Amanda Knox Verdict: 'I Am Not A Promiscuous Vamp. I Am Not Violent'

Amanda Knox

First Posted: 03/10/11 10:05 BST Updated: 02/12/11 10:12 GMT

Amanda Knox has told of her fear and suffering after being convicted of the murder of British student Meredith Kercher.

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"I have never faced so much fear, so much tragedy, so much suffering." Describing the night Meredith was murdered she says "I could not believe it. How was it possible?

"She was killed in her own house. If I had been there that night I would have died. Just like her. The only difference was I was not there," she said.

"I am the same person as I was four years ago, the only thing that is different is what I have suffered. Over the last four years I lost a friend, a girlfriend, the most brutal way in an unexplained manner. My trust in police authorities has been betrayed.

"I've had to deal with unfair charges and unfounded charges. I am paying with my life for things I did not commit."

She added: "I was manipulated, I am not what they say. I am not a promiscuous vamp, I am not violent.

"I have never done what they say I did. They said this how things go, this is not so. I had good relationships with everybody who was living in my flat. I was untidy, careless, but we did have good relationships.

"We were all willing to help each other. I shared my life particularly with Meredith. We were friends."

Earlier, amid a media storm Amanda Knox arrived in court on Monday to make a final plea against her conviction for the murder of British student Meredith Kercher.

Crowds spilled into the street as the packed court room awaited her personal statement to the jury.

Anxious and tired looking Knox was flanked by her legal team who continued to closely advise her ahead of the biggest day of her life.

She was dressed in a black hooded top and green blouse, and her every move was followed by television cameras and photographers who crammed into the court.

Also in court are the parents of victim Meredith and other key players in the case.

Knox could walk free from prison today if an Italian court overturns her conviction. Friends say she has been struggling to sleep and her eating habits have suffered as stress builds ahead of today's verdict.

Perugia is in virtual lockdown as hundreds of reporters lay siege to report the story. Every major network from the US has journalists covering the case.

According to reports local bookmakers are so unsure of the verdict that all bets are off.

The young American is serving a 26-year jail term for killing the British student in what prosecutors said was a sex game taken to the extreme.

She has changed dramatically since her initial conviction, But she maintains she played no part in Miss Kercher's violent death and has been appealing against her trial verdict for the past 11 months.

The process will reach its climax with the judges and jury due to retire to consider whether to acquit her, uphold her conviction or - as prosecutors have requested - even increase her sentence.

Knox, 24, was found guilty after a year-long trial in 2009, along with her Italian ex-boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, 27, who denies any wrongdoing and has also appealed.

A third person, small-time drug dealer Rudy Guede, was convicted in separate proceedings and defence lawyers for Knox and Sollecito insist he acted alone. Prosecutors say all three acted together.

Before jury deliberations begin, the former lovers will address the court in Perugia, where the murder took place.

The statements they will give represent their final chance to persuade jurors of their innocence, and Knox is said to have been working on hers for three months.

Leeds University student Miss Kercher, from Coulsdon in Surrey, was 21 when she suffered her brutal death. Her body was found on November 2, 2007 in her bedroom at the Perugia cottage she was living in.

Her throat had been slit and her semi-naked corpse was partially covered by a duvet.

Amanda Knox went to Mass on Saturday afternoon as she remained hopeful of being freed from Capanne jail near Perugia in Italy.

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Knox released from prison. Rumours abound that she'll leave the country within hours.

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Knox and Sollecito cleared of murder. The pair are free. Ugly scenes inside and outside the courtroom with people shouting "murderer". Clearly some disquiet about the verdict.

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The Kercher family enter the courthouse to hear the verdict on the convictions of Knox and Sollecito.

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Knox arrives at the courthouse in Perugia to hear the verdict on her appeal.

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BBC is reporting that verdict is now likely in 90 minutes - around 20.30 GMT.

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Knox and Sollecito find out imminently as to the whether the court in Perugia will uphold their convictions for the murder of Meredith Kercher.

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The family said one of the reasons they held the conference was they felt that their sister had been forgotten during the course of the trial.

Stephanie Kercher said: "The focus has shifted for obvious reasons onto the three people in court at the moment. Meredith has been forgotten in all of this. There is not a lot that has been said about what happened at the time. It has been very difficult to keep her memory alive in all of this, this is why the whole trail is going on in the first place."

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He said it was "very hard to talk about forgiveness and difficult to speak about forgives".

"You have to balance forgiveness with compassion as well. But I am not sure we will be giving out forgiveness."

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Earlier in the conference Meredith's brother Lyle said the family felt they were fighting "a large PR machine" operating on behalf of Knox.

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Responding to a question from Fox News, Meredith's mother says Amanda and Meredith were "friendly" but not "that close" as they were "moving in different circles".

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Stephanie Kercher says the family will be satisfied with the verdict as long as it is based "purely on the information available to them" and is not caught up in the "media hype".

"For now we would just have to wait and see," she says.

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Meredith's brother: "We remember her up until the point she left, as if she went on an extended break and hasn't come back yet."

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Meredith Kercher's mother is speaking about the verdict.

"What I want, what they want [Knox and Sollecito] doesn't come into it, it was what the police have found what the science has found what the evidence is, that's all we can go on," she says.

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Stephanie Kercher says it is difficult to understand what happened to her sister the night she died.

"The brutality of what actually happened that night and everything that Meredith must have felt that night everything she went through the fear and the terror and not knowing," she said.

"She didn't deserve that, no one deserves that.

"Its very difficult to understand what happened that night without knowing the truth."

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An official from the British embassy is organising the press conference.

He says the answers to any questions will not be translated from English into Italian.

Meredeth's sister Stephanie says she feels her sister has been forgotten as all the focus has been on Knox and Sollecito.

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The family of Meredith Kercher are due to hold a press conference in Perugia.

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ABC News in the United States has posted a video of Knox's statement
@ GMA : Full video: Amanda Knox to Court: 'I Want to Go Home' http://t.co/HtWrPdK1

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Channel 4 News' Keme Nzerem reports:
@ nzerem : The #kerchers have just landed at #perugia airport for #Amandaknox appeal. Sister Stephanie says 'we'll talk later'

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@ RobNisbetSky : This is scene outside media entrance to court http://t.co/erO0zeUA

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Knox has concluded her remarks.

The judging panel will now retire to consider the verdicts. The ruling is expected sometime after 20:00 pm Italian time (19:00 pm BST).

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Knox tells the court that she has spoken a lot about Meredith. She says she has "always wanted justice for her".

"I want truth. I insist that after four desperate years on our innocence because it is true. And deserves to be defended and recognized," she says.

"I want to go back home. I want to go back to my life. I don't want to be punished.

"I am innocent. And Raffaele is innocent too. We do not deserve this.

An emotional Knox tells the court: "We never did anything to deserve this."

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Knox: "I was manipulated, I am not what they say. I am not a promiscuous vamp, I am not violent."

"I have never did what they say I did, they said this how things go, this is not so. I had good relationships with everybody who was living in my flat. I was untidy, careless, but we did have good relationships.

"We were all willing to help each other. I shared my life particularly with Meredith. We were friends."

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"I have never faced so much fear so much tragedy so much suffering," she says,

Describing the night Meredith was murdered she says "I could not believe it. How was it possible".

"She was killed in her own house. If i had been there that night I would have died. Just like her. The only difference was I was not there," she says.

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I am the same person as I was four years ago, the only thing that is different is what i have suffered," she tells the court.

"Over the last four years I lost a friend, a girlfriend, the most brutal way in an unexplained manner.

"My trust in police authorities has been betrayed.

"I've had to deal with unfair charges and unfounded charges. I am paying with my life for things I did not commit."

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He says he was in an "idyllic situation" that day as he had just met Knox and was about to get his degree.

"I was about to reach a very important objective, I was going to debate my thesis that was practically ready over the next few days and I would have got my degree," he says,

"I'd met Amanda Knox just earlier on, she was a beautiful woman."

"We only wanted to spend the evening stroking each other and cuddling each other and nothing else. Our desire our wish was just to do that, nothing else."

He concludes: "I hope there is going to be hope for Amanda and myself. I hope there is going to be a new future, which i think we deserve."

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"Amanda and I have been in prison for more than 1,400 days," he says. "We have spent these 1,400 days practically 20 hours a day in a cell that is about 2.5 meters by three. it is very difficult to figure out what it is like to live in such a small space."

He tells the court that his family has made huge sacrifices for him while he has been in prison.

"My family has given me whatever they could, they have made huge sacrifices to give me all the necessary tools to face this trial and to get me out of this situation" he says,

"I thought the outcome was clear from the very beginning unfortunately this has not been the case."

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Sollecito says he has been "living a nightmare".

"Somehow I would like to say that every day in prison, by the end of the day you really feel like dead, every day is like that," he tells the court.

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Raffaele Sollecito is speaking in court.

"What happened was so big it is impossible to say something that can take everything in," he says.

"I've never harmed anyone never, ever in my life. The charges that have been made against me all these years were so out of place somehow i thought they would disappear."

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Sky News and the BBC are periodically returning to the court, but you can watch the whole thing live on this dedicated BBC stream.

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Amanda Knox has told of her fear and suffering after being convicted of the murder of British student Meredith Kercher. CLICK HERE FOR LIVEBLOG "I have never faced so much fear, so much tragedy,...
Amanda Knox has told of her fear and suffering after being convicted of the murder of British student Meredith Kercher. CLICK HERE FOR LIVEBLOG "I have never faced so much fear, so much tragedy,...
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
MRstoner2udude
I'm a human being? What about you?
08:58 PM on 10/03/2011
SHE's FREE!! YAYYYYYY!!
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Num1Christy
Progressive Ohioan
03:44 PM on 10/03/2011
Amazing that an American is on trial for a murder in Italy, yet America's penal system is on trial here in these comments. Yes, the United States does utilize capital punishment, and as deplorable as that is, the prosecutor of Amanda Knox stated that Ms. Knox should feel grateful that Italy doesn't utilize capital punishment - seems slightly threatening to me.
HUFFPOST SUPER USER
DirkNeptune
I love raspberry pie, damn it.
02:20 PM on 10/03/2011
She is clearly innocent. The Italian prosecutor Giuliano Mignini should be charged with robbing Amanda of four years of her life. The man is an embarrassment to the human race.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Pali Dumtur
02:53 PM on 10/03/2011
Clearly? Why? It's not clear at all.
HUFFPOST SUPER USER
DirkNeptune
I love raspberry pie, damn it.
03:07 PM on 10/03/2011
Pali I'm not going to rehash the entire case here. I will just say this, if you study this case with an open mind, I'm pretty sure you will come to the same conclusion as me. That Mignini made a decision early on that she was guilty and everything from that point on was him trying to manipulate both Amanda and the evidence to fit the killing scenario(s) he dreamed up in his mind.

Today's decision is all about him saving face even if he has to keep an innocent person locked up for life to do it. If there was a more ethical prosecutor on this case, I would not be typing this right now and the world would not be familiar with the name "Amanda Knox."
HUFFPOST SUPER USER
werba
03:19 PM on 10/03/2011
Nothing 'clear' about it. There are however a few things that are 'clear' in this case - one, that Knox concocted a fantastic story implicating an innocent man, including burbling on about how she listened to him murder her friend - then told her mom that she felt sorry for this man, since she knew that he had not in fact done it; two, that Knox's bloody footprint was found under the victim's body; and three, that a huge amount of money has been spent on making this convicted murderess look cutesy-pie, by her expensive PR company.
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anugs
01:38 PM on 10/03/2011
I don't hold much hope for a person put on trial by country who has recently charged 5 scientists for failure to predict an earthquake. God help her.
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01:48 PM on 10/03/2011
If I were you I'd hold even less hope for a person put on trial for murder by a country that still has the death penalty... but that's just me.
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HUFFPOST COMMUNITY MODERATOR
alsm9
Bombshell
02:50 PM on 10/03/2011
I was thinking the same thing. A lot of people bash the Italian legal system, but the USA's isn't any better. This could have easily happened to her in the USA and she would have been under the threat of execution as well.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Matthew Harrold
Huzzah!
01:51 PM on 10/03/2011
Wait...this is coming from a country which put evolution on trial?
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10:16 PM on 10/03/2011
Maybe but it was the Romans who civilized those Northern/Western European tribes until they backslid into the dark ages, They were then brought into the light by Muslims after 700 years of rule.

Darwin himself might have studied at one of those Universities built by European Jews who studied under Muslims teachers in Spain.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Lawyer13
retired Lawyer, General and Psychiatric Nurse, wit
12:43 PM on 10/03/2011
You don't get called "Foxy Knoxy" for no reason. I await the verdict with interest.
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01:33 PM on 10/03/2011
Being called Foxy doesn't suggest you're a killer though does it?
Good girl, bad girl it doesn't really matter and should have no basis on the verdict.
All that matters is does the evidence suggest that she was guilty of killing Meredith Kercher, beyond a reasonable level of doubt?
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Duffy Sinclair
Joe Lefty
04:38 PM on 10/03/2011
Good point. Well, perhaps not if you knew how she got the nickname. I saw an interview with her mother and she set the record straight that Amanda got the nickname when she was 8 years old by her soccer teammates. Oops... looks like another mistake made by the Italian press.
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05:03 PM on 10/03/2011
Well that's never been satisfactorily explained to me Duffy. I've played football all my life and I've never ever ehard the nickname "Foxy" what does it mean.

But even if the "foxy" has the more usual meaning, so what? She's pretty and a sexual being, that doesn't have any bearing on whether she's a murderer.
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AstroLib
98% of respondents agree ~ tax the other 2% more!
11:18 AM on 10/03/2011
I predict she gets released ~ just a hunch
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11:33 AM on 10/03/2011
If she does get released -- what on earth will the "Italy is a banana republic" spammers do? Will they retract their views on Italy and sing its praises as an "olive oil, fine wine and truffles republic"? Or will the fact that a "banana republic" has released her make the verdict wrong?
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AstroLib
98% of respondents agree ~ tax the other 2% more!
11:54 AM on 10/03/2011
Hard to say ~ not that I put too much effort into thinking about it .

Perhaps they will say that if George Clooney can make it there , then so can they ? lol

I suppose I would like to be a purist at heart and believe that people will think that the most important thing , is that a system , a people whom perhaps got it wrong are willing to let the glare and lens of scrutiny not affect their judgement , but rather will live up to the ideals of beyond a reasonable doubt ( even though that is not actually part of their system )

A state of statues that has produced so many down the ages to include one with a blindfold and scales.

never know.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Duffy Sinclair
Joe Lefty
04:46 PM on 10/03/2011
Italians are brilliant at music, architecture, food, innovation, art, and a lot of wonderful things, however their legal system... well... not so much. You can't be good at everything, ya know.

Btw, I'm not about to bash Italians. I'm American, but my grandparents were from Solerno, Italy. I love Italians!
11:10 AM on 10/03/2011
Innocent, let them go. This trial is a travesty of justice. It is about the careers of those willing to sacrifice two young people on an absurdly ridiculous idea (killed via a Sex game? when the partcipants were a young 20 year old who was killed - an adult drifter with past crimes to his name (Guedo) AND a young couple who were the same age as the victim?) It's beyond absurd. Ridiculous, the whole thing makes me angry. Does anyone Really think that IF this was a sex game gone bad (laughable) and therefore the particpants were all (likely) using drugs/alcohol or just into the sex that Amanda knox would also get away unmolested? If it was about sex and there was two young women there than they Both would have been molested, not one "joining in" and helping to murder the other. It's so ridiculous it beggars belief. The chances that it was a young couple AND a drifer with a crime past is so unlikely that I cannot belive it has been allowed to stand. And if that were not enough, there is no evidence (apart from DNA from LIVING in the house) to link them to the crime. Meredith was killed, it was terrible. She was killed by the man (Guedo) that admitted to it. Why ruin two more young people's lives with lies?
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02:23 PM on 10/03/2011
Why do you make the emotionally charged distinction between Guede as "an adult drifter" and Knox and Sollecito as a "young couple who were the same age as the victim"?
Guede was born in 1986, Knox in 1987 and Sollecito in 1984.
The victim, Meredith Kercher, was born in 1985.
02:32 PM on 10/03/2011
If that's the case, then I'm happy to change the descriptions "a young couple" and a "young drfifter with a criminal past". None of it is emotionally charged. They are/were a young couple, Guedo was a drifter (and that was also stated by his Lawyer) and has a criminal past (also stated).
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HUFFPOST COMMUNITY MODERATOR
NoMercy
Member Since October 2005
11:03 AM on 10/03/2011
I'd rather be wrongfully convicted of m_urder in Italy or anywhere in Europe, than in most US states.
11:59 AM on 10/03/2011
Why? It is horrific to think of being wrongfully convicted anywhere. It sounds llke you're more likely to be wrongfully convicted in Italy than in the US, based on this story. Apparently they have no rigorous rules of admissability of evidence there. All it takes is one crackpot prosecutor to make up outlandish theories about Satanism and you're behind bars for life. Actual evidence seems to be beside the point.
01:04 PM on 10/03/2011
Sounds like Georgia USA......But then again she's a nice young girl instead of a horrible coloured man......
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Matthew Harrold
Huzzah!
01:38 PM on 10/03/2011
But look on the bright side, at least she won't be facing capital punishment.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
shibirian
10:52 AM on 10/03/2011
For everyone who hasn't ever paid attention to this case (out of whatever reason the may be), here is a nice summary of event preceding this hearing today;

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Meredith_Kercher
11:16 AM on 10/03/2011
I found that very convoluted.

Here is an excellent summary: http://www.rollingstone.com/culture/news/the-neverending-nightmare-of-amanda-knox-20110627
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
PiperSniper
01:46 PM on 10/03/2011
LOL wikipedia
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Aladdin Sane1
"Are you the police?""No, ma'am, we're musicians."
10:03 PM on 10/04/2011
LOL wikipedia semi-protected article with 203 separate independent check-able secondary references from which it was written.
Melanie Hick
Tech Editor, Huff Post UK
10:50 AM on 10/03/2011
How much coverage would this appeal get if she wasn't has good looking?
11:26 AM on 10/03/2011
Good looking? She looks completely ordinary.
12:00 PM on 10/03/2011
If she wasn't a cute young girl, I doubt she'd ever have been convicted in the first place.
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10:38 AM on 10/03/2011
We only wanted to spend the evening stroking each other and cuddling each other and nothing else. Our desire our wish was just to do that, nothing else."

Is Sollecito claiming to have had an entirely chaste relationship with AK? Is this believable testimony?
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10:54 AM on 10/03/2011
Maybe the translator was embarassed....?
11:09 AM on 10/03/2011
Two young people, I'm sure they were doing what any young lovers would do. This prurient interest is so typically UK.
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11:28 AM on 10/03/2011
So we're agreed that he's lying then?
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
deluk
disgusted.
12:01 PM on 10/03/2011
In America it would be prurient fascination but too prudish to dwell on it.
10:27 AM on 10/03/2011
Without wishing to appear rude, could someone explain to me why I should be in any way interested in this case, as opposed to all of the other trials going on around the world? I genuinely don't get the media's fascination with this case. I'm not saying that it isn't important, I would just love to know why it is. Thanks.
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11:00 AM on 10/03/2011
It may have to do with the fact that, in addition to the obviously necessary legal representation, the Knox family have also hired a PR company (Gogarty-Marriott) to assist them. The job of a PR company is to keep things in the media -- and they seem to be doing that very well. Otherwise, yes, it might have ended up as yet another obscure criminal case unfolding somewhere in a small European country.
12:02 PM on 10/03/2011
It got all the attention because it touched American exceptionalism. Everybody can be guilty except an American. Especially when he or she is wealthy.

In the US people are used to "deals" between prosecution and defense. And still they believe to have a superior justice system. LOL Look at the thousands of blacks in the US doing long prison sentences for multiple petty thefts. If Amanda would be a black woman she would not have made the news in the first place two years ago.
11:11 AM on 10/03/2011
It's important because two obviously innocent young people have been convicted on ZERO evidence. It shows the incompetence of Italian courts and the excesses of the British tabloid press. As an American, I want this girl home, and I'll think long and hard before ever sending my kids to study abroad.
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11:25 AM on 10/03/2011
The problem is, Grinling, that there are many innocent people in jail in many different countries. I think the commenter above was just wondering why this particular case is receiving so much publicity, while others are not.
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11:29 AM on 10/03/2011
PS: why would this make you want to prevent your children from travelling?
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HuffGeist
Pragmatic Dyslexic: Handed lemons? Make melonade!
10:16 AM on 10/03/2011
Haven't been following on this case at all, but I do have to wonder how much coverage it would be getting if she wasn't young and relatively good looking?
10:11 AM on 10/03/2011
We will simply never know the truth....
12:02 PM on 10/03/2011
We do know the truth. The rapist and murderer - Guede - is in prison. He is the one whose DNA was all over the scene, including proof of rape. Yet he is the one with the lighter sentence - all because he lied after the fact and implicated these two, in order to make the prosecutor's case stick.
01:59 PM on 10/03/2011
yes, fully agree.
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HUFFPOST COMMUNITY MODERATOR
NoMercy
Member Since October 2005
10:07 AM on 10/03/2011
Listening to this hearing is the most attention I've paid to this case.

I don't know all the evidence. I know that I was persuaded by both defendants that they are sincere in their belief in their innocence. Since I'm convinced they are sincere, I have to be on the side of overturning the original verdict and letting them go.
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01:21 PM on 10/03/2011
NoMercy,

That's quite a lot of mercy you are showing their, my friend. If she's innocent I hope she's released, if she's guilty then she'll have to stay in prison, which is a shame for her and her family. Don't you think the Italian Courts are the best people to decide?
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HUFFPOST COMMUNITY MODERATOR
NoMercy
Member Since October 2005
01:58 PM on 10/03/2011
Absolutely. I have no say in this case and my opinion is irrelevant. We're all just yakking.

I only mean to say that, not knowing very many facts about the case, I personally was convinced by the sincerity of the defendants (in appeal for a standing conviction, I know). Since I believe they are telling the truth - and it's the first I've heard either of them - I have to go with what I feel.

What did the convicted guy say? Guede? Does he say they were there? See how little I know?
02:07 PM on 10/03/2011
Going by this case, as well as the views of independent Italian authorities and the recent Italian high court appeal that allowed this appeal to stand, no, I would say the current italian prosecution team are clearly not the best people to decide. Innocent people can be put in jail and labelled as guilty (as in this case and the recent Georgia execution) or they can be guilty and let off (casey anthony). The law is clearly not correct 100% of the time, it is practiced by humans and therefore prone to human mistakes. To put blind belief in the courts as infalliable is the mistake. Law is in a constant state of change, as society changes, our values change (e.g. adultary is not usually punishable by execution as it once was in many countries, and still is in some).