Caso Chiuso? For Real?

From the papers in Europe, and particularly in England, you'd think that UW student Amanda Knox had already been tried and convicted of sexually assaulting and killing her roommate Meredith Kercher in Perguia, Italy.

The source said: "The flat where Meredith was killed was full of evidence, there was blood, fingerprints and other bodily substances.
"It was obvious very quickly that those responsible were from a close circuit of friends and we were able to close in on them very quickly.

"The stories of those held just didn't add up and they kept changing. It was only a matter of time."

After Knox confessed, police raced to seize Sollecito and restaurant owner Lumumba, a married father of one who has lived in Perugia for more than a decade.

They were taken to the central police station in a ten-car convoy with sirens blaring. A short time later a press conference was called and an officer at the gates declared 'caso chiuso', which means case closed.

So that's it then? The Perugia polizia interrogate her for three days, probably with no lawyer present, certainly with no American lawyer present, there's a confession and "caso chiuso?" Why bother with a trial at all? The English media has already dug up plenty of evidence from the detritus a student leaves on the internet in the course of a modern life. There's Myspace, where Amanda once wrote a story about rape, the Youtube video where she appears intoxicated, a picture of her posing in an intimidating fashion with a machine gun, and no doubt her recent Twitters will be brought to light any day now by the hard-Googling British press.

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By Dan in News on November 7, 2007 10:24 AM

Comments [rss]

DrStarsky

Yes, send in Perry Mason. What incredible arrogance to think that an American lawyer should be present. Amanda Knox has repeatedly lied to the investigators. She first said she was not present when the murder happened. Then she changed and said she was there but in another room, without her boyfriend. Then she changed again and said the boyfriend was there too. Plus other lies, you can read it all in the 18 page statement by the judge, parts of which have been reported in the media. Nobody has declared her guilty yet, there is due process in Italy and her rights are protected. If indicted, she will have the right to not one, but three trials in different courts.

kickerofelves

I think you're missing the point by a mile. It's obvious that the investigators are making an attempt to prevent the victim going on trial, as happens often enough unfortunately.

From my law school days 'Mens Rea' is a common law concept . Italy is a civil law not a common law jurisdiction.

MvB

@ #5: Yes, I was unfamiliar with the term "morally innocent." Generally if someone is described as being sexually assaulted and then killed, I don't assume they were in on the planning process. The only legal reference I can find to the term says: "Those who, by reason of insanity or other mental incapacity, are not morally responsible for their offense." It turns out to be related to the concept of mens rea.

kickerofelves

Michael van Baker does't have a clue why the police are calling the victim 'morally innocent'. Perhaps they call the victim 'morally innocent' in order to keep from making the victim look like a culpable slut as the U.S. media would do.

Why would someone in Italy have an American lawyer present? Are you people naive? It's a developed European country with a robust legal system.

You go to another country and you're bound by their system and laws. The Italian judicial system is a hell of a lot more lenient about murder or manslaughter than the U.S. system is.

kasa

Rather off topic, but I hope I never hear "you can't blame the press for pandering" again. Ugh, is this how low our expectations are now?

joanne

As a friend of Amanda's this must be really shocking, but we need to remember that the police have released a statement detailing her partial confession. Innocent until proven guilty, but she is definitely complicit in some way. If you heard your friend screaming in the next room at 2am, and it was so frightening that you covered your ears with your hands, would you go into the room earlier than the 7am onwards when she was allegedly discovered?

For the press, and the reading public, the involvement of Amanda is more newsworthy than the two guys. She is being painted as the betraying friend, who at the very least, sat back and listened while her friend was being attacked.

As for meredith being morally innocent, if it's true it should be said. Why should her family be left with a public lasting memory of her dying in an sick orgy that she willingly participated in? She was an innocent victim.

The truth will come out, but you can't blame the press for pandering to the public with this angle.

domab4

Thank you Dan for this entry. As a friend of Amanda's, I have been shocked at how quickly the police in Italy have been to draw conclusions about the case after only days of investigation for such a brutal killing. I agree that the British magazines in particular have been quick to indemnify Amanda while only making brief mentions of the other two men suspected in the case.

I appreciate your honesty and questioning of the case as it is portrayed to the public.

MvB

Yeah, it's weird. There seems to be a need to portray Knox as a premeditated killer with a "dark" side, and then there's all this about how Kercher was "morally innocent." Is that a translation problem? I didn't know law enforcement dealt with the states of people's souls.