Italy’s courts threw the book at American college student Amanda Knox on Saturday, sentencing her to 26 years in prison for murdering her British roommate.
The yearlong trial was rife with problems for the prosecution, including the fact that somehow the metaphorical book throwing found its way into the interrogation room. But this time, picture a phone book — a favorite interrogation tool of brutish police.
While a confession wasn’t quite beat out of Knox, she claims that at one point interrogators hit her in the head for not remembering the facts.
The defense also asserts she was pressured into confessing, though investigators told her to “imagine what would have happened,” and that her lawyer wasn’t present.
The confession was thrown out, not that it mattered in the minds of the jurors.
The other evidence remains questionable at best.
The knife she allegedly used to commit the crime doesn’t match the wounds, and DNA on the blade was too small to be definitive, says the defense. DNA on a bra clasp, footprints in blood and a broken window make up the other shaky evidence that numerous expert witnesses have disputed.
The other key point of any trial — motive — was never clearly established by the prosecution, which changed its theory multiple times throughout the trial.
If the glove doesn’t fit, Italy will apparently send you to jail until it does.
Americans take for granted the rights our justice system provides defendants. But abroad, the game changes, and sometimes results in the mockery that is the Amanda Knox trial.
