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Amanda Knox GUILTY on All Charges!
57 Comments | Posted by Sasha in Amanda Knox, Ashley Knox, Italy, Meredith Kercher, Raffaele Sollecito, justice
Amanda Knox, an exchange student from Seattle, Washington living in Italy, was found guilty today of murdering her roommate.
An Italian jury has found American student Amanda Knox and her Italian boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito guilty in the stabbing death of British exchange student Meredith Kercher.
Knox was sentenced to 26 years in prison and Sollecito was sentenced to 25 years.
The two were convicted on all charges except theft.
Knox, wearing a lime jacket, her hair in a single braid, began to sob — her sniffles and sobs punctuating the otherwise silent courtroom — as the judge read the verdict quietly, without expression.
Few of the eight jurors looked at her. Six of the jurors were wearing red, white and green sashes — the colors of Italy’s flag.
Amanda’s case — which begun in 2007 — has had Americans increasingly frustrated with the Italian justice system, and the Italians increasingly frustrated with Americans. Knox’s mother wore a red, white and blue outfit, complete with hot pants, to the trial on the Fourth of July. Amanda’s younger sister, Ashley Knox, defied the prohibition on minors attending sex-related hearings and had to be removed from the proceedings.
Both Amanda and her boyfriend are expected to appeal the ruling.
Thoughts?
I’ve heard that none of her DNA was found on the scene of the murder,which is practically impossible. She’s not telling all she knows though,but I don’t think she did the killing.
I don’t know whether or not Knox was guilty, but I do know that America needs to break its nasty habit of getting indignant about other countries punishing American citizens for breaking the law. Such as in the case of an American young man receiving a caning for his crimes (the standard punishment), Americans need to know that they are not above the law anywhere in the world. If you willingly set foot on their soil, you MUST willingly accept their laws.
Ugh. I know a lot about this case – not involved with it at all but have studied it extensively – and Ms. Knox is almost certainly NOT guilty. The only DNA of hers found at the scene was on a knife which was found months after the authority’s theory of the crime was established and the shape of which was inconsistent with the victim’s injuries.
Rudy Guede, the man who was convicted last year for this murder, confessed. He spent several months confessing, telling a version of what happened that did not include Ms. Knox (or her then-boyfriend). Later, after Italian authorities suggested their theory of the crime (which was that Ms. Knox, her boyfriend and a third man murdered Ms. Kercher in a drug-fueled orgy) to Mr. Guede, he changed his story.
The lead investigator on this case is the same man who bungled the so-called Monster of Florence case. It seems clear that he’s trying to re-establish this own credibility by “solving” another high-profile crime.
@Victoria. I know little about this case. In your opinion, why did the jury find her guilty? Just being American? And what motive was she supposed to have?
She has told a couple different versions of her actions on the night in question. First off she said she was at her boy friends all night,then later said she was there and heard the assault,but can’t remember much.
She never said that she heard the assault. During her interrogation (14 hours, during which she did not have a professional interpreter, food, or a break) she was asked to “imagine” how the crime might have been committed. She complied. That’s where the idea of her changing her story came from.
My impression is that Ms. Knox was a convenient scapegoat for an investigator who was pressured to quickly resolve the case.
I thought she said she covered her ears,its hard saying,seems like every article I read seems to have a different version of events.
this girl is at least guilty of poor judgement, and another girl is dead
when one goes to another country smoking pot and having a sex party with people you barely know is
not smart
americans are not above the law and are often looked upon as easy targets
“americans are not above the law and are often looked upon as easy targets”
I notice this statement being repeated. What’s it supposed to mean?
A lot of Americans get very obnoxious when abroad. Not all of them by a long stretch but the obnoxious ones are of course the most vocal. There are a lot of people in other countries who don’t object to seeing an American being taken down a peg or two and if you can convict one of murder, well that’s going to stop more of them showing up. Heck, I love America enough to go through years of immigration procedures to move here but even I giggled every time I saw an American tourist bitching about not being able to pay for stuff in dollars or the fact that our nearest McDonalds and Burger King were 16 miles away. I lived in a big golf town so I got smacked with golf bags and hit by golf balls on a fairly regular basis and the culprits were almost always American tourists and they rarely apologized.
The french were voted the most obnoxious tourists. Germans are pretty bad too and waitresses in the USA dread waiting on Canadians because they never leave a tip. At least Americans tip well.
Where you from anyway?
As a Canadian citizen and a former waitress, who tips according to the service she receives. I take offense to your offhand comment.
The truth hurts doesn’t it?
Except it’s not true. You are such a troll.
I mean no offense here, and of course, one cannot lump every single person together in a group, but I worked in an industry where your wages were tip realated and in general Canadians were noted as being poor tippers.
I don’t know why, nor did it stop me from performing my job the best to my ablility. The Canadians were very nice, polite, friendly people, but for whatever reason, didn’t belive in tipping.
I don’t think it’s so much that they don’t believe in tipping and more that they don’t believe in tipping at American levels. Personally I’d rather pay more for my meal, have the servers paid reasonable wages, and tip purely according to service. Of course I know that’s not how it works and I typically tip 15-20%, sometimes more or less if the service is really good or really poor. That’s only in the US though. If I’m visiting a country where tips are not customary or they are typically much smaller I tip accordingly. I’m considered a very generous tipper when I visit the UK because I’ve been known to leave 10% for good service and most people do no more than leave some change on the table. I had friends who worked as servers in HS in the UK and they considered it a good week if they got more then $30 in tips for 20 hours of work.
Are you on glue? Canadians are loved everywhere for their politeness, manners, and good behavior. American’s have been known to sew Canadian flags on luggage and wear Canadian pins just so that they would be treated better in other countries…GET.YOUR.FACTS.STRAIGHT.
And the only countries I have EVER heard have any major complaints about Canadians is the US, because we didn’t jump on the band wagon w/ the whole war in Iraq, and China, cuz our PM kinda sorta snubbed them.
And as a Canadian I just want to say, I do tip, well, at least 10%, more if I can afford it. My bread and butter are the tips I make,so I know what it’s like not to get tipped. I also have to admit that I have waited on many many Americans, who don’t tip at all, even on a 300$ bar tab. To be honest though, I don’t think it’s a matter of nationality, it’s more of a personality thing, and I think that the American I am talking about(300$ bar tab, and no tip) was just an ass…he complained that the beer we had was “too strong” like honestly dude, if you are in Canada, you’re gonna get Canadian beer. Same deal if you travels overseas, I’m not going to go to a pub in England and order an Alexander Keith’s when I know it’s a Canadian beer, and more than likely, they won’t have it.
But 10% is considered cheap in the US so while that is a generous tip in many other countries a server receiving a 10% tip in the US is going to wonder why they received such a small tip. I tip 10% if the service is decidedly mediocre; it takes pretty bad service for me to tip less than that, usually I’d be complaining to a manager if service were that bad. A reasonable tip in the US is 18%.
What Rhonda said. Also, Americans pretend to be Canadians abroad NOT because Canadians are perceived as more polite tourists. It is because the current political situation has created hostility towards Americans, based absolutely not at all on the typical Americans’ behavior abroad, and it’s somewhat dangerous to be American in certain countries. Anyway, the worst tourists I know of are neither Canadian nor American (unless you count New Yorkers specifically, but their brand of asshattery seems pretty contained to their city and New Jersey), but French. While I was abroad, I was with someone who spoke French, and it is APPALLING how a) they loudly scream about how inferior everywhere is, and b) how arrogant they are to assume that no one speaks French and thus can’t understand what they’re saying. British tourists have always struck me as delightful, but oblivious. Same with Canadians, except slightly less delightful.
I think most of the confusion surrounding the proper amount to tip revolves around what wait staff are paid in the different countries. I don’t know for certain what they get paid everywhere, but in the USA it is roughly $2.01 per hour, and they get taxed on what the Federal government thinks they should have been tipped. I believe they base it on 10% of the gross check? Correct me if I’m wrong, please.
In Ireland, the minimum wage is something like 8 euro – roughly $12 per hour, and that is what all wait staff make – minimum.
Obviously, the Irish worker is a tad less dependent on tips for their wage.
My field of work wasn’t that of a waitress, but as a blackjack dealer in Las Vegas. I do know that a lot of people don’t know it is customery and even expected to tip your dealer. As a former dealer, I will tell you that if you play you should tip. You want a dealer on your side if at all possible. LOL.
Just general observations about different people…Chineese people are usually the most pushy. I’ve heard that has to do with the population in thier country. There is a vast difference between Japaneese, Chineese and Korean people also. Irish are very friendly as a whole, same with british. British seem to be a little more proper at times.
The worst behaviors I have seen are people who come from the east coast of the United States. New York and Boston come to mind.
Again, I don’t go around saying that I dislike (blank), based on these observations. They are just general observations that a lot of us dealers have noticed. I find it very interesting the different types of people that make the world go around. I also believe that if everyone were alike, we would live in a very boring world.
In addition let me add, that I had many many instances where a person would try to tip me with a bet out for me also, and the cards kicked our butts together. Also, I would never expect someone to tip if I was taking all of their money!
I have no idea whether this young woman is guilty. And her mother’s red, white and blue outfit sounds really obnoxious. But if a foreigner was tried here and the jury showed up in red, white and blue sashes when the verdict was delivered, there would be a huge problem. The verdict would be in question or something. No one here could get away with that.
How can you wear hotpants in court?
Apart from that, that’s the first time I’ve heard of the case. Maybe they like to see Americans punished because they can be so damn annoying, which is mostly because they are SO loud.
Berit:
The loudest tourists I have ever seen in my life were in a Hotel bar in Rome.
It was late afternoon, my companion and I were having a glass of wine while waiting for another couple to join us. Unfortunately, the entire bar was “serenaded” by a group of 6 German tourists. Over and over and over.
They weren’t drunk, they were simply having a good time. Their inhibitions were probably lower because they were on holiday and figured what the hell, we’ll never see any of these people again”.
many americans have seen others get probation or light sentences or received them themselves and don’t take the law and government authority as seriously as they need to when in another jurisdiction
many cultures are much more conservative and wish to protect themselves and their children from american influence
foxy knoxy was an offense in many ways
don’t these students receive a culture class before going??
Chardma and Berit:
I have traveled extensively all over the world (I usually spend at least a month traveling in the summer, plus a couple of weeks here and there throughout the year), and I have to say that I find your comments offensive, untrue and repugnant – bordering on racist, actually.
Your assertion that “Foxy Knoxy was an offense in many ways” was just plain rude and ignorant.
In many ways.
How dare you justify your attitude because Ms. Knox is an American?
How dare you ignore basic right and wrong because Ms Knox is an American?
It is attitudes such as these that make a lot of American hearts turn to stone when we hear of famine and horrible disasters in other countries.
“Why should we?” they ask themselves.
“When all is said and done, when the catastrophe is over, they’ll only hate us more.”
You know something?
They may have a point.
yes foxy knoxy is offensive to those from conservative cultures, what is racist about that?
her boss at the bar found her behavior so obnoxious and inappropriate he was ready to fire her (this is a bar after all)
she made statements about smoking dope the night of the murder and vague recollections of the murder
she may be guilty of nothing more than bad judgement and drug charges but she surely put herself at risk
and disrespected her host country
Have you ever been to Italy?
It is not that conservative.
Just because I said that may be a reason, does not mean that I think the reason is good enough to send someone to prison for a life time. Honestly, calm down a bit -.-
I probably should have separated my comments to you and Chardma. Most of my ire is seriously directed at her.
Yeh, GOD FORBID someone is exposed to “American influence” . I’m sure it’s far better for Europeans and others to keep filling their kids heads with hateful negative garbage about Americans. It’s better for them to think Jerry Springer and Britney Spears represent our values than actually come here to visit and see that we are nice people who don’t live in trailers and wave nazi flags. Why do you foreigners even bother coming this site? Just to piss on us?
News flash Marcelle, you don’t have to be a foreigner to admit that there are negatives things about the US. Not all Europeans think that the US is all about Jerry Springer and co. It’s not like Jerry is the only bad thing about the US either. All countries have both positive and negative attributes and it’s usually the negative ones that are on show while on vacation. Americans are generally considered to be hardworking for example but that doesn’t show while they’re on vacation. They’re also considered to be loud and pushy which does show while on vacation.
yes I have been to Italy, 7 countries in Africa,
many visits to Europe, Canada central America
and the Islands
there is a lot of chaos in the world
Sorry that I missed your response earlier, Chardma.
If you have been to Italy, then you do know that it is not that conservative. I get the impression that YOU are the one that is offended by Ms. Knox, that you are the one that is conservative.
While we’re on the subject may I say that foreign tourists here in the USA are the MOST obnoxious… Always LOUD, running into other people while they’re walking, thinking they’re above us for some reason, puffing cig smoke in my face. If you don’t like us then don’t come visit us.
EVERYBODY acts that way when they’re in another country not their own.. not just Americans. That was my point.
I can’t believe where this conversation is going. Will anyone just read the article and have an intelligent debate instead of viciously attacking each other? Are we seriously screaming at each other over whether or not tourists area annoying? That is not the point! The point is the possible wrongful conviction of human being, regardless of ethnicity or gender, in a manipulated and troubling case. Being a rude tourist in no way justifies ANYONE getting an undeserved murder conviction. How could this situation possibly have come about? How could simple anti-American sentiment (deserved or no) translate into such a mockery of any sort of semblance of an honest legal system? There. DIscuss. There are so many useful things we could be examining. Stop getting so defensive and belligerent and using this supposed-to-be-intelligent forum for slanders and personal attacks!!!!
Meh.. ive read a bit about this case in uk papers.. guilty as hell in my opinion
Once you become an American Semi celbrity they like to think you are innocent.. Ahem Oj Simpson
And sorry to post 3 posts in a row but how dare u complain about other countries law systems when America probably has one of the most corrupt unfair and biased justice systems in the developed world. Talk about the pot calling the kettle black
*applauding your last comment*
Honestly, the way I think is if you are visiting a country and break their rules, you should be punished according to their laws. And if it was a heinous act, such as murder, I believe you should also be tried and punished in YOUR own country(that’s just my opinion though, and it might be a little harsh lol). Learn the countries laws before you go, and once you are there, follow them.
I do believe that murder is a crime in every country.
And please, the UK has no room to talk when it comes to ridiculous courts.
*ahem* can you say Paul Clark?
Well unlike America the uk has extremely strict firearms laws.. what sort of idiot would take the shotgun? Call the police and let them deal with it. you have just proved a point with that idiotic mention of the Paul Clark case.. our laws are not your laws.. u use guns we dont. there is life outside the USA
Understand our laws before you scream injustice
Clarkey, the very fact that you think what happened to Paul Clarke is okay says more to me than anything you can ever post.
How enlightening.
How sad.
you say that like it’s a bad thing
For those of you wondering about the Paul Clarke case, here is a link.
http://www.thisissurreytoday.co.uk/news/Ex-soldier-faces-jail-handing-gun/article-1509082-detail/article.html
Thank you, was just about to look up this case when I saw you had put up a link.
So you think its fine to possibly tamper with evidence? You think just because he thought he was doing the right thing it was the right thing to do? Our law strictly state at no time what so ever are you to be in control of a firearm.. thats no time. Any 6 year old would know to phone 999 and let the police handle.No i dont agree that he should get 5 years and i very much doubt he will but the guy was a complete tool.
# Flyers posted around the town Clarke lives in specifically noted that civilians should report any weapons they find, and explicitly to not touch them, move them or bring them in to the station themselves (although other police forces have asked people to bring in the weapons on occasion).
# Clarke did not tell the police over the phone that he had a weapon of any description. Leaving it kind of ambiguous, he just said that he needed to speak with them in the station.
# Clarke not only touched the weapon, but moved it into his house. This means he is, in theory, guilty of possession of an illegal weapon. If he had left it in the garden where he found it, he would have had no problems.
# Clarke waited until the next day to report it. He could well have been waiting for day time to arrange an appointment but I doubt the police would have minded the call in this circumstance.
Clarkey, perhaps I should help you out with the facts here, hmm? The majority of this is from the local newspaper in Surrey, The Surrey Mirror:
“I took it indoors and inside found a shorn-off shotgun and two cartridges,” he said, so he took his find to the police to turn it in — “I thought it was my duty to hand it in and get it off the streets,” he said. As soon as he handed the gun to authorities he was arrested for “possessing a firearm.” Worse, the jury for the Guildford Crown Court found Clarke guilty, and by law he must serve a minimum of five years in prison. Prosecutor Brian Stalk said Clarke’s “alleged” honesty was irrelevant, and Judge Christopher Critchlow agreed, saying “The intention of anybody possessing a firearm is irrelevant.” (Surrey Mirror)
Prosecuting, Brian Stalk, explained to the jury that possession of a firearm was a “strict liability” charge – therefore Mr Clarke’s allegedly honest intent was irrelevant.
Just by having the gun in his possession he was guilty of the charge, and has no defense in law against it, he added.
Defense attorney Lionel Blackman also showed jurors a leaflet printed by Surrey Police explaining to citizens what they can do at a police station, which included “reporting found firearms”.
Quizzing officer Garnett, who arrested Mr Clarke, he asked: “Are you aware of any notice issued by Surrey Police, or any publicity given to, telling citizens that if they find a firearm the only thing they should do is not touch it, report it by telephone, and not take it into a police station?”
To which, Mr Garnett replied: “No, I don’t believe so.”
Now, I will NOT say that Paul Clarke isn’t stupid – however – this is not yet a crime, is it?
As for my nationality? Why should that matter to you?
It is not relevant in this discussion at all.
And can i ask Blurry are u American? if so dont judge how strict we class guns by your own standards
Ignorance of the law is no excuse. I think the punishment is a bit extreme but clearly the guy should have known you can’t just walk in to a police station holding a sawn off shot gun and not face punishment. If you find an illegal firearm or dumped drugs or an abandoned baby or whatever you call the police, explain the situation, and ask what to do. Walking in to a police station carrying an illegal weapon is just asking for trouble unless there’s a specific amnesty going on and you’re following correct procedures. In any case, the guy is ex-military so he knows about guns and should know about gun law.
I understand what you’re saying, Rhonda, and agree with you to a point. To get the full gist of it, you need to read the article in the link that I supplied.
I do believe this man is a fool, don’t misunderstand. I also believe that this is a horrible, horrible law. Think about it. There is NO defense to this law. NONE. Period.
So, if you and I were walking down the street, and I see a man coming up behind you with a gun, intent on shooting you – what should I do? Should I jump him and wrestle the gun from him (let’s just pretend that I could – if this were real life, let’s face it – unless he’s paralyzed by mean looks, you are toast, darlin’)? If I do this, the way the law is written and enforced, I face a MINIMUM sentence of 5 years!
That is insane.
Presumably once you tackled the gun away from the guy (thanks for that BTW…) you’d be putting it down assuming it’s safe to do so and letting the police deal with it when they show up. I wouldn’t expect you to call the police with a somewhat cryptic message and then take the gun in to the station in in a trash bag. If he’d looked in the bag, seen the gun, and then called the cops and asked them to come pick it up he wouldn’t have had an issue. They’d have asked a few questions to establish that it wasn’t his and then taken it away.
I agree that the punishment is too severe for the crime since his only real crime was poor judgment. Even in the US though he’d probably still be facing jail time for bring the gun in to a police station wrapped in a black bag. Anyone have any clue what the punishment for that would be? I know a couple of cops, fellow preschool parents, so I’ll ask them if I remember.
just a correction- the sister, not the mother, showed up in court wearing shorts. So states the article you linked to.