From the start, the case drew intense media coverage. In the United States, the news media frequently portrayed Ms. Knox as a naïve American wrongly caught up in the morass of a dysfunctional Italian legal system. British newspapers covered the case obsessively at every twist and turn, often from the point of view of the anguished Kercher family.

Italians are not nearly as naive about women as Americans.

Quote

Man’s sentimental construction of the statutes is a phase of the unwritten law which has been evolved in the last decade or two. Formerly the “unwritten law” as supposed to prevail chiefly in the South. The “unwritten law” of the old South was that sentiment or tradition which held guiltless of crime the man who shot another man in defence of a woman’s honor. But this latest phase of the “unwritten law” which acquits a woman charged with killing a man is as effective in the North, East and West as in the South. In short, the attitude of American men toward a woman in distress leads them everywhere to set sentiment above law.

http://unknownmisandry.blogspot.com/2011/10/chicago-murderesses-express-their.html

Tele,

So what's your 'take' on the Knox situation?

I admist I haven't followed it much, but the claims against her seem outlandish, like she was some sort of hypersexed succubus having orgies and such. Seemed like smear tactics not charges.

I am a Seattleite now married to an Italian I met near Perugia when I was 24. I essentially was Amanda Knox prior to her arrest--a pretty American girl on a long Italian adventure. Those of you who think Italians despise Knox's demographic are delusional. No other creature on earth has such a passport to Italian goodwill as an American female 20-something with blue eyes. Though her prosecutor was nuts and I found some of the DNA evidence unconvincing, I am amazed at the total silence of American media about the dozens of witnesses (including herself and Sollecito!) that contradicted their various alibis--along with incriminating receipts and computer activity that was uncontested by the defense. I'm nearly native in Italian and have read a lot of the testimony, and in fact there's a huge wealth of evidence that makes this a far cry from a railroad job. I feel there was enough doubt to justify the previous acquittal, but I also see that there was plenty of evidence to warrant her arrest and trial in the first place. Italy's justice system has flaws, but they are not more egregious than ours. The call to boycott Italy is spectacularly stupid.

I practiced criminal law for many years in America both as a prosecutor and a defense attorney and I can promise you that Amanda Knox would have had a very difficult time in an American court. Giving a false alibi, as she did, is considered "consciousness of guilt" in many jurisdictions and the jury is so instructed. Giving a false alibi is so dimly viewed by jurors that many defense lawyers are torn about presenting even a truthful alibi that could be undermined by the prosecution. Falsely implicating an innocent man, as she did, would very likely seal the deal in the absence of exculpatory evidence. In fact, there was no exculpatory evidence in this case. The DNA evidence was ambiguous at best, the crime-scene was mangled, witnesses were vague but many, many people are in American prisons on far weaker evidence, if they are alive at all. Those who are outraged about the Italian system should reflect about the failures of the American criminal justice system which have resulted in the actual execution of innocent people (cf Cameron Todd Willingham). I have no opinion on whether Amanda Knox was guilty or innocent. Even with my own clients I sometimes never knew. She was acquitted after a fair trial just as OJ Simpson was. I wonder how many of the people who are outraged about her potential retrial would have been delighted if the OJ verdict was revisited.

Pls note that A Knox is not accused of murdering her boyfriend or husband. It is another female & MO is that she was set -up.  :detective:

In any event, I smell a book deal.

Italians are not nearly as naive about women as Americans.

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