Knox's digitally enhanced conviction
By Richard K. Sherwin
An Italian appeals court overturned Amanda Knox's murder conviction and ordered her immediate release from prison earlier this month. In 2009, Knox and her former boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, were found guilty of the 2007 sexual assault and fatal stabbing of Knox's housemate, Meredith Kercher. Knox was sentenced to 26 years in prison and served four before being released.
The acquittal was based largely on serious questions about the DNA testing that allegedly linked Knox to the murder weapon. Less discussed than the suspect DNA evidence, however, is whether a graphic digital animation also contributed to Knox's conviction.
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In Italy, the acquittal triggered a wave of self-recrimination. Outside the courthouse, groups of onlookers shouted "Vergogna!": "Shame!" Vittorio Zucconi, writing in La Repubblica, adopted a less accusatorial tone: "In the end, it was ... a clash of cultures more than a legal case. The same girl whom prosecutors depicted as a she-devil starved for sex and orgies was, in inverse proportion, perceived in American public opinion as a chaste diva who fell into a hornets' nest of inept, evil men."
But this assumes that law and culture are separate. They aren't. Effective lawyers mine the popular imagination for stock characters and scripts to frame their stories. And, increasingly, their advocacy begins well before the courtroom opens, through leaks, interviews, social networking, and websites aimed at the public.
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This helps explain why Knox's family hired a public-relations firm soon after her arrest. As the appeal approached, strenuous efforts were made to rehabilitate her character. In place of the she-devil, we got the familiar tale of an American innocent abroad, caught up in a Kafkaesque nightmare.
