@Jennifer1984 Said 
Interesting to read this thread. Lots of congratulations that Amanda Knox has been released, but not one word of sorrow that a young woman, Meredith Kercher, was brutally murdered...... a crime for which Amanda Knox was convicted, but has subsequently been released after sufficient doubt was placed upon the evidence to make her conviction unsafe.
She has NOT been "proven innocent", or anything remotely resembling it.
Let's be quite clear about this: Her family had the wherewithal to hire a team of lawyers who produced a report which placed emphasis on the flaws in the way the forensic evidence was gathered. This made the conviction unsafe, and therefore she was - quite rightly - released.
It doesn't PROVE her innocence.
We read in our morning papers here that there was much celebrating in bars and cafes in her home town last night as joyous Americans celebrated a "victory". Perhaps she will return home to a heroines welcome with much waving of flags and great media hype..... the sort of heroes welcome that Abdel Basset al Maghrahi received when he returned to Libya a couple of years ago, which so upset Americans at the time..... (tongue in cheek)
No doubt the American media will clamour for her "story" and some pretty big cheques will come her way. She will most likely be feted as a celebrity. I read in my morning paper that a book deal has already been signed, which will net her a seven figure sum.
Nice money off the back of somebody's death, if you can get it.
The Kercher family has behaved with dignity and courage. They have accepted the decision of the court and won't appeal against it.
Nobody in the Kercher family has said it, but the underlying public opinion in Italy and UK is that it would be pointless to do so. US officials whisked Ms Knox out of Italy within hours of her being released and the chances of her being extradited back to Italy should the case ever be re-opened.... well.... we all know what the chances of that are.
In my opinion, the Italian court did the right thing in releasing Ms Knox. The scientific evidence against her was flawed and with the amount of weight that was given to it at the original trial, to have doubt cast upon that evidence completely undermined the prosecution case. It became untenable.
It doesn't mean that Knox didn't do the crime, it just means her guilt could no longer be considered "beyond reasonable doubt."
Contrast this with the execution last month, of Troy Davis in Texas, after almost all the evidence against him was withdrawn by his accusers. His conviction was conspicuously unsafe, and yet, his execution went ahead.
As I said in a previous post, Amanda Knox must be pretty glad we don't have the death penalty on this side of the pond. She must be glad she was convicted in Italy, not in Texas..!!
Amanda Knox is lucky that she was convicted in a civilised country, one that is capable of reviewing a case impartially and is big enough to reverse a decision where doubt is cast on the original sentence.
Lucky girl, indeed.
So, enjoy your celebrations with Ms Knox. But please, if you can, spare a thought for the Kercher family. Their daughter is still dead.
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"I read in my morning paper that a book deal has already been signed, which will net her a seven figure sum.
Nice money off the back of somebody's death, if you can get it"
Mary Bell received 50,000 pounds for her contribution to a book. Who is Mary Bell, well, she was convicted of killing a three year old and a four year old. She was from, gasp, England. I can give you more examples of people from the UK who were convicted of murder and profited from their crime, if you wish.
Nice money Mary Bell made off the back of the death of little boys, isn't it?
In America, convicted killers can not profit from their crimes, at least in most states, this is known as The Son of Sam law. This was enforced as law in NY as early as 1977. When it became known that publications were offering David Berkowitz money for his story.
I read that in 2006, it was still not a law in the UK that a convicted killer could not profit from their crime.
https://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2006/nov/10/pressandpublishing.politics
As per this link, UK was only going to begin laws to ensure convicted killers could not profit for their crimes as of 2006. In America, as of 2006, they already had that law passed in states.
So when turn your nose up at how Americans profit from their crimes and how sick it is, realize that it also happens where you are.
Oct 03, 2011 @ 20:06:10
I have no idea where my mind is today. 
