Amanda Knox signs book deal with HarperCollins
Amanda Knox, the young American cleared of murdering her British housemate Meredith Kercher in 2007 in the Italian city of Perugia, has signed a book deal with HarperCollins.
The book publisher said the 24-year-old will "give a full and unflinching account" of both her arrest and trial.
The deal is reportedly worth $4m (£2.5m) for world rights and is tentatively scheduled for early 2013.
Ms Knox was cleared in October of killing Miss Kercher, of south London.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-17069980
Knox and Sollecito murder acquittals challenged http://www.democraticunderground.com/101451456
bluestateguy
(44,173 posts)and she has lawyer bills to pay.
Booster
(10,021 posts)obamanut2012
(26,154 posts)southernyankeebelle
(11,304 posts)needs the money. All I know is where does the poor family of the murder girl go to get justice? Someone killed the girl and if these 2 young people didn't then who did?
regnaD kciN
(26,045 posts)You remember, the small-time criminal who was also convicted of the murder, and whose DNA, prints, etc. (unlike those of Knox and Sollecito) were all over the murder scene?
southernyankeebelle
(11,304 posts)DCKit
(18,541 posts)Not quite sure why, but the police and prosecutors responsible should be doing serious prison time.
dipsydoodle
(42,239 posts)Amanda Knox: Who is Rudy Guede?
He elected to undergo a separate, fast-track trial in 2008, at the end of which he was found guilty of sexual assault and murder and sentenced to 30 years in jail, which was reduced on appeal to 16 years.
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He has always denied murdering the British student, although he admits that he was in the house on the night of the murder. He claimed that he was flirting with Miss Kercher in her bedroom but had to run to the lavatory, having eaten a spicy kebab. While in the bathroom he heard screaming.
When he rushed out, he said he was bowled over by a knife-wielding Italian man, who ran off into the night. Guede said he found Miss Kercher bleeding to death in her bedroom.
>
He was convicted on the basis of strong DNA evidence, including his bloody hand print on a pillow at the scene of the crime.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/italy/8802474/Amanda-Knox-Who-is-Rudy-Guede.html
He did not deny being at the scene of the crime. The sentence reduction implies some doubts on this issue.
If the Supreme Court does allow the appeal now they will consider only procedural matters and points of law only : not the DNA evidence which was used at the last appeal. If they do find for the prosecution then by association it will make the book a travesty.
southernyankeebelle
(11,304 posts)justice and other families are making millions. I mean I understand Knox needs the money but I know I won't buy the book. When you really think about the whole thing all of them were doing drugs and had none of them been doing that maybe nothing would have happened. Maybe everyones heads would have been clear they could of helped the young lady who died.
dipsydoodle
(42,239 posts)southernyankeebelle
(11,304 posts)obamanut2012
(26,154 posts)And, that's the only thing the kids were doing.
southernyankeebelle
(11,304 posts)pnwmom
(109,000 posts)During the overnight, tag-team interrogation (with 14 interrogators and no lawyer or interpreter), they convinced Amanda that she MUST have been present, so she said she couldn't remember. But the real reason she couldn't remember the murder was because she was with Raffaele at his cottage when Rudy Guede was killing Meredith.
The police managed to lose the tapes of her interrogation, though they had 29,000 records from wiretapping related to the case.
southernyankeebelle
(11,304 posts)they did.
pnwmom
(109,000 posts)except for a few hour period when she broke down during an overnight interrogation, without food, sleep, or an attorney, and signed what they wanted her to sign.
And they conveniently didn't bother to record the interrogation, saying that they couldn't afford to -- even though they recorded every other conversation in the station that week and had the funds to wiretap 29,000 calls.
southernyankeebelle
(11,304 posts)pnwmom
(109,000 posts)If you wanted to familiarize yourself with more than the tabloids, Wikipedia's articles on Amanda Knox and Meredith Kercher are a good place to start.
southernyankeebelle
(11,304 posts)real justice. The man who killed her will not spend the rest of his life in jail. I hope that family can write a book and tell us more about their lost daughter.
pnwmom
(109,000 posts)according to Amazon.
Of course, Meredith's parents have suffered a loss that can never be healed and certainly not with money. And they will never find real justice because their daughter's only killer, Rudy Guede, is scheduled to be released in 2016.
They are not, however, "the one family that lost a great deal." Amanda and Raffaele both lost four years of their young lives; Amanda because she was the the only one of the roommates who didn't immediately get a lawyer, and Raffaele because he didn't betray her with a false accusation.
pnwmom
(109,000 posts)The only guilty person was Rudy Guede, who had just a few weeks earlier threatened a bar owner with a knife; and had engaged in a burglary, again, using a knife. His DNA was found on and inside Meredith, and his handprints, shoe prints, and hair were found in her room.
Amanda and Raffaele were at Raffaele's apartment when the murder took place. The only witness who testified otherwise was a heroin addict who, at the appeals trial, couldn't remember which day he had seen them there -- and, in any case, recalled them being OUTSIDE the cottage at the hour the murder must have taken place. He had also conveniently testified for the prosecution in two other murder trials; he appears to be a professional witness.
Amanda was falsely imprisoned for four long years. She has every right to tell her story, and to make as much money as she can. Nothing will ever get those years back, but she can be made financially whole.
pnwmom
(109,000 posts)It will make Italian justice a travesty.
Guede had no relationship with Kercher, beyond a passing acquaintance, and there was no evidence at all that she would have had sex with him (his DNA was found inside her) -- she had a boyfriend. He also had no relationship with Knox and Sollecito; and he had a recent history of threatening someone with a knife (a bar owner) and carrying a knife during a burglary. For some mysterious reason, he wasn't locked up in the few weeks before the murder, though the police had plenty of reason for arresting him.
obamanut2012
(26,154 posts)Many people don't know he also sexually assaulted her.
dipsydoodle
(42,239 posts)He pleaded guilty to that and murder - any search on him would confirm that.
Only a person incapable of logical thought would conclude from that that he necessarily acted alone.
Last words on the subject will be by the Italian Supreme Court assuming they grant the appeal - there are no appeal processes after that. If you feel strongly enough on the subject you could always write to them expressing your opinion.
pnwmom
(109,000 posts)Any search will confirm that. But I'll save you the trouble. I hope you won't repeat this false claim anymore.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meredith_Kercher
Prosecution
Guede opted for a fast-track trial, held in closed session with no reporters present. The court heard that his handprint was found on a pillow in Kercher's room, and his DNA on and inside her body, as well as on her sweatshirt and bra. Although the faeces Knox had found in the unflushed toilet the morning after the murder could not be identified, Guede's DNA was found on the toilet paper.[124]
Guede told the court he went to Via della Pergola 7 on a date arranged with Kercher after meeting her the previous evening. Two neighbours of Guede, foreign female students who were with him at a nightclub on that evening told police the only girl they saw him talking to had long blonde hair.[203] Female friends of Kercher who had been with her that night had not seen her talking to Guede.[204] He said he arrived at the cottage just after 8:30 pm, and that Kercher arrived and let him in around 9 p.m.[205] She went to her bedroom, he said, and told him that a significant amount of money was missing from an open drawer.[206] He said that he and Kercher had kissed and touched, but did not have sex. He then developed stomach pains and crossed to the large bathroom on the other side of the apartment. Guede said he heard Kercher scream while he was in the bathroom, but had not heard the killer enter the apartment because he was wearing iPod headphones. He said that, emerging from the bathroom, he had found a shadowy figure, holding a knife, standing over Kercher, who lay bleeding on the floor. Guede said that he and the man struggled.[204] Guede was cut on the hand, and fell to the floor, but picked up a chair.[206] He described the man as an Italian with light-brown hair, without glasses,[205] and shorter than him. The man fled while saying in perfect Italian, "Trovato negro, trovato colpevole; andiamo" ("Found black, found guilty; let's go" .[207]
The court found that his version of events did not match the forensic evidence, and that he could not explain why one of his palm prints, stained with Kercher's blood, had been found on the pillow of the single bed, under the disrobed body.[206][208] Guede said he had left Kercher fully dressed.[209] He was found guilty in October 2008 of murder and sexual assault, Judge Paolo Micheli sentencing him to 30 years' imprisonment.[210] Micheli acquitted Guede of theft, suggesting that there had been no break in.[211] Sollecito's lawyers had said a glass fragment from the window found beside a shoe-print of Guede's at the scene of the crime was proof that he had broken in.[212][213]
He appealed in November 2009, and had his conviction upheld on 22 December. His sentence was reduced to 24 years to match the sentences given to Knox and Sollecito, with a further one-third (eight-year) reductionstandard in the Italian appeal systemgiving him a sentence of 16 years.[214] He continued to protest his innocence.[215] During his appeal, Guede stated for the first time that Knox had been in the apartment at the time of the murder. He said he had heard her arguing with Kercher, then glancing out of a window had seen her silhouette leave the house, though he had previously said Knox had not been there.[216] In March 2010, the court explained it had reduced Guede's sentence by 14 years because he was the only one of the three defendants to apologize to the Kercher family for his failure to come to her rescue.[217] A lawyer representing the Kercher family protested at the "drastic reduction" in Guede's sentence.[218] He filed his second and final appeal, in May 2010, to the Court of Cassation. The hearing was held on 16 December 2010; the court upheld the verdict and sentence.[219] Guede may be eligible for release in 2016.[220]
____________________________________________
In short, he claimed the sex was consensual and that he hadn't killed her. The reason his sentence was lowered was not because he pleaded guilty but because he agreed to a fast track trial. (Or so they said. Coincidentally, or not, his sentence was lowered after he agreed to testify that Amanda and Raffaele had been present at the murder -- while he was supposedly sitting on the toilet.)
obamanut2012
(26,154 posts)Darth_Kitten
(14,192 posts)Have to had it to Mandy, the gal's not only self-absorbed, heartless and over-sexed, she's an accomplished liar as well.
Darth_Kitten
(14,192 posts)n/t
pnwmom
(109,000 posts)Just a bunch of tabloid, witch-hunting stories.
obamanut2012
(26,154 posts)I know the Midnight Express guy, Billy Hayes, wrote the book and sold the movie rights so as to pay back his family, who has bankrupted themselves for his legal fees. I know Knox's grandmother used her entire retirement savings, and her parents and stepparents also tapped out everything for her legal fees. I'm sure they'll be enough left over for her to finish her education.
Goodness knows she should get something from her ordeal.
Nihil
(13,508 posts)My, my ... can't damage that image can we?
obamanut2012
(26,154 posts)Darth_Kitten
(14,192 posts)Love how she plays her family and supporters, though. If people want to buy her sweet and innocent victim act, they get what they deserve.
Only person who deserves sympathy in this situation is the TRUE victim.
UnseenUndergrad
(249 posts)So you take the word of an insane prosecutor and the European tabloid press over that of the Italian Supreme Court?
Not to mention the whole Guede thing.
Whatever floats your boat.
pnwmom
(109,000 posts)than to the actual case. Try reading Judge Hellman's report.
CTyankee
(63,912 posts)If I were her, I'd certainly have a good agent holding out for the best deal possible.
pnwmom
(109,000 posts)Mass
(27,315 posts)onenote
(42,779 posts)Should they be expected to give part of the benefits that accrue to them for writing about it to "people who need it?" Personally, I think all people who have the resources to do so should share those resources with those in need, so I wouldn't particularly single out Amanda Knox in that regard.