Just when you thought the Amanda Knox murder trial couldn't become anymore luridly bizarre, defense attorney Giulia Bongiorno went ahead and upped the ante. The prosecution, you'll recall, has made the case that the 22-year-old, in concert with ex-boyfriend Rafael Sollecito and friend Rudy Guede, murdered Knox's roommate, British student Meredith Kercher during a night of sinister debauchery in 2007. Bongiorno, however, paints a different picture. A candy-colored one! As UPI reports,

Bongiorno, in a blistering critique of the prosecution's case in the hotly debated trial, compared Knox to the naive character played by actress Audrey Tautou in the French film "Amelie," which Knox and Sollecito contend they were watching together the night Kercher was slain..."There is a more simple truth to Amanda," the Web site quoted Bongiorno as saying. "She looks at the world with eyes of Amelie: A naive, slightly extravagant, spontaneous young girl who is 60 percent imagination and 40 percent reality."

Of course, this is largely apiece with the embattled case, in which Knox has been treated, always, as a decidedly female killer. Her demeanor and appearance - viewed by some as preternaturally calm and cheerful - have been criticized. Certainly, presenting the young woman as a cheerful naif would be a much more attractive explanation for behaviors like sporting "All You Need Is Love" tees, going on lingerie-shopping sprees, doing cartwheels, and riffing on rabbit shaped sex toys, then the sociopathic callousness the prosecution has suggested. Coverage of the case, and of Knox, has always been aggressively pink-hued. The Daily Mail, that arbiter of taste, quickly took up the attractive student's MySpace nickname, "Foxy Knoxy" and described her as, for starters, as "like a Hollywood diva sashaying along the red carpet."

If the prosecution has its way, she's what the Guardian termed "a manipulative femme fatale who helped to kill her friend in an orgiastic sex game" - the ultimate villainness out of B-movies. If the defense is to be believed, she's instead the ingenue. It makes us wish, not for the first time, for some more nuanced female characters - and a swift end to the sensationalistic tragedy.

Attorney: Knox Naive Like Movie's 'Amelie' [UPI]

Amanda Knox's Court Demeanor In The Spotlight [Seattle Times]
The Friends Back Home Intent On Telling The 'Real Amanda Knox' Story [Guardian]
The Foxy Knoxy Show: Smiling Murder Suspect Makes Grand Entrance As Trial Begins [Daily Mail]

Earlier: Prosecutor In Amanda Knox Trial Pushes For Life In Prison

The rally, held last night, included a candlelight vigil, as well as prayer, songs, and dancing. Pastor Jim Wheeler read the victim's statement, which said, in part,

Violence is always the wrong choice. We realize people are angry about this. But let the anger cause change, change that is necessary to keep our children, our neighbors and our friends safe.

It's an important message, especially given that according to the San Francisco Chronicle, some Richmond residents have been talking about "exacting vigilante violence" against both the rapists and onlookers. It's depressing that Richmond couldn't protect the young victim before the rape happened, and is instead responding with violent impulses after the fact — but calls for the bodily harm of perpetrators are understandably common after rape. The victim's statement shows surprising maturity given her age (she is 15) and all she's been through — she's right that her neighbors should let the justice system handle her attackers, and channel their anger into making sure nothing like this happens again.

School officials are now working to improve security with cameras, improved lighting, and fences. According to West Contra Costa School District superintendent Bruce Harter, these measures have been in the works for a long time, but administrators "couldn't find the money until now." Some in the community are calling for volunteers to help with campus security. And students are treating the rape as a wake-up call — says junior Janet Gutierrez, "I'm not scared to be in school. But I'm not going to walk around outside, especially when it's dark." Rev. Andre Shumake, who issued the call for volunteers, says he hopes the rape can be a "teachable moment."

While it's good that Richmond is taking steps to make its children safer, a better time for teaching would have been before a 15-year-old girl was brutally gang-raped after her homecoming dance. It's sad that school officials couldn't "find" the money for security until after a heinous crime took place, and sad that students have begun "talking intently about how to combat violence toward women" only after a terrifying example of such violence took place. The victim didn't deserve to be an object lesson in the need for better security and community values, and her statement is especially admirable given that she has every right to be enraged. The fact that she still has to speak out against violence should be a sobering rebuke to a community that failed her.

Rape Victim: Violence 'Always The Wrong Choice' [SF Chronicle]
School Tries To Tighten Security After Gang Rape [AP, via MSNBC]

Four teenagers, aged 15, 16, 17 and 19, were charged yesterday with rape and acting in concert, and could face life in prison. 21-year-old Salvador Rodriguez is also in custody but has not yet been charged. Police say they expect to make more arrests, and that as many as 10 people, from teenagers to men in their mid-twenties, assaulted the young woman. They also say that up to two dozen people witnessed the rape.

Why didn't anyone say anything? Experts interviewed by CNN have a number of theories. Some mention the bystander effect, in which the more people witness something, the less likely anyone is to stop it. Says Drew Carberry, a director at the National Council on Crime Prevention, "If you are in a crowd and you look and see that everyone is doing nothing, then doing nothing becomes the norm." As CNN's Stephanie Chen explains, "The responsibility among the group becomes diffused." This sound a little bit like what happens when you ask a favor of a lot of people over e-mail, and indeed, criminologist Jack McDevitt says the Richmond rape was too violent to have been the result of bystander effect alone. He says growing up in violent Richmond may have conditioned the onlookers to fear retaliation if they said anything. "They don't believe the system will protect them from the offender," he explains. "They think the offender will find out their name."

While community violence and a "no-snitching" culture may have played a role, it's important to realize that not helping a gang-rape victim also requires a complete lack of respect and consideration for her. Organizational psychologist Salvatore Didato says that if onlookers aren't close with the victim, they may see the perpetrator as more important. "The victim to them is a non-person," he says. This seems especially likely in a culture (prevalent throughout America, not just in dangerous places) that sees male sexual conquest as hip and acceptable. Margarita Vargas, who reported the rape, says of the rapists, "They think it's cool. They weren't raised to respect girls."

Meanwhile, the victim's friends are unsurprisingly angry that the high school where the homecoming dance was held could not protect her. 16-year-old Kim Baker faults school officials and police for allowing a large crowd of young men to gather outside the dance. She says,

I looked outside of the gym and I saw 12 to 15 guys, sitting there, with no IDs. The officers — not only did they not check the IDs of those students or men sitting outside of of our campus, but the security officers who are employed here did no ... checking either. The assistant principal looked outside and actually saw those men, and did nothing about it.

But school district spokesman Marin Trujillo says, "Nothing happened at the event. We're currently exploring our protocols to make sure that we can expand them, and make sure that this isolated incident doesn't get repeated again." Trujillo adds that the homecoming dance itself was actually successful "in terms of safety." Memo to Trujillo: when a girl leaves your dance and is subsequently gang-raped, its nothing close to a "success".

Gang Rape Raises Questions About Bystanders' Role [CNN]
Friend Of Gang Rape Victim Blasts School Officials Over Safety [CNN]
4 Charged In Alleged Gang Rape Of California Girl [AP]
Five Arrested In Gang Rape Of Teen [UPI.com]

The victim was leaving the dance in Richmond, CA — a suburb of San Francisco, not too far from Antioch, where Phillip Garrido held Jaycee Dugard — when a classmate invited her to drink with him in a secluded area near the school. She agreed, becoming so inebriated that she fell over, at which point as many as seven young men raped her, beat her, took photographs, and stole her jewelry. They assaulted her for two-and-a-half hours, injuring her so badly that she had to be flown from the scene in critical condition.

A gang rape always has the added awfulness that the rapists are comfortable enough with their crime to commit it in front of others. This case is especially bad because the girl's attackers continued in front of multiple witnesses, assuming that they would do nothing. That assumption was correct. In fact, it was someone hearing about the assault at a local house party who called the cops. Richmond police lieutenant Mark Gagan said, "What makes it even more disturbing is the presence of others. People came by, saw what was happening, and failed to report it."

At first I thought this was a Kitty Genovese situation, in which indifferent bystanders failed to help a crime victim. In fact, it's worse. CNN's Nick Valencia writes that, "as many as 15 people, all males, stood around watching the assault, but did not call police or help the victim." Gagan adds, "As people announced over time that this was going on, more people came to see, and some actually participated." This isn't a case of people turning their heads away and saying "none of my business." It's a situation in which 15 boys and men (one suspect in custody is 19, the other 15) treating public, brutal assault as a form of entertainment.

Anyone who went to a big, rough high school has seen this happen with a fight — everybody in the school rushes to the scene, cheering, booing, and even joining in as kids beat each other up. This practice is bad enough, exposing teen bloodlust and lack of compassion, but adding sexual assault to the mix makes the onlookers' situation all the more heinous. That all said onlookers were male seems important here — were they so afraid of having their masculinity questioned that they couldn't say anything? Or, more disturbingly, were they enthusiastic about the event, participating, however vicariously, in some kind of conquest? Whatever the case, not one, not two, but fifteen young men watched a gang-rape take place and essentially chose to side with the rapists — as Yes Means Yes would say, "that's rape culture."

Image via CNN.

Witnesses Did Not Report Gang Rape [UPI.com]
Police: Gang Rape Outside School Dance Lasted Over Two Hours [CNN]
Teens held over homecoming dance gang rape [AP, via MSNBC]
Police Arrest Second Teen In Connection With Vicious Assault On 15-Year-Old Girl [Contra Costa Times]

As you'll recall, Knox and her former boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito, 24, are accused of murdering and sexually assaulting British student Meredith Kercher, who was found semi-naked with her throat cut in her bedroom in the house she shared with Knox in November 2007. Rudy Guede, 21, from the Ivory Coast, was already convicted of Kercher's murder and rape and sentenced to 30 years in prison in October. Prosecutors say that Sollecito and Knox held Kercher down while Guede raped her in a sex game gone wrong.

While Sollectito and Knox are both standing trial, not surprisingly, the Italian media frenzy has focused on Knox. "Foxy Knoxy" was the highest ranked woman in an Italian "personality of the year" poll in December, and the BBC reports that the Italian media has treated her as a "Lady Macbeth figure." Yesterday, much of the court proceedings dealt with how to handle the case considering the intense public interest. Francesco Maresca, a lawyer for Kercher's family sought to have the proceedings closed to the public and media, "to protect the memory and dignity of the victim and the Kercher family have lost a child." Prosecutors were not opposed to a closed trial, but the defendants wanted the case public. "We are going to demonstrate that there is no evidence against Raffaele Sollecito," said his lawyer, according to The Sun. The judge ruled that the trial will remain open, and more than 150 press passes have been issued for the court.

Earlier this week, the Kercher family appealed to the court to have a book about the case impounded, according to The Guardian. The book is based mainly on Knox's diaries, which were confiscated by the police, and reveals details about the students drinking and partying lifestyle. The publishers refused to stop distribution of the book, saying in is already in circulation. The author says that the book doesn't influence the trial because the diaries are part of evidence that will be submitted in court.

Knox and Sollecito have already been in jail for 14 months, and the trial could drag on for as long as a year, since in Italy only one to two hearings are held per week. Six members of the jury, three men and three women, were sworn in today and 250 witnesses are lined up to testify. Italy does not have the death penalty, so if convicted, the pair would face a maximum sentence of life in prison.

Foxy Knoxy Appears In Court [The Sun]
Italy Focuses On 'Foxy Knoxy' As Trial Opens [BBC]
Meredith Kercher Murder Trial To Be Held In Public, Judge Rules [The Guardian]

If you'll recall, Guede had the most damning evidence against him, as his bloody handprint was found beneath Kercher's dead body. If Guede has been convicted, why are Knox and Sollecito still being brought up on charges?

According to Time, "Knox's sexual history has been widely reported, with prosecutors linking her past to their allegation that the victim was forced into an orgy. (Even last week, Italy's leading daily Corriere della Sera reported that Knox had to fend off lesbian advances of a fellow prisoner.)" In addition, prosecutors believe that Knox and Sollecito held Kercher down while Guede attempted to rape her. Besides Knox's "slutty" past and some circumstantial evidence (like Knox's DNA found on the knife that killed Kercher — a kitchen knife from their shared apartment that Knox would have used for cooking), there is no clear reason why prosecutors have stumbled on this particular series of events as the explanation for Kercher's death.

Meredith Kercher's poor family is mildly heartened by Guede's conviction. "It's important to remember that at the end of day we're here because our sister Meredith was murdered. 'Pleased' is not the appropriate word, 'satisfied' is the best we can say," Meredith's brother Lyle told reporters.

When Amanda Knox heard she would be standing trial for Kercher's murder, she burst into tears. For now, her lawyers are trying to get Knox out of the Italian prison where she's been held for the past year and into a hostel run by a Catholic charity. If she's found innocent, as at this point is truly seems she is, I hope Knox gets a boatload of money to write a memoir about this surreal and awful period of her life.

'Foxy' Amanda Knox to Stand Trial in Italy Murder [Time]
The Accused [Radar]
Meredith Kercher's Family 'Satisfied' After Drifter Rudy Guede Is Jailed For 30 years [Telegraph]

Earlier: Murder Suspect Amanda Knox Accused Of Satanic Orgy Plot

Lawyers for Knox's side say that this is a mere "presumed scenario" with no real evidence to back it up. Many media reports, including a thorough Radar feature, note that prosecutor Mignini has had it out for Amanda Knox since the murder occurred.

As discussed last week, Radar's Sarah Horne reported that, "Lisa Pasko, a criminology professor at the University of Denver who specializes in young women who commit violent crimes, has been following the case and does not believe that Knox participated in Kercher's murder…She likens Mignini's behavior to that of the very vocal prosecutor in the Duke rape case, former Durham County district attorney Mike Nifong, who improperly leaked information to the media in order to beef up his case against the accused lacrosse players."

Amanda herself took the stand during a closed-door hearing today in Perugia, and proclaimed her innocence. An obviously emotional Knox told the court "Meredith was my friend… I had no reason to kill her." As for the other two men allegedly involved, Rudy Hermann Guede has requested a "fast-track" trial and has admitted to being in the room when Kercher died. Though Knox and Sollecito have no prior records, the Radar article pointed out that Guede is a "petty criminal who had a history of home invasions with a knife," and according to the Guardian, a pillow with Guede's bloody hand print was found beneath Kercher's body. The case against Sollecito seems to be based mostly on the fact that he liked violent Japanese Manga comics that depicted murder scenarios.

Kercher's parents are lodging a claim for financial compensation in the aftermath of Meredith's death, and according to the Daily Mail, their lawyers will argue that "'this was a particularly violent crime and that all three [Knox, Sollecito and Guede] were present and responsible for her death."

U.S. Student Accused Of "Satanic" Slaying [AP via CBS News]
The Accused [Radar]
Knox Accused Of Stabbing Meredith [Guardian]
Meredith's Parents Lodge Claim For Murder Damages After Court Is Told She Was Attacked For Refusing To Take part In Drug-Fuelled Orgy [Daily Mail]

Earlier: True Crime

For those unfamiliar with this chilling case, here's a recap: Caylee has been missing since early June, but her disappearance was not reported to police until July 15, and even then the call to authorities was made by Casey's mother. In addition, Casey's mother told police that it smelled like "a dead body in the damn car" that Casey was driving, and Casey borrowed a shovel from a neighbor in mid-June.

Another young woman who is facing murder charges, Amanda "Foxy Knoxy" Knox, the American studying abroad in Perugia who was accused of stabbing her roommate Meredith Kercher to death, is looking more and more like the victim of an overzealous Italian prosecutor than a murderess.

According to an extensive article in the November issue of Radar, when Amanda originally "confessed," it was after 14 hours of police intimidation in Italian, which she did not fully understand. In addition, the police have subsequently found the DNA of Rudy Guede, a "petty criminal who had a history of home invasions with a knife," all over the apartment.

Knox has been excoriated in the Italian press, in no small part because prosecutor Giuliano Mignini has had it out for her from day one. "Lisa Pasko, a criminology professor at the University of Denver who specializes in young women who commit violent crimes, has been following the case and does not believe that Knox participated in Kercher's murder," Radar reports. "She likens Mignini's behavior to that of the very vocal prosecutor in the Duke rape case, former Durham County district attorney Mike Nifong, who improperly leaked information to the media in order to beef up his case against the accused lacrosse players."

Though Knox has been in jail since Meredith Kercher was killed last year, it is still unclear whether or not she will have to stand trial for Kercher's death. Hearings began on the case last month, but according to Radar, the snail's pace of the Italian justice system means that Knox's fate will hang in the balance until the end of the month at the earliest.

Mom Of Missing Girl Weeps After Murder Indictment [AP]
The Accused [Radar]

Earlier: Creepy Mom Casey Anthony Tried To Give Missing Caylee Up For Adoption
True Crime

It actually took all I could to get that much of the story out, because I am feeling unbearably nauseas right now, which mayyyy have something to do with the subject material. But there's so much more: Seth maybe met Phyllis on the sex party circuit, her psychic may be framing her as the killer just for fun, Phyllis may have tied up and abducted a gay stripper named Tiger in a jealous rage. Either way, none of that is the point. The point is, hello, yeah, everyone involved in this whole creepy tale is completely terrible, but this woman managed not only to get four separate individual men to marry her, but after bilking, abusing cheating on and divorcing one of them, got him to represent her in the murder of guy she left him for. Happy Valentine's, guys!

The Sordid Death Of Hedge Funder Seth Tobias [NY Magazine]

Yeah, that's always the tragedy, right? Too bad all skilled hucksters, hustlers and bullshit artists can't just pick up and go to Hollywood and become actors or like, rappers or whatever! And like, too bad that mentality has sort of, like, permeated the conventional wisdom to the extent that even from her jail cell someone like Ameenah Franks is still bullshitting reporters, spinning her narrative about love and cunning and how she was sort of like "Robin Hood" and redemption or whatever without ever once pausing to curse whoever it was held a gun to her head and forced her to have those four motherfucking kids.

Desk Job [Washington City Paper]