I have been following this case for some time now out of complete interest. And personally I'm glad to see Miss. Knox finally home.
In 2007, Miss Knox was accused of killing her roommate Meredith Kercher. Raffaele Sollecito was also accused of the murder of Miss Kercher. This week (I can't remember if it was the day before yesterday or two days ago) Miss Knox and Mr Sollecito were both released from prison by the Italian court. Miss Knox has spent the last four years in prison.
Here's what I know about the situation:
November 2007, Meredith Kercher, a British exchange student, was murdered in Italy. At the time of her death she was 21. She was sharing a flat with three other young women at the time, one of them being Amanda Knox. In December 2009, Knox and Sollecito were convicted of sexual assault and murder and given a 25/26 year sentence. Both of them appealed the decisions.
The house where Knox and Kercher resided rested on an open hill, near a motorway out on the edge of the town. November 1, 2007, there was no one home in the flat. One of the flatmates was out of town, Knox was with Sollecito, and Kercher was at dinner with three other English women watching "The Notebook." She suddenly became tired and retired for the night to her flat. It was roughly about 9 p.m. at night. She only had 500 yrd to walk to her flat by herself. Ms. Knox had been expecting to work that night, but when her boss sent her a message she spent the evening with Sollecito.
According to forensic collected evidence, it was said that Kercher died between the time of 9 p.m. and 4 a.m. Noon the next afternoon, Knox tried calling Kercher's phone. Finding no answer from Kercher (which was strange), she returned to the flat and she then called Filomena, the other flatmate, and explained to her that there was blood in the small bathroom. Knox tried Kercher's phone again and still recieved no response. While calling she noticed that the window in Filomena's room had been broken and vandalised. Finally, Knox called her mother, who instructed her to call the police. The police responded to a message of broken window, blood, a locked door in the flat, and a missing person.
Kercher's phones were discovered near another home. Upon arrival of the scene, Knox and Sollecito were waiting outside for the Police. Knox willingly showed them the broken window and the blood in the bathroom. But Police were a little reluctant to break down the locked door. Finally annoyed and frustrated one of the flatmates kicked it in around 1 p.m. Kercher's body was discovered on the floor covered by a duvet soaked in her blood. Officers ordered everyone outside so the scene was not contaminated and to ensure that it was properly examined. The house would remain closed from November 2, 2007 until it was remodeled and rerented in 2009.
Personally, I've been interrogated before and I have sat for hours under intimidation from the Police and felt the fear and the anxiety coursing through me. The sickness of feeling alone and battered by Police. Although I was never struck by an officer, I think when faced with equal fear and anxiety to come up with answers any human being is capable of the worst. I've also been interrogated without an attorney present. But add that to being interrogated in Italian without a translator and now you're confused, tired, frustrated, stressed, and scared because you know you haven't done anything wrong and they don't want to believe you. After 14+ hours you will say almost anything just to get them to shut up and leave you alone. I know I did after three hours! Interrogation can make you believe that you have done something when you never did.
Kercher was sexually assualted and brutalized and there is no mistaking the evidence there. Rudy Guede, a small time drug dealer, was a resident of Perugia was convicted on October 28, 2008 for the sexual assualt and murder of Meredith Kercher. The prosecution had presented a well painted imaginative story that Sollecito, Knox, and Guede had all participated in a drug induced sex game that had ended with Kercher's death. Guede even admitted to being in the flat the night of the murder, and has stated that Knox and Sollecito were both present with him. They both denied the accusations. But the court didn't believe them and then all three were sentenced. Knox and Sollecito 25/26 years and Guede serving a reduced 16 year sentence from his initial guilty plea.
October 3, 2011, four years spent in an Italian jail system, Knox and Sollecito's verdicts were both turned over by a two party judge in the court system. Four years of absolute hell. Guede hearing about the results of Knox and Sollecito's cases is planning on asking for a retrial.
So I guess the question now is, what do you think? From the moment I heard this case, I didn't believe the "angel face, but really a demon child" story that some of the stories had painted of Knox. I know what it feels like to be stuck under interrogation and I know the fear they can infuse. To me the evidence just didn't add up to point to Sollecito and to Knox. And the stories that I have heard about the Prosecution have been outrageous. His views of satanism, the occult, and whatever else might have brought about seemed rather irrational and definately not professional. I know that people do stupid things in the name of EVIL and so on...such as Charles Manson. But I have long believed Knox's innocence, and I'm glad she is finally home.
Here are my reference websites for information:
http://www.bet.com/news/national/2011/10/04/commentary-amanda-knox-s-black-accomplice-remains-in-jail.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Meredith_Kercher#Amanda_Knox
