Amanda Knox

[HairOfTheDog]

Do I hear "double jeopardy"?

I don't think so, Cars.

When you live abroad, you are subject to the laws of the land, of course.

All members of the Council of Europe (which includes nearly all European countries, and every member of the European Union) have signed the European Convention on Human Rights. The optional Seventh Protocol to the Convention, Article Four, protects against double jeopardy and says:

No one shall be liable to be tried or punished again in criminal proceedings under the jurisdiction of the same State for an offence for which he or she has already been finally acquitted or convicted in accordance with the law and penal procedure of that State.

Member states may, however, implement legislation which allows reopening of a case in the event that new evidence is found or if there was a fundamental defect in the previous proceedings:

The provisions of the preceding paragraph shall not prevent the reopening of the case in accordance with the law and penal procedure of the State concerned, if there is evidence of new or newly discovered facts, or if there has been a fundamental defect in the previous proceedings, which could affect the outcome of the case.

This optional protocol has been ratified by all EU states except five (Belgium, Germany, Spain, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom). In those member states, national rules governing double jeopardy may or may not comply with the provision cited above.

In many European countries, the prosecution may appeal an acquittal to a higher court (similar to the provisions of Canadian law) – this is not counted as double jeopardy but as a continuation of the same trial. This is allowed by the European Convention on Human Rights.
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In Knox's case, the appellate court overturned the lower court's jury ruling of "guilty" based on inappropriate evidence, essentially.

Then, the case was reviewed by the Higher Court. The Higher Court found that there was sufficient evidence that wasn't covered in the appellate court's acquittal and rendered the acquittal invalid, giving the prosecutors a green light to retry the case.

Knox released a statement today that this wasn't proper because she was "found innocent' before. She was never "found innocent"; the guilty verdict was overturned. Today, she was found "Guilty" according to Italian law. But, the US will likely refuse to extradite Knox if Italy demands it because she could not have been retried under US-specific laws regarding double jeopardy.

If Knox and Sollecito were not involved, Meredith's family has been misled and it's an injustice to Meredith, the Kerchers, Knox and Sollecito.

If the pair were involved, I fear the Kerchers will get no justice on the Knox side - I think the US government is gonna protect Knox, despite the fact that the retrial was legal under Italian law.

Shame the Italian courts made such a mess of it all.

In any case, we may never know what really happened to Meredith.

P.s. Good to see you, Heartbreaker. Thanks for the verdict update!