Knox’s innocent or guilty face? NOT for the first time, Americans are seeing Italy with a sort of double vision. In one eye stands a land of exquisite cuisine and glorious heritage (even if it is one that goes unnoticed by uncultured ratings agencies). In the other is a country with a moribund economy, widespread corruption, organised crime, Silvio Berlusconi—and a seemingly absurd and scary court system.On January 30th appeals-court judges in Florence upheld the conviction of an American student, Amanda Knox, for the murder in 2007 of her British flatmate, Meredith Kercher, and sentenced her to 28½ years in jail. Ms Knox’s Italian former boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, was given 25 years for the same offense. Yet the verdict jarred with some judicial precepts Americans see as fundamental.First, it appears to violate the principle of double jeopardy (not being prosecuted twice for the same offence), since the couple’s appeal succeeded in another court before the supreme court ordered it to be reheard. Counting pre-trial and trial, this is the fifth time judges have pored over the details of the case. And it is still not over: the defence plans a further…
