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It is an odd case and it will be interesting to see how it plays out.
As for double jeopardy: I tend to think it will not be invoked by the US as a basis for resisting extradiction.
Ms. Knox was found guilty by a trial court.
Italian appeals court overturns guilty verdict, issuing an acquittal (Knox then released, flies home).
Italian Court of Cassation overturns the lower appeal's court action: i.e., overturns the acquittal, and orders a new trial.
Double jeopardy mainly involves those criminal defendants who are found 'not guilty' at the trial court level. Ms. Knox was, however, found guilty, with the appellant's court of 'acquittal' being itself overturned (it is this 'acquittal' that makes the case rather odd, as described below).
One purpose of the DJ clause is due to the power and resources of the government, versus the limited power and money of a criminal defendant. The government could, with its resourses, try a defendant over and over again until a verdict is reached that the government likes; hence, the double jeopardy theory of law developed over the many centuries (and incorporated in our Constitution).
It is common for a defendant to be found guilty; defendant appeals; the appeals court finds error, reverses the trial court verdict and returns the case for another trial. Double jeopardy is not applicable since the defendant was found guilty at the initial trial. Here, we did have an Italian appeals court issue a finding of 'acquittal', which, while overturned on appeal, may give the US something to hang its hat on, although it is a slender thread.
Others have already brought up the point that the USA is very active in seeking extradition from other countries for the return of those accused of wrong-doing, or who had been found guilty here and fled. It would be the height of hypocrisy for the US to refuse an extradiction request to return a person found guilty of murder in the requesting country.
But will the Italian government (after the new appeal is heard) ask for extradition? It is not a foregone conclusion that they will.
Double Jeopardy is a US constitutional concept. I agree with the sentiment...the state [or any governemental enity] should not be able to try you after a verdict and appeal...as many times as it takes till they get a guilty verdict.
From I understand, AK is still allowed under Italian law, another appeal to this latest verdict.
And a lot of times, those countries ship them back to us for several reasons;
1. They don't have to deal with them.
2. They ship the expense to the US.
3. They don't have to house the individual.
4. They get rid of one of their problem children.
I could go on.
Or you use your financial clout of denying any future foreign aid, or some commercial trade agreement, or pull a license for something like port authorization for cruise ships to enter you ports after docking at one of theirs without subjecting them to a rigorous and usurious quarantine process, freeze the foreign accounts of that countries banks, subject it's business's operating in your country to a full IRS probing as in, you know.......blackmail.
Or you use your financial clout of denying any future foreign aid, or some commercial trade agreement, or pull a license for something like port authorization for cruise ships to enter you ports after docking at one of theirs without subjecting them to a rigorous and usurious quarantine process, freeze the foreign accounts of that countries banks, subject it's business's operating in your country to a full IRS probing as in, you know.......blackmail.
Giuliano Mignini, the Italian prosecutor who originally implicated Knox, Sollecito and Guede in bizarre a satanic sex game that resulted in the murder of Meredith Kercher,
Meredith Kercher trial: how angelic student orchestrated 'satanic' murder
.... was deeply involved for years in the Monster of Florence case, a series of unsolved murders that resulted in the imprisonment of about a dozen innocent people in court cases brought by Mignini, who alleged (not surprisingly) that the murders were carried out by a coven of Satanists (an allegation that is easily accepted by a generally conservative Italy).
Mignini accused, arrested and imprisoned town counsellors, politicians and investigative journalists, generally those who were opposed to him (Italian Chief prosecutors appear to be a hybrid between a Chief of Police, a Homocide Detective and a court room Prosecutor).
When journalists Mario Spezi and Douglas Preston started investigating Mignini and the miscarriages of justices he was responsible for, Mignin had Spezi and Preston bugged and followed by the police. Speizi was arrested and Preston was interrogated. Mignini insinuated that Spezi and Preston were somehow involved in the Monster of Florence murders.
Mignini received a sixteen month prison sentence for abuse of office and bugging journalists in connection with the Monster of Florence case in 2010. He appealed the sentence in 2011, I guess he didn't serve any time.
The judicial system in Italy is more akin to what you'd see in Central America rather than a modern western European nation. That country is a mess.
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