While some seem to be forgetting that three young lives have been ruined in this case… the two accused as well as the life of the murdered girl.
When an attractive young woman from a privileged British family is murdered in Italy, you've got a popular crime story. When the person suspected of killing her is an attractive young woman from a privileged American family, you have tabloid gold. When the prosecutor hypothesizes that the victim was slaughtered during a satanic ritual orgy, you've got the crime story of a decade. When a sitting U.S. senator declares that the case "raises serious questions about the Italian justice system" and asks if "anti-Americanism" is to blame, and when 11 Italian lawmakers in Silvio Berlusconi's coalition request a probe of the prosecutor's office — well, at that point, you have an international crisis.
(http://www.rollingstone.com/culture/news/the-neverending-nightmare-of-amanda-knox-20110627) “We knew she was guilty of murder without physical evidence.” -- Edgardo Giobbi, Investigator. Then, when physical evidence came in that did not support their story, they simply changed their story. And their suspects. And their murder weapons. And the motives. (former FBI Agent) (http://www.injusticeinperugia.org/FBI2.html)
In the excellent book on the case, "
The Fatal Gift of Beauty; The Trials of Amanda Knox," author Nina Burleigh describes Guede's history with the law: He was previously arrested for housebreaking, and on one occasion stole a knife (Kercher was stabbed).
Giuliano Mignini had previously prosecuted the "Monster of Florence" serial killer case and become convinced that it was a masonic conspiracy. His case came to nothing. Mignini was later convicted of illegally tapping the phones of various police and reporters connected to the Florence case, and was given
a 16-month suspended sentence.Somehow, he was allowed to be in charge of the Kercher murder, and he screwed that up too.
The ritualistic sex game, for instance, turned out to be
manufactured from whole cloth.
No DNA evidence linked Knox to the crime, even though she lived in the same house as Kercher.
The
forensic evidence that did exist was mishandled by Italian authorities prior to trial. (Kercher's bra clasp was left on the floor of the crime scene for six weeks before blood evidence was found on it.)
A bloody knife print didn't match the knife police had in custody, so Mignini's team had to create a theory involving two knives, Burleigh reports.
One of Mignini's witnesses against Knox was Antonio Curalato, a homeless anarchist who slept on a bench near Knox's house. He testified on who was near the house that night, and he also remembered seeing a party bus on the night of the killing. Burleigh's book shows that that bus was not scheduled to run on the night of Kercher's death.
Curalato turned out to be a serial witness and heroin addict whom the police had persuaded to testify in two other murder cases.
At one point, Burleigh reveals, a police official posing as a doctor informed Knox she had HIV, and asked her to name all her previous sexual partners so they could be alerted to the risk. She did so, and only found out later that it was a trick — the Italian cops just wanted to know about her sex life.
She did falsely accuse Patrick Lumumba, a bar owner, of being involved in the crime. She was convicted of that libel and sentenced to time served (three of the four years she spent behind bars). (She did this after days of interrogation and the police making suggestions to her).
She was convicted in part because the Lumumba accusation made her look guilty; because she failed to act sad enough; and because the Italian authorities and jury had sexist views of her behavior.
At 20 years of age, I’m not sure any of us could have handled this situation without acting moronic or bowing to police interrogation. No one can speak of guilt or innocence of these two without having evidence. In this case, there was a corrupt prosecutor, and a means to an end. As the investigator said, we knew she was guilty. We didn’t need evidence. Hopefully justice will prevail. Don’t be too quick to visit Italy! Shakespeare could not have written a better tragedy.