Thursday, May 31, 2012

Is Rudy Guede's 16-Year Sentence Justice For Meredith Kercher?

By Rose Montague
Originally posted on Gather.com

Rudy Guede mug shot


Rudy Guede’s sentencing history is outlined in the Supreme Court Motivation concerning his case.


The PMF translation renders it this way:

"-1 - The Sentences
Rudy Hermann Guede was found guilty, and sentenced by a ruling issued on Oct. 28, 2008 by the Preliminary Hearing Judge [GUP] of the court of Perugia, in a fast-track trial, to the penalty of thirty years' imprisonment, as well as penalties and compensatory damages for the crime under art. 575, 576 par. 1 no. 5 of the Penal Code, aggravated by [a finding of] trivial reasons and circumstances hindering self-defence, (ex. art. 61 no. 1 and 5), with denial of the requested mitigating circumstances.

The Court of Appeal, upheld the guilty verdict for an aggravated crime as above, but reduced the sentence of imprisonment to 16 years, after finding the mitigating circumstances to be equivalent to the alleged aggravating circumstances, and thus re-applying the reduction for the [fast-track] trial to the maximum penalty for a non-aggravated murder."

Sixteen years is the maximum he will serve but it is my understanding Italy has a possible reduction for good behavior. One year for every 3 served, meaning that 16 could go as low as 12 years. Not only that but Italy also has this deal that those in prison can also be eligible for work release even earlier. Most of the articles I have seen on this use 2014 as the year he could become eligible for work release. That is 2 years away. Is this justice? Sexual assault and murder and this killer will be out on work release in just a couple of years.

The Kercher family hasn't had much to say about this, choosing instead to focus on two innocent kids that spent almost four years in jail for nothing. Maybe they should rethink this position. The lone killer is Rudy Guede and he is solely and completely responsible for the death of Meredith Kercher.

The big question the Kercher family had when the appeal court released Solecito and Knox was the question of multiple killers. They were evidently told that the case for multiple killers was strong and that the others that participated in that murder were Amanda and Raffaele. Yet if you read the Massei report we find that the forensic experts never stated that it had to have been multiple killers and that it could have been just one.
That Killer is Rudy Guede. From the PMF translation of the Massei report:

"The consultants and forensic scientists have asserted that from the point of view of forensic science, it cannot be ruled out that the author of the injuries could have been a single attacker, because the bruises and the wounds from a pointed and cutting weapon are not in themselves incompatible with the action of a single person. With regard to this, it is nevertheless observed that the contribution of each discipline is specifically in the domain of the specific competence of that discipline, and in fact the consultants and forensic experts concentrated their attention on the aspects specifically belonging to forensic science: time of death, cause of death, elements indicating sexual violence, the injuries present on the body of the victim, and the causes and descriptions of these.

The answer given above concerning the possibility of their being inflicted by the action of a single person or by more than one was given in relation to these specific duties and questions, which belong precisely to the domain of forensic science, and the meaning of this answer was thus that there are no scientific elements arising directly from forensic science which could rule out the injuries having been caused by the action of a single person."

I have seen many that believe in guilt say that Rudy Guede''s Supreme Court sentencing report makes a strong case for multiple attackers. The truth is they call it a theory and go to great lengths to make it clear that the hypothesis that Amanda and Raffaele were involved is not something they were going to rule on. Komponisto translation:

"[R]ight from the outset we must resist the attempt -- reflected in [literally "pursued by"] the entire structure of the defense case, but out of place in the context of this decision -- to involve the [Cassazione] panel in endorsing the hypothesis that others, Raffaele Sollecito and Amanda Knox, were responsible for the murder, aggravated by sexual violence, of Meredith Kercher. The decision that this Court is called to make concerns only the responsibility of Guede with regard to the act under dispute; any participation of others in the crime will be taken into account only to the extent that this circumstance bears on the matter that is our only concern: the modification or confirmation of the judgement of responsibility of the defendant -- the latter being wholly agreed upon by the judges of the first and second level."

I just don't see it being any clearer than that. The Supreme Court will next review the Hellmann decision and I have no doubt that they will confirm the Hellmann decision with the possible exception of the one calunnia charge against Ms. Knox being thrown out.

A retired judge in Italy had this to say about the Italian justice system (Google translation):

"The police system, treatment of the accused and the relationship between prosecutors and courts are still stuck in 1930. The police consider all suspected criminals, citizens are treated like pieces of meat, often questioning degenerate into violence. The prosecutor played the Commissioner and do not bother to secure the rights dell'inquisito And the Gip thinks it his duty to support the action of PM."


The fact is the Italian justice system failed with the lone killer here and also failed with two innocent people accused of involvement in this terrible crime. One local web article put Guede’s sentence in perspective.

“Is it right?”


I don't believe it is.