Tuesday, July 14, 2009

The Next Defence Witnesses If The Trial Resumes This Friday And Saturday

Posted by Peter Quennell

Judge Massei is still recuperating from pneumonia.

However he himself has indicated that it should be possible for the trial sessions for Friday and Saturday to happen on schedule.

A few days ago the Corriere website listed these witnesses as being those next on the defense agendas.

  • Professor Adriano Tagliabracci (defence for Sollecito) on the forensics
  • Professor Francesco Vinci (defence for Sollecito) on the forensics
  • Professor Carlo Caltagirone (defence for Knox) on the forensics
  • Mr Walter Patumi (defence for Knox) on the forensics
  • Knox’s Aunt Dorothy from Germany (defence for Knox, a character witness)
  • Francesco De Robertis (defence for Sollecito, a character witness)
  • Karen Green ( from Meredith’s UK bank from which someone withdrew 20 Euros)
  • Juba Louerguioui (we believe he may be a North African resident of Perugia)
Posted by Peter Quennell on 07/14/09 at 02:28 PM in Trials 2008 & 2009

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By the way, a guy named Louerguioui Juba shows up on Facebook as, among other things, a fan of the Prophet of Perugia.

“Juba” is a common last name in Algeria. Could Louerguioui have had an encounter with Rudy? This is certainly intriguing.

As is, how much pressure will Rudy take from the defenses before he gets angry enough to tell all?

Posted by Peter Quennell on 07/14/09 at 04:30 PM | #

Copied to here for jennifer:

My instincts are that “arrangements” are already in place for Guede to remain silent. Even were he to spill the beans his attorney said his hearing is not until November, after the AK/RS trial concludes.

Guede only has another 8 years or so if he serves the common duration for a 30 year sentence in Italy. His family or friends could experience a rise in their fortunes until then, and then he too gets a pot of blood money?

If ever there were a case where one side has clearly demonstrated a willingness to do anything to escape justice, even knowingly fingering an innocent person, it is this one. Nothing should come as a surprise at this point.

We will never know the full extent that pressures may be applied to witnesses,the court and jury by the defense.

This morning on KIRO radio in Seattle( Marriott’s former employer) the Knox/Mellas crew were presented in audio clips proclaiming how odd it is that Knox is in prison. No one can dispute that they know odd.

Posted by Peter Quennell on 07/14/09 at 10:33 PM | #

Re the Knox/Mellas crew proclaiming Knox’s plight as “odd”:

I can’t pinpoint precisely where, Peter, but didn’t AK herself say (in some correspondence or statement immediately following the murder) that she “was okay, but something odd has happened; something strange”? I recall this, because any normal person would have said, “something horrible, terrible, frightening, terrifying has happened” to my roommate, in the bedroom right next to mine!

Instead it’s “odd”. And of course, irritating, inconvenient,unfair and keeping the lot of them from” just trying to get on with their lives”.

They are presenting quite the fierce united front, these women, standing , as if they were visiting, in front of the place where their Amanda was so pleased to reside, until she met up with Harry. Had they been allowed access, I’ve little doubt they would have posed , fetchingly, in the very rooms in which their Amanda traipsed, barefoot, through Meredith’s blood.

In the event of an act of war/act of God, take great care not to find yourselves situated in the same bomb shelter/ Red Cross shelter as Mrs Mellas. She will trample your children to feed her own.

Posted by mimi on 07/15/09 at 07:28 AM | #

I agree that this family is lacking many things, like common sense, ethic etc…

However it has to be almost unbearable to suddenly find out that your “cutie pie” went abroad with a “rabid rabbit”, had sex here and there, smoked pot, had a relationship with a “Harry Potter” who loves animal porno etc…

Then, on top of all of that, she is involved in a horrible murder, in a way or the other, because even if they do not even want to think she is actually guilty, they cannot miss the obvious questions we are asking too: why the lies, then?

It is their own personal trial too, what did I do wrong, what if I hadn’t married this guy, what if I ...? It has to be very hard.

Not that they make it easy to still feel compassion for them, with their unacceptable behaviour…

Posted by Patou on 07/15/09 at 05:30 PM | #

Mimi,

Yes, I also read that Amanda said something “odd had happened.” I took that to indicate her need to deny the horror of what had just happened. I do not think the murder was premeditated and it seems to me that, in the light of day, when she had to publicly deal with the very grim facts of what they had done, she was not able to acknowledge the reality that they had actually murdered—not just messed with—Meredith. Add to that her narcissism and immaturity and you get that crazy behavior in the police station.

As for her family’s ordeal, I think that Edda Mellas has a lot to answer for. Parents are human and we all make mistakes, have strengths and weaknesses, etc., but she chose to bring into her family a man who publicly referred to her and her daughters as “shitheads.” What other kinds of abusive behavior does she think is acceptable, or does she choose to ignore?

She, and the rest of her family, jump to blame and demonize other people, including a whole country, as a way of avoiding any personal responsibility for their behavior and the consequences of that behavior. Their PR campaign loves to lambast the Italian criminal justice system and they are calling into question the need for Amanda to be in prison at all. Did Edda Mellas allow their daughters to show up to court in shorts and even, apparently, a halter top, because the system is so “odd?”

IOW, Italians must all be crazy because they are not amenable to the Knox/Mellas family and its ‘values.’ Classic abuser behavior.

Posted by wayra on 07/16/09 at 03:12 AM | #

The morning after is seldom as fun as the night before.
Please forgive my use of the word fun, in the context of this most awful deed, but I’m thinking in terms of premeditation, or, in the absence of pre-planning for the murder, of the idea that dirty deeds always have a climax and an anticlimax. That is why i understand and agree with Judge Micheli’s decision to deny house arrest for the lovebirds. Once the thrill of the kill wears off, another, fresher thrill is needed. Who knows what AK and RS had fantasised together in their two weeks of coccooning. Perhaps they got turned on over the idea of acting out the vampire-killing manga. Maybe to one, it was merely fantasy, but to the other a plan?
There has been discussion about the knife travelling to the cottage from Naff’s (my pet name for Mr Wanker) for the purpose of killing. That doesn’t suggest guilt to me as much as the fact of the knife’s return to his flat. (And it’s scrubdown in bleach.)
Any kitchen has knives readily to hand. I personally knew four women held at knifepoint in their own homes by intruders wielding blades from the women’s own kitchens. The defence claims that was the wrong knife, therefore AK and RS can’t be pinned to the crime. When Knox was lead back into her own kitchen that knife was not present, yet she began to quake uncontrollably at the sight of knives—any knives—which to me suggests restimulation, and reality setting in.
Knox has obvious ego and control issues. Her sister, Deanna,fiercely the loyal American in her red-white-n-blue, describes her sister’s ruthlessness on the soccer pitch, how she could come out of nowhere to defend. She craves approval (from teammates, coaches, faculty, men) because she didn’t get enough at home. Deanna also tells the story of how she couldn’t kill a spider, but had to put it back outside.
Knox couldn’t harm a spider; Naff couldn’t hurt a fly. But flies don’t cry or beg for mercy; where’s the sport in that?
And I still can’t help seeing a racial component to the motive, as Knox’s ultra-whiteness precedes her.

Posted by mimi on 07/18/09 at 12:05 AM | #

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