Italy: Amanda Knox

There is no good in this situation. The British girl is dead....her family distraught. Amanda is either a.) guilty and is going to serve many years b.) guilty and will get off c.) innocent and will serve a long long sentence d.) innocent and and will be acquitted, but with her life clouded by the ordeal. Her parents are no doubt wrecked. Just terrible all the way around.

Agreed.  I have no idea if she committed the crime or not, but all the evidence against her is either petty or have been badly handled by the police.

but all the evidence against her is either petty or have been badly handled by the police.

I don't understand the rules of DNA as evidence in Italy, but from what I have read some botching took place - at least according to some experts. The 'witness' - a wino in the park apparently - who saw the two 'talking excitedly' is about as credible as a wino in the park. Apparently he saw buses that weren't even running that night.

The verdict came in today and she's been acquitted.

Well the cops messed it up with the evidence. 

I can understand why, they probably haven't had many murders.  It is a international student draw, so you want to get someone. Pressure from the prosecutor. 

Yeah, I'm not sure how I feel about it. I just can't decide whether I think she's guilty or not. I hope Kertcher family receives justice somehow. I think so much has been made about Knox that everyone has forgotten the true victim in this.

They have justice.  They just aren't happy about it.

The guy whose DNA was found on their daughter, the guy whose fingerprints were found in her blood, the guy who fled the country has been put in jail.  The guy who clearly lied about the crime scene. He is in jail.

There was no other solid evidence (DNA, fingerprints) that any one else was involved.

Knox sounds semi-obnoxious, like every other 20 year old college student who goes away to a foreign country and decides to get herself a man.  Sex toys, condoms, PDAs. I am sure they didn't get along, but that is a far leap to murder.

For some reason the cops decided that the crime had multiple perpetrators, even though there was no evidence of it at the time. 

Yeah, I'm not sure how I feel about it. I just can't decide whether I think she's guilty or not. I hope Kertcher family receives justice somehow. I think so much has been made about Knox that everyone has forgotten the true victim in this.

This.  If she definitely is innocent, then I'm glad she is freed.  I just think it's sad that it's become such a media circus.

They have justice.  They just aren't happy about it.

The guy whose DNA was found on their daughter, the guy whose fingerprints were found in her blood, the guy who fled the country has been put in jail.  The guy who clearly lied about the crime scene. He is in jail.

There was no other solid evidence (DNA, fingerprints) that any one else was involved.

Knox sounds semi-obnoxious, like every other 20 year old college student who goes away to a foreign country and decides to get herself a man.  Sex toys, condoms, PDAs. I am sure they didn't get along, but that is a far leap to murder.

For some reason the cops decided that the crime had multiple perpetrators, even though there was no evidence of it at the time. 

This. I don't know for sure that Knox and Sollecito are innocent but I definitely have more than reasonable doubt that they're guilty. All of the evidence points to the other guy as the one who did it. It's very sad, for sure, all around.

Is it just me or does America have some strange fascination with murder trials? OJ Simpson, Amanda Knox, Casey Anthony, Lacy Peterson (and others that I can’t remember right now). Do high-profile murder trials capture the public attention in other countries as much as they do in America? Or am I just bitter because my mother neglected me for most of 1995 because of OJ?

Yes.  Every country is obsessed with big trials, but in general they are only obsessed with those in their country.  Probably the whole look at what we could/have become.

It is just that the US is so big that we have more to look at.  If all of Europe cared about every big trial in every other country in Europe then no one would ever get anything done.

I mean no one outside of Italy cares about mob trials and no one outside of the UK really cared about Shipman and no one outside of Canada cared about Homolka.

And everyone cares when a cute little kid goes missing.

I guess you are in the US right now, because the main story on the news here is all M. Jackson and A. Knox. 

no one outside of the UK really cared about Shipman

Murder buffs worldwide know about him. More seriously his case raised concerns worldwide about HCSKs (healthcare serial killers) cases of which seem to be on the increase over the last couple of decades, and has led to debate and discussion about vigilance, monitoring, accountability etc. But I know what you mean.

Is it just me or does America have some strange fascination with murder trials? OJ Simpson, Amanda Knox, Casey Anthony, Lacy Peterson (and others that I can’t remember right now). Do high-profile murder trials capture the public attention in other countries as much as they do in America? Or am I just bitter because my mother neglected me for most of 1995 because of OJ?

One difference between the US and UK is that they televise trials in the US....they don't in the UK. Also from what I've seen on US TV they are allowed to speculate on cases far more than they can in the UK where it would be deemed as a contempt of court and putting the prospects of a fair trial in jeopardy.

Not all jurisdictions allow televised trials, and even in those that do, not all cases are televised. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Courtroom_photography_and_broadcasting

It's sort of a misconception that any case has the possibility to be televised if there is enough public interest.

I doubt we'll ever know what really happened.  I'm glad she served some time for falsely accusing the bartender though.