Raffaele Sollecito
Amanda Knox’s ordeal with the miscarriage of Italian justice has been horrible for her and her family and disgusting to all of us who value truth. The high Court of Cassation’s unbelievable ruling in ordering a new trial in the murder of Meredith Kercher has compounded the tragedy. But as horrible as it is for Amanda, at least she is an American citizen, back home on American soil, and protected by American laws. Not so for her then-boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito, who is an Italian citizen and resident with no refuge from this travesty. Our empathy goes out to him. He’s already suffered more than enough for a crime of which he is completely and demonstrably innocent.
People get so wrapped up in conspiracy theories that they begin to live in an alternate universe. I’m sure Dr. Douglas remembers the McMartin case back in the 1980s. The Knox case is, in many ways, similar to that case. The notion of satanic worship inspiring otherwise normal people to commit horrible, and weird, crimes defies the law of parsimony. To get to the otherwise inexplicable motives for these crimes requires mental gymnastics beyond the ken of normal people. It is obvious who the criminal was in the Knox case and he was convicted. It was a simple crime of robbery and sex enhanced by a strange prosecutor into a cult slaying. Stay with the simple explanation, it is generally not only simple but true.
Joe, you’ve summarized the entire issue extremely well.
Please consider supporting Raffaele by buying his book “Honor Bound” which describes what he and Amanda Knox have gone through. Thanks.