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During my time covering the Amanda Knox case, I've been little more than a casual observer enjoying the ever-growing international spectacle we've witnessed over the past year. I've seen the good and bad of media coverage, the highs and lows of a frantic police investigation that accompanied it...and eventually took a break from writing on the case entirely due to all the surrounding noise. It's been a roller coaster, to be sure, and one that I'm guessing still has a few twists and turns before the end.

But, I've received comments and emails from folks lately who have misinterpreted my stance entirely. So it's worth clarifying.

I'm not "rooting" for one side or the other. Whether our local celebrity is guilty or innocent is little of my concern, and - unlike many of those involved in defense organizations and rally groups - I can't claim to know one way or another. Because I don't. Neither does anybody else except those who were present at the time of Meredith Kercher's death. And an Italian court has yet to weigh the evidence and determine whether or not Amanda was one of those people.

That's the root of the problem here, and where I really take issue with folks like Friends of Amanda Knox: vocal advocates for a cause that, ultimately, they have no idea the legitimacy of.

Sure, there is a group that will support her one way or another: at the very least, she's a classmate from your hometown stranded in a bad situation in a foreign land; at most, she's your daughter or sister or best friend. I understand where they're coming from. But showing support can be done in many ways, and not all of them involve shady media campaigns or extreme disparagement of a sovereign nation's judicial system.

From what I can tell, the group's success so far has stemmed largely from their ability to turn this case into a civil justice issue. Just look at this paragraph from their website:

Wrongful prosecution happens all over the world, often when police and prosecutors take a public stance that later proves unsupportable. That is what has happened in this case. The authorities got out ahead of the evidence, they announced that they had solved the crime, and now they refuse to admit they were fundamentally wrong in their initial assessment. The plain truth is that Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito had no reason to wish Meredith harm, and neither was present when she was murdered. They are innocent.

We're witnessing, ladies and gents, a case where emotion can easily overtake reason. The claims above play into that fact. So does the overall approach on the FoAK site, which includes childhood photos and thought provoking quotes from leading experts.

And one can't help but think that there's at least a bit of ethnocentrism at play here, even if subconsciously. After all, what makes this case more special than any others taking place in Italy right now? Why are Italian courts and politicians criticized because they handle things differently than we do here? These people seem to believe that Italy's justice system is a sham, and that we're dealing with some kind of third world nation that shouldn't be left to handle it's own prosecutions (let alone those of foreigners). The attempts to discredit everyone from the police at the crime scene to the lead prosecutor in the case are blatantly obvious to anyone who's watching for them. To say nothing of the fact that the whole debacle has shifted the focus away from the death of Meredith Kercher - a name that by this point would have most of the public scratching their heads to remember - and towards the freedom of Amanda Knox.

Ultimately, I'm curious as to why the Friends of Amanda Knox are unwilling to let the courts do their job before jumping to conclusions and making noise. Any ideas?

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A lot has happened since I last wrote about Amanda Knox: freedom rallies, television specials and a continued media circus surrounding the Meredith Kercher murder went strong throughout 2008 and have continued into 2009.

But things got interesting yesterday: Giuliano Mignini, lead prosecutor in the case, filed a defamation complaint against the West Seattle Herald over their recent coverage of a "Friends of Amanda" fundraiser.

From Italian Woman at the Table, a P.I. reader blog by Candace Dempsey that has been covering the case so far:

According to Il Messaggero, the prosecutor is objecting to being called "inadequate" and "mentally unstable" and he is calling for the "seizure" of the Web pages on which the article appeared.

Here's the original piece from the Herald, which comes across as little more than a blob of "Save Amanda" fluffery about last weekend's faux-social event that cost (or, "suggested") $100 and included such high society benefits as a buffet dinner, silent auction and photo opportunities galore.

What? I'm a cynic? The Herald story is a piece of unbiased journalism, you say? Maybe you could have convinced me...until I read this comment at Dempsey's blog, purportedly from Steve Shay, the Herald reporter:

As I reported accurately, I was told by people attending the charity that Mignini is mentally unstable. His over-the-top response seems to indicate that this is so, but (disclaimer) I am not degreed in the field of psychology and therefore cannot for certain diagnose Mignini as having the mental problems others have said they have noticed he has. Ironically, I have heard numerous reports on American and European TV that claim Amanda Knox is a "sociopath" because we do not see her cry on camera. I wonder if Mr. Mignini has objected to all these reporters calling her this?

If you can't diagnose it, then don't mention it...or at the very least, put the term "mentally unstable" in quotes. You write news stories for a fairly well-respected publication, Mr. Shay. Giving opinions on matters such as this is not your job, and the comments above have just provided further fuel for Mignini's fire. A good reporter lets his stories speak for themselves, without launching attacks against those who criticize them. Now - whether this is the case or not - you've come across as defensive, and just another body who drank the "Amanda is Innocent" Kool Aid. And the snide rhetorical questions do little to help your case.

Do Mignini's claims hold any legal bearing? Probably not. Is he overreacting by filing a claim that does little more than make a statement? Probably (though let's not forget that this is a man who has a job to do, one that has been an uphill battle from the start given the media circus surrounding the case since Kercher's death more than a year ago).

Still, this situation does raise some interesting questions - which I'll address in a post this weekend - about the absurdity behind this whole "Friends of Amanda" movement, and how local Knox supporters with too much time on their hands need to learn that sometimes, silence is a virtue.

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Couldn't help but make a return to the crime blog when I read this one.

Amnda Knox has been named Italy's "Woman of the year." 

Yes it was by an internet and television poll, but the woman the Italian media refers to as "angel-face" has made yet another mark on the country she is accused of committing a vicious murder in.  She even beat out Sarah Palin for the honor.

The Seattle Crime Blogger and I will probably be back into the swing of things once the trial starts, so remember to check back for updates and commentary.

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While I've been away, another noteworthy political proposition from the Nickels office has reared its head: a plan to ban firearms from all city-owned property in Seattle. Those with concealed carry permits, of course, would be no exception.

There has been a lot of discussion about this all over Seattle - in newspapers, at city hall meetings, on blogs & even Twitter - so going into specifics at this point would be redundant. In the age old debate over personal freedom vs. collective safety, the pro-gun sect has been pitted against more vocal collectivists...an interesting matchup in Seattle, where a sense of private libertarianism combining elements of the farthest left and right is more prominent than in any other American city I'm aware of.

Nickels may in a strange way deserve credit for this plan: after all, his attempts - however misguided - are aimed at helping stop gun-related violence that has been impacting certain neighborhoods in Seattle lately. But he's using an approach that is too far-reaching. As Robert Jamieson at the P.I. noted in his column yesterday:

The violence that grips Seattle involves young people with gang ties shooting one another in targeted, retaliatory strikes. Nickels' proposal does nothing to keep us safe from brazen youths toting legal or illegal firearms -- folks who will ignore bans.

What's funny is that, had Nickels approached this delicately, he could have united much of the city - pro-gun advocates included - behind a different platform on ending gun violence. As is so often pointed out, the people who have legally obtained their guns are usually not the ones terrorizing the community with them.

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It has been ages since we've updated this blog, for which yet another apology is in order. Though The Apprentice continues to blog on local crime elsewhere, I've all but abandoned it and this site has gone neglected.

Real life takes priority over blogging. That much is obvious. But watch for an attempt from this point forward to be more active at SCB. There's a lot of bad shit going on out there nowadays...too much to write about it all. But we'll do our best.

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An intruder who tied up a 63-year-old woman in Kirkland in order to take pictures of himself sexually assaulting her is still on the loose.

The coward of a man who decided to the commit this act was apparently armed with a knife and was wearing  a dark mask.

Call me crazy, but how do you get off tieing up a senior citizen while she sleeps in order to take pictures of yourself doing what you can't get a woman to let you do of her own free will?  That's someone's mother and possibly grandmother you are violating. 

Cases like this usually lead to repeat crimes.  Someone who needed to commit an act such as this is not going to be satisfied with just doing it once.  He'll be back, probably sooner than later.

Let's hope police catch him and ship his butt off to jail where his cellmates can film other extra-curricular activities.

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Mariah Verle Stevens, the infant who was abadoned by her mother last week at a Federal Way church, has been united with her father Clarke Stevens.

Stevens was apparently not aware that his ex-girlfriend was pregnant, as he was training with his National Guard unit in Wisconsin.  Stevens, whose home is in Auburn, will be deployed to Iraq over the next 10 months, has been awarded full custody and will leave Mariah in the care of his mother until he returns.

The mother of the child turned herself into police the next day, mostly because surveillance video that caught her in the act and said that said that she believed that she was "doing the right thing."  She has not been prosecuted, as in 2002, our state enacted the Newborn Safety Act, which allows mother to legally abandon healthy newborn infants who are less than 72 hours old.

I hope that this story turns out for the best.  The mother of the child obviously is in no state to raise her offspring based on her giving up on the child.   The fact that the father was left in an awkward position of not knowing that he had a daughter and than suddenly becoming the only option besides foster care leaves an uncertainty  as to how he will deal with the responsibility of childcare.  However, initial reports indicate that he has bonded with the child.  One can only hope.

This could have been a sad case of abandonment that ended in the tragedy of a child living without a family.  Hopefully the father of this child will ensure this is not the case.

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41-year-old AlbertoRios, the man who's infant son fell into a fire pit and burned alive, has been sentenced to two years in prison.

Rios fell asleep after consuming "six to nine beers" during a barbeque with coworkers, while holding his seventh-month old son, Diego.  While he slept, Diego apparently fell into the fire pit and died before Rios awoke.

Rios plead guilty to second-degree manslaughter in August.

The sentence may seem light to some, but I believe the internal pain Rios will suffer from for the rest of his life will be punishment enough.  Rios made a terrible mistake that cost his son his life.  Anyone who can truly overcome that guilt is not someone I wish to know.

After serving his sentence, Rios, who has been deported three times before, may be deported again, as authorities believe he is living in the country illegally.

Wherever he lives in the future, Rios will have to live with his actions.

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The state Supreme Court, in a split decision, ruled Thursday that police departments do not have to pay for damage accrued to propery during drug raids.

Leo Burtsche was asking for $5,000 in damages to properties he owned that were damaged by police in search of a meth lab.  No drugs were ever found, but Burtsche nonetheless will be left to foot the bill for his broken down doors.

Both sides are claiming a victory in this case, with Burtsche's lawyer promising they will be back and the Kent Police Department claiming vindication.

But the real issue for me lies in the fact that no drugs were ever found at the property and Burtsche was never even suspected of a crime.  So, police ran an unnecessary raid and still pay nothing.  Ok...

Then it turns out Burtsche offered the police keys to the property, but they used a battering ram instead.  I understand.  How many times in your life do you get to use a battering ram.  Keep the keys, I'll do some busting.

The message here, as always, is don't do meth.  But you should not only avoid doing meth, you should avoid having police suspect that people that live in properties you rent are on meth. Because even if they're wrong, you're going to be out a few grand.