Italy's top court overturns Amanda Knox conviction

 

 

In a final, stunning ruling, Italy's highest court on Friday overturned the convictions of American Amanda Knox and her former Italian boyfriend in the sensational murder case of Knox's British roommate.

The six judges of the Court of Cassation announced their decision about 10:30 p.m. in Rome (5:30 p.m. ET). They began deliberating at noon after closing arguments by a lawyer for Raffaele Sollecito, Knox's boyfriend when 21-year-old Meredith Kercher was stabbed to death in late 2007.

"I am tremendously relieved and grateful for the decision of the Supreme Court of Italy," the 27-year-old Knox said in a statement from her home in Seattle. "The knowledge of my innocence has given me strength in the darkest times of this ordeal."

She thanked everyone who supported her. "Your kindness has sustained me."

Her Italian lawyer, Carlo Dalla Vedova, said she "was crying because she was so happy" when he called to deliver the news.

Late Friday night, Knox, surrounded by family, delivered another short statement. "You saved my life. ...I'm so grateful to have my life back," she said tearfully.

She went on to describe Kercher as a friend: "She deserved so much in this life. I... I'm the lucky one."

Knox's mother, Edda Mallas, said the family needed "time to digest" the news.

The ruling, which struck down last year's guilty verdicts by a Florence appeals court, brings the eight-year case to a close. The judges concluded that the evidence did not support a conviction, and they declined to order another trial. Their reasoning will be released within 90 days.

Knox and Sollecito had served four years in Italian prisons before a lower court overturned their convictions and set them free in 2011. But the Cassation Court reversed that decision in 2013 and sent the case to the lower Florence court.

Knox had consistently maintained her innocence and did not return to Italy for the final hearing. Her Italian lawyer, Carlo Dalla Vedova, said she was "very worried" in the days before the ruling, and vowed to never willingly return to Italy if the conviction was upheld.

USA TODAY

Lawyer for Knox's ex-boyfriend makes final court appeal

Sollecito's lawyer made a final appeal to the court Friday, saying there were "colossal" errors in the Florence appeals court verdict.

In her two-hour argument, Giulia Bongiorno compared Sollecito to Forrest Gump, the naive, dim-witted-but-earnest fictional hero of the book and 1994 movie starring Tom Hanks.

"He is an innocent who became wrapped up in spectacular and gigantic events that, like Forrest Gump, he did not fully realize," she said, saying her client was "was watching cartoons" at home when Kercher was killed.
Amanda Knox was convicted in 2009 for the murder of her housemate, Meredith Kercher, in Perugia, Umbria, Italy, where they were both students. She served four years of a 26-year sentence before the murder conviction was overturned in October 2011. Now she is working to move on with her life. (Photo: Scott Eklund, Red Box Pictures, for USA TODAY)
 

FTW's infallible WrestleMania 31 predictions

 FTW's infallible WrestleMania 31 predictions

The biggest wrestling event of the year is just three days away. WrestleMania 31 kicks off Sunday at 7 p.m. ET from Levi’s Stadium, and you can watch on the WWE Network. Before the show, USA TODAY Sports wrestling aficionados Josh Barnett and Nick Schwartz analyzed the card and picked winners for all nine matches.

Tyson Kidd and Cesaro vs. The New Day vs. Los Matadores vs. The Usos

Fatal four-way match for the WWE Tag Team Championship
Simon Hofmann/Getty Images

Simon Hofmann/Getty Images

Barnett: Love tag team wrestling but there might be too many bodies in here when you count the eight in the ring, the third member of the New Day, Natalya and El Torito. Kidd and Cesaro keep the belts in what could be a fun bout.

Schwartz: I’m expecting lots of high-flying spots and constant fighting outside of the ring. I’d like to see the Usos regain the tag titles, but given that they were the champions for the majority of the last year and The New Day has been more or less a flop, it seems more likely that Kidd and Cesaro stay in the spotlight.
Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royale

Barnett: This seems like a spot for Sheamus to make his return and win. WWE has promoted that he is returning longer than I expected. I think this is where we also see the breaking point between The Miz and Damien Mizdow with The Miz ordering his former bodyguard to jump over the top rope and Mizdow refusing. Bigger question is whether the trophy makes it unscathed past Monday’s RAW. Sports entertainment and trophies rarely have a happy ending.

Schwartz: I’m hoping this is the year that the Battle Royale title will actually mean something for the winner in the long run, as Cesaro won the inaugural match at WrestleMania XXX but never did anything with the momentum. I think the WWE cashes in on an opportunity to give the fans what they want here and have Damien Mizdow eliminate The Miz to win, and move on to join the Intercontinental title picture.
AJ Lee and Paige vs. The Bella Twins

Barnett: If WWE really wants to #GiveDivasAChance, here it is. Nikki Bella has taken on an aggressive style and improved immensely since holding the Divas title. The obvious angle is whether the “frenemies” can work together. I think another round between the top two workers in the Divas division seems like the way to go. Bellas get the win, but a split between A.J. and Paige is the story going forward.

Schwartz: AJ Lee won the only Divas match at WM last year in 6:48. I’m expecting the WWE to listen to the fans and give this match at least 10 minutes. In a perfect world, AJ Lee and Paige win on Sunday but turn on each other after the match is over, setting up a triple threat match with Nikki Bella for the Divas title on Raw the next night.
John Cena vs. Rusev

For the WWE United States championship
Jonathan Bachman/AP Images

Jonathan Bachman/AP Images

Barnett: WWE has smartly found a way to get people — or half the people — to stop booing Cena. Hating on Cena here would be going against America and apple pie. Putting Cena in the U.S. title match provides the title instant luster and having him win it would mean even more. Rusev loses the belt but it also opens up a chance for him to do some other things. Where Lana fits in here could be interesting too. I’ve liked the build for this match.

Schwartz: It seems strange that Cena, still undoubtedly the most popular wrestler in the business, is in the running for what is the third-biggest title — but giving Cena the U.S. belt both elevates the championship and gives the WWE a chance to turn U.S. title bouts into highly anticipated pay-per-view highlights each month. Cena doesn’t need the heavyweight title to be relevant, so why not have him prop up a lesser division? Rusev is amazing, and he can be more than just the United States champion.
Seven-man ladder match for the Intercontinental championship
Jonathan Bachman/AP Images

Jonathan Bachman/AP Images

Barnett: I am hoping we are going back to the day when the Intercontinental title is the belt held by the guy who consistently put on the best match every night. (Full disclosure: My favorite WrestleMania match of all time is Ricky Steamboat-Randy Savage for the Intercontinental title at WM3.) I think there will be tons of cool spots in this match and could open the main show. I see another “Yes-tleMania” moment and Daniel Bryan taking home the belt.

Schwartz: If WWE wants to give fans instant gratification, Bryan should win — but having him hold a title would keep Bryan out of the picture for the WWE World Heavyweight title, and there’s already a logjam of wrestlers below main event status. I think it may be wiser if Dean Ambrose or Dolph Ziggler — tremendous talents who aren’t yet ready to be the top guy in the company — take the Intercontinental belt while Bryan goes on to challenge the likes of Lesnar/Orton/Rollins. Ziggler‘s my pick.
Randy Orton vs. Seth Rollins
Steve Haag/Gallo Images

Steve Haag/Gallo Images

Barnett: This match could steal the show if the match actually happens. Among J&J Security, Big Show, Kane and whomever else ends up around the ring, the action could get lost in the shuffle. That would be a shame. This is the type of match I’d want to see more than once. Figure on a funky finish (Orton by disqualification) and a rematch at Extreme Rules next month.

Schwartz: Rollins and Orton could turn in one of the best matches of the card and I hope they get enough time in the ring to really put on a show. I like Orton to win this match, mostly because I’ve got a hunch that Rollins could be cashing in his Money in the Bank briefcase later in the show (there’s only a few months until the next MITB pay-per-view, so it has to happen sooner or later).
The Undertaker vs. Bray Wyatt
Courtesy of WWE

Courtesy of WWE

Barnett: Hopefully, this one goes on late on the West Coast so the cool effects of each entrance happen in the dark. The Undertaker wouldn’t be back unless he was sure that he could put on an Undertaker quality match. It doesn’t even matter if Wyatt wins here — The Undertaker’s WrestleMania record is littered with guys who were greats or would go on to be greats. Being in the ring on this stage with the Dead Man makes Wyatt a winner in the long run even if The Undertaker gets his hand raised.

Schwartz: I never thought The Undertaker would be back in the ring after losing to Lesnar (it was a perfect way to go out!), and I’m still a little stunned this is actually happening. That being said, there’s no way The Undertaker loses twice in a row, if only because Wyatt wouldn’t get the same boost from the win that Lesnar did. I just hope the quality of the match is equal to what will undoubtedly be jaw-dropping entrances.
​Sting vs. Triple H

Screen Shot 2015-03-25 at 5.55.36 PM
Barnett: Would it be best for business if the guy running the show behind the scenes beat Sting in his WWE in-ring debut? At 57, not sure how much Sting has left but he looks in great shape and Triple H is always in great shape despite the long layoff. I am not sure they end this after one bout. I figure an unsatisfying victory for Sting by DQ. Could you see a bat vs. sledgehammer match in the future?

Schwartz: Triple H doesn’t have much to gain by beating Sting, so I think it’s pretty safe to assume that Sting wins a match that includes at least six Pedigrees and Scorpion Death Drops. After the bell, The Game uses a sledgehammer on Sting to keep the feud running, perhaps for a rematch at SummerSlam.
Brock Lesnar vs. Roman Reigns

For the WWE World Heavyweight Championship
Courtesy of WWE

Courtesy of WWE

Barnett: The dynamic changes now that Lesnar has announced he is going to stick with WWE. I have seen scenarios that suggest Reigns turns heel and leaves with Paul Heyman and others where Lesnar remains Lesnar. No point in making this a Lesnar squash in the long run. This will be a great match. Seth Rollins plays into this somehow, even if he doesn’t cash in the Money in the Bank briefcase. WrestleMania needs to end with a clean finish and I think Lesnar retains.

Schwartz: After putting Reigns through approximately 10 F5’s, Lesnar keeps his title in a brutal match — but after the confetti settles at Levi’s Stadium, Seth Rollins sprints down the ramp, cashes in his briefcase and becomes the new WWE World Heavyweight champion.
Best match of the show:

Barnett: If the outside the ring stuff is held to a minimum, Rollins-Orton could be a great bout with two guys who know how to tell a story and aren’t afraid to take chances.

Schwartz: I have high hopes for Sting vs. Triple H, but the match people are going to be buzzing about Monday is the seven-man ladder match. Ladder matches never disappoint at WrestleMania.
Worst match of the show:

Barnett: Would be easy to say the Divas match, but it’s WrestleMania, there shouldn’t be any stinkers here. I think the tag team bout could be in danger of falling into below expectations territory if it doesn’t get any sort of flow going.

Schwartz: Before Lesnar announced he’s staying, I was worried that the main event was going to be a dud, but everything changed when Lesnar went on SportsCenter. I’m keeping my expectations in check for the Battle Royale.
Best entrance:

Barnett: WWE is going to go all out for Sting‘s wrestling debut.

Schwartz: If you only watch 10 minutes of the WWE all year long, it should be to see The Undertaker‘s entrance at WrestleMania. It’s worth the 9.99 by itself.

Prosecutor: Passengers shrieked as jet crashed into Alps

The co-pilot of the Germanwings flight that crashed in the French Alps deliberately worked to destroy the plane while passengers shrieked in terror and the pilot pounded on the cockpit door, a French prosecutor said at a news conference Thursday in Marseille.
"This was voluntary, this was deliberate," Marseille prosecutor Brice Robin said. "He refused to open the cabin door in order to let the pilot back in. I repeat. He refused to let the pilot back in. He is the one who pressed the button that allowed the plane to begin descending and lose altitude."
The information was obtained from the cockpit voice recorder of doomed Flight 9525, which suddenly began an eight-minute descent before smashing into a rugged ravine in the French Alps on Tuesday. The data recorder for the flight from Barcelona bound for Düsseldorf, Germany, has not yet been found.
Robin said the co-pilot, identified as German national Andreas Lubitz, 27, was not on a terror watch list. A federal law enforcement official told USA TODAY the FBI has been running the flight manifests through its databases but so far has found no connection to terrorism.
Lubitz said nothing during the descent, but could be heard breathing until the crash, Robin said.
"The co-pilot is the only one in the cockpit,' Robin said. "While he is alone he somehow manipulated the buttons on the flight monitoring system. He was alone at the helm of this Airbus."

Robin stressed the actions were deliberate. He said passengers could be heard screaming in fear.
"We start hearing banging, someone actually trying to break the door down," Robin said. "That's why the alarms were let off — because these were protocols that were put in place in case of any terror attack."
Robin said the plane apparently glided until it crashed into the ravine, a sound heard on the voice recorder.
"Again, no distress signal, zero, no 'help me' or SOS," he said. "Nothing of this sort was received by air-traffic control."
Robin said the voice recorder indicated dialogue between the pilot and co-pilot was normal. Robin said informed the families of the developments and that they were in shock.


German, French and Spanish authorities are investigating the crash. The FBI issued a statement saying it was offering to help French officials leading the investigation.
German carrier Lufthansa, which owns the low-cost airline, offered special flights from Barcelona and Düsseldorf to Marseille, so that those close to the victims can be near the scene of the search and recovery efforts in the French Alps.
"We are shaken by the upsetting statements of the French authorities. Our thoughts and prayers continue to be with the families and friends of the victims," Lufthansa tweeted.
Lufthansa CEO Carsten Spohr said he was left "speechless" by Robin's horrifying description of events, but said evidence thus far supports them.
"This action on the altitude controls can only be deliberate," Spohr said. "The most plausible interpretation is that the co-pilot, through a voluntary act, refused to open the cabin door to let the captain in. He pushed the button to trigger the aircraft to lose altitude.
"He operated this button for a reason we don't know yet, but it appears that the reason was to destroy this plane."

U.S. cockpit regulations don't allow a pilot to be left alone in a cockpit. The Air Line Pilots Association issued a statement saying U.S. airline procedures are "designed to ensure that there is never a situation where a pilot is left alone in the cockpit."
Lufthansa said Lubitz joined Germanwings in September 2013, directly after training, and had flown 630 hours. Spohr said the co-pilot began training in Bremen, Germany, in 2008 and later trained in Arizona.
Spohr said there was a brief interruption in training in 2009 but that he had completed qualifications for the job. German media outlets quoted classmates as saying Lubitz interrupted his training due to "burnout" and "depression."
Lubitz was included in the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration's database of certified pilots.
"He passed all medical tests, he passed all aviation tests, he passed all checks," Spohr said. "He was 100% able to fly without any limitations, without any reservations. His accomplishments were excellent. Nothing was noticed that wasn't proper."
Spohr said there were no indications that the co-pilot was dealing with a terrorist incident in the cockpit.
"We are speechless at Lufthansa and Germanwings," Spohr said. "We are shocked."
Officials have not identified the pilot, but multiple media outlets have identified him as Patrick Sonderheimer. He had more than 6,000 hours of flying time and had been Germanwings pilot since May 2014, having previously flown for Lufthansa and Condor. Robin said Sonderheimer's family is in France and would be interviewed by investigators.

All 150 passengers and crew aboard the flight killed, including three Americans. Two were identified as Yvonne Selke, a contract worker for Booz Allen Hamilton, and her daughter, Emily Selke, a 2013 graduate of Drexel University, both from Nokesville, Va. The third victim was identified as Robert Calvo, a father of two who worked for a Barcelona-based clothing company.
Among victims confirmed by the airline were 72 Germans and 35 Spaniards. There were two victims each from Australia, Argentina, Iran and Venezuela. One each came from Britain, the Netherlands, Colombia, Mexico, Japan, Denmark, Belgium and Israel.
A moment of silence was held Thursday at Joseph-Koenig High School in Haltern Am See in west Germany, which lost 16 10th-graders and two teachers in the crash.

Yemen fighting grows into regional conflict

Sectarian fighting escalated dramatically in Yemen Thursday, as an unfolding civil war began to look more like a regional conflict between Sunni-led Saudi Arabia and Shiite power Iran.
A Saudi-led coalition of Arab countries conducted airstrikes against Shiite rebels fighting the U.S.-backed regime of Yemen's President Abed-Rabbo Mansour Hadi. He fled to Saudi Arabia on Wednesday, as the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels advanced on his stronghold in Aden.
Jordan and other Sunni Arab countries said they were participating in the coalition, called Decisive Storm.
Egypt also entered the fray, saying it is prepared to launch a ground offensive in the region to counter the Houthis.
Iran called the attacks on the Houthis a "dangerous step."
The United States, which considered Hadi's Sunni regime a critical ally in its fight against terrorism, is not participating in the airstrikes. But the Pentagon said it is assisting in communication, logistics and planning support.

U.S.-Iranian tensions also surfaced in the growing sectarian conflict in Iraq, although both have a common enemy in the Islamic State, which seized parts of the country last year.
A U.S.-led coalition launched airstrikes against Islamic State militants in Tikrit, Iraq, on Wednesday after an Iraqi offensive to oust the Sunni militants had stalled. The Pentagon said it joined the effort only after the Iraqi government agreed to remove Iranian-backed Shiite militias that are fighting alongside government troops.
"I hope we never coordinate or cooperate with Shia militias," Gen. Lloyd Austin, the head of U.S. Central Command, told the Senate Armed Services Committee.
He said removing them from the Tikrit operation was a condition for providing the airstrikes and surveillance support. The United States has continued to provide air strikes in other parts of the country.
The Tikrit operation underscores U.S. reluctance to get dragged into a sectarian conflict between Iraq's Shiite-led government and the Islamic State, which holds majority Sunni areas.
For several weeks Shiite militias had taken the lead in liberating Tikrit with support from Iranian advisers, rockets and artillery.
Spokesmen for several Shiite militia claimed they withdrew from the operation on their own to protest the American role in the offensive, the Associated Press reported.Other militias said they had not withdrawn.
Unable to muster a robust army force to oust the Islamic State militants earlier this month from Tikrit, a Sunni city, the Iraqi military turned to Shiite militiamen backed by Iran to lead the attack.
After initial successes, the offensive bogged down, as the attacking forces had trouble ejecting several hundred Islamic State extremists holed up in the city and currently outnumbered by as much as 25 to 1.
Fighting in urban terrain is among the most complicated type of warfare, requiring trained soldiers, precision weapons and specialized tactics to prevent mass civilian casualties.
The militants defending the city used improvised explosives to slow the movement of Iraq's forces and built elaborate defenses.
Austin said the militias lacked precision weapons and an effective plan to take Tikrit.

Facebook Messenger, self-drive cars, Smiletime - Weekend listening

We've got 6 new podcasts for your weekend listening pleasure, plus a few classics from the South by Southwest festival. As the saying goes--ICYMI.

Our Tech Roundtable, which we record at the Tunein.com studios here in the heart of Silicon Beach, looks at passwords of the future. Yahoo introduced a new way to log-in this week, via a code sent by text. Sounds great in theory--but what if you can't find your phone? Maybe try Microsoft's new biometric approach to passwords, perhaps? Logging on with your eyes will be a feature of the new Windows 10, coming in the summer.

Our roundtable featured Dave Fink, a partner with incubator Science. Inc., investors Eva Ho (Susa Ventures) and Brian Garrett (Crosscut Ventures) and Alex Krugov, the co-founder of Smiletime, the new app for talking back to your TV. We also weighed in on Facebook's new scheme to pay friends via Messenger and Apple's reported plan to take on cable TV with a new mini-network subscription service aimed at cord cutters

Alex Krugov explains the in and outs of his new Smiletime, which lets viewers interact with cast and crew of such popular TV series as The Flash and Arrow after they air.

Our roundtable panelists Ho, Garrett and Fink talk about what they seek when they take on new tech investments and why they like working with Los Angeles startups.

From the South by Southwest fest--Jon Swartz talks about those robot protests outside the convention center.

 one new app dominated all chatter--Meerkat. Open it up, click a button and you're instantly broadcasting live video to your Twitter followers. Streaming video has never been this easy. After meeting up with analyst Charlene Li at the JW Marriott for a chat about her new book, we saw a bunch of folks in brightly colored yellow T-shirts and it was clear we were in Meerkat land. We grabbed co-founder Ben Rubin for a quick chat.


And here's our final SXSW podcast from earlier in the week, recorded from a booth at the historic Magnolia Cafe South on Congress Avenue. I spoke with USA TODAY photo journalists Sean Fujiwara and Kaveh Rezaei about some of our highlights that day--which included a 3D prosthetic arm and a chat with the Winklevoss brothers about the future of money.

Rio corruption scandal raises red flag on Olympic plans

Opposition to the ruling Workers' Party is reaching a fever pitch as demonstrators take to Brazil's streets to pressure the government, many exasperated by a graft scandal unfolding at the state oil company and a tanking economy.

The movement is putting the beleaguered President Dilma Rousseff on the back foot, with the president quickly responding to the protests with a series of anti-corruption proposals announced Wednesday. It also raises a red flag on how the scandal could affect preparations for the Olympics 17 months from now.

The graft scandal, which has been investigated over the past year and involves allegations of hundreds of millions in kickbacks from contractors of the state oil company to the ruling party, is putting the Workers' Party in its most serious political crisis in its 12 years in the presidency.

Rousseff's disapproval rate amongst Brazilians is the highest of any president since 1992 — when President Fernando Collor was impeached for corruption charges.

"We don't want this promiscuity between businesses and government," said Edna Theodoro, 59, a lawyer at a protest last Sunday in Rio de Janeiro. Similar demonstrations under the banner of "Impeachment for Dilma" brought hundreds of thousands to the streets that day, reportedly in more than a hundred cities. Theodoro referred to the contractors cited in the investigation, dubbed by police the "Car Wash Operation," as "sharks."

The investigations have implicated six companies which are also responsible for the lion's share of infrastructure projects for the Summer Olympics, to be held in Rio next year. Major projects they are responsible for include the Olympic Park, the athlete's village, and transportation and sanitation projects related to the Games.

The Car Wash Operation has named more than 50 current and former politicians, many in the close circle of President Rousseff and allied with her party. They also include Rio de Janeiro's current governor and his predecessor.

A cooperating witness from one of the implicated contractors told investigators that the collusion amongst companies as they arranged bribes and divided lucrative deals became so well organized that it was comparable to the rules guiding a soccer tournament.

The criminal investigation and a parallel inquiry by Brazil's comptroller general could imperil many companies' access to credit and their ability to receive government contracts. In the oil sector, Petrobras has already halted payments on many projects and prohibited some service providers from signing new contracts, bringing projects like an ambitious refinery in the suburbs of Rio all but to a stop.

But in a twist, even as a number of these companies have long been the object of protest by mega-sporting event activists on the left who complain about their lack of transparency, the tone of demonstrations last week and the country's polarized political climate have left many critics unsure of how to respond.

Contracts amongst six companies cited in the Car Wash tally a reported 27 billion reais (approximately $9 billion), about three-quarters of the budget for Olympic infrastructure and related projects.

The companies are being hit hard in the Car Wash investigations. For example, a former Petrobras manager testified that Andrade Gutierrez — responsible for pollution projects in the region of the Olympic Park — paid bribes for six projects worth about $4 billion in contracts from the oil company.

In February two executives from Camargo Corrêa, which is involved in two public transportation projects linked to the 2016 Games, signed plea bargains with the government and became cooperating witnesses for the Car Wash Operation.

In response to requests for comments, Olympic contractors OAS Construction, Queiroz Galvão, and Andrade Gutierrez all expressed confidence in the companies' abilities to carry out their projects for 2016 and said that work continued on schedule. Odebrecht, Camargo Corrêa and Carioca Engenharia did not respond to requests for comment.

All are under investigation by the national comptroller general except for Carioca Engenharia.

Brazilians have expressed a multitude of grievances on the streets — from complaints over the poor quality of public schools and hospitals to exasperation with pricey public bus fares — since nationwide protests alarmed the government since 2013.

Last week showed a turn: Now demonstrators focused their ire squarely on the ruling Workers' Party, with many calling for the president's impeachment. The current protests have tapped into the long-seething resentment on Brazil's right, who complain that the Workers' Party has become a corrupt patronage machine which effectively buys votes through populist handouts while taxes are high and public services deficient.

But some say the outrage over the Car Wash investigation is misguided. Corruption is not just today and it's not just in Petrobras, said João Roberto Lopes Pinto, a professor at UniRio and the coordinator of an institute that researches the rise of Brazil's largest companies.

He said many on Brazil's left are avoiding what they see as an opportunistic movement to focus only on the Workers' Party and not a series of companies whose relationships with the Brazilian government date back to the 1964-85 military dictatorship.

"What the Car Wash Operation presents us are very strong denunciations of the institutionalization of this cartel. It's not just an episodic thing," said Mr. Pinto. "It seems to confirm many of our suspicions about the cartel-style way that many of these enterprises act."

That ambivalence over how to protest in the current political climate was on display last week at a gathering of the activist group called the Popular Committee of the World Cup and the Olympics in the grunge-bohemian party neighborhood Lapa.

The current graft investigations implicate the very companies to which they had long been calling attention, but the polarized political moment meant that the anti-government marches of the weekend were far off their radar. Members in the group said they had no plans to carry out any sort of counter-demonstrations, neither wanting to play into the hands of the Brazilian right nor look like pro-Rousseff governistas.

Asked if last Sunday's demonstrations were similar to other political crises in Brazil — the vote-buying "mensalão" monthly payoff scheme during the government of Rousseff's predecessor or the 1992 impeachment of President Collor, Caio Lima, a self-described socialist economist, deadpanned: "You should have asked if it's reminiscent of 1964."

That was the year Brazil's armed forces overthrew the populist government of President João Goulart, installing a 21-year military dictatorship. One of the political prisoners who spent three years in jail and suffered torture was a 22-year-old member of a banned revolutionary group named Dilma Rousseff.

police shooting ruins lives, In 2.5 seconds

Two-and-a-half seconds for West Valley City, Utah, police detective Shaun Cowley to assess what he perceived as a threat, pull his 9mm Glock pistol from his holster and fire two shots.

Two-and-a-half seconds for one of the bullets to pierce a driver's side car window and enter the left side of Danielle Willard's skull.

Two-and-a-half seconds to take Willard's life.

Two-and-a-half seconds that changed Cowley's life.

"The shooting cost me everything," Cowley says. "You make a split-second decision about whether you go home that day and someone else does not. That's a heavy burden."

In the national conversation over police use of deadly force, prompted by fatal shootings of unarmed people, the impact on officers who have killed in the line of duty and the people connected to those who have died is haunting. For them, the issue goes beyond protests, social media outrage and hours of news coverage.

Cowley, born into a law enforcement family and a nine-year member of the West Valley City police force, says his instinctive reaction was to protect himself and his partner. He says he shot Willard because he thought she would run him over in her Subaru Forester. The decision led to criminal charges, uncertainty and financial ruin that left his name tarnished and his spirit weakened.

For the family of Danielle Willard, the fatal shooting left confusion, anger and profound sadness over the loss of the 21-year-old brunette with the sunny smile and jokey disposition.

"It's been a tough few-plus years," says Willard's mother, Melissa Kennedy. "We are still so terribly hurt and confused."

Police use of deadly force has been under a national microscope since officer Darren Wilson, who has since resigned, shot and killed unarmed black man Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo., and officer Daniel Pantaleo killed unarmed black man Eric Garner with a chokehold in Staten Island, N.Y. Grand juries declined to bring charges against the white officers.

There is no complete data on the number of people killed by police every year. FBI statistics show at least 400 deadly police shootings reported annually by local police departments. The number is based on what researchers, scholars and advocates consider to be flawed and largely incomplete data based on voluntary reporting.

The recent high-profile deaths raised questions about improving training for police to de-escalate tense situations and to look at biases police may harbor against particular groups, especially black men.

In Cowley's case, race is not an issue. He is white; so was Willard. Still, the case provides a glimpse into the chaotic moments and perceived threats that push an officer to use deadly force. It also shows the impact of such a quick decision, not just on those immediately involved but also on the wider community.

On Nov. 2, 2012, Cowley, 34, had been part of the narcotics unit at the West Valley City Police Department for two years. He was one of six detectives working on heroin and meth dealing in the Salt Lake City suburb of 135,000 people.

"We were very busy," he says. "Drugs are so rampant. It's just crazy."

On this Friday, he was more than a week into surveillance of a duplex on the east side of the city where a white supremacist gang was suspected of selling heroin and guns.

The following description of that day is based on interviews with Cowley, a report by the Salt Lake County District Attorney's Office, which investigated the case, and a judge's written order:

Cowley was in an unmarked car on one side of the house. His partner, Kevin Salmon, was in an unmarked car in the parking lot of an apartment complex across the street.

After 45 minutes of sitting and watching, Salmon radioed that a silver Subaru had pulled into the parking lot. Both detectives saw a man come out of the house, walk to the car and get in. Cowley says the man, one of the suspected dealers, was in the car for about 30 seconds, then went back inside the house.

The woman driving the car pulled out of her parking spot and parked closer to Salmon in the same lot. When she apparently noticed Salmon looking at her, she moved her car to another spot.

By this time, Cowley had parked closer to see what the woman was doing. He says he suspected the exchange was a drug sale and wanted to talk with the woman.

At this point, the stop would have been routine, he says. If the detectives found drugs on her, Cowley says, they wanted her to help them get evidence against the suspected dealers.

Cowley says he walked up to the car on the driver's side while Salmon approached on the passenger side.

"She immediately looks up and I see her put something in her mouth," he says. "We believed she was trying to ingest heroin.

"Now, she's escalated this," he says. So he pulled his gun from the holster and pointed it at the woman.

"Get out of the car," Cowley yelled. She ignored him, he says. Her doors were locked, her windows were up and the car was running.

Both detectives told investigators that Willard moved her hand over the gear shift and looked as if she was preparing to back up and flee. Salmon told investigators he tried to break a window in the car but couldn't.

Less than a minute had passed. Cowley decided to go to his car for a crowbar to break the window. He says the situation was taking longer than they had anticipated. They wanted to get a handle on it before anyone in the house noticed something amiss.

Cowley says he re-holstered his gun and was walking toward his car when he heard a screech of tires.

"I see her vehicle flying at me in reverse," he says. He couldn't see his partner and thought she had hit Salmon.

"I think he's dead," he says. "My brain is going, 'You are going to die. She's coming at you fast …' All I see is the back windshield coming at me faster than anything I could imagine."

He doesn't remember making the decision to grab his gun. He doesn't remember grabbing it. But he remembers firing it. He remembers the only sound he heard was the roar of the rounds going off and seeing one of the windows of the car shatter.

Then he passed out for what he thinks was a second, maybe two.

He came to on the ground on his stomach. A black mark stained one of his knees. His right knee throbbed in pain. He says he was hit by the car, but a later reconstruction of the incident found that was unlikely because of the direction the car was moving and where he was standing. He watched as the driver reversed the car in a tight arc and crashed into another car.

After the shooting, the department put Cowley and Salmon on paid administrative leave.

Cowley remained in limbo as Salt Lake District Attorney Sim Gill investigated.

In August 2013, nine months after the shooting, Gill released a report saying the shooting was not justified.

In his report, Gill disputed Cowley's and Salmon's version of the incident. He said a reconstruction showed that neither Cowley nor Salmon was in the path of the car as Willard put it in reverse. The reconstruction showed her tires were turned in such a way as to show that her car was not a threat to either officer, he said.

He also disputed Cowley's statement that Willard had swallowed a black substance the detective thought was drugs. An autopsy found no drugs in Willard's system. A small bag of heroin was found in the pocket of the driver's door.

It would take another 10 months before Gill charged Cowley with manslaughter. Gill did not return repeated calls or e-mails to discuss the case.

The aftermath of the shooting reverberated through this blue-collar Mormon community.

Police investigating the shooting found sealed evidence from a previous case in the trunk of Cowley's car, evidence he had never logged or stored properly.

That discovery created a cascade of problems that roiled the West Valley City Police Department. It led to an internal audit of the narcotics unit that found mishandling of evidence and accusations of stolen drugs and missing money. No officers have been charged, but the findings raised questions of possible corruption and about the chain of custody for evidence. As a result, prosecutors tossed out at least 100 drug cases filed by the unit.

The narcotics unit was disbanded. Longtime Police Chief Buzz Nielsen resigned for what he said were health reasons.

The new chief, Lee Russo, says the shooting was a "flashpoint" for the police department because it forced the 206-member force to look at its policies and culture.

"It was the moment that brought the department to a grinding halt," he says. The department released little information to the public about the shooting or the problems within the narcotics unit, which led to more distrust and accusations, he says.

Russo says he took over a department in August 2013 where the officers were demoralized and their every action came under scrutiny.

Since then, he has established regular audits of every division within the department to ensure that evidence is cataloged properly. He instituted monthly meetings with residents and community leaders, and bought body cameras for every officer to record encounters with the public.

He is creating a new narcotics unit that is training with the Salt Lake City office of the federal Drug Enforcement Administration.

"We are a completely different agency than we were," he says.

Under Russo, the department fired Cowley for mishandling evidence. Russo says Cowley lost or misplaced evidence in at least four cases, including money that amounted to at least $2,000.

"You have a police officer who loses drugs and money," Russo says. "Is that the kind of police officer you want in the community?"

Cowley and his attorneys deny the chief's claim. They say he did nothing wrong and that he was a scapegoat for problems within the narcotics unit. His attorney Lindsay Jarvis says investigators removed the contents in Cowley's car and locker during the investigation, and it was they who failed to properly log into evidence the items found during the search.

The two sides are in a tense battle over Cowley's efforts to rejoin the force.

He says the uncertainty over his fate wore on him. He lost 30 pounds and became distant at home with his wife and two children. He never wanted to leave the house.

"It was so stressful and lonely," he says. "I was on my own. You hear and read all the negative comments about you."

The preliminary hearing into Cowley's case in October 2014 lasted three days. At the end, Third District Judge L.A. Dever dismissed the case, saying the evidence did not show that Cowley acted recklessly when he shot Willard or that the shooting was not justified.

Willard's family, who had been hopeful that the man who killed their daughter would be tried and convicted, were in shock.

Her parents call her shooting an assassination.

Two years after her oldest child's death, Willard's mother, who lives in Washington state, is still trying to make sense of it.

Willard had gone to Utah to kick her heroin habit, Kennedy says. She had started using heroin with friends when she was 18, and she had been in and out of 30-day drug treatment programs near her home in Vancouver, Wash.

Her mother thought that if she was in a longer program away from her friends, she could finally be free of heroin. They found a 90-day treatment program near Salt Lake City.

Willard had completed it by the time of her death. Kennedy says she was working as a gas station cashier and was moving from her apartment to another. She was supposed to have been putting a rent deposit on the new apartment at the time she was killed.

"She was doing good," Kennedy says. "She was really trying."

The family filed a wrongful death suit against the city, which they settled in February for $1.4 million. The city did not admit wrongdoing, and under the condition of the settlement, Kennedy says she "can't say anything bad about the police."

She says now she can focus her attention on changing police policies to make officers more accountable when they use deadly force.

"They feel they have a right to go out and pull the trigger and not pay for what they've done," she says. "I want them to have another reason other than 'I was scared for my life.' If you feel threatened, then seek safety. If you think a car is running at you, get out of the way. Why would you pull your gun out and shoot?"

Cowley says he had no choice, but the decision cost him his life as he knew it.

"I was unemployable," he says. "My name was so much in the media here."

After he was charged, the only job he could get was laying hardwood floors with a relative. He made so little money that he and his wife of 15 years could no longer afford the rent on their house.

She moved into the basement of her parents' home with their two young children. He moved into the basement of his parents' home.

The couple decided last summer to legally separate.

"It happened bit by bit," he says. "We grew apart."

Today, he works with another relative repairing medical equipment. He is appealing to get his job back. He is still in the basement of his parent's house.

As Cowley tries now to repair a life left in shambles, he lives with the burden of everything two people lost in 2.5 seconds.