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May 2, 2010 in Features
Dempsey tells her side of ‘Murder’
Seattle author tries to find answers about UW student’s conviction in Italy
Seattle author and Spokane native Candace Dempsey will read Thursday at Auntie’s.Courtesy of Candace Dempsey
(Full-size photo)
Seattle author Candace Dempsey, who learned her crime-beat skills long ago as a summer intern for The Spokesman-Review, has grabbed hold of the true-crime story of a lifetime.
Dempsey, a Spokane native and West Valley High School graduate, has released her first book, “Murder in Italy: The Shocking Slaying of a British Student, the Accused American Girl, and an International Scandal,” (Penguin/Berkley, $7.99).
It’s the tale of Amanda Knox, the University of Washington student who was convicted in Perugia, Italy, of the “drug-fueled sex game” murder of her British roommate, Meredith Kercher.
In Dempsey’s telling, however, scant evidence exists that there was a “sex game” of any kind or that Knox (or her boyfriend) had any role whatsoever in the murder.
What does exist is a dizzying amount of conflicting testimony; an oceanwide barrier of language and culture; and a mountain of physical evidence against the third person convicted of the crime, Rudy Guede, a young drifter.
Dempsey turns all of this complex information into a compelling overview of a fascinating case. A freelance writer and magazine writer and editor, she began by blogging about the case and discovered that there was intense interest not just in Seattle, but worldwide.
“I actually became obsessed with the case and just started writing about it,” said Dempsey, who will read at Auntie’s Bookstore on Thursday. “I knew I had to write a book about it, because I couldn’t think of anything else.”
She made several trips to Perugia to cover the trial and interview figures in the case.
Dempsey does a particularly solid job of cutting through the sensationalism and wild speculation that ran rampant in both the Italian media and the British tabloid press. Some of that speculation, she writes, was fueled by the Italian prosecutors.
The case against Knox was based partly on her erratic and often unwise behavior after the murder. The most significant physical evidence was a speck of Kercher’s DNA on a kitchen knife found at Knox’s boyfriend’s house.
The speck was tiny – too small for a reliable DNA sample, writes Dempsey. Also, she says, no evidence existed that the knife was even the murder weapon.
Would the trial have turned out differently in the U.S.?
“We can make mistakes here, too – if you consider this a mistake,” said Dempsey. “I just tried to present the facts – not just what the police and prosecutors said.
“Having said that, the knife evidence, which is pinning Amanda to this crime, at least in the Italian mind, is so sketchy that I doubt that it would have ever been in a U.S. court. … I don’t think that many courts in the world would have allowed that knife in, because it’s so prejudicial.”
And then there’s the question that everyone asks Dempsey: Does she think Knox and her boyfriend were guilty?
“I always say, ‘I don’t want to spoil the mystery by (answering) that,’ ” said Dempsey. “I think the standard is ‘beyond a reasonable doubt.’ … That’s supposed to be the standard in Italy as well. … And when a juror says, ‘It’s possible,’ then I have problems with that, because that’s not beyond a reasonable doubt. It means it could have happened.”
This story is not yet finished. Both Knox and her boyfriend will soon make two appeals of their convictions.
Dempsey thinks the first appeal, in Perugia, might result in reduced sentences. And she thinks that the second appeal, to the highest Italian court in Rome, might have a more momentous outcome.
“I think if she were going to get out (of jail), that’s where she would get out,” said Dempsey.
She will be following this story for at least another year – and possibly preparing a new epilogue for subsequent printings.
Jim Kershner’s this day in history 
imgleader on May 02 at 3:15 p.m.
A well written, extremely fair. and objective piece. It’s exactly the type of article I expect from a professional journalist. The only quibble i have with it is that Ted Simon, an Amanda Knox attorney ,was on national TV during the week of 25 April 2010 stating that the beyond reasonable doubt standard is not part of Italian criminal justice, although the presumption of the defendant’s innocence is.
Bob66 on May 02 at 3:55 p.m.
Agree with imgleader, nice article. Ted Simon is usually very accurate, but this time he’s wrong. Beyond a reasonable doubt has been the standard in Italy since 2006.
From New York Times, December 3, about Knox case:
The jury of six civilians and two judges is not sequestered and has access to news media coverage of the case. They must convict if they are convinced beyond a reasonable doubt. In closing arguments on Thursday, one prosecutor, Manuela Comodi, told jurors that they did not require absolute truth. That, she added, was known only “by God.
lito_quiogue on May 03 at 6:08 a.m.
Yes, the case has worldwide attention. I’ve been following the case since the day it came out in Yahoo news sometime in early November 1997. I write from Manila, Philippines but the story has not reached the local newspapers. I think the conviction of Knox and Sollecitos is a travesty of justice and this case will only end when the two are acquitted
michellesings on March 11 at 11:47 p.m.
Hi, I’ve never seen a picture of you, it’s nice to see what you look like in real life instead of the cartoon drawing. :) It’s great that you had that opportunity before your involvement in this book. However, I don’t think you needed that extra training to write a book like this. It seems to me that you just have to be a good writer. It looks like you went and followed what was happening and wrote what you found. I really think it’s a great book. I’ve been recommending it to a few different book clubs in Thousand Oaks, CA. I hope to meet you in person some day. I also can’t believe this was your first book ever!! And that it won all these things. Impressed. I want to follow your blog but haven’t figured quite how to yet. I follow you on Twitter!! :) I think if you write a sequel or an updated version of this book, you should definitely have it in hardback! Best of luck to you. My husband’s about to read it now.