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Another thing to mention is that the other suspect, Sollecito, was nabbed by the Italian authorities near the border. Now, running doesn't necessitate guilt, but his detention does create a situation where one party is in jail for 3 decades and another gets off scott free for the same crime, or lack thereof.
Yes, the extradition thing is a problem for the US. We fully expect other countries (with whom we have this agreement) to send us a person we want back to stand trial. By the same token, even if we don't feel a person should be sent from the US to another country, we HAVE to comply, it is only fair. Some countries try to modify that agreement, saying they do not have the death penalty and we do, but after some negotiations the person is generally extradited to us.
If we refuse to comply with what the Italians want we can never expect them to honor any requests for extradition we might make in the future. No, she will definitely go to Italy as requested.
Don
I agree, the US sees a good working relationship and indeed extradition treaty with as many countries as possible, of paramount importance in an age of international crime and indeed terrorism.
I'm not sure if she is or isn't innocent, but I find the way the Italian prosecutors handling he retrial (and original trial) to be disturbing. For one, why did they change the story of how things happened for the retrial? I don't see why there would have been a need to change the events of how things supposedly happened. First, she was killed for refusing to participate in a sex orgy, and now she was killed over an argument? Something doesn't seem right.
You dont' have to prove a motive in a murder trial. A lot of murders make no sense at all.
An argument that spiraled out of control due to tensions between the girls or a pre-planned hazing both seem legit. Knox was abusing drugs as well.
I'd like to say that I disagree with the majority of you. I don't think Amanda did it. Rudy (the black guy) confessed to the police that he did it. It wasn't until after the police told him that he would get a shorter sentence (35 to 16) if he changed his story and added that Amanda and Rafael had something to do with it.
he never confessed to the murder. he said he had consensual sex with the victim and somebody murdered her when he was in the bathroom.
He was worried about being blamed for the murder and getting more time, as Knox and her boyfriend were trying to pin the whole thing on him.
the victim was restrained by other people, she had no defensive wounds and no sign of a struggle in the room. she had bruises on her arms consistent with people restaining her. Rudy couldn't have sexually violated her while stabbing her in the neck with two different sized knives.
It's also being suggested by some News Sources today that Knox will be extradited from the US, should the Italians request extradition.???
US Legal experts have already made it clear that the United States entered into an extradition treaty with Italy and, in doing so, accepted Italy's criminal justice system. Failure to extradite Knox may have implications for the treaty as a whole. However the case still has to go back to the Italian Court of Appeal for a final time after which if she is still found to be guilty, then an extradition request is highly probable.
I agree, the US sees a good working relationship and indeed extradition treaty with as many countries as possible, of paramount importance in an age of international crime and indeed terrorism.
Exactly. To deliver a verdict with no teeth, one person is free to live their life, while another is in prison for 30 years is a mockery and a sham of a system.
It has been suggested in a news story that her extradition could be opposed by citing her trial history as double jeopardy. However, the same story also said that in a previous case with a history similar to Knox's that the U.S. did not find the series of trials to be double jeopardy.
I have a vague memory of this same Italian "justice" system wanting to prosecute scientists for not predicting an earthquake. Anyone else recall that incident?
Let's go through this, point by point based on the claims in your link.
1. "More then one person attacked Meredith Kercher"
This points to the possibility that Guede was not the sole killer but it in no way tells us that Knox and Sollecito were involved in any way.
2. "Someone returned to move Meredith"
Again, this does not implicate Knox or Sollecito
3. The bra clasp, cut or torn off from the bra that the victim was wearing and originally hidden under the victim, had Raffaele's DNA on the hooks"
I think this link does a good job of explaining the details of how the crime scene was handled and how the DNA could have gotten on the clasp, without Rafaelle being present at the time of the murder. View-from-Wilmington: Meredith Kercher’s Bra Clasp
Some key points from my link: The clasp was not collected from the crime scene until 48 days after the murder. The crime scene was not secure. The clasp became dusty prior to it being collected as evidence. Human epithelial cells are a major component of dust. The clasp was handled with dirty gloves which could have transferred DNA from one object in the apartment to another. There are reports of DNA on the clasp from at least three other people (besides Sollecito).
4. "The knife recovered at Sollecito's apartment contained the victim and Amanda Knox's DNA.
The second trial proved that Kercher's DNA was not found on this knife. The knife found at Sollecito's apartment was not the murder weapon.
5. A bare footprint made in the victim's blood was discovered on the mat in the bathroom.
The evidence (or lack of) that this is Sollecito's is highly speculative and is far from conclusive.
6. Knox's DNA was found mixed with Kercher's at the scene.
Again, the DNA evidence was not collected until 48 days after the crime was committed. And it was handled poorly. Knox lived in the apartment and was the first one on the scene (the one who called the police).
I don't have time to go over the rest right now, but maybe can later but just showing you that this is not as cut and dry as many would like to make it seem.
This could also further strain relations with Italy which has in recent decades already been unhappy with the extradition arrangements it has with the US.
Quote:
Originally Posted by CNN
Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz added: "As popular as she is here and as pretty as she is here -- because that's what this is all about, if
"The Italian legal system, though I don't love it, is a legitimate legal system and we have a treaty with Italy so I don't see how we would resist," he told AFP.
"We're trying to get (fugitive NSA leaker Edward) Snowden back -- how does it look if we want Snowden back and we won't return someone for murder?" he asked.
There is a valid extradition agreement between Italy and the U.S., but the U.S. has not set much of a precedence in returning suspects for such matters. Italians point to a number of high-profile cases over the years in which they say American suspects have been accused of wrongdoing and criminal acts, but have been let off lightly.
In 1998, an American military jet clipped a ski lift cable, sending a gondola of 20 passengers to their deaths in the Italian Dolomite Mountains.
Italian prosecutors wanted the crew of the jet tried in Italy, but an Italian court ruled they should face courts-martial in the U.S., in accordance with NATO treaties. The aircraft's pilot and navigator were found not guilty of involuntary manslaughter, even though the military admitted the plane had been flying lower and faster than authorized.
When it emerged that a video that captured the accident from inside the plane had been destroyed, they were dismissed from the Marine Corps. Italians were outraged, referring to the incident as the "massacre of Cermis."
In another incident that raised tensions, Egyptian cleric Abu Omar was seized off the streets of Milan in 2003 and smuggled to Egypt, where he says he was tortured and released four years later.
Although Italy did not request the extradition of any of the suspects, 22 CIA agents were convicted in absentia of the kidnapping and sentenced to prison time for their role in the abduction, but none ever served time in Italy.
Furthermore Meredith Kercher is a British Citizen, a country which has also been critical of the one way extradition street in terms if the US, with not one IRA Terrorist ever extradited from the US, but numerous people extradited from the UK since 9/11.
Lets also not forget that America still keeps people locked away at Guantanamo Bay (some prisoners having been there nearly ten years) who have had no due process as all, at least Amanda Knox has been before a proper civil court.
Last edited by Bamford; 01-31-2014 at 09:12 AM..
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