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Recommendation for Prevention

To Prevent this kind of Miscarriage of Justice from Occurring Again, I would Recommend using something similar to the "Augmented reality based criminal investigation system" Suggested in [Article 6]. This article suggests Placing Cameras is Glasses for the Officers to wear that will analyze the scene of the crime as the officer goes through the motions.

Using this kind of Technology has 2 amazing functions (among others)

Preserving a 3D image of the Crime Scene Completely Undisturbed

Allowing investigators to look deeper into small details that would have otherwise been missed and possibly swept away or damaged during an in-person first viewing of the scene, but will still be present in the recording

Additionally with this kind of in depth digital record of the scene, it will be difficult for anyone to twist small (non-relevant) details out of proportion, or make things up about the scene.

But Also, as a Second Mini-Recommendation:

Just get the Officers to be more careful with the crime scene investigation and ensure that they are not mishandling the evidence. Maybe Insist that Newer Officers only Work in Pairs with more Experienced Officers?

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NOT Dooming Ourselves to Repeat History: What Can we Change/Improve

The First thing that should be done is ensuring that proper investigative protocols are followed, both at the crime scene and the lab, to prevent errors like this from happening again.

Secondly, Prosecutors (and Defence) should be examined for Personal Biases before being allowed on a Case. Or just... Figure out What was Up with Mignini and try not to let anyone else Like That be involved in Law. At Least make the cases of people Like That go through some form of Peer Review before being allowed to Proceed Back into Court.

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Underlying Issues with The Case (There are Many)

There were Many Things Going Wrong with this Case

One was the Blatant Mishandling of Evidence and the Crime Scene itself, such as leaving a piece of evidence unattended in the room for unreasonably long time, and one officer using dirty gloves when it did get eventually collected [13]. This whole case is Wrought with issues similar to this.

Another Issue is the Clear Bias that the Prosecution (ESPECIALLY Mignini) had towards Knox. This Guy was Absolutely CONVINCED that Knox Had to be the killer. And not even for logical reasons? Mignini has a History of Accusing people of Satanic Sex Rituals, and Knox was no Exception [9, 13].

Additionally there is the Mistreatment of Knox, both by the Italian Police (While in Police Custody & in Prison [9, 12, 14]) as well as the Media, who demonized her and focused in on her to the point of forgetting about the actual Victim of this S*xual Assault/Murder Case, Meredith Kercher [10, 13, 14].

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The Aftermath

4 Years Later, on January 24, 2019, Italy is ordered to pay Knox a sum of $20000 in Damages for the Harch Treatment she Endured in the Early Days of the Case.

Justice has Finally Been Served.

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Second Conviction Overturned! The Third Trial/Final RE-Trial & Acquittal

And then just over a year later, on March 27, 2015, the Court of Cassation Overturned the Previous Conviction from 2014, and ended this circular circus of madness.

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First Acquittal Overturned! The Second Trial/First RE-Trial & Conviction

But then Tragedy Strikes! On March 26, 2013, Italy's Court of Cassation overturned the acquittal and called for the re-arrest of both Knox and Sollecito.

The Re-Trial officially began on September 30, 2013, and Lasted up until January 30, 2014, when Knox and Sollecito were re-convicted of Murder. Knox had Long Since Returned to America, and thus was Safe, but Sollecito was not as Lucky and Was Taken into Custody once Again.

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The First Acquittal

On June 27, 2011, Knox & Sollecito's Appeal Begins, with claims of Mishandling of Evidence and lots of Cross Contamination [11]. Due to this any evidence pinning Knox (and Sollecito) to the Crime was Shaky at Absolute Best.

The Pair were Acquitted and Released on October 3, 2011.

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The First Trial & Conviction

On January 16, 2009, the Trial to discover the culprit in the murder of Meredith Kercher has begun.

Knox herself was only able to to take to the stand for the first time on June 12, 2009 to Defend herself, and stated her innocence, and that she had no motive to kill Kercher as they were Friends.

The Trial Continues on for Nearly an Entire Year, until finally on December 4th, 2009, Knox & Sollecito are found Guilty and convicted, sentenced to 26 & 25 year sentences respectively. Knox was also required to pay Lumbumba $60000 for defamation.

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The Evidence

The Evidence Collected against the pair (Knox and Sollecito) is quite Laughable when compared to the Evidence that the killer was Guede.

Evidence against Knox & Sollecito

A Knife found in Sollecito's Kitchen (Which, just as a Reminder, is NOT the scene of the crime. Knox and Meredith {and their other irrelevant-to-the-case roommate, Filomena Romanelli} lived in a cottage together. Sollecito did not live with them) which had Traces of Knox's DNA on the Handle and Kercher's DNA on the Blade

Sollecito claimed this was from when Kercher's finger had been nicked while the 3 of them were cooking together [10, 12]. This is a Knife. In A Kitchen. That is Not even Related to the Crime Scene by any means. Very "Book Found in Library" Energy here.

Traces of Sollecito's DNA on Kercher's Bra Clasp

Which had been left on the dirty floor of the crime scene for 46 Days [10, 12], and was thus inadmissible evidence since it was horribly cross-contaminated by that point.

Amongst all of this is Several Coerced Confessions of Guilt and Abuse at the hands of the police for Knox [9, 10, 12]

Evidence Against Rudy Guede

His Fingerprints were found at the Crime Scene, including Underneath her Body [10, 12, 13]

Claimed he was on a Date with Kercher, but Kercher had Dinner Plans with Friends [12]

Glass from the Broken Window was found in the Sole of Guede's Shoes [12]

DNA evidence was found all over (and within) Kercher's Body [10, 12, 13]

And yet he Claimed that they Did Not Have Sex [12, 13] or that it was Consensual [10]

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Interview? Or Interrogation?

After being Taken in by the Police for Questioning After the discovery of Meredith's Body, Knox and Sollecito were Ruthlessly Interrogated for 4 Days, without any Interpreters (for Knox, whose Native Language is Not Italian) or Lawyers [9, 10, 12]

While in Custody, Knox Claims to have been Abused and Bullied by The Police [9, 12]. Because of this, she was Coerced into signing a written confession stating that Lumbumba (her boss at Le Chic) killed Meredith while she stood there and Watched [9, 10, 12]. (This is, Obviously, Very Sus.)

Knox and Sollecito were then held in Prison for the Next 14 Months, Until their Trial Began on January 16, 2009

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Setting the Scene

So imagine this:

You’re Amanda Knox, A Linguistics Student Studying Abroad at the University for Foreigners in Perugia, Italy. You live in a Cottage with 2 other girls (Meredith Kercher and Filomena Romanelli). In October you go to a Concert and meet another student, and you decide to date him (his name is Raffaele Sollecito and he's an Engineering Student). You get a Part-Time Job at a Pub/Bar Called Le Chic. School is Fine. Life is Fine.

Now its November 1st. Your Boss (Patrick Lumbumba) sends you a text saying that the Club is good on staff tonight so you don't have to come in. Great! You decide to Spend the Night at your Boyfriends Place.

The Next Day you go home to discover the place bloody and Meredith's room locked. You assume that Maybe she's just Sleeping. You decide to take a shower and go and grab Raffaele and come back later.

That's when you notice the broken window. Meredith still wont open the Door. You Start to Panic. You call Meredith. She doesn't pick up. You call your other Roommate, Filomena, to share your concerns. She wasn't much help. In the Meanwhile, Raffaele calls the police to the scene, after you both attempt to open Meredith's door.

Then the Postal Police Show up, Break down the Door, and Discover the body of Meredith, Half-Naked Under a Blood Soaked Blanket.

The Investigation Begins, and you & your boyfriend are taken in for questioning.

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Timeline of Events

Here's a Timeline of Events to Summarize the Chaos before we dive into the Nitty-Gritty.

November 2007:

- Nov 2: Murder of Kercher Occurs, Knox & Sollecito taken into custody  - They Were Kept in Police Station and Interrogated for 4 Days until a (False) Confession was Pried out of them on Nov 6 & They were Arrested - Nov 15: An “Incriminating” Kitchen Knife is Found at SOLLECITO’s home, which has Knox’s DNA on the Handle and Traces of Kercher’s on the Blade - Nov 20: Rudy Guede is Arrested (DNA Evidence HEAVILY states he was there)

October 28, 2008: Guede is Convicted of Murder and S*xual Assault and Sentenced to 30 Years in Prison

January 16, 2009: Kercher Murder Trial Begins, AFTER Knox & Sollecito Spent 14 Months in Jail

June 12, 2009: Knox testifies in her defense, Stating that she did Not kill Meredith Kercher

December 4, 2009: Knox & Sollecito are Convicted and Sentenced to 26 & 25 Years in Jail (Respectively), As well as Heavy Fines 

June 27, 2011: Appeal Begins for  Knox & Sollecito

July 25, 2011: Forensic Experts call the Evidence given by the Prosecution into question 

October 3, 2011: Knox & Sollecito acquitted and released

March 26, 2013: Acquittals Overturned by Italy’s Court of Cassation, Knox is called to the stand again for the Murder of Kercher

September 30, 2013: 2nd Trial Begins, WITHOUT EITHER ACCUSED PRESENT

February 2014: Knox & Sollecito are Found Guilty and Sentenced to Prison Again, With Knox being sentenced to 28.5 years compared to Sollecito's 25.

However Only Sollecito Actually Went to Prison as Knox was in America and could only be arrested if she went back to Italy. 

March 27, 2015: Supreme Court of Italy Overturns Knox & Sollecito’s Convictions for the last time.

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Important Players In the Case

In the Middle is Meredith Kercher. She’s the Victim in the Murder Not-Really Mystery. She was Amanda’s Roommate.

On the Left is Amanda Knox. She’s the Accused/Suspect/Supposed Killer. She was Meredith’s Roommate.

On the Right is Raffaele Sollecito. He’s Amanda’s Supposed Co-conspirator to the Murder of Meredith. He was Amanda’s Boyfriend at the time (they have long since gone their separate ways).

This is Rudy Guede. Spoilers: He's the Actual Criminal in this case. Very obviously so once the DNA Evidence was Processed.

This smarmy looking dude is Giuliano Mignini. He was a Prosecutor on the case, One that was Absolutely Convinced, despite all the evidence to the contrary, that Knox and Sollecito were guilty.

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Links/Sources Masterpost

Here's a List of a bunch of Links for Anyone Who Wants to Read more about the Case, or about the topics surrounding it! (In JFS Format because Why Not)

Vuille J, Biedermann A, Taroni F. Wrongful Convictions and Miscarriages of Justice: Causes and Remedies in North American and European Criminal Justice Systems, 1st edn.: New York, USA: Routledge; 2013; p. 137–160. DOI: https://doi-org/10.4324/9780203597286    

Gill P. Analysis and implications of the miscarriages of justice of Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito. Forensic Sci Int-Gen. 2016;23:9–18.  http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.fsigen.2016.02.015  

Volgin L. The importance of evaluating findings given activity level propositions in order to avoid misleading evidence. Aust J Forensic Sci. 2019;51(sup1):S10–S13. https://doi.org/10.1080/00450618.2019.1569131 

Krone T. Raising the alarm? role definition for prosecutors in criminal cases. Aust J Forensic Sci. 2012;44(1):15–29. https://doi.org/10.1080/00450618.2011.581247   

Grossman J, Nyarko J, Goel S. Racial bias as a multi-stage, multi-actor problem: An analysis of pretrial detention. SSRN Electronic Journal 2022;20(1):86–133. https://doi.org/10.1111/jels.12343 

Haque SE, Saleem S. Augmented reality based criminal investigation system (ARCRIME). 2020 8th International Symposium on Digital Forensics and Security (ISDFS) 2020;  10.1109/ISDFS49300.2020.9116204

Multani A. Fraud in forensics: 5 cases of evidence tampering and abuse [Internet]. Forensics Colleges. 2022 [cited 2023 Feb 9];Available from: https://www.forensicscolleges.com/blog/resources/real-cases-of-forensic-fraud-flawed-evidence   

Yadav PK. Ethical issues across different fields of forensic science - egyptian journal of forensic sciences [Internet]. SpringerOpen. 2017 [cited 2023 Feb 9]; Available from: https://ejfs.springeropen.com/articles/10.1186/s41935-017-0010-1   

N/A. Amanda Knox Biography [Internet]. Biography.com. 2014 [cited 2023 Feb 9]; Available from: https://www.biography.com/crime/amanda-knox   

N/A. Amanda Knox: A Complete Timeline of Her Italian Murder Case and Trial [Internet]. Biography.com. 2020 [cited 2023 Feb 9]; Available from: https://www.biography.com/crime/amanda-knox-murder-trial-timeline-facts 

Arice L. Amanda Knox Case Explained [Internet]. People Magazine. 2016 [cited 2023 Feb 9]; Available from: https://people.com/celebrity/amanda-knox-case-explained/ 

Stockton C. This theory finally explains why Amanda Knox almost went down for the murder of Meredith Kercher [Internet]. Thought Catalog. 2021 [cited 2023 Feb 9]; Available from: https://thoughtcatalog.com/christine-stockton/2021/01/why-people-thought-amanda-knox-was-guilty/ 

Finn N. Why the amanda knox case still doesn't make any sense: Inside a shockingly misogynistic murder investigation [Internet]. E! Online. 2017 [cited 2023 Feb 9]; Available from: https://www.eonline.com/news/798763/why-the-amanda-knox-case-still-doesn-t-make-any-sense-inside-a-shockingly-misogynistic-murder-investigation 

Apuzzo M, Schmidt MS. F.B.I. evidence is often mishandled, an internal inquiry finds [Internet]. The New York Times. 2014 [cited 2023 Feb 9]; Available from: https://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/20/us/politics/fbi-evidence-keeping-criticized.html 

Helmer M. The impact of mishandled evidence on the accused [Internet]. Tracker Products. 2022 [cited 2023 Feb 9];Available from: https://trackerproducts.com/the-impact-of-mishandled-evidence-on-the-accused/#:~:text=Mishandled%2C%20damaged%20or%20lost%20physical%20or%20digital%20evidence,when%20transferring%2C%20and%20during%20evidence%20analysis%20and%20storage. 

[no-justice-no-joy]

Introduction

Hello! Y’all can Call Me Joy! I’m here to tell you/rant about the insanity that went down from 2007-2015 (yeah it was drawn out for that long) with the Amanda Knox Case, and the ridiculous amount of Miscarriage of Justice that occurred in this one case. Stay tuned for more!

Here's a Link for the Links Masterpost that's Somewhere on my Blog.

Here's a Link for the First Post in the Series!