AIBU to think an Edinburgh festival show about Meredith Kercher's murder should be stopped?

[VivienneDelacroix]

Aibu to think that this show at the Edinburgh Festival should be cancelled? It mocks the circumstances around the murder of Meredith Kercher and serves it up as entertainment.

Not only is it horribly disrespectful of Meredith's family, but it also belittles the issue of violence against girls and women.

Meredith's siblings are calling for it to be pulled from the festival. There is also a petition calling for it to be stopped.

c.org/WXGTGJfpRh

"assoluzione per non aver commesso il fatto"

(acquittal for not having committed the fact.)

I have a subscription this is what was said in the article you link to

The Court of Cassation in Rome found Ms Knox and Mr Sollecito not guilty on the grounds that they had “not committed the act”.

So the word “innocent” as put in quotation marks above was not used

Absolutely this. Many years ago I knew a young man was was in a car accident where a motorcycle turned in front of him when it shouldn’t have. Tragically the motorcyclist died. Even though the reconstruction assigned the blame for the accident to the motorcyclist, the family insisted tge young man was a murderer. Of note, the rider was white, the driver was black. He was vilified in the press, but when the reconstruction was released, the press mentioned it in passing but very quietly. The police violated a number of rules to pressure him to admit guilt at first. Even after the findings, the family refused to admit he was innocent, and made it their mission to make his life miserable. They would show up to his jobs whenever he got one, and led to him losing multiple jobs. If he went somewhere with a friend, if one of them saw him, they would park outside (all the cars had massive in memory stickers) and hang around staring at him. He was 18 at the time of the accident, and this went on until he was able to move to another town at age 24.

Knox is going to be able to get away from this ever. So leaning in is her only choice really. I understand the family being in pain, but suspect any mention of Knox’s name would trigger that. And comedy is often a way to explore deeply traumatic events.

@Isitevensummer your poor friend, that's tragic, so young as well. I hope he's okay now.

Given your example was very much in the press, could you tell us the case you are referring to?

No, because the judgment was in Italian.

But the court did not merely find that her guilt was not proven beyond reasonable doubt, but made the affirmative finding that she did not commit the crime.

Or, to paraphrase, she was found to be innocent.

The Italians have a word for innocent

they didn’t use it

so it was incorrect of that poster to say the courts actually proclaimed Amanda Knox as “innocent”

an important distinction

"On March 27, 2015, the ultimate appeal by Knox and Sollecito was heard by the Supreme Court of Cassation; it ruled that the case was without foundation, thereby definitively acquitting them of the murder. "

"Rather than merely declaring that there were errors in the earlier court cases or that there was not enough evidence to convict, the court ruled that Knox and Sollecito were innocent of involvement in the murder."

"The delegate supreme judge, court adviser Gennaro Marasca, made public the reasons of absolution. First, none of the evidence demonstrated that either Knox or Sollecito was present at the crime scene. Second, they cannot have "materially participated in the homicide", since absolutely no "biological traces ... could be attributed to them in the room of the murder or on the body of the victim, where in contrast numerous traces were found attributable to Guede"."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AmandaKnox#Acquittalandrelease

So not a case of "they might have done it but we can't quite prove it". The supreme court made it quite clear that it was a miscarriage of justice.

I have not thoughts whether AK is guilty or not guilty as. I don’t know enough about the case.

But to say the court used the words “innocent” when they did not…. Is not on

Literally see my post above. She's been exonerated of the crime. That means she's innocent of it.

good grief.

The court did NOT use the words “innocent” and so should not be put in quotation marks as being as such

She’s been found not guilty

correct

Considering no one knows the content of the show, there is no way to judge if it is poor taste or not. AK has said it focuses on her wrongful imprisonment and explaining that to her daughter.

I appreciate the pain and grief of MK's family and that they have complained previously that AK sharing her story is disrespectful. But it is AK's story too and she has every right to talk about it.

They didn’t use the English word ‘innocent’ because the judgement was in Italian. So you’re right, I should not have used quotation marks for the English word, as the English word does not feature in the judgement. The judgement makes it clear however it is not just a ‘not guilty’ verdict, it states quite clearly that they cannot have committed the crime and they are entirely exonerated. Ie, innocent.

The Italians have a word for innocent.

They didn’t use it

They used a legal phrase that literally means she did not commit the crime.

It is synonymous with innocent, and is a rare and exceptional legal finding.

So no, it is not a remotely important distinction.

She was found not guilty. Correct

No, the court's statement went a lot further than that. There's a difference between being found not guilty, and being completely exonerated.
I passed the text for you but you seem to prefer not to read it.

Is that actually a defined ruling in the Italian legal system? You can be non guilty OR exonerated?

Just read the relevant wiki section. It's perfectly clear.

So you don’t know.

Are you saying that you’re going to can be found

guilty
non guilty
exonerated?

This is getting into silly linguistics

The court didn't just say not guilty. They said not guilty as she did not commit the crime. Essentially saying she is innocent

Yes. The standard not guilty ruling just means there wasnt enough evidence to convict. It's not the same as the Italian Supreme Court statement, which can be summed up as "they DEFINITELY had nothing to do with it".

I honestly don't know how to make this any clearer, and I suspect you're being obtuse in bad faith.

He is! I knew him because his family were neighbours and I am still in touch with his mum. He went on to become a paramedic and has a child of his own, who I have met - he’s a great dad.