Monday, November 08, 2010

Tough Crowd


I dunno if you follow the news, but in Italy a while back, an American woman, Amanda Knox, and her boyfriend were indicted for the murder of a woman at what has been called a stoned free-for-all sexual party. The Italian court found them and another fellow guilty and put them all away.

At her trial, Knox allowed as how the police beat her when they took her into custody. The police apparently took umbrage at this, and so Knox was recently indicted on charges of slander.

Got to love it.

I wonder: Is it technically possible that if you are convicted of a crime that you swore under oath you didn't do, you could then be tried for perjury?

Tough crowd in Italy ...

3 comments:

Dan Gambiera said...

I'm not an attorney, but I don't believe you can be tried for perjury simply for maintaining your innocence. I believe you can for lying under oath as part of that defense. That's one of the reasons for the clause in the (tattered) Fifth about not being forced to be a witness against oneself. You are given the choice of saying nothing rather than lying or self-incrimination.

Of course, if the prosecutor has already gotten a conviction it probably wouldn't be worth going to the trouble and expense and ambiguity of another whole investigation and trial unless something else were at stake.

Ed said...

Slander civil not criminal. Maybe she has money they want. And she could have been a bad tipper too - damn American tourists.

Steve Perry said...

Not in Italy, Ed. Laws there allow for criminal prosecution for "crimes against honor," with sentences and fines. She could get as much as three years and a fine -- but since she doesn't have any money, they won't get that.