Great to post this when that truthjustice whatever site came out with an open letter. How many people signed it anyways? 4? Did they have a little group meeting? Let's see the signature list.

What an insult to the Italians - international obligations, blah blah. It was a damning indictment, a weak defense undermined by the mendacity of the defendants themselves, and the trial was conducted in accordance with every standard of local jurisprudence. The case was sensational becuase the crime was, and the public prejudice of guilt was so strong becuase the case as laid out in the indictment was.
Cantwell simply shows herself to be cut from the same cloth of American Chauvanism with which team Knox girds it's loins.

You get the signature list when we see who signed the anti-gay marriage referendum.

I saw Cantwell on CNN and I couldn't believe her. She did say she didn't know if Amanda was innocent but she kept on with "impartial tribunal". What she meant is anyone's guess. Non-Italians on the jury? Sequestered Italians? Military? (FYI, most Italian juries AND American juries are NOT sequestered. Every court gets to make their own judgment on how that is handled. Sorry, Maria.)

Ms. Knox's family failure to get the U.S. Consulate in there from the get-go is not the Italian court's fault. If my child was in a foreign country and a roommate got murdered, I'd get the Consulate on the phone, get a lawyer and fly there immediately. Apparently this did not happen.

What might seem "irregular" to Americans is a different legal system. The minute you have governments trying to interfere with each other's justice system, well, good luck with that. And our own justice system is far from perfect.

To believe that the Italian judicial system went after Amanda Knox to settle old scores is just crazy. It would be very dumb for any country to try to play gotcha! with the U.S and for an ally to do it is implausible.

Negative stereotypes about American college students? Well, some of that may be fact-based but I've lived in Italy, married an Italian and I haven't felt or seen expressed anti-American sentiment (except for our food). I'm not saying Italians don't have their opinions but Cantwell makes it sound like the trial was set in the Roman colosseum with a thumbs up or thumbs down.

It is bad precedent for Senator Cantwell to ask for special favors. Maybe she's just doing this to look like she's doing something and knows perfectly well how wrong and inappropriate it is to challenge another country's justice system (particularly an ally).

people (incorrectly) assume that Justice as it exists in their country is the same as Justice in another country.

It very rarely is.

It is amazing how so many people do not understand it when a prosecution has been handled in a deceitful manner. Frying computers, putting horrible misinformation in the media before trial, not evaluating the crime scene properly is misusing evidence, and creating circumstances that the defendants have no power to refute are all tools by those who abuse their power and deny one a fair trial. Fair and just means the prosecution is not allowed to hide exculpatory evidence and lie about details for the benefit of media profit, as well as a little under the table stuff.

Those who can not be honest will get it eventually.

I'd just like to thank Charles Mudede for so expertly rendering me completely incapable of giving a shit about this whole case by posting some picture or another of Knox, along with a comment like "It is the fact of the eyes that shows that what is known is not anything," roughly once a day.

It would be nice to have some numbers: how many letters has Senator Cantwell received? And there are two issues here: speaking out in support of a Washington State citizen is one thing; making a blistering and baseless attack on the justice system of a sovereign democracy and US ally is another. I can't believe the State Department thought the content and tone of Senator Cantwell's statement were acceptable. In fact, she implies that the State Department was remiss in this matter. Yet the State Department says it has done its usual due diligence, monitored the situation throughout and found none of the serious failures that Cantwell alleges.

What I read above sounds like doublespeak.

Ah, so that's it. It was revenge for the gondola wreck. I knew it all along!

keep it up, Maria. the UW got all lawyer-y when i asked them to end the overseas program in Perugia in protest of the prosecution and verdict. they said that Italy is still safe for students. really. they have no intention of fighting for her.

haters, WHAT WAS THE MOTIVE?

End the overseas program? You must be joking. Maybe you can get the State Department to declare Italy a hot spot. Good luck with that one. As a UW student, I must strenuously object to your attempt to deprive me and others to the right to study abroad. Just because Amanda Knox got herself in trouble?

Well, thank god there will be an appeal, because I'm not already sick to death of this story.

Italian incarceration rate = 110 per 100,000
US incarceration rate = 747 per 100,000

If I had to choose, I'd rather be tried in Italy.

Although there are fewer Italians I'd like to kill...

Look, as a dual citizen of both Italy and the US, currently living in Italy, I can confidently and assuredly say this - Cantwell's concern about this being an anti-American thing is wrong (and appalling.) Italians do not hate Americans. Not even close! Negative stereotypes about American college students are actually in many cases well-warranted, but are no indication of some deep rooted hatred for this country. Italians, by and large, appreciate American tourism and the establishment of foreign college programs. In fact, American tourists and students are good for the Italian economy. We appreciate this.
I'm sick of hearing (non Italians, non Italian-speaking, non Italy-living) people say that Italy hates America. Give me a break! Learn the language, meet some Italians, live in the country - educate yourself before making blanket statements.
I might add, Italians are not happy about these accusations of anti-americanism. So, these accusatory statements? Not helping Amanda. People here, even those who may have had questions about the trial verdict, are now throwing their hands up in the air and saying - go to hell. Don't go crying anti-Americanism. It's wrong, inappropriate, and ridiculous.

Discrepancies in her testimony to the police - she was interrogated for FORTY HOURS STRAIGHT! And she was convicted by a jury of ten people two of whom were JUDGES on the trial! Oh, and the prosecutor, Mignini, is a whack-job conspiracy theorist who is convinced that satanist death cults are trying to destroy the catholic church (not a bad idea actually). And never mind that the two defendants miraculously managed to commit a horrifically bloody crime without leaving so much as a shred of their own DNA evidence behind!? And what about the guy that already confessed to the crime and is now doing time for it? This wasn't a trial, it was a circus freak-show italian style. In lieu of doing anything about their own rampant organized crime plague, the italian injustice system decided to throw the book at an American exchange student that almost certainly could not have committed this crime. And to all the above 'presumption of guilt' assholes, I'd like to see you all rot in an italian prison for crimes that you did not commit. Piss on italy, I'm going to Spain!

Oh, please, this anti-foreigner stuff is total BS!

Knox is hardly singled out for being American, or some sort of scape-goat, if anything, Sollecito is, as, unlike the other two, he comes from a rich, well-connected Italian family, with a famous lawyer who is also a member of parliament!

thelittlebird said it best. How many of you who are decrying the Italian judicial system have any personal experience? How many of you read Italian well enough to read the original information in Italian and understand it? One thing is for sure, CBS, ABC, CNN and others sure can't, and if you are relying on them for a correct translation, you'd be better off with babelfish!

"she was interrogated for FORTY HOURS STRAIGHT!"

No, she wasn't.

"And she was convicted by a jury of ten people two of whom were JUDGES on the trial!"

No, 8 people, two of which are judges. This is SOP in Italy.

"And what about the guy that already confessed to the crime and is now doing time for it?"

No-one confessed, he has aways claimed innocence and is appealing. If you had read the 100+ page sentencing document (granted, it's in Italian), you would see that he was considered to be only a part of it, that three people were involved, based upon the evidence presented.

" the italian injustice system decided to throw the book at an American exchange student"

First, she wasn't an 'exchange student", but simply a student.

Also, you forgot to mention the rich Italian guy with serious connections, who said that he's not sure that she actually spent the whole night with him. He was also convicted of the same crimes (except for implicating her provably innocent employer, only she did that)

"And to all the above 'presumption of guilt' assholes, I'd like to see you all rot in an italian prison for crimes that you did not commit"

In Italy, there is a presumption of innocence, not guilt. It is up to the prosecution to prove guilt.

They did.

Also, I'd rather be in an Italian prison than a US prison, as in Italy conditions are better, and you are more likely to be released earlier (and alive).