Trial by Fury

Trial by Fury: Internet Savagery and the Amanda Knox Case

The Amanda Knox murder case generated one of the most savage outpourings of commentary the Internet has ever seen. There are countless statements calling for the murdering, raping, torturing, throat-cutting, frying, hanging, electrocution, burning, and rotting in hell of Amanda, along with her sisters, family, friends, and supporters.
Why?
Trial By Fury explores this dark netherworld, identifying the people involved, and investigating their motives. It documents the real-world damage caused by these anonymous bloggers, including how they managed to get a much decorated ex-FBI agent fired from his job. It also recounts the story of the Wikipedia entry about the case, which triggered a spectacular brawl among top wiki-editors, leading to outings, rants, bannings-for-life, and death threats, requiring the intervention of Jimmy Wales himself.
"On November 2, 2007, in the ancient and lovely hill town of Perugia, Italy, a British girl named Meredith Kercher was found murdered in the cottage she shared with several other students. Her half-naked body lay on the floor of the bedroom, covered by a duvet; her throat had been stabbed, and there were signs of sexual assault and robbery. It was one of the most brutal murders in Perugia in more than thirty years, and it made front-page news in Italy. Four days later, police and prosecutors held a triumphant press conference in Perugia, in which they proclaimed that they had solved the case and arrested the killers. “Case closed,” they announced. Among the three alleged killers was a twenty-year-old college student from Seattle named Amanda Knox and her Italian boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito. The ensuing investigation, trial, conviction, and appeal of Amanda and Raffaele lasted 1,428 days and became one of the most sensational murder trials of the new century. On October 3, 2011, an appeals court in Perugia declared them innocent. Amanda went back to her family in Seattle and Raffaele to his in Bari. On March 26, 2013, Italy’s Court of Cassation vacated the acquittal and ordered a retrial on points of law as yet unspecified. The retrial may well involve more years of appeals and reviews. Amanda was arrested when she was twenty; she could be thirty by the time her case is finally resolved."