and this sounds like a reasonable course of action if they are not convinced of guilt beyond a reasonable doubt in Amanda and Raffaele…

  The prosecution has failed to prove either Amanda or Raffaele guilty beyond a reasonable doubt of murdering Meredith. While it’s true that the Italian court has the power to convict these two college kids on suspicion and circumstantial or flawed evidence, they do not have the power to prevent the case from being retried in the popular media over, and over, and over again during the coming decades in Italy, England, and in America in books, movies, on television, online, and in tabloids, newspapers, and magazines if Amanda and Raffaele are sent into the horror of a lifetime spent in prison while reasonable doubt remains in minds and in hearts as to their innocence.

• John Michael O\'Loughlin December 4, 2009 (9:13 am)

  Here is the problem: Many judging in Italy have reasonable doubt as to Amanda and Raffaele’s guilt and, at the same time, they have reasonable doubt as to their innocence! These two college kids are trapped between life and death in the minds of many Italians…..what to do if you’re a Juror or Judge? Do you hold them for years without trial while trying to make up your mind or to gather more evidence. Where does their period of limbo end? When?

  Now, the question becomes this: Should I free a person who might be guilty or should I send a person who might be innocent to spend a lifetime in prison? Which is the better of the two paths I might take and which is worse… And, I will answer this question in this way…if the matter is in such doubt, then a verdict of not guilty is the best verdict to remove the very real risk of sending an innocent into the horror of a lifetime in prison while there is reasonable doubt as to their guilt. The lower the strictness of the standard for a declaration of guilt resulting in conviction, then the greater will be the proportion of innocents who have been unjustly imprisoned after being wrongfully convicted! The standard must be along the lines of a “reasonable doubt” in the minds of fair people after examining all evidence at trial, and all those who have not been shown to be guilty by the prosecution beyond a reasonable doubt should be set free.

  Better to have someone who is possibly guilty walk free than it is to have someone who is possibly innocent punished, life ruined, and having years of their life wasted while imprisoned, and have this happen to them while in their innocence of the charges against them.

• DML December 4, 2009 (9:27 am)

  http://www.theatlanticwire.com/opinions/view/opinion/4-Problems-the-Amanda-Knox-Trial-1800

  Good summation of the problems with this trial.

  “The Lack of Physical Evidence Egan also points out that there is “no physical evidence placing Amanda Knox at the … crime scene, the room where the killing took place. Zero.” Tizana Fabi writes that “American lawyers and experts” have long “criticized the evidence” in the case. Recently, the Idaho branch chief of the Innocence Project, Greg Hampikian, has also stated that the controversially small quantity of DNA evidence in the case is “”meaningless under prevailing standards in U.S. courts.”

  Prayers for all the families.

• Brian December 4, 2009 (9:50 am)

  Italian law is the joke of the European countries. It is really looked down upon. All show.

  Unfortunately for the Knox family, I believe Amanda will be found guilty and jailed for life with the parents arrested for slander seconds after the verdict.

  It’s just the way it is over there. Western society has a very hard time understanding other country’s court system.

• luckymom30 December 4, 2009 (10:03 am)

  We too send our prayers to all the families.

• mimi bell December 4, 2009 (12:15 pm)

  Free a guilty person because you are not 100% convinced by the prosecutions arguments, and they are free to kill again. Convict, and Italy automatically sends the case to Appeals. The family and “friends” of the two now awaiting the verdict have very conveniently overlooked well- documented drug use (to the draining of both students’ bank accounts (hence a temptation to steal the victim’s rent money), hedonistic tendencies (how many strange men can we sleep with in how many weeks/so what’s wrong with watching animal porn?) and repeated lies/ changing alibis. Edda Mellas: why would Amanda be distressed enough to phone and wake you up, ignore your suggestion, as a normal, concerned parent, that she hang up and immediately phone the police, and then utterly forget having made that phone call?

• sam December 4, 2009 (12:34 pm)

  I feel for all of the parents dealing with this heartbreaking situation, including Meredith Kercher’s parents.

  why don’t any Seattle news outlets mention that this is a trial for the murder of Meredith Kercher in their little summaries about the story?

  here is another link for google news on this tragedy

  http://tinyurl.com/trialnews

  just a question. I haven’t been attending the trial so I don’t know what the facts are. Just feel for the parents of all involved who hope for some type of closure.

• Bob Loblaw December 4, 2009 (1:02 pm)

  Tracy: From AP …

  BC-EU–Italy-Student Slain, Advisory,0038
  EDITORS:
  Court officials in Perugia, Italy, say a verdict in the trial of American student Amanda Knox for the slaying of a British woman will be announced about midnight (2300 GMT, 6 p.m. EST) Friday.
  The AP
  (Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
  APTV 12-04-09 1551EST

• WSB December 4, 2009 (1:14 pm)

  Thanks, I was just about to post that, figures it was announced while I was driving (had to go make sure the totem pole hadn’t reappeared, among other errands) – TR

• Bonovino December 4, 2009 (3:38 pm)

  The sentence includes 9 daylight hours of solitary confinement for the first year.

• Robin December 5, 2009 (11:58 pm)

  This innocent girl has been unjustly convicted! Who do we turn to-the American people-to help this family? I am terribly upset for this family and the situation they are in. Where is our government officials? How can we help get Amanda the results she deserves. She is not a killer! Who do we write or send money to help this family? I am distressed by this situation. My desires of visiting Italy are no longer there until this is resolved and Amanda is home in the U.S. Not to mention the young guy in Italy who I feel has been wrongly convicted.

• Neil December 7, 2009 (11:19 am)

  Robin,

  Were you at the trial (what with you being so certain and everything)? Do you think an Italian jury would convict a young women of murder on a whim? Or perhaps they’re too stupid to evaluate the evidence they’ve heard and the people in front of them?

  She’s been found guilty of murder after due process – get over it!

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