Amanda Knox: No double jeopardy
in Italy, she has been convicted
of murder for a second
time. Now, however, she may be out of reach
of Italian justice, as
she has no plans to return to Italy.
Amanda Knox, Italian Justice, and 'Conviction at All Costs' (La Stampa, Italy)
"Convicted, then acquitted, and then convicted again. And
at every stage of appeal, the evidence becomes ever more slender, clinging to a
small trace of Amanda's DNA on a kitchen knife that she may have used to slit her
friend's throat or chop an onion. ... No one wants to engage in an act of
humility and confess that the truth at times slip away. ... We will have to read
the court's reasoning to see if a trace of DNA suffices for the handing down such
a heavy sentence, but the impression that there must be a conviction at all
costs is strong indeed."
Raffaele Sollecito, Amanda Knox' former boyfriend and co-defendent in the murder of British student Meredith Kercher. Fair or not, Sollecito, who is an Italian citizen, will have to face the full measure of Italian justice, while Knox, who is American and back in Seattle, is for the moment at least, beyond the reach of Italian authorities.
There
was a time when one could be acquitted due to a lack of evidence. It was a
stain one carried for the rest of your life - worse than a conviction.
To
be convicted was the prelude to redemption - punishment after a crime. A lack of
evidence was a suspicion you could never shake off. If some considered a lack
of evidence a defeat for the justice system, for others it represented the
highest moment in which justice itself accepted its limits, admitted it is unable
to go beyond reasonable doubt. This was justice free of the delusion of omnipotence.
Today, although Article 530 of the Code of
Criminal Procedure still refers to insufficient evidence, it seems no one
is willing to acknowledge a boundary that cannot be crossed. This is
demonstrated by the trial
of Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito.
Convicted,
then acquitted, and then convicted again. And at every stage of appeal, the evidence
becomes ever more slender, clinging to a small trace of Amanda's DNA on a
kitchen knife that she may have used to chop an
onion - or slit her friend's throat. Nevertheless, those three letters, DNA, seem to form the magic word that
invariably unlocks the treasure chest of truth. We worship scientific data as if it
alone is capable of explaining everything. We forget that the data has to be
interpreted. We even go so far as to consider motives secondary. Throughout the
stages of this trial, the murder in Perugia has been depicted as the result of
an erotic party gone wrong - as sexual violence, or in Prosecutor Alessandro Crini's closing remarks, the culmination of a fight over house chores.
Posted By
Worldmeets.US
Under
these conditions, it is hard to believe that justice really knew where it was
headed. No matter, though - only a fragment of DNA is required to save the
dignity of the prosecution. In March 2009, the house where the murder occurred on
Via dell Pergola was visited by thieves who stole the mattress on which
Meredith was murdered, which was possible because the Perugia prosecutor forbade
the windows from being barred so as not to alter the crime scene!
Thanks
to media pressure, and citing an elusive molecule, things moved forward all the
same. No one wants to engage in an act of humility and confess that the truth at
times slips away. We have put in place a genuine media industry around crime:
there is not a single television network that doesn't have its own "reality
crime" program. Crime news has become a spectacle, entertainment, a morbid
exhibition of grief. Real investigators must withstand comparisons with
fictional ones who are never wrong and resolve everything. Who would ever want
to admit that they cannot measure up? And so things move forward.
[News
host] EnzaTortora once
said that in Italy, broadcasts of Perry Mason
should be prohibited, because by watching television, Italians were getting the
wrong idea about justice. Tortora never imagined that
things could get even worse. Of course, we will have to read the court's reasoning
to see if a trace of DNA suffices for the handing down of such a heavy sentence,
but the impression that there must be a conviction at all costs is strong
indeed.
To
add to the bitterness, there is another, more subtle disappointment: Raffaele Sollecito has had his passport taken away, while according
to the court, there are no restrictive measures necessary for Amanda. She is
already in Seattle. So whether you are suspected of murdering a girl in
Perugia, or of having cut
down a cable car in Cavalese, or of having killed
an Italian official in Iraq, the fact that you are an American citizen
always provides a certain peace of mind. The reverse situation, that of a
foreigner accused in the United States, is much more uncomfortable. We might
recall the more than controversial case
of Chico Forti, who was convicted for a homicide
in Miami, despite the fact that the jury itself acknowledged there was a
lack of evidence.
