Saturday, June 13, 2009

Trial: Associated Press Reporting Testy Exchanges In Court

Posted by Peter Quennell


Click above for the report.

In a testy exchange, Mignini questioned Knox’s assertion that interrogators had extracted false statements from her by bullying her, calling her a “stupid liar” and even hitting her on the head at one point.

Knox gave a description of hours of questioning in which she said that she was told that if she did not tell the truth they would “throw me in jail for 30 years.”

Defence lawyers repeatedly objected during Mignini’s examination, accusing him of badgering the witness and asking her leading questions.

Mignini focused on Knox’s assertions that her false statements—notably, that her part-time employer Patrick Lumumba was the killer—were the result of “suggestions” during aggressive police questioning.

“Was Patrick’s name indicated after they saw (her SMS) message (to Lumumba) or just like that?” Mignini asked, sparking a heated row with the defence team that judge Giancarlo Massei had difficulty quelling.

Knox said she became so confused after “a steady crescendo ... of ‘I don’t know,’ ‘you’re a stupid liar,’ ‘maybes,’ and ‘imagines’ that ... I was led to believe I had forgotten things.”

She added: “When I said ‘Patrick’ I actually started to imagine a kind of movie, images that could have explained the situation, Patrick’s face, then (Perugia’s) Grimana square, then my house” on the night of the murder.

Posted by Peter Quennell on 06/13/09 at 02:48 PM in Defendants in court,  Amanda Knox,  The officially involved,  The prosecutors,  Trials 2008 & 2009,  News media & movies,  Excellent reporting

Comments

Tonight we will have a roundup from the Italian media which is publishing extensive passages of the testimony and comparing it to previous statement and claims of Knox. The testimony seems to be at variance in various respects.

For example what is now claimed happened at Sollecito’s apartment on the night of the crime sounds like quite a different story from the one about cooking a fish.

The questioning this morning over how Patrick Lumumba came to be named as the killer was extensive. Knox was apparently asked several times by the judge to answer the question that was put to her.

Posted by Peter Quennell on 06/13/09 at 03:11 PM | #

At a guess there seem to be a dozen or more discrepancies already between what the court is hearing now and what had been written and stated previously. We had presumed we would have to check for inconsistencies but it reads like the Italian media is already on the job.

Posted by Peter Quennell on 06/13/09 at 03:31 PM | #

What’s going on in court?

All I’ve heard about for two days is whether police hit Amanda on the back of the head or not. How’s that taken two days?

Where are the real questions?

If she is coming up with contradictions in this, her latest statement - are the jurors getting to know that it’s a contradiction? Is Mignini pointing them out?

If it’s just another account then she could say what she wanted and the jurors wouldn’t necessarily be any the wiser.

If they don’t get finished today, will she take the stand again next week until the prosecution are finished with her?

Posted by mikeyverve on 06/13/09 at 05:25 PM | #

Hi mikeyverve. Please see a response on the post above this one. The news IS headed our way. Just this is the toughest of all to get right.

Posted by Peter Quennell on 06/13/09 at 05:59 PM | #

Thank you so much for bringing the news. I was so disappointed when I saw how little there was in any of the English language reporting was for this weekend…eg.Mail on Sunday UK gives us tender excerpts of messages to RS from AK, CD gives us coldsore examining Italians and a whiff of her early evening digestif. :-( TIME has unexpurgated Anne Bremner (!)

Posted by bucketoftea on 06/14/09 at 11:47 AM | #
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