March 26, 2013
The Italian Supreme Court has thrown out the innocent verdict Amanda Knox received in October of 2011- which set her free- and has ordered her to stand trial yet again. The reason? They didn't give one yet- at least one that made any sense. Rather than review the details of the case, the Italian court looked only for an "error in procedure". This new trial is to take place in the city of Florence and not Perugia as in the first two trials.
For those not aware of the facts: Amanda Knox was found guilty of murdering her room-mate Meredith (a Brit who was studying in Perugia at the same time as Knox) along with Amanda's ex boyfriend Raffaele. Amanda was sentenced to 26 years and Raffaele to 25 years. The two spent four years in Italian prisons before their convictions were overturned on appeal in October 2011. Knox then left Italy and returned to her hometown of Seattle, and Raffaele returned to his home which is near Bari Italy. And all seemed well, with a great many people rejoicing that the Italian appeal court finally got the right verdict of not guilty and released the pair. The prosecution of course was none too pleased, and appealed to the Italian Supreme Court for a new trial. Shockingly, the Italian Supreme court overturned the innocent verdicts and now order both Amanda and her ex-boyfriend Raffaele to stand a new trial on the murder charge. This new turn of events is absolutely shocking, and completely ridiculous.
Actually- it's quite stupid, but I guess the Italian courts love a good show so much they just could not let such a juicy opportunity slip by. They are certainly peeing against wind on this one, as Amanda is an American citizen- safe in the U S- and in this country we do not try people twice for the same crime. It's called DOUBLE JEOPARDY! (and yes that is the legal term for it). I don't know what afflicts these prosecutors over there that they keep trying to convict two innocent people with no evidence, and when they already have the real murderer in prison. Well, I'm not going to spit nails over this foolishness, but I do think that THIS TIME the U S State Dept. needs to address this issue, and inform Italy as to the legal rights of U S citizens who have already been found not guilty....... Unbelievable.
