Amanda Knox, in Extremis, Borrows From Susan Smith's Playbook

I admit I had not followed the case of Amanda Knox that closely. But after the Seattle college student was sentenced to 26 years in prison by an Italian court for involvement in her roommate's murder, the lurid true-life tale of gruesome crime and questionable punishment was impossible to miss.

Her family wants U.S. government officials to get involved. Who can blame them? As Melinda points out, there are lots of questions about how the case and the evidence were handled.

Knox, convicted with her Italian ex-boyfriend, will essentially get another chance with an automatic appeal. So before the secretary of state weighs in, there are a few options.

After reading reports when the verdict was delivered and the sentence meted out, it does seem that there is troubling uncertainty with every aspect of the case, from forensics to the conduct of the prosecutor. Knox also changed her story several times, which will tend to raise questions in the jury's mind.

Maybe on this go-round, Knox can try not to name someone she knows is innocent of the crime. Knox implicated her Congolese employer -- a bar owner -- when initially questioned by police. She has said she was pressured by officials because of a text message from her boss. I'm not sure how someone subjected to harsh interrogation for a crime she says she did not commit would want to expose another innocent person to the same treatment. Then again, when I was a young college student, I was never detained for hours by police in a foreign country.

The man -- who was locked up before he was eventually cleared -- has since sued Knox for defamation, and I can understand why.

Though she was arrested in Italy, Knox's fallback play was so very American -- one part Susan Smith, with some Charles Stuart thrown in. (Smith, of South Carolina, was convicted of drowning her two sons; Stuart, of Boston, committed suicide after police were closing in on him for murdering his pregnant wife.)

Both said a black guy did it. Stuart picked a suspect from a lineup. Knox named a particular black guy.

(Just to make it clear, another black guy -- Rudy Guede, a drifter from the Ivory Coast -- is plenty guilty and has already been convicted of the murder and sexual assault. But all black guys are not the same.)

So while everyone should want the truth -- all of it -- to be revealed, I reserve some of my sympathy for any innocent person dragged into a crime investigation by another person's lie.

At the end of what promises to be a drawn out rehashing of a tragedy, who knows if we'll ever know the details of what exactly happened to the young murdered woman, Meredith Kercher, the truest victim in the case.