And....She's still guilty

In November of 2008 Meredith Kercher was murdered. Amanda Knox was held to be partically responsible for that murder. Knox’s trial began January 16, 2009. The prosecution moved forward with what is arguably a lot of circumstantial evidence (meaning it’s not conclusive that she is guilty it also doesn’t conclusively suggest she is innocent). Amanda lied to the police several times. Amanda admitted to being in the house and hearing Meredith Kercher scream. Amanda’s alibi (her boyfriend) would not corroborate her story. Amanda’s DNA was found on a potential murder weapon. Amanda’s DNA was found on an article from Meredith’s clothing. Amanda purposely and falsely implicated Patrick Diya Lumumba knowing full well that he did not commit the crime (Lumumba sued her for defamation and won a 40 euros judgment. . which is good since he spent 2 weeks in jail away from his wife and child because of her lies). Add to this the fact that she had not one but two attorneys and I’m not convinced her trial was unfair. It is argued that the juries preconceived notions of Amanda Knox lead them to a vindictive and erroneous verdict. Americans are trying to say that Italian juries were prejudiced in this instance. . .right. . .because we have completely removed prejudice from our criminal justice system. Maybe we should write a manual and send copies to Italy. I'm sure they could benefit from our evolved wisdom. Post racial Age of Obama Ho!

Some people believe that Italy errs in not sequestering their juries. I would beg to differ. For nearly a year these people would have been away from work, church, loved ones, and extracurricular actives. That is slightly barbaric and an unreasonable compromise in the interest of justice in modernity. Additionally this kind of isolation would make them even less likely to show up everyday with a clear mind. Amanda Knox had a trial that was fair by Italian standards. Last time I checked Italy was still a first world country and a willing ally of the United States. We have no clothes on yet we mock the emperor for his nudity.

American judicial history highlights

> unarmed men are shot and killed by law enforcement (reference: Amadou Diallo, Ousmane Zongo, Sean Bell) and were those same law enforcement officials are rarely held legally accountable.

>There was actual real time video footage of the police brutality perpetrated against Rodney King and yet only two of the officers involved were convicted.

>We have made an art form of exonerating former death row inmates (sometimes posthumously) and usually after some third party organization has taken the initiative to actually review the DNA evidence. Please see these reports by the innocence project (http://www.innocenceproject.org/news/Newsletters.php). Were there petitions signed when they were convicted with weak eye-witness identifications? Did we raise the trumpets when the prosecution failed to test DNA evidence? Were we ready to ride into battle for these fathers, brothers, uncles and sons who were torn from their families and erroneous convicted by juries of their peers? No of course not. They don’t look like the wealthy girl next door For some more information check out the Northwestern Center on wrongful convictions ( http://www.law.northwestern.edu/cwc/ ), The Mid-Atlantic innocence project ( http://www.exonerate.org/facts/ ), Truth in Justice ( http://truthinjustice.org/ ) , for summaries of over 950 U.S. wrongful convictions check out this link ( http://www.victimsofthestate.org/ ).

>Regina Kelley v. John Paschall ( http://www.aclu.org/drug-law-reform/aclu-charges-racial-discrimination-second-texas-drug-bust-scandal ) is a lawsuit that describes the abuse of a Texas narcotics squad that conducted racially motivated drug sweeps for more than 15 years in Hearne Texas. The task force frequently arrested innocent people and forced them to take pleas or face jail time all so they could pad their conviction numbers and receive increased federal funding. Where was the moral indignation and the battle cry for fairness at this injustice happening within our own borders? Where were the posters? Where was CNN and Fox news? Why didn’t we hear from the victims’ mothers and grandmothers after their sentences were handed down. Give me a break. We didn’t hear about it because these people were poor and the poor get far less justice in the country than the rich.

 We have such fresh dancing skeletons in our closet. . . ghosts that will not even begin to think about to resting their heavy bones until every person who went to Emmett Till’s funeral is 2 generations dead. So yea. . .I don't have the strength or the audacity judge the Italian judicial process. Maybe I can offer some points of improvement but I offer them as suggestions not as condemnation. I’m too worried about where we will get enough justice laced penicillin to address the sickness in our own system.