I have no idea. I just know that she is one strange bird.
Weak-minded? Apparently she claims she was essentially tortured and didn’t have a translator and was not quite sure what she was confessing to.
No, it’s not an anomaly. There are plenty of honest, dependable law enforcement officers in Italy. That’s not to say that the justice system doesn’t have problems. It has lots of problems, but that doesn’t mean all, or even most, cops are dishonest.
We don’t know. The variability of the Italian justice system don’t make it easy to come to a confident decision. The best we can hope for is that with the spotlight on them, the judiciary do everything by the book and restore some degree of confidence in whatever verdicts they reach and, If Ms. Knox is innocent, right that wrong at least.
This made me chuckle though.
In light of the recent USA executions I suspect Italians would have very similar opinions. They accept a degree of corruption, The USA accepts a degree of dead people.
This all reminds me of the ‘Satanic Panic’ of the 80’s and the ‘False Memory’s’ of the 90’s…
Utterly strange how the prosecutor has no problem with their version of events. From what I can tell, their version of events seems to be a cheesy horror novel.
Aren’t these sentiments at the core driving this case. For a person who almost moved to Italy visuals of all court scenes etc let alone the details I personally lost certain ‘comfort and familiarity’ about Italy. Btw I’m not one to believe we have working justice system here either but that’s another thread.
I think she is innocent, but acted like a total moron which aroused suspicion. There are similarities between this and the West Memphis 3 case/trial.
There is also a lot of subtext which shouldn’t affect the outcome but did: Perugia residents’ annoyance with overseas students; Knox *seeming *unconcerned and flighty; British vs. American press (the victim was British); the actual killer and the victim’s boss–named by Knox as a possible suspect–are both black, bringing “Americans always blame the black man!” into it. And yes, the judge (prosecutor? can’t recall) is a crazed conspiracy theorist who sees Knights of Malta behind every bush.
My favorite recent moment is when the prosecutors called Knox “a satanic she-devil” and papers printed a photo of her with a round courtroom lamp over her head in a perfect halo.
Between this and the Dr. Conrad Birdie trial in L.A., I am in lurid trial-TV overload.
It’s funny that someone would bring up Aurelio Zen. I just finished reading the first novel in the series – it’s set in Perugia.
Torture???
It is a shock sometimes to realise
a) how different certain familiar countries truly are
b) what we come to accept as cultural norms.
c) how those norms are viewed by other cultures.
And I appreciate you weren’t making a defence of the US system, I was merely using it as an example to illustrate the above…derail averted I hope.
Groovy 
Your acknowledgement appreciated as well.
Well, she said she was deprived of sleep, food, and water for some lengthy period of time. She was deprived of contact with anyone or legal counsel. She was screamed at and browbeaten and repeatedly struck in the head by interrogators.
She said she was scared, exhausted, confused, disoriented, and not terribly certain of what was happening. She said she had no interpreter and she didn’t clearly understand what was being said to her or exactly what questions she was replying to. After it was over, she said that she didn’t clearly recall exactly what she had said or admitted to or even what was in the confession she had signed.
Sounds pretty much like torture to me.
Nah. If waterboarding is an “enhanced interrogation technique,” what Knox went through was “a paid vacation in lovely Italy.” You DO trust your government, don’t you, citizen?
That’s torture for you???
It’s out of line behaviour if she was really slapped, (and ground for a dismissal I guess). The rest: being screamed at, and without outside contact for the duration of the hearing is pretty standard police interrogation. BTW, any medical report that backs her claims of having been beaten?
Poor angel, you mean like everyone and anyone arrested?
You mean she lived in Italy and didnt speak Italian??
Yeah, sounds like the standard line. And everybody in jail is innocent.
Frankly, I have no opinion on the case, except that the overwhelming majority of her defenders on the net seems to come from the “You cant do that, I am an American Citizen!” mould.
Yeah, it is.
It’s what she said. I have to prove her case now?
Apparently, my notion of justice is different from yours. And that apparently also justifies some degree of sarcasm on your part.
I’m not sure what you’re getting at here. It’s implausible?
I live in the United States and I encounter people on a daily basis who speak or understand English very poorly. Am I justified in locking them in a room under conditions of severe duress and beating them on the head until they confess to something?
Well, gosh, I don’t know why we bother with trials at all then. I must be terribly naive.
A sure sign of guilt, indeed.
Exactly. I work in medical research and I cringe when one of our doctors refers a patient to us who has very marginal English skills, even if they have a more fluent friend/family member along. They’re supposed to arrange for an official interpreter first. It’s one thing to be able to get through an average day - understand traffic signals, buy groceries, etc. - with a marginal language ability. It’s something entirely different to understand more complex matters like explanation of experimental medical matters, or interrogation about a murder.
I’ve vacationed in Italy and managed to get through ordering meals, taking taxis, buying things in a shop, asking directions, etc., without ever resorting to English (or worst case, only using it after the other person used some first). Even understood the fact - after it was explained to me in careful Italian - that I was sitting in the wrong compartment of a train, which I wouldn’t have screwed up if I were fluent. But if a cop stopped me and started saying something, I’d probably be flummoxed.
I’d classify that as torture as well.
Any ideas what part Amanda’s physical attractiveness (I can’t be the only one who finds her pretty dang smokin’ in a “College Girl next door” way) plays in all this?
I am convinced that is she was maybe a wee bit less attractive she would seem a little more sympathetic to the media, who seem like they are really playing up the “Evil, Sadistic Seductress” pretty strongly over there…
I agree. This sounds very much like torture. What do you consider torture, Capitaine Zombie?