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THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
WEDNESDAY, MAY 1, 2013
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Convoer
CRIME
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Amanda Knox, left, speaking during a taped interview with ABC News' Diane Sawyer in New York. Last month, Italy's highest criminal court overturned her acquittal in the 2007 slaying of British student Meredith Kercher and ordered a new trial. The interview aired yesterday coinciding with the release of her memoir, "Waiting to Be Heard."
Knox talks with Sawyer about 'surreal' experiences in Italian murder trial
ASSOCIATED PRESS
SEATTLE — Amanda Knox says in an interview that what happened to her was "surreal but it could have happened to anyone."
The Seattle native told ABC News' Diane Sawyer in an interview airing Tuesday night that "I want the truth to come out. I'd like to be reconsidered as a person."
In March, Italy's highest criminal court overturned Knox's acquittal in the 2007 murder of British student Meredith Kercher and ordered a new trial for Knox, 25. Italian law cannot compel Knox to return for the new legal proceeding.
Knox told Sawyer the high court's decision was "incredibly painful" and she felt as if she had to crawl through another field of barbed wire after reaching what she thought was the end.
She said she was aware of being
labeled a seductress, she-devil and other names in the media, but she said "they're wrong."
"I was in the courtroom when they were calling me a devil," she told Sawyer in interview exccerpts posted online. "It's one thing to be called certain things in the media, and it's another thing to be sitting in a courtroom fighting for your life while people are calling you a devil.
Italian prosecutors have said Knox, who was an exchange student studying in Perugia, Italy, and her then-boyfriend Raffaele Sollicito killed Kercher in a drug-fueled sex assault involving a third man.
said the knife matched the wounds on Kercher's body and had traces of Kercher's DNA on the blade and Knox's DNA on the handle.
"For all intents and purposes I was a murderer, whether I was or not. I had to live with the idea that that would be my life," she said during the interview.
They maintained that the murder weapon was a large knife taken from Sollecitio's house. Prosecutors
However, Knox's defenders said she was innocent and was forced to say things she didn't mean during a lengthy police interrogation. And they said bumbling Italian police contaminated the crime scene, producing flawed DNA evidence.
Since returning to Seattle in 2011, Knox has largely avoided the public spotlight in her Pacific Northwest hometown where she is studying at the University of Washington.
Her memoir, "Waiting to Be Heard," was released yesterday.
CAMPUS
Anti-discrimination office marks first anniversary
HANNAH SWANK
hswank@kansan.com
The University's office of Institutional Opportunity and Access will soon celebrate the first anniversary of its creation.
The purpose of the office of IOA is to provide resources to report discrimination of all kinds, including race, gender, sex and sexual orientation on the Lawrence, Edwards and KU Medical Center campuses.
IOA sent out a 15 question student climate survey on April 26 that included questions discussing the University sexual harassment policy and where on campus to file sexual harassment complaints.
Jane McQueeney, executive director for IOA, said the office's mission is to make the campus safer, inform students about where to file complaints of discrimination and educate students about instances of sexual harassment or assault.
In the office's first year, more than half of the complaints received involved sexual harassment, sexual assault or discrimination based on sexual orientation.
McQueeny said if a complaint is filed with IOA at the same time that criminal charges are filed, the University can take interim measures to protect the safety of students, including changing classes and providing escorts.
"There are a lot of different things that we can do to try to ensure people's safety that the police aren't necessarily going to think of doing." McQueen said.
In its first year, the office has investigated more than 100 complaints and conducted 21 training sessions to inform faculty, staff and students about state and federal anti-discrimination laws and the University policies prohibiting discrimination.
"What I'd like to do is be more proactive in doing more training, talking to students about things they can do to keep themselves safe and making sure that they understand the laws so they are not violating KU policy," McQueeny said. "We want everyone to be safe on our campus and we want to make sure that people understand that they have rights."
Edited by Brian Sisk
On this date in 1893, at the World's Fair in Chicago, the Kansas Pavilion featured a panorama of North America Mammals. That same panorama is now the feature of Nike National
history Museum in Dyche Hall.
POLICE REPORTS
Information based on the Douglas County Sheriff's Office booking recap.
- A 20-year-old female was arrested yesterday on the 100 block of Indiana Avenue on suspicion of criminal threat, aggressive assault and aggressive battery. No bond was posted.
- A 20-year-old female was arrested.
Monday on the 2400 block of Oudsdahl Road on suspicion of domestic battery. No bond was posted.
- A 35-year-old male was arrested Monday on the 1700 block of 24th Street on suspicion of criminal damage to property and violating protective order. No bond was posted.
CRIME
Emily Donovan
Calif. woman charged with felony poisoning at San Jose Starbucks
ASSOCIATED PRESS
SAN FRANCISCO — A California woman faces attempted murder charges after police say she tried to sneak orange juice bottles spiked with a lethal amount of rubbing alcohol inside a Starbucks.
San Jose Police arrested Ramineh Behbehanian, 50, late Monday. A customer reported seeing the woman take two bottles of orange juice from her bag and place them
in an open-air refrigerated display case at a Starbucks in San Jose around 3:45 p.m., Sgt. Jason Dwyer said Tuesday.
A store employee followed Behlieman to the parking lot and jotted down her license plate number as she fled the scene after being spotted. Dwyer said that other employees called 911 after noticing the smell of the bottles.
Firefighters on the scene tested the contents and determined that
the bottles contained a "lethal quantity" of isopropyl rubbing alcohol mixed with the juice, Dwyer said.
No one drank from the bottles, said Dwyer, who praised the customer's quick actions.
Officers tracked down Behbehanian Monday night at her San Jose home located about five miles away from the store. She was placed into custody on suspicion of attempted murder and felony poisoning, Dwyer said.