Americans have no grounds to question Italian justice

Americans have no grounds to question Italian justice

EDITOR:

After reading the New York Times and listening to Larry King about the Amanda Knox trial last week, I am appalled at the venom and animosity against Italy and the Italian legal system being portrayed as corrupt and antiquated. Among other things, Italians have been accused of being ignorant, backward and vindictive. I am frankly surprised that Americans are so sympathetic toward Knox, who was condemned to 26 years in jail for the murder of a British student in Perugia, Italy, in 2007.

Italy is a sovereign nation, and any crime committed within its territory must be judged by an Italian court, by an Italian judge and by an Italian jury. We must accept their decision. Anyone who commits a crime in another nation is subject to the law of that nation period.

I cannot believe that only American juries can pass honest sentences. May I remind readers that Sacco and Vanzetti were put to death in the 1920s under circumstantial evidence? What about Sylvia Baraldini, who was condemned to 43 years in a federal penitentiary in 1983 under RICO charges? She never killed anyone and was never even caught carrying a weapon. What about the American pilot who was absolved by an American court after causing the deaths of 20 people when his antics cut a ski lift cable car?

Knox and her boyfriend have been found guilty and ordered to pay all legal costs of the trial, about $5 million. We will have to wait for the appeal to this sentence, which may result in a reduction of jail time, but would no be likely to change the guilty finding.

We should not condemn an entire nation because their legal system condemned Amanda Knox. Americans are not the only ones who can pass a sentence without prejudice and without legal errors.

People who commit crimes in a foreign country are bound by the legal system of that nation. In Amanda Knox’s case, Italian justice has been served.

VALENTINO DeVITO

Girard

Kill the health-care bill

EDITOR:

I have always understood that America is the beacon of free enterprise throughout the world. The profit motive has always been the greatest way to bring prosperity to the greatest number of people. The health-care bill seems to be an attempt to socialize our health-care system.

The Democrats say everything but what they really want. Their talking points are that it will save lives, it will save money, and the insurance companies make too much profit and so on. The 2,000-page bill attempts to control not only the health care system, but also every aspect of our lives.

The generation of Americans that fought and contributed to the struggle for freedom for all Americans must not be the losers. They paid into Social Security and Medicare so that they will be secure into their senior years. That money was not to be put into the general fund or borrowed by an irresponsible government. We would be in far better shape if we had control of that system. We could not trust them then, and we cannot trust them now.

There are many ways to reform health care within the free market system. We cannot give our government this much power.

ED SEMERARO

Beloit