Yesterday, the Italian appellate court sentenced Amanda Knox to 28 years and six months in prison. That is a greater sentence than she was given in 2009. Then, it was 26 years and she served four years of the sentence before being released in 2011. Though not as well known as the double jeopardy prohibition, the Fifth Amendment also prohibits successive punishments where each new sentence is greater than the prior one for the same crime.
La Stampa of Torino is one of Italys most widely read newspapers. This morning an op-ed in La Stampa by Alessandro Perissinotto, a writer and teacher, pointed to Article 530 of the Italian Code of Criminal Procedures which concerns insufficient evidence. Perissinotto wrote there is a boundary where you have to stop. Given the questionable to unreliable to non-existent evidence in the Kercher case, did Italian justice breach that boundary? Perissinotto seems to think so, writing this morning, the impression of a conviction at all costs is strong.