From "Making a Murderer" to "The People vs. O.J. Simpson", crime stories are America's guilty pleasure for 2016. We find them fascinating because they tell the side of the story that the media did not cover. Netflix released the Amanda Knox documentary recently and I sat down this weekend to watch it with little to no knowledge of the case. I had heard about it on the news in passing but I never really paid attention to the story. If I had followed the news from the beginning I might have had a different perception of her but I went in with an open mind and I had quite a few thoughts while watching the documentary.
1. My first impression of Amanda Knox was that she seemed a little off
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In the first minute of the documentary during Amanda's monologue, I could sense that there was something a bit off about her. She had a straight face and a blank stare and I thought "well maybe she did kill her, this girl looks crazy." Later on, I realized that this was just her personality. Not that this was a bad thing, but you could tell that this situation has drained her and that she is scarred mentally.
2. Giuliano Mignini had no evidence!
Giuliano Miginini, the prosecutor for the case, had little to no evidence to support Amanda Knox's involvement in the murder other than his assumptions about women murderers. He mentioned how he has seen "Sherlock Holmes"--as if this makes him an expert. When he said that it is common for women to cover up the bodies after they murder them, he didn't provide any support for this claim--he just said it as if it was an obvious fact. After hearing him speak in the film, I was inclined to think that maybe he was after Amanda because she is an American.
3. Where was the other roommate?
In the beginning of the documentary, Amanda mentioned that she was living with an Italian girl and a British girl, Meredith, who was murdered. Where was the other roommate at the time of the murder? How did she feel about this situation? Was she questioned?
4. Nick Pisa is a great example of how not to be a journalist
Nick Pisa, the former Daily Mail reporter who covered the Amanda Knox case, made me lose some respect for the media. Yes, this guy is an egotistical fool but he isn't the only journalist out there who acts this way. The media is so corrupt because news outlets want to be the one to get the story out there first without checking to make sure that the story they are releasing is accurate. If this documentary made me realize anything it was that there are some crooked journalists out there and this guy is one of them.
5. Why did Raffaele change his story to the police?
When Raffaele was talking about being questioned, he didn't mention anything about changing his story to the police. It wasn't until Amanda mentioned that Raffaele changed his story that we learned that he turned against her. What went down in the interrogation room? Was he coerced into changing his story like Amanda was?
6. Patrick Lumumba had the worst luck
Patrick Lumumba, the owner of the bar that Amanda worked at in Italy, was arrested for the murder after there was miscommunication between Amanda and the police about text messages that were exchanged the night of the murder. Patrick had nothing to do with the case and was arrested just based off of what they thought Amanda said. After it was revealed that he had nothing to do with the murder, he ended up losing his bar and struggled to find a job. I think it is safe to say him and Amanda are no longer friends.
7. There are still so many unanswered questions!
In my opinion, I think this whole case was a mess from the beginning. From the crime scene being mishandled to the multiple suspects with changing stories, it is hard to come up with a clear assumption about what had happened. I like to believe that Amanda Knox didn't kill her roommate and the documentary sure does make me believe that she didn't do it. The only person who really knows what happened is Meredith so we might not ever know what truly happened that night. However, this documentary has opened my eyes to how corruption exists in justice systems around the world. There is no such thing as being innocent until proven guilty. It's you're guilty until you are found innocent and that is exactly what happened to Amanda Knox.
