Friday, January 31, 2014

Getting Away With It (All Messed Up)

In the heyday of the Renaissance in Italy, murder was a fairly run-of-the-mill occurrence, whole clans being wiped out (including women and children, extinguishing their genetic code from the Earth forever) in internecine squabbles, that is, if fratricide hadn't taken place already.  If war was an extension of politics by other means, as von Clausewitz had it, a stiletto in the back was the equivalent of a parliamentary motion.
That is all in the past.  When Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito were acquitted in a retrial of the murder of Meredith Kerchner in Perugia, 'Foxy Knoxy' gave the impression of a smiling succubus, getting away with the ultimate taboo of taking the life of another and in a most gratuitous fashion.  To quote Griffin Mill's (Tim Robbins) defence lawyer, "They think you're getting away with murder."  Italy's Supreme Court was not happy with the conduct of the second trial and so, in the manner of Robert Bruce's education by a spider, Knox and Sollecito have been tried, tried and tried again.  Found guilty for a second time, if Knox is not extradited by the USA to Italy, effectively she'll have to spend the rest of her life within the borders of her home country as Italy is well-connected regarding legal treaties.  Big deal.  It's not like she is in the situation of Asil Nadir, rattling around the confines of the internationally unrecognised Northern Cyprus - she has a whole continental state in which she can subsist, a country bigger than all of Europe put together.  Not only that but her father is the vice-president of the local Macy's and she has all the financial support of her stepfather and mother.  $4m from a book deal about her ordeal in prison before acquittal isn't too shabby either.  Currently, she is studying creative writing in Seattle.  Maybe she'll follow O. J. Simpson's route and author something along the lines of If I Did It.  I can see Knox becoming a soccer mom (as which reputable organisation in America would hire a convicted murderer who refuses to face the music) exhorting her charges from the sidelines - just don't get on the wrong side of her or turn your back.
The future looks grim for Sollecito, picked up in the northern city of Udine apparently preparing to flee Italy. No wonder.  After recently hoildaying in the Caribbean, he faced several decades behind bars (again) - greater contrasts would be hard to come by.  Both he and Knox have the right of further appeal - unlike Rudy Guede who surrendered that right in opting for a fast-track trial in the hope that the prosecution would have their act together in such a short time; his gamble failed.  The continual legal dredging keeps dragging the Kercher family back into their grief, unable to have a definitive conclusion for their murdered daughter.

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