When Amanda Knox heard the jury’s not guilty to murder verdict earlier today Ms Knox is said to have combusted into an outpouring of immense tears…of joy and relief.
That unfortunately can not be said of the plaintiff’s family, the Kercher‘s who have in their estimation tried in vain for the last 4 years to bring meaning to the death of Meredith Kercher, a once 21 year old exchange student from Leeds, England who was found murdered in the house that she shared with Amanda Knox in a quaint village in Perugia, Italy– the scene of more drama than any made for TV episode could have envisioned.
But if we in the media are to be cruel, perhaps we ought to say what few dare say openly, Ms Knox is somewhat of a looker and in today’s made for drama TV episodes, Ms Knox’s youth, beauty and public sympathy (that was always going to be the main ingredient) Ms Knox was always going to be the favorite. Meredith Kercher can at least say from her grave that at least someone is spending some time for her death, that of an Ivory Coast drifter implicated in her death, Rudy Guede, but even he is only having to spend 16 years after agreeing to a fast track trial- whatever such things are suppose to mean…
After being sentenced to a 26 year jail sentence in 2007 along with her ex lover, Raffaele Sollecito who received a 25 year sentence for their purported roles in what was described in the press as a sex escapade gone wrong (as if that helped us understand what actually happened the night Ms Kercher was found with her throat slit wide open), the defendants launched an appeal which this evening saw their immediate release.
Of contentious merit all along was the evidence that was presented in court, and the strands of DNA being found near the murder. What always made this case a difficult one for the prosecutors was a lack of clear motive, the fact that the murder weapon was never discovered and that the police and plaintiff continuously bungling their collection of evidence which was enough this time to have the jurors doubt the complicity of Ms Knox and Mr Sollecito in the death of the victim.
What also complicated matters from the public prosecutor’s side of the fence was the public relations campaign that sought to portray the Italian media and justice system as unfair and capricious, something that gained steam by the time Ms Knox’s parents appeared on TV with Oprah Winfrey. Which whether you like it or not is a round about way of saying if the goddess of TV thinks you’re worth her while bets are that you’re innocent, and a tragic victim of the vast injustices that go on daily in the world.
Now that our collective heroine has been deemed by the courts of law a resurrected angel she now stands to make millions (not bad work if you can get it…) from book deals, movie deals and interviews. In fact it is said that Ms Knox is currently making her return to the United States on a private jet courtesy of as an unnamed media outlet (which is good to know that some quarters of the media are making a fistful of money).
Ultimately one has to wonder if Ms Knox had to go through it all over again how she would navigate the terrain, whether she is on some level complicit to the murder of her ex room mate or not, but perhaps none of this really matters anymore as her life is now steered from one wild extreme to another extreme, from one jail house to that of another kind of jailhouse- that of the public at large and a pandering media. At least this time she’ll stand to make millions, of course it will be interesting to note a lapse in her conscience, but then again she could just have been a good girl caught at the wrong place at the wrong time, but you will have to wait for the movie before you completely find out if Ms Knox is who she says she is….
The outcome of the case itself shows that the Italian justice system is “unfair and capricious.” They either just kept two people in jail for FOUR years for a crime they did not commit, OR, they just released two cold-blooded killers. In either scenario, the Italian justice system doesn’t come out looking too good.