Most will recall that Knox, now 22, was charged with being one of three individuals who killed then 21-year-old Meredith Kercher in the apartment she and Knox shared in the idyllic Italian town of Perugia. The report suggests that Knox, her then Italian boyfriend and Harry Potter look-alike Raffaele Sollecito, and their local drug dealer, former Ivory Coast resident Rudy Guede, just happened to come upon Kercher in her apartment and spontaneously decided to assault the victim. When Kercher resisted their advances, to include a sexual assault by Guede, the judges believe the three attacked and murdered the victim, her death the result of multiple cuts and slashes to her throat by a knife the prosecution suggested was linked to Sollecito and Knox. Everything after the murder, the judges appear to suggest, was done to cover up the murder.

In one of the more sensational and lengthy trials in recent Italian history, the local prosecutor, himself under investigation for allegations of wrongdoing in other matters, sought to prove that Kercher was victimized by the three assailants with Knox delivering the fatal wounds to the victim. It was, after all, a horrific crime scene. Evidence was everywhere to suggest that the victim, stripped of her clothing, had battled her attackers in vain, struggling to escape even after her throat had been cut, as indicated by her bloody hand prints on the nearby wall. The judges did allow, however, that after murdering Kercher her killers exhibited “a sort of repentance,” this by covering Kercher’s brutalized body with a duvet from her bed. While this action could well suggest such positive afterthought, it could also have been a simple attempt by the killers to hide their “handiwork” from their own view, or from the view of others.

During the trial the prosecutor had suggested, and the judges apparently believed, that the trio’s assaultive behavior was fueled by drugs, noting that both Knox and Sollecito admitted to smoking pot the night of the murder. Suggesting that the pair of lovers may have found Guede’s sex drive “exciting,” the judges were not entirely swayed by the prosecution’s view that Knox was angry with Kercher due to the victim’s complaints regarding Knox bringing boyfriends home like strays, or concerning Knox’s alleged lack of cleanliness around their apartment, or even her possible jealously concerning Kercher’s friendship with Knox’s boss in a local bar. Investigators had also suggested the motivation for murder could have been Sollecito’s acting out of a violent comic book scenario, or perhaps something done to cover up the pair’s theft of the victims monthly rent money they used to pay Guede for drugs that fateful night.

Most know that Guede had plead guilty and received a fast-track sentence while the other two now convicted murderers fought, but eventually lost to the Italian criminal justice system. Attorneys for the two tried to show crime scene evidence had been mishandled by Italian CSI investigators in a sort of O.J. Simpson style screw up, and that Guede was in fact the lone killer. The multi-judge panel indicated they had found no holes in the prosecution’s case and accepted the linking physical physical evidence supporting the verdict, evidence the defense had so violently disputed. In the long run, though, it may have been the conflicting statements and actions of the two, plus evidence of outright lies on their part, plus the negative publicity campaign waged by Knox’s friends, family and supporters against the Italian police and the prosecution that somehow “aided” the justices in coming to their final opinion.

At the time of the murder I was part of an NBC Dateline team that traveled to the crime scene, viewed the evidence and discussed the case with both investigators and prosecutors. While some of their theories to explain the murder seemed far-fetched at the time, the young couple did little to support their own innocence and, in reality, their actions may well have contributed to the findings of the judges.

But, I’ve been asked, would the evidence introduced at trial have been sufficient, on its own, to have allowed an American jury to find the two guilty? Possibly not, but the murder took place in Italy and if there’s one thing Americans should learn from this case; it’s not to commit or be suspected of a capital crime in a foreign country. Perugia is definitely not Mayberry, USA, and the December 2009 conviction of the two saw Knox and Sollecito sentenced to 26 and 25 years respectively, and with no time off for good behavior they will both be pushing 50 when released from prison, circa 2035.

The two plan to appeal their convictions, noting that in Italian courts an appeal means the trial will be replayed in its entirety. And while some suggest the appeal would provide the Italian court system with the opportunity to release the two and wash their national hands of the whole matter, others believe that the collective opinion in that country runs too high to see them go free. And in the meantime the family and friends of Meredith Kercher have found some limited solace in the verdicts. As usual, as is the case in most a murder convictions, no one really wins, and the families of both the victim and the convicted killers must bear the terrible pain for the rest of their lives.

For more commentary on this case, see my prior postings:
Amanda Knox: Cold Blooded Killer or Angel Faced Victim
Brutal Murderer or Just too Sexy for the Cops
Murder in Ancient Perugia

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