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Cali_Democrat

(30,439 posts)
Tue Mar 26, 2013, 01:06 PM Mar 2013

Amanda Knox Retrial: Italian Court Overturns Acquittal, Orders New Trial

ROME — Italy's highest criminal court ordered a whole new trial for Amanda Knox and her former Italian boyfriend on Tuesday, overturning their acquittals in the gruesome slaying of her British roommate.

The move extended a prolonged legal battle that has become a cause celebre in the United States and raised a host of questions about how the next phase of Italian justice would play out.

Knox, now a 25-year-old University of Washington student in Seattle, called the decision by the Rome-based Court of Cassation "painful" but said she was confident that she would be exonerated.

The American left Italy a free woman after her 2011 acquittal – but only after serving nearly four years of a 26-year prison sentence from a lower court that convicted her of murdering Meredith Kercher. The 21-year-old British exchange student's body was found in November 2007 in a pool of blood in the bedroom of a rented house the two shared in the Italian university town of Perugia. Her throat had been slit.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/26/amanda-knox-retrial-italian-court-overturns-acquittal_n_2954478.html

That's bullshit!! I hope the US doesn't extradite her. The Italian court system is a joke.

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Amanda Knox Retrial: Italian Court Overturns Acquittal, Orders New Trial (Original Post) Cali_Democrat Mar 2013 OP
Double jeopardy? Blue_In_AK Mar 2013 #1
Italy? Brother Buzz Mar 2013 #2
In the US, at least, double jeopardy "does not attach in a retrial of a conviction that was reversed struggle4progress Mar 2013 #8
In Italy, prosecution can (and did) appeal verdict: katanalori Mar 2013 #3
Um. Knox wasn't acquitted: she was convicted in 2009, and the conviction was overturned struggle4progress Mar 2013 #4
Sorry....I got the headline from the Huffington Post Cali_Democrat Mar 2013 #5
Well, that does tell us something about the reliability of HuffPo, doesn't it? struggle4progress Mar 2013 #9
Actually it appears many American news outlets are saying the acquittal was overturned: Cali_Democrat Mar 2013 #10
More likely it's sloppy language from the US press: she was convicted in 2009 and appealed; struggle4progress Mar 2013 #11
Do you think CalFresh Mar 2013 #6
Probably not. n/t Cali_Democrat Mar 2013 #7

Brother Buzz

(36,217 posts)
2. Italy?
Tue Mar 26, 2013, 01:14 PM
Mar 2013

Italy lacks the absolute prohibition present in U.S. law preventing authorities from retrying a criminal defendant who has been acquitted of a charge.

http://www.cnn.com/2013/03/26/world/europe/italy-amanda-knox-case/index.html

struggle4progress

(118,041 posts)
8. In the US, at least, double jeopardy "does not attach in a retrial of a conviction that was reversed
Tue Mar 26, 2013, 01:36 PM
Mar 2013

on appeal"
Double Jeopardy Clause

Of course, Italy is governed by Italian law, rather than US law, but this case seems to involve a retrial order by a higher court, after a murder conviction was voided on appeal, and even in the US that wouldn't violate the prohibition against double jeopardy

... Dec. 4, 2009: Court finds Knox guilty of murder and sexual assault, sentences her to 26 years in prison. Sollecito is convicted of same charges and sentenced to 25 years ...
... Oct. 3, 2011: Appeals court clears Knox, Sollecito of murder convictions, orders them freed immediately ...
... March 26, 2013: Italy's highest criminal court overturns acquittal of Knox and Sollecito, orders new trial ...

Amanda Knox trial: Key dates in case
The Associated Press
Tuesday, March 26, 2013, 9:48 AM

katanalori

(1,181 posts)
3. In Italy, prosecution can (and did) appeal verdict:
Tue Mar 26, 2013, 01:16 PM
Mar 2013

"Prosecutors challenged the acquittals of Knox and Sollecito, as permitted by Italian law, which grants two levels of appeal.
The Kercher family backed the appeal, which was upheld after a five-hour hearing Monday. The court is expected to issue an explanation of its decision at a later date.

Knox will not need to return to Italy for the new trial because defendants in Italy are not required to be present. Should she be convicted, however, Italy could lodge a request for Knox's extradition with the U.S. government, said Dalla Vedova."

struggle4progress

(118,041 posts)
4. Um. Knox wasn't acquitted: she was convicted in 2009, and the conviction was overturned
Tue Mar 26, 2013, 01:21 PM
Mar 2013

on appeal in 2011. That's not the same as acquittal. Even here in the US, retrial can occur after an appeals court voids a conviction

struggle4progress

(118,041 posts)
11. More likely it's sloppy language from the US press: she was convicted in 2009 and appealed;
Tue Mar 26, 2013, 02:02 PM
Mar 2013

an appeals court voided the conviction in 2011, and then prosecutors appealed THAT decision; now a higher court has ordered a retrial

In its overall form, this is something that any US lawyer should recognize as entirely regular: analogous proceedings occur with some frequency in US courts. A US defendant convicted at trial, with the conviction overturned on appeal, may be subject to retrial without any double jeopardy attaching; the US doctrine of double jeopardy, in a US criminal case, typically applies to a defendant acquitted at the trial, and not to a defendant whose conviction has been voided on appeal, if final review has not produced dismissal of the charges with prejudice

Of course, Italian law is not the same as the English common law, and the Italian language is not the English language, so if one roots through the case, attempting to translate every Italian word into a corresponding English word, the result is likely to be a rather garbled version of the legal affair


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