Amanda Knox vs. Tammy Menendez

A couple of days ago I posted about watching the TLC documentary "The Trial of Amanda Knox". I wanted to elaborate about how I felt that the show was extremely onesided, well I just wanted to stand by my original statement. It annoyed me to no end that the producers took the stance that "Amanda is an innocent American who is being wrongfully prosecuted by the Big Bad Italian government!"



I wondered the whole time that I was watching this when they were going to delve into the fact that she lied to the police more than once. That she continued to make false allegations right up until she was in jail. If you were innocent then why exactly are you lying?


Well two nights ago I watched Mrs. Menendez, a story about Tammy Menendez, wife of convicted murderer Erik Menendez. As a brief refresher in late 1989 Erik and brother Lyle shot both of their parents. They late collected and spent hundreds of thousands if not millions of dollars in life insurance money. Brutal I know, but the different between the two cases is the fact that Mrs. Menendez which aired on A&E highlighted the both sides of the case. It showed clips of negative and positive press. It was refreshing to watch a show that wasn't overly biased.


My personal feelings about the Menendez brothers didn't weigh positively or negatively on my viewing experience. However, I tried not to let my personal bias creep up on me while watching the TLC doc but I couldn't help it. Erik Menendez was sexual molested by his father as a child, he was a victim of incest. I don't think that too many men would be willing to admit that in open court whether or not the death penalty was on the table. So why is it that we demonize a victim and praise someone who may have committed an awful crime abroad?


Why is it as a country we are so willing to convict our own but the moment that another country steps in to try and possibly convict an American citizen they have to be "crooked", or "quacks"? Is it possible that Knox was given a fair trial abroad where Menendez (either one of them) got shafted?


I guess we all know what side I fall, but I challenge you to think about what occured here. Did either the Menenez brothers or Amanda Knox get a fair trial?