Dismissing reasonable doubt

Monica Busetto has finally been released, after around twelve years of wrongful imprisonment, at the end of a legal process that deserves closer scrutiny. Accused of murdering a neighbour, Lida Taffi Pamio, in 2012, on the basis of evidence that was clearly circumstantial, she had been sentenced at first instance to 24 years and six months. Just over three years later, Susanna Lazzarini, who was already facing charges for another murder, confessed to that murder as well, leading to Busetto’s release. However, the Venice Court of Assizes of Appeal, instead of acquitting her, did not accept Lazzarini’s initial confession – she had subsequently changed her story, accusing Busetto of having taken part in the crime as well – and instead persisted, with what now appears to be an incredible obstinacy, to the point of sentencing her to life imprisonment, a sentence subsequently reduced to 25 years.

The ‘evidence’ put forward was the victim’s DNA found on a necklace belonging to the defendant, and it was only after years of tests and expert reports that evidence emerged to suggest that the necklace did not belong to the victim and that the genetic trace could have been the result of contamination. Despite these new developments, the issue of how the evidence (the infamous necklace) was stored and analysed remained at the heart of the appeal hearing before the Trento Court of Appeal, which ultimately handed down a verdict of full acquittal on the grounds that the defendant had not committed the offence. It is only natural that a case of this kind should raise questions about the very nature of trials based on circumstantial evidence and about a conviction handed down in the face of obvious doubts – ranging from another person’s confession to the impossibility of guaranteeing the reliability of ‘material’ evidence such as DNA when there have been significant problems with its preservation. The principle of guilt beyond a reasonable doubt has been turned on its head into a sort of ‘guilt despite the accumulation of numerous and significant doubts’, and this is something that warrants reflection and, if possible, remedial action.