Italian Verdict: Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito guilty of murdering Meredith Kercher

<object width=”425″ height=”344″><param name=”movie” value=”http://www.youtube.com/v/bYEUyyvZ6Lc&hl=en_US&fs=1&”></param><param name=”allowFullScreen” value=”true”></param><param name=”allowscriptaccess” value=”always”></param><embed src=”http://www.youtube.com/v/bYEUyyvZ6Lc&hl=en_US&fs=1&” type=”application/x-shockwave-flash” allowscriptaccess=”always” allowfullscreen=”true” width=”425″ height=”344″></embed></object>

Italy Verdict Draws Ire in the U.S. (New York Times)

PERUGIA, Italy — Tensions and cultural misunderstandings ran high on Saturday after an American college student was found guilty of murdering her British housemate.

Rather than clarifying the saga of what prosecutors said was a drug-fueled orgy gone fatally awry, the conviction of Amanda Knox, 22, a Seattle college student, for killing her roommate, Meredith Kercher, 21, seemed only to heighten the conflicting public opinions that had formed in two years of fierce international news coverage.

In a statement after the verdict was delivered early Saturday, Senator Maria Cantwell, Democrat of Washington, said, “I have serious questions about the Italian justice system and whether anti-Americanism tainted this trial.” She added, “The prosecution did not present enough evidence for an impartial jury to conclude beyond a reasonable doubt that Ms. Knox was guilty,” and said Ms. Knox had received “harsh treatment” after her arrest.

Ms. Cantwell said she would convey her concerns to Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Ms. Knox’s family vowed to fight on and continue their campaign to free their daughter. Asked if he would appeal, Ms. Knox’s father, Curt Knox, replied, with tears in his eyes, “Hell, yes.”

The trial has unfolded in the media as much as in the courts. In the United States, Ms. Knox is often depicted as an innocent abroad, a fresh-faced young woman caught up in the vagaries of the Italian justice system.

Yet in the Italian press, Ms. Knox is often depicted as a party girl who liked to smoke marijuana and bring home men — and who accused another man, Patrick Lumumba, of the crime in oral and written testimony before changing her story. On Saturday she was found guilty of defaming Mr. Lumumba, whose defense lawyer called her a “little she-devil” in closing arguments last week.

This is what “social justice” really looks like.

ABC: Exclusive: Amanda Knox’s Family Says Judge Couldn’t Luck Them In the Eyes