Animating Justice?

The recent case in Puglia, Italy, surrounding the murder of British student Meredith Kercher, has raised some important questions over the use of computer generated animation (CGA) in legal settings. The animated sequence in question intended to portray the events surrounding the death of the British student on the night of 1 November 2007. Jurors in the trial watched three animated characters representing the three defendants (Knox, Raffaele Sollecito, and Rudy Hermann Guede) attack Kercher. The animation is particularly damning for Knox, who was witnessed in the simulation to be delivering the fatal stab wound. As the animation is running, still photographs from the scene showing bruises and wounds to Kercher are interjected into the presentation.