Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Seventeenth Appeal Session: Tough Day Ahead For Raffaele Sollecito’s Lawyers In The Minefield

Posted by Peter Quennell


Today it will be Giulia Bongiorno and Luca Maori for Raffaele Sollecito.  Important considerations to bear in mind:

1) There are still all these open questions assembled by lawyer and main poster SomeAlibi and Sollecito chose not to address them on the stand.

2) The Supreme Court has definitively shut down the argument of a possible lone wolf perpetrator and Guede in court accused Sollecito to his face.

3) Attempts to show that Guede did it with others (Alessi’s testimony) or two or three others did it (Aviello) both descended into farce.

4) A staged attempt by Bongiorno using a staff member to try to scale the wall of the house to Filomena’s window descended into farce.

5) Sollecito referred to Amanda Knox as a liar in his third alibi and in effect implicated her by saying that on the night she was absent for four hours.

6) Solleito has still not explained his phone record or computer record or how his DNA could have got onto Meredith’s bra clasp.

7) Sollecito has still not explained the other physical evidence tying him to the scene: how his bloody footprint ended up on the bathroom mat.

His family faces a trial for releasing an evidence tape to a TV station, and for attempting to subvert justice by involving national politicians. And the family have still not rebutted Aviello’s charge that a bribe was waved at him to testify.

Not a pretty mess, by any means. Good luck, Bongiorno and Maori.


Comments

Bongiorno has finished.  Court resumes at 3.00 PM. It’s now 1.00 PM in Italy.

There were Italian media reports highlighting several instances where she could have been interpreted as distancing RS from AK.

Posted by Tiziano on 09/27/11 at 02:59 PM | #

It was to be expected, Tiziano. Possibly she will use any ruling from this court to separate the two cases at the 3rd stage appeal?

Posted by Ergon on 09/27/11 at 03:43 PM | #

Thanks Tiziano. Corriere is commenting that Bongiorno has maybe opened the way to two different sentences for Knox and Sollecito, with a lighter one for Sollecito.

“Nothing connects Raffaele Sollecito to the crime… The few clues point to Amanda Knox and only by extension to him.”

However she doesn’t seem to have effectively resolved most of the points listed in the post above. The footprint and bra clasp still loom large and Bongiorno did not go so far as to say Sollecito was only present at the cleanup.

You may have read over at PMF that Steve Moore’s equally intellectually challenged wife was in the courtroom yesterday, and she screamed out at Mr Mignini “You’re the evil one”. That will hardly grow any sympathy for Knox.

Despite the charges against them, the Sollecitos seem to have played a much smarter game than the Knox campaign, with its relentless bitter anger and its relentless sliming of other people and (rather stupidly) the Italian system.

Posted by Peter Quennell on 09/27/11 at 03:50 PM | #

it is my understanding that this Friday (Sep 30) at 10pm EST 20/20 (ABC) will be doing a piece on the trial. so far, all coverage by Elizabeth Vargas seems less than accurate so i’m not hopeful.

Posted by gramjan on 09/27/11 at 04:38 PM | #

Eyes glued to this.  Seems to me that the Knox day will be the make or break.

Posted by James Higham on 09/27/11 at 05:00 PM | #

Italian system is same as Us? Regarding who has to prove something? I mean, in USA the prosecution has to prove the guilt, the defense does not have to prove innocense (unless they use insanity or accident theory/strategy)

Posted by lulupr on 09/27/11 at 05:08 PM | #

It is very interesting to see Giulia Bongiorno present Amanda Knox with an Italian language copy of “Venus in Furs”, the first of three sado-masochistic classics by Leopold von Sacher-Masoch.

“At the end of the book, Severin, humiliated by Wanda’s new lover, loses the desire to submit. He says of Wanda:

“That woman, as nature has created her, and man at present is educating her, is man’s enemy. She can only be his slave or his despot, but never his companion. This she can become only when she has the same rights as he and is his equal in education and work.”

This looks like Ms Bongiorni is about to throw someone under the bus at the final appeal stage.

Posted by Ergon on 09/27/11 at 05:08 PM | #

Apparently, Knox asked Bongiorno to buy it for her, but thanked her since it was presented as a gift.

Bongiorno is saying that Knox is no Venus in Furs, as the prosecution paints her. But then drops the tidbit out of the courtroom that she had bought the book for Knox.

It’s an interesting book about power and love.

Posted by bedelia on 09/27/11 at 06:56 PM | #

It is very interesting that Ms. Bongiorno reveals this at all, but then, her only duty is to her client Raffaele Sollecito.

Posted by Ergon on 09/27/11 at 07:42 PM | #

It would be a powerful and positive statement for Ms Bongiorno to get Sollecito at least a reduced sentence thereby ensuring she gets a leg up on her ambition to be mayor of Palermo

Posted by Grahame Rhodes on 09/27/11 at 08:07 PM | #

Venus in furs, Jessica Rabbit, oh my!

I too hoping for a more pronounced path divergence which might have motivated one or the other to confess.

Posted by Vivianna on 09/27/11 at 10:05 PM | #

Finally Bambi progresses beyond Harry Potter, will miracles never cease.

Posted by Spencer on 09/27/11 at 10:38 PM | #

Leopold Masoch’s sexually-loaded BDSM text “Venus In Furs” has ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to do with this case. This is a devious, emotional attempt by the defense to obfuscate the truth.

It’s deeply regrettable that the Hellman court has even allowed this dominatrix garbage to be introduced as an argument, because in the public domain, it will attract more female support for Amanda Knox. Readers of this blog don’t understand, but there are millions of American women sitting at home right now in Suburban midwest, watching this unfold on their TV screens. They do not want to hear about the dead girl. They don’t want to hear about “evidence” against Knox or how Knox tried to frame an innocent man. They’ve already made up their minds. All they see, through a nationalistic and emotional lens, is a fellow white girl in distress, and they cannot help but feel for Amanda as a fellow woman.

The US/UK PR machine is already working overtime to capitalize on this nationalistic sympathy for Knox. They want people to believe that Knox is a poor, sweet, innocent little Disney princess being “persecuted” by dastardly Italy and it’s “evil”, “third-world” kangaroo court type justice system.

Hysterical sound bites are constantly played on ABC, CNN and the “fair and balanced” Fox news with reporters howling that there is “no evidence”, Rolling Stone Magazine even calls Knox an “Ingenue” and drowning out all reasoned voices who question their biased reporting.

Lies are told regularly in the western press about the Italians, and there are already many feminists (both liberals and conservatives) who sympathize with Knox because they have swallowed the lies and deeply racial overtones being perpetuated of Knox’s trial, equating her appeal to the “diabolical” witch-hunting days of medieval folklore, when innocent women were genuinely subject to Kangaroo courts and atrocities did happen.


Most americans and english people already believe everything they’re told by their newspapers, that’s why Murdoch is powerful. If this girl walks away from this (with or without Sollecito) the first thing her PR team will be doing will be using today’s dominatrix allegations to full effect to get her support from other women. Emotions are easily played with and people’s thinking controlled.

Posted by proud-american on 09/27/11 at 10:41 PM | #

“Bongiorno makes Bunga Bunga joke. Jurors and judges laugh openly for first time.“W

Interesting interview of Meredith’s friend.h

Why I believe Knox killed my frienda

http://www.ottawacitizen.com/mobile/story.html?id=5459452t does bunga bunga mean?

Posted by lulupr on 09/27/11 at 10:47 PM | #

What does bunga bunga mean?

“Bongiorno makes Bunga Bunga joke. Jurors and judges laugh openly for first time.” Andrea V

****** Interesting interview of Meredith’s friend.

Why I believe Knox killed my friend

http://www.ottawacitizen.com/mobile/story.html?id=5459452

Posted by lulupr on 09/27/11 at 10:51 PM | #

Ok I found the meaning of bunga bunga, and I understando whay she used it. Thanks.

Posted by lulupr on 09/27/11 at 10:55 PM | #

Lulu, “bunga bunga” is a joke term in Italy referring to sex parties (Berlusconi’s).  This came up in Andrea’s tweet because Bongiorno said that at the police station, AK and RS weren’t making out, but exchanging an Eskimo kiss (unka nunka or something like that is the term she used).

Thank you for the link, going to read it now.

Posted by Vivianna on 09/27/11 at 10:57 PM | #

Oh, reprint of Telegraph story. I thought maybe more of Meredith’s friends have decided to talk.  I can’t blame them for lying low, given the horrible media circus.

Posted by Vivianna on 09/27/11 at 10:59 PM | #

Observers in Perugia have noted that Michelle Moore was last seen today hastily boarding a private jet rumored to be on standy-by in order to whisk away Amanda, her family and her American supporters back to the USA in case Amanda is acquitted.

According to This Is London article, Michelle Moore could be facing charges after her disrespectful outburst to Giuliano Mignini in court yesterday.

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-23991641-pro-knox-woman-told-prosecutor-he-is-evil.do

“Michelle Moore sought out Giuliano Mignini during a break in court proceedings in Perugia, Italy, where Knox 24, and her ex-boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito, 25, are appealing against conviction for the 2007 murder of British student Meredith Kercher.”

“Witnesses said Mrs. Moore marched over to Mr. Mignini and shouted: ‘You are evil, you have no conscience.’ Others said she told him: ‘You have no heart’.”

“A shocked Mr. Mignini asked police to identify her after her outburst. She was asked to show her US passport and provide officers with her details. She was then taken away but was not arrested.”

“A file on the case will now be sent to the prosecutors who will decide if there is enough evidence to proceed to a full charge of offending an official of the court, which carries a maximum sentence of three years in jail.”

——————————————

With the high cost of fuel these days it will be a shame to see Michelle Moore, the Knox and Mellas clans and the rest of Amanda’s entourage fly back to America this weekend on a jet carrying one empty seat after Amanda Knox’s guilty verdict is upheld!

Posted by True North on 09/27/11 at 11:56 PM | #

God make it so! -  true north

Posted by friar fudd on 09/28/11 at 01:03 AM | #

True North,

I hope they charge her. Would she walk into a US court and tell the judge he’s evil? Instant contempt charge. Maybe she doesn’t understand that in Italy the prosecutor is considered an officer of the court. We should thank her for reminding the jury how dumb and obnoxious many Americans are.

I read Steve Moore’s ridiculous tirade against Maresca for showing the photos of what the killers did to Meredith. It seems like he and others in the Knox camp had an extreme reaction because deep down they know they’re harboring two murderers. I think that was Maresca’s goal as much as to influence the jury. It was the right thing to do. He and Mignini really did a nice job for Meredith during the summation.

Sollecito’s defence on the other hand didn’t live up to the hype. Maybe it sounded better in Italian. I think the prosecution has cleared the biggest remaining obstacle and they’re in excellent position to win this case.

Posted by brmull on 09/28/11 at 01:06 AM | #

Hi Proud American

With regard to your post. My take is that if you are right then it’s too little too late. What these screamers of innocence don’t get is that every other country is not the USA. This has been the mistake over and over and has lead the US into wars that did little good except drain the US treasury, Afghanistan Iraq are cases in point because when the US forces go home these countries revert to what they were before.

Point is Italy is not the US either, and such outbursts of vilification by a moronic wife of ex FBI over the hill helicopter pilot only receives scorn at the local level and insults by some retired Judge in Seattle are laughed at.

This produces a case where if there had been any room for clemency before there won’t be now. Sollecito won’t walk and both cases are so intertwined that for both of them to be acquitted is impossible. My take on this is Knox will be found guilty on all counts just like the original trial. Don’t forget the screams of innocence then either. Same this time around.

As for me I will raise a glass in memory of a wonderful girl Meredith Kercher.

Posted by Grahame Rhodes on 09/28/11 at 01:37 AM | #

Verdict expected Saturday instead of early next week.  I take it they’ve heard enough.

Posted by Vivianna on 09/28/11 at 01:48 AM | #

I think Bongiorno knows what she is doing—or has done.  The meaning of her presentation is that she’s cut Amanda loose.

Posted by Ernest Werner on 09/28/11 at 02:01 AM | #

I just thought I would post the comments made today by a particularly noisy Amanda supporter on the ABC News website.  The misinformation is staggering, and to all of you who have posted here that the FOA brigade have done a great job disseminating inaccurate information, well, here is that misinformation in all its glory - shocking to say the least.

@Vivianna, I read somewhere that rebuttals were scheduled for Friday and Saturday with a verdict expected on Monday.  Where did you hear a verdict is expected on Saturday?  Anyway, it looks as if the prosecution will have the final word, thank goodness.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

“JonaL2: You need to understand something: Amanda did not “lie” about Lumumba - Guliano Mignini TOLD her that Lumumba was the killer, and then demanded that she “imagine” herself in the flat while Lumumba was raping and murdering Meredith. The interrogation was so hostile and coercive that by the time it was over with in the morning, Amanda was suffering a fairly deep if temporary psychosis. Except for that, Amanda has steadfastly told just ONE narrative of that night: that she spent the night at Raffaele’s where she was seen by Jovana Popovic at 8:40 PM, watched a movie until 9:30 PM, ate a late supper, smoked some LEGAL cannabis and slept (in one meaning or another) until about 10 AM next morning, whereupon she went home to shower and change (which is exactly what she did, leaving her worn clothing in plain sight on her bed as pictured in numerous police photos.) She DID NOT go out and purchase bleach: the “bleach receipts” were from later and clearly said “pizza”. She DID NOT mop the floor with bleach (provable from the Luminol studies.) She DID NOT move Meredith’s body. She DID NOT at any time enter the murder room. According to medical evidence, Meredith died at around 9:30 PM - just about the time Raffaele was turning off the movie which finished playing on his computer. Meredith’s interrupted telephone call to her mother places the time of the attack at no earlier than (and likely no later than) 8:56 PM - about 1 - 2 minutes after Meredith arrived home, locked the front door, entered her own room and sat down on the bed to make her telephone call. Within 5 minutes or less, she was dying. Meredith was not raped and then murdered: she was deliberately murdered while fully dressed even to her Adidas jacket and then sexually assaulted as she was near death. Her attacker had to put the duvet over her face simply to protect himself from the blood spray from her gasping breaths. He locked her door and left, using her key to let himself out. Amanda Knox WAS NOT THERE.”

Posted by Intuition on 09/28/11 at 03:04 AM | #

@Intuition - Tweets from Andrea Vogt and Barbie Nadeau

andreavogt Andrea Vogt
Looks like #amandaknox verdict is expected Saturday, after rebuttals

BLNadeau Barbie Latza Nadeau
Said possible verdict Saturday in #amandaknox appeal.

————————————————————

Like I said before, both falsification of public opinion and falsification of public reaction.

Posted by Vivianna on 09/28/11 at 03:35 AM | #

Apparently putting stuff in CAPITAL LETTERS makes it true.  Who knew?

No, pot is not legal in Italy.  For very small amounts it is only a ticket, but larger amounts are trafficking and can mean prison time, with exceptions for prescription-based medical usage or religion-based Rastas.

Otherwise, well, FOA are entitled to their own opinions, but not their own facts.  Just shouting about something doesn’t make it so.

Posted by lauowolf on 09/28/11 at 04:53 AM | #

As Vivianna I also read BN and AB twetted that verdict could be reach on saturday after judge discussed schedule. So I guess they heard or infered it.

Posted by lulupr on 09/28/11 at 05:26 AM | #

It seems the judge might have announced it.  http://www.kirotv.com/news/29321899/detail.html

Posted by Vivianna on 09/28/11 at 05:28 AM | #

Every time I hear about that interrogation it gets more hostile and coercive.  What was the testimony about it at trial?

Posted by jamesepowell on 09/28/11 at 05:37 AM | #

@Intuition on JonaL2:

Mignini wasn’t even there when Knox gave her first statement saying Lumumba was the killer. It’s true Amanda gave just one narrative at first, but Raffaele ruined it by saying they had gone out to a party, among other wrong details. We know the last human interaction with the computer was 9:10 and they had eaten dinner by then.

Meredith’s aborted phone call to her mom was moments after she said goodbye to her friend Sophie at 8:55. So whatever the reason Meredith decided not to call her mom, it wasn’t not because she was attacked. Those are facts.

The rest of JonaL2’s account is the usual hodgepodge of unprovable or irrelevant details — straw men to be emphatically “debunked”. The theory that the duvet was used as a shield is something novel, but just adds yet another item for the hypothetical “lone wolf” to juggle while simultaneously subduing and attacking his victim.

Most likely there is some truth to Knox’s confessions, that she [and Sollecito] met up with Guede [not Lumumba] in Piazza Grimana and they went to the cottage together. Meredith would not have let in anyone she didn’t know well, so Knox must have opened the door. The three did something on their own for a while (explains the unflushed toilet). Meridth probably stayed in her room because she was annoyed.

Then they went to Meredith’s room and attacked her. I don’t know why people like JonaL2 make such a big deal about the Adidas jacket. It was a chilly night. If Meredith was wearing it, it doesn’t follow that she had just come into the house. They should focus instead on why the killers would take off the victim’s clothes AFTER committing the crime, but they never want to talk about that.

Posted by brmull on 09/28/11 at 06:00 AM | #

This might be a odd question but it has been bothering me. 

This week in court there has been outbursts of people yelling out while the court was in session, mainly the “X”-FBI wife Michelle Moore

When these displays happen, is the offender escorted out, or held in contempt? And if so are they aloud to attend anymore of the proceedings.

It would be a criminal if they were permitted back in the following day. 

Posted by Mike/Canada on 09/28/11 at 06:48 AM | #

In my opinion Im % 99999 sure the verdict will come back guilty. After reading the prosecution, civil parties and RS defense, its undeniably clear which way the case is leaning.

I dont think AK defense will score any points - Bongiorno is probably the strongest of the defense lawyers and she may have gotten RS a lighter sentence with her presentation.

In fact he may actually walk out for time served, but AK is not going anywhere - unless of course her defense has something unimaginable up their sleeve (given their siesta habits in court I would not have thought so).

Posted by Giselle on 09/28/11 at 08:45 AM | #

On JonaL2 quoted by Intuition:

“Guliano Mignini TOLD her that Lumumba was the killer”

Mignini wasn’t even there when Knox gave her first statement saying Lumumba was the killer.  [BR Mull]  Interrogation finished around midnight/early morning.

“The interrogation was so hostile and coercive that by the time it was over with in the morning, Amanda was suffering a fairly deep if temporary psychosis”

She was already in that, drug related to an extent.  She was a mess in her head, with or without the police and very frightened she’d be given away or would give herself away.

“She DID NOT go out and purchase bleach: the “bleach receipts” were from later and clearly said “pizza” “

Two witnesses saw her at the Conad.

“She DID NOT mop the floor with bleach (provable from the Luminol studies.)”

Not so.  Pure speculation mixed in with other things which would appear to be possible at first glance.  Evidence did not indicate this in the least.

“She DID NOT at any time enter the murder room.”

She did not need to.  When she was in that kitchen, the police officer saw her visibly tremble as the knife drawer was open [check the sidebar here] and react with distress.  It was not the bedroom which was the issue.  It was the kitchen.

“Meredith arrived home, locked the front door, entered her own room and sat down on the bed to make her telephone call. Within 5 minutes or less, she was dying.”

Zero proof.  The phone record and Raffaele’s statement, his footprint, them being seen twice, all the other little things listed on this site which you can find in the sidebar as I did last evening - all of them point to a later murder but more importantly - they point to the pair having been there.

“Amanda Knox WAS NOT THERE”

Supreme Court says otherwise, the evidence says otherwise.  There were three people involved.  If Guede was one and we know Raffaele was there, then who was the third?

Alternatively, where was Knox if they were there, given they’d been in contact earlier?

Moving on from those, then we can start on all the other points of evidence - see essential reading part in sidebar - it’s all there.

This was trollery in these wild statements in that comment further up.

Posted by James Higham on 09/28/11 at 09:19 AM | #

I wonder if there is a reason for a weekend verdict as opposed to a Monday verdict…am I reading too much into this or was Michele Moore’s behavior an indication to the judge that things may get ugly?

Posted by Giselle on 09/28/11 at 09:52 AM | #

Hi Giselle. All of us are wondering the same thing. Perhaps ths only remarkable thing in this rather predictable situation is that Michele Moore did not turn up with a gun. Her husband Steve Moore makes frequent reference to firearms in a way we think might be beamed at supporters of justice.

TJMK is read in Perugia - and so is the hatefest Injustice In Perugia website created by the defamatory hothead Bruce Fischer and apparently run out of a store in a northwest Chicago mall where we believe Fischer works as a sales assistant.

That site which the judges and jury can of course read is absolutely riddled with exhortations of hate against Mr Mignini and Italian officialdom in general. It was where Steve Moore first surfaced prior to his firing from his security guard post at Pepperdine University north of Los Angeles.

Had that IJP site been run out of Italy in Italian it might well have been shut down and its perpetrators arrested under anti-terrorism measures to ensure the public safety.

The verdict could still go Knox’s way this weekend of course, but the chances of that, always remote at best, may well have been halved by the hate thrown at Mignini by Michele Moore. She managed to highlight how behind the smiling veneer Amanda Knox and her whole fanatical movement are scary.

Posted by Peter Quennell on 09/28/11 at 12:09 PM | #

Speaking of IJP I was amused to read this page at Salem-News that includes a clip from an email suggesting that Bruce et al. are providing news outlets with source material as well as helping to arrange interviews with Knox adviser Dr. Hampikian.

http://www.salem-news.com/articles/july272011/knox-case.php

I agree with Peter that fanaticism seems to be driving the pro-Knox forces. I wouldn’t be surprised if many of them are involved with other conspiracy theories as well. Their websites are filled with elaborate explanations that start from the premise that Knox and Sollecito cannot possibly be involved.

It reminds me of the 9/11 conspiracy theorists who go on and on for pages about where the thermite would have been placed to bring the buildings down. Some of it even sounds workable—if it weren’t for the fact you have to disbelieve a thousand other things for it to be true.

But people get really wrapped up emotionally in these delusions and nothing will convince them otherwise. It’s very interesting psychology.

Posted by brmull on 09/28/11 at 12:37 PM | #

Hi Peter. Live & learn, but I can’t think that Knox has a chance to walk this weekend:

(a) Symbolically (quoting Ergon) “Giulia Bongiorno present[s] Amanda Knox with an Italian language copy of “Venus in Furs”, the first of three sado-masochistic classics by Leopold von Sacher-Masoch.”

Simply as gesture it means:  You asked for this… This is yours… your story…  This belongs to you, now. Etc. So it’s a way of unloading that charge upon Amanda by implication.

(b) The Roger Rabbit female. (I haven’t heard of these things before, Roger Rabbit or Venus in Furs.)

She is a cartoon character, not to be taken seriously, oversexed to the hilt.  The words “loving & faithful” applied to Amanda (who has said in effect: I can have any man I want, or I think maybe Raffaele wrapped my fingers around that knife while I slept…) are words so deliberately ill-fitting that Bongiorno does not expect them to be taken seriously—except of course by the Knox clan from whom she conceals that much of her intention.

As for the words, “not bad—just drawn that way” we notice an intended double entendre:

Drawn that way—made to appear bad, or

Drawn that way—not bad but I am drawn to badness, can’t help it…

(c) And your own point:  “Perhaps the only remarkable thing in this rather predictable situation is that Michele Moore did not turn up with a gun. Her husband Steve Moore makes frequent reference to firearms…”

At the very least this is disconcerting or taken more deeply, even ominous. And evidently illegal.

So it certainly halves whatever slight chance Amanda Knox may have had by casting discredit on the quality (even everyday-sanity) of her supporters.

Meanwhile, Bongiorno’s charge, the young Italian, walks free… of Amanda. She initiates the sado-masochistic thing, he in meeting up with her has found not a family but a murder.

I don’t believe the court will overlook the ways in which Raffaele has been separated from Amanda’s intentions & incentives.

Posted by Ernest Werner on 09/28/11 at 01:24 PM | #

Hi Peter, I cannot even imagine Michele was trying to achieve by doing what she did! I dont believe it was a sudden reaction, I am of the opinion that this was planned and pre-approved. I can think of many stupid reasons in line with the FOA way of thought - but no logical reasons.

I dont venture beyond far beyond TJMK (thanks for the goldmine of information here) - I have gone to IJP and such sites in the past and the lies and comments have put me off! Those sites only reinforce how guilty Knox is.

Do you think there is a chance that RS will get off? I have this feeling that he will end up with a much lesser sentence…

Posted by Giselle on 09/28/11 at 01:35 PM | #

Interesting point concerning the possible verdict this weekend rather than next week.

If that is correct then it should really put the ‘screws’ to Knox because the jumped ahead time frame will panic her. After all she has been prepped to perform next week, perhaps the Michele outburst has something to do with this.

It would be a huge joke on all the FOA if that were true. However it would seem that it’s all just more publicity to try and get her husband a job.

Posted by Grahame Rhodes on 09/28/11 at 02:18 PM | #

I think the early date for judgement might indicate the court feels it has enough evidence to make a decision. Unless Knox lawyers pull off her spontaneous statement. There still is a summation, so I’m a little doubtful about Saturday.

The FOA have no clue how reports of private jets ready to whisk her off on Sunday and MM’s calculated outburst have played in the minds of this court. They truly were Amanda Knox’s worst enemy.

They didn’t even get the Venus in Furs reference, at best maybe the Lou Reed song. But I believe Ms Giulia Bongiorno knew exactly what she was doing. Venus in Furs is a classic, well-known to all students of abnormal psychology.

Posted by Ergon on 09/28/11 at 03:16 PM | #

Hi Ergon

Love the ‘abnormal psychology’ quote.

cheers G

Posted by Grahame Rhodes on 09/28/11 at 03:22 PM | #

For those wondering, Michelle Moore was detained for about an hour.  After that, she “chose” not to attend yesterday’s session. Steve Moore made some excuses about her being emotional and bothered by the pictures, but neither appears to have issued a formal apology.

If you search #amandaknox on Twitter, you’ll see a storm of tweets, the vast majority posted by 1-2 people, some of which could be considered hysterical.  No logic, no evidence, but a lot of emotion and shouting down.

Either Gogerty-Mariott knows something I don’t about their intended demographic, or they’ve made a huge mistake hiring some of these people.  I’m willing to concede that the audience they’re trying to reach may be responsive to these emotional outbursts and view them positively.  Hopefully they did their research.

Otherwise, it seems like their peons are completely out of control and alienating any reasonable bystanders. The Michelle Moore episode left a lot of people shaking their heads.

Up to this point, I’ve watched their efforts (PR, not FOA) with a sort of awe, since what they are doing is so evil, but so pervasive. But I’ll have to say that they gravely miscalculated their actions in Italy.  What might work for their intended audience at home (hysterics, poor little angel, jet waiting to whisk her home) is profoundly distasteful in Italy and is likely negatively affecting Amanda’s image.

Posted by Vivianna on 09/28/11 at 03:49 PM | #

Hi Ernest.

Thank you for your excellent post.  It reflects my immediate reaction and thoughts upon reading posts further up the thread. 

The only reason I hesitated to post myself was that i haven’t read the book and was not sure about my thinking; however I also think that it was a subtle way of saying, ‘this is Amanda Knox and this person dominated and entrapped Raffaele’. 

The family probably did not pick this up but I imagine that Amanda - once she got back to her cell and pondered upon the day’s speeches - will have suddenly understood the hidden message and her heart will have sunk in confusion and despair and ultimate loneliness. 

I saw it as a way of saying, ‘goodbye, I’ve done all I am prepared to do for you - you are on your own now’ to Amanda and I also saw in it a GB that I thought I had seen before the Defense shenanigans - a GB who really does understand and abhor both the insane, futile, jealous horror of what happened to Meredith and also the dynamics of that dark and terrible night.

Posted by thundering on 09/28/11 at 03:59 PM | #

TV has been authorised for the broadcast of the final decision.

Posted by giuseppe on 09/28/11 at 04:16 PM | #

Cross-posting a comment I made on PMF because it touches on what Ernest was discussing.  By the way, I am incredibly impressed with the “I am drawn this way” reading - I hadn’t considered the other possibility.  Now that I think about it, the “drawn” part kind of ties in with my Petrarchan comparison, since it alludes to a visual construction of a person.

It has been said, more than once, that the PR campaign would make an excellent case study for a journalist interested in writing a book about it. I think that a gender-studies scholar could write a hefty book on “the objectification of Amanda Knox.”

I think that the terms in which she’s been described are almost Petrarchan, and that her own family, via the PR campaign, has put her on the “butcher’s block.” She’s been turned into a spectacle, but a spectacle over which she has no control. Her own attempts at drawing an image of herself have been unremarkable compared to what has been happening outside her prison. From the uncomfortable “gaze” of her (creepy, middle-aged, male) supporters to the various icons she’s been compared her, I think she’s been thoroughly objectified and depersonalized, and not at the hands of her accusers, but of her own camp.

Perhaps there’s another layer to Bongiorno’s Jessica Rabbit comparison - the cartoonish, two-dimensional representation. I’m more and more convinced that Bongiorno was subtly brilliant. She didn’t fail at defending AK because she had no intention of defending AK (after all, it’s not her responsibility). I think that her Venus in Furs and Jessica Rabbit comparisons were wonderfully double-edged.

On the one hand, they conjured a rather unflattering image of Amanda, concealed by a supposedly awkward comparison (“oh, I tried to make her look good, but I guess my comparison was inadequate or could be twisted”). On the other hand, they are meant to remind us of the weak, ineffective men in both stories - Severin and Roger Rabbit. I think this is where she was trying to take us - to an image of Raffaele as a weak, nerdy, easily manipulated young man who ruined his life following a seductress.

Posted by Vivianna on 09/28/11 at 04:49 PM | #

The reporting in today’s Times (page 28) is interesting.  There is the usual picture of Amanda Knox and the headlines report Giulia Bongiorno’s colourful quotes about Amanda.

What I found fascinating was that yesterday was supposed to be Sollecito’s day.  Not Amanda’s.

Has Bongiorno deftly cut the ties between the pair?  Is this case now all about Knox?  In praising Knox did Bongiorno subtly condemn her?

One assumes that the Sollecito family detest the Knox family with a passion.

Posted by Peter Oliver on 09/28/11 at 05:34 PM | #

From Tiziano above to Peter Oliver, we seem to notice a move away from Knox by Sollecito/Bongiorno.

Tiziano mentions “Italian media reports highlighting several instances where [Bongiorno] could have been interpreted as distancing RS from AK.”

And Peter Oliver puts it succinctly: “Has Bongiorno deftly cut the ties between the pair?  Is this case now all about Knox?  In praising Knox did Bongiorno subtly condemn her?”

Almost like a costly (& very effective) PR campaign backfiring. Focus on Knox.

Posted by Ernest Werner on 09/28/11 at 06:44 PM | #

I just caught a clip from NBC’s morning show, where Matt Lauer threw Amanda’s father a few scripted questions. And to speak about a murder trial, with his disgraced daughter at the center of it all, what was he wearing? Kurt Knox showed up on national television dressed in a Hawaiian party shirt. (To give him some credit, it was black.)

Ugly Americans beget ugly American children.

I see again and again reference to the Knox engine being the worst thing to happen to her and her case, even splattering Sollecito with its coordinated misfortune. It’s making more and more sense. I follow the #amandaknox Tweets as they spew, and it really shows how Americans in general have no idea what they’re looking at. Like toddlers they pick up objects from the ground and stick them straight into their mouths without a second thought. Then like parrots and apes and barking dogs, they start spreading it around in an effort to make themselves look informed or somehow competent. I still see idiots posting that moronic Rolling Stone story as though they had just discovered it as the Rosetta Stone that will solve this case. It really just shows how ignorant and hopeless they are.

What effect will that have on the Italian Court’s decision making? Well, if we are to assume the Court’s professional standard, of which TJMK no doubt entrusts, then we’ll have to say, zero effect. But if it were to have an effect, it can only make the prosecution’s case all that much stronger, for when surrounded by idiots, even the just-smart-enough become the most brilliant in the room.

While we’re on the subject of impressions, what is the general image of Italians? They, what, eat pizza? Talk with their hands a lot? Wear a lot of black? The general reflex American view of an Italian isn’t even of an Italian Italian, but of a New Yorker. But how do Italian’s view the average American? Fat, unhealthy, in debt to their ears and, yep, ignorant. Incredibly ignorant. Not too far off the mark.

Any PR company worth their salt would know this, and in what can only be seen as a monumental miscalculation, some misguided PR company pointed the stupid speaker toward Italy, and turned the volume to 11. Brilliant.

And there’s Kurt Knox, in a Hawaiian party shirt.

Typical.

Posted by Anthony on 09/28/11 at 07:23 PM | #

But the band plays on…  I have just seen a video of Deanna and Ashley Knox and their other little sister and quite frankly I despair.  The BBC man interviewing them sickened me, he really did.

He was fawning over them like a great wrong had been done to their sister - akin to the US coverage of ‘How is Amanda holding up? is she ok?’

I cannot for the life of me understand why they are not factoring in the fact that their sister has been imprisoned for the brutal sex murder of her roommate Meredith Kercher. Looking at this interview it was if Meredith never existed - and she certainly wasn’t mentioned, just like on Knox’s Myspace page.

This from the BBC? disgraceful.

Posted by Deathfish2000 on 09/28/11 at 07:43 PM | #

@Anthony - The garbage you see on Twitter isn’t, fortunately, a reflection of what the average American thinks.  Those people are employed by the Knox campaign and paid to be extremely vocal.

On the other hand, no one is being paid or coerced to post here, so you get a nice sample of Americans who are most obviously not buying the media campaign.  The level of education and eloquence can’t even be compared.

Bottom-line, if you have to pay people to agree with you, you’re not doing a very good job.

Posted by Vivianna on 09/28/11 at 08:09 PM | #

We’ll backtrack to insert posts covering the details of what happened in court monday and tuesday.

Exigencies of my being on the road, on day 24 now of a 26 day trip coast to coast and back again, working on economic matters at local levels. Thanks for the material sent in and already posted here.

The conspiracy theorists are apparently tweeting hard about us us to try to drive our readership down. Working, is it guys?! I see no sign. Claims about me dopey even by Bruce Fischer’s usual dopey and ineffective standards have already been rebutted here.

http://truejustice.org/ee/index.php?/tjmk/comments/a_partial_response_for_now_to_the_latest_of_bruce_fischers_very_mislead/

Posted by Peter Quennell on 09/28/11 at 08:11 PM | #

CNN asked for live broadcasting the sencence .Pratillo Helllmann agees.

Posted by ncountryside on 09/28/11 at 10:26 PM | #

CNN is trying to give me a heart attack.

Posted by brmull on 09/28/11 at 10:47 PM | #

I have completely REFUSED to read ANY reports in the media regarding this appeal for several days…I am so happy to not have to avoid WATCHING any reports on television since I relinquished my TV 10+ years ago at the beginning of GW Bush’s reign, with its accompanying decline in decent & truthful viewing…Coverage of this case has surpassed even my wildest dreams in terms of DISHONEST AND/OR LAZY REPORTING.  Sickening.  I no longer subject myself to its upsetting effects.  I’m very sad to read here that even BBC has been tainted!  Not BBC!  How truly sad.  But those of us that have been following for these years can take solace in the fact that the MASSEI REPORT has been downloaded 10,000+ times…The TRUTH IS OUT THERE NO MATTER HOW MANY PORTERHOUSE STEAKS MATT LAUER EATS WITH KURT KNOX!!! 
Rachael in New York

Posted by rach on 09/28/11 at 11:59 PM | #

Is there any way to “recommend” this web site on Facebook?  If there is, I think a lot of people would quickly spread the word about TJMK.  Plenty of people here in the U.S. are aware that the mainstream media is doing a disservice to Meredith Kercher and her family by portraying Amanda Knox as the victim in this case.  Connecting TJMK to Facebook could help more people to realize this and turn the tide of public opinion back where it belongs:  on the side of truth and justice!

Posted by CamilleGrace on 09/29/11 at 01:05 AM | #

Camille I think that’s a brilliant idea - I would do it to?

Posted by Giselle on 09/29/11 at 05:10 AM | #

The female supporters of Amanda Knox mentioned by proud-american above are probably linked in to Facebook.  (According to Wikipedia, there are 800 million active users around the world.)  If there were a Facebook “recommend” button on TJMK, this web site would get MANY more visitors in a hurry.  It might help the cause!  We need to counteract the lies being spread by FOA and the ridiculous reporting of the mainstream media.

Posted by CamilleGrace on 09/29/11 at 06:04 AM | #

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