Tuesday, July 24, 2018

Two More Shockers The Pro-Knox Trashers Of Italian Justice Prefer That You Don’t Know

Posted by Peter Quennell

[New on-the-mark YouTube replaces image of women prisoners]

Shocker One: Too Many Women

Worldwide, female inmates have increased 600% in thirty years. Who leads that growth? The United States.

As for Italy there’s hardly been any growth at all (even despite this) and the total of female inmates is only HALF the US female rate.

Under pressure, now that the facts are out, the US government is scrapping plans to build even more female prisons. Nevertheless

Although men comprise over 90% of inmates, and commit about 80% of violent crime, the United States has a much higher percentage of incarcerated women in jail than other developed countries.

Merriam-Webster dictionary defines jail as follows:

“A place of confinement for persons held in lawful custody; specifically :such a place under the jurisdiction of a local government (such as a county) for the confinement of persons awaiting trial or those convicted of minor crimes.”

There are far too many women in jail (not convicted of any crime) waiting for trial””because they cannot afford bail. Studies have indicated that women in jail had an approximate annual median income of $11,000. Minority women had an even lower annual median income.

With such a low income, how could a woman afford even a $10,000 bail bond. Although a bail bondsman would accept 5-10% of the ordered $10,000 bail, most low income women do not have $500””$1,000. The majority of the jailed women are the only parent contributing the only financial support for their children.

Because many of the jailed women are the primary caretakers of their children, they are not usually considered flight risks.

The painful conclusion”“incarcerated women (not convicted) are held in jail waiting for their court date, because they are poor. This shameful condition can be easily cured by judges acting humanely, when imposing bail.

The plight of poor women in jail, waiting for trial, is another example of our broken system of justice.

Shocker Two: Too Many Men

Justice systems of other countries take Italy’s humane pioneering very seriously.

Not least because the rate of released Italian inmates rearrested, known as recidivism, is among the world’s very least.

In part because of treatment for mental health issues and the serious in-demand skills training in Italian prisons for when they emerge.

At the opposite end of the scale? Yes, again. The United States.

Though you never ever hear this from the American trashers of Italian justice, the US is now at the very opposite end of this scale.

Overall, 68 percent of released state prisoners were arrested within three years, 79 percent within six years and 83 percent within nine years.  The 401,288 released state prisoners were arrested an estimated 2 million times during the nine years after their release, an average of five arrests per released prisoner.

On an annual basis, 44 percent of prisoners were arrested during the first year after release, 34 percent were arrested during the third year and 24 percent were arrested during the ninth year.  Five percent of prisoners were arrested during the first year after release and were not arrested again during the 9-year follow-up period.

All the proposed solutions would in effect move the US closer to Italy.

One is to simply stop putting so many people in prison in the first place. We have noted a few times that over 200,000 are wrongly there through forced plea-bargains right now.

Not much action on that. The money-grubbing Innocence Project turns a blind eye to that.

The one large initiative in the country is to decriminalize drugs. Proposition 64, which was endorsed by 56 percent of California voters 20 months ago, made marijuana legal.

And drug-related arrests are through the floor. There has been a slight uptick in some crimes but no sign the overall mood is hardening.

Wednesday, July 11, 2018

The Single-Attacker/Lone-Wolf Hoax: How It Is Annihilated By The Forensic Evidence

Posted by Cardiol MD

Judge Micheli in 2008 first ruled impossible Guede did crime alone

1. Context Of This Post

In previous posts I noted my extensive court experience with forensic testimony. I have American doctorates in medicine and law.

Also that the remorseless waves of forensic evidence above all, in days of harrowing closed-door presentations of expert testimony in 2009, (1) ended the defenses’ feeble bids to frame Guede as a lone wolf, (2) caused Sollecito and Knox to react with evident stress in front of a closely-watching jury, and (3) above all caused unanimous verdicts of guilty to murder with a sex crime component.

[Massei Report] Within the crime of murder, carried out in the course of the sexual assault which Meredith Kercher was subjected to according to what has been presented, the crime of sexual assault is assimilated as a special aggravating circumstance of the former [i.e. of the murder].

2. Availability Of Forensic Detail

The forensic evidence published by the courts was in Italian, distributed between several documents, and reported-on by less than 5 percent of the non-Italian media. The BBC, Associated Press, Reuters, London Times and New York Times, made zero mention of it.

Meredith’s autopsy was performed by Dr. Luca Lalli. Though the court heard them described at length, his detailed findings are not included in Massei’s report, and they still await their full translation into English. The Massei report includes only a limited paraphrase of Lalli’s findings.

Accordingly, to fully comprehend the totality of it in English requires the reading of: (1) the early 2009 Micheli Report; (2) the early 2010 Massei Report; (3) the early 2011 Giordano report; and (4) parts of “Darkness Descending” by Russell, Johnson, and Garofano (see more below).

Here now is a safe bet for you. Not a single pathologist anywhere who is on top of all of this evidence will ever conclude that Meredith was not the victim of a pack attack.

Contrary to the incessant bait & switch of the toxic Knox PR in the US (“but the DNA…”) which had zero effect on any jury in Italy, not even one court, including the annulled 2011 appeal and the final appeal to the 2015 Supreme Court, ever concluded to the contrary. It all still stands.

Even the Knox & Sollecito defenses stopped denying it after 2009. No TV report or article or book has ever attempted to prove that Guede or anyone else was a lone-wolf killer in light of this vast amount of material.

3. The Final Fatal Sequence

In my opinion the most decisive fact excluding the single attacker theory is all the hard proof that 2 different knives were unquestionably used to torture and murder Meredith on the night. 

There were 2 major penetrating knife-wounds into Meredith’s neck; one entering on the left-side, and one entering on the right-side, which was made by a pocket-knife of the size Sollecito customarily carried.

The latter wound could not have been made by whatever knife entered on the left-side as the size discrepancy was huge. Two knives had to have been used.

For enigmatic reasons, Massei chose to disagree with the reconstruction proposed by the prosecution’s expert witnesses, which depicted Meredith on her knees facing the floor: Massei concluded that Meredith was in a standing position facing her attackers:

Massei Page 372-373: considering the neck wounds sustained, it must be believed that Meredith remained in the same position, in a standing position, while continuously exposing her neck to the action of the person striking her now on the right and now on the left. Such a situation seems inexplicable if one does not accept the presence of more than one attacker who, holding the girl, strongly restrained her movements and struck her on the right and on the left because of the position of each of the attackers with respect to her, by which it was easier to strike her from that side.

4. Certainties re Final Fatal Sequence:

Here I reiterate the relevant certainties which I first posted in Those Pesky Certainties Cassation’s Fifth Chamber May Or May Not Convincingly Contend With #3 on Wednesday, May 20, 2015.

Meredith’s torture & murder, perpetrated by 3 people, took place in her room at Number 7, Via della Pergola in Perugia, Umbria, Italy on the night of November 1-2, 2007. This room measured eleven by nine and a half feet, contained a single bed, a bedside table, and a cupboard. The space was small but enough for Meredith and three perpetrators.

Certainty One re Final Fatal Sequence

In “Darkness Descending - the Murder of Meredith Kercher”  Paul Russell (Author), Graham Johnson (Author), and Luciano Garofano (Author) give clearer, more detailed descriptions of Dr. Lalli’s findings than Massei does.

On pages 72-74 of DD it emerges that the cut (Stab A) made by a large knife in Meredith’s neck was on the left-side, ran obliquely from left-to-right, almost parallel to her jaw, and slightly upwards.

Certainty Two re Final Fatal Sequence

DD does state that the knife entered 8cm vertically below her left ear, 1.5cm horizontally towards the front of her neck, but does not specify the cut’s length.

Certainty Three re Final Fatal Sequence

A large knife created a gaping wound, visible only through the opened-skin of the left side, continuing its travel under the skin, traveling across the mid-line plane, towards the right-side, exposing the oral cavity, fatty tissues and throat glands. Important jaw muscles were also severed.

Certainty Four re Final Fatal Sequence

As DD states, there was another stab wound (Stab B) on the right-hand side of Meredith’s neck, 1.5 cm long, penetrating 4 cm subcutaneously.

Certainty Five re Final Fatal Sequence

Stab B was made by a knife smaller than the above large knife.

Certainty Six re Final Fatal Sequence

The wound was shallow, did not create a gaping wound, did not cut important subcutaneous structures, but did create a route to the exterior through which blood from Stab A, then created by the large knife on Meredith’s left side, could also exit to Meredith’s right side.

Certainty Seven re Final Fatal Sequence

The large knife had damaged no significant vessels of the left side.

Certainty Eight re Final Fatal Sequence

Blood also flooded the subcutaneous tissues around the breech in the right-hand side of Meredith’s airway caused by the knife-stab on the left-side of her neck.

Certainty Nine re Final Fatal Sequence

This resulted in Meredith’s inhalation of her own blood.

Certainty Ten re Final Fatal Sequence

Meredith stops screaming, but now her blood seems to be everywhere, including over her attackers, and they quickly abandon her, already evading the accountability they are fully aware is theirs.

Certainty Eleven re Final Fatal Sequence

As DD comments, during Meredith’s autopsy, surprise was expressed that the Jugular Veins and Carotid Arteries (of both right and left sides) were intact.

Exzperts who read about this murder concluded from this that the killers must have known about the major blood vessels (MBVs), but not about branches-of-Carotid-branches such as little RSTA.

5. Beyond Any Reasonable Doubts re Final Fatal Sequence:

Beyond Any Reasonable Doubt One re Final Fatal Sequence

Accepting Massei’s conclusion, Knox and Sollecito were standing-up and facing Meredith in Meredith’s room. Knox, Sollecito and/or Guede, were participating in the restraining of Meredith.

Beyond Any Reasonable Doubt Two re Final Fatal Sequence

Sollecito (or possibly Guede) was holding the smaller Knife, probably in his right hand. This smaller knife made Stab B.

Beyond Any Reasonable Doubt Three re Final Fatal Sequence

Stab B preceded Stab A, and caused Meredith’s scream.

When Meredith screams Knox plunges Knife36 into Meredith’s neck in the above long-axis direction, from left to right, transecting Meredith’s Hyoid bone, first opening Meredith’s airway to the atmosphere, then transecting Meredith’s Right Superior Thyroid Artery.

Beyond Any Reasonable Doubt Four re Final Fatal Sequence

Knox was holding Knife36, probably in Knox’s right hand, against the left side of Meredith’s neck with Knife36’s point directed slightly upwards toward the right side of Meredith’s neck, the blade-label facing towards Knox, the palm of Knox’s right hand also facing towards Knox and the long-axis of Knife36 angled a few degrees above horizontal.

Beyond Any Reasonable Doubt Five re Final Fatal Sequence

When Meredith screams Knox plunges Knife36 into Meredith’s neck in the above long-axis direction, from left to right, transecting Meredith’s Hyoid bone, first opening Meredith’s airway to the atmosphere, then transecting Meredith’s Right Superior Thyroid Artery.

Beyond Any Reasonable Doubt Six re Final Fatal Sequence

A thin stream of bright-red blood spurted from this artery to its exterior environment, probably through the cuts made in her skin to the outside by both knives.

(Consistent with bleeding from both cuts, Follain, in his book “A Death In Italy” states that Guede saw that blood was coming out of the left side of Meredith’s neck. Follain also states that Francesco Camana of the Rome forensic police, in Camana’s written report, notes that spurts of blood in the middle of Meredith’s chest made her sweatshirt more bloody on the right side than on the left side)

Beyond Any Reasonable Doubt Seven re Final Fatal Sequence

The large knife was Knife-36, which had been brought to the murder room from Sollecito’s kitchen.

Beyond Any Reasonable Doubt Eight re Final Fatal Sequence

The 3 murderers were Amanda Knox, Raffaele Sollecito, & Ruede Guede.

6. Other Essential Facts Corroborating Roles of AK & RS

1. Amanda Knox admitted she was present at the place and time of Meredith’s murder.

2. Amanda Knox’s DNA was found on the top of the handle of Knife-36

3. Meredith Kercher’s DNA was found on the blade of Knife-36.

4. Amanda Knox admitted that Meredith had never been in Sollecito’s apartment.

5. A second sample of Knox’s DNA was also found on Knife-36, where the blade goes into the handle. This second sample was an LCN sample of mixed DNA, and was statistically determined to be Knox’s DNA. (RIS Berti & Barni 2013 report)

6. A DNA mixture compatible with Knox’s and Sollecito’s DNA was found on another stained pocket knife that Sollecito had on him.

7. Sollecito’s DNA was found on Meredith’s bra clasp. 

8. Some 7 samples yielded DNA mixtures compatible with Ms. Kercher’s DNA mixed with either Knox’s DNA, Sollecito’s DNA or Guede’s DNA.

9. A DNA mixture compatible with Ms. Kercher’s DNA and Guede’s DNA was found on Ms. Kercher’s purse near the zipper.

10. A DNA mixture compatible with Ms. Kercher’s DNA and Knox’s DNA was found in three blood traces in the bathroom: (1) on the bidet drain plate, (2) in the sink and (3) on a plastic container containing cotton swabs.

11. A DNA mixture compatible with Ms. Kercher’s DNA and Knox’s DNA was also found in a Luminol-revealed blood-stain on the floor of Romanelli’s room, and in a Luminol-revealed bloody footprint in the corridor.

12. A second Luminol-revealed blood stain in Romanelli’s room yielded Ms. Kercher’s DNA.

13. A sample of blood from the small bathroom faucet yielded ONLY Knox’s DNA.

14. Guede’s DNA was found in fewer places than Knox’s: on Ms. Kercher’s purse, the left sleeve of her sweat jacket, her bra strap, in Ms. Kercher and on the toilet paper in the large bathroom.

7. Forensic Conclusions

In Common Law Jurisdictions, such as U.S. Federal Courts, U.K., Canada, & Australia, etc, Knox and Sollecito, as well as Guede would surely have been found guilty and would have failed appeals, if any were even allowed.

There would have been no possibility of crime-scene amateurs and public-relations hired guns to contend this, for at least three reasons: (1) they very conspicuously lack anyone of status qualified to do so; (2) the extensive testimony in closed-court hearings would never be so described in a public document; and (3) Common Law juries are “black-box” and in most cases including murder do no explaining (also judges sometimes forbid jury members from talking later).

The decisions in Italy widely suggest to Italians the main influence of Sollecito’s Mafia connections, of which Knox is a very lucky collateral beneficiary.

Friday, May 25, 2018

Telling Non-Development For Knox Re The European Court Of Human Rights In Strasbourg

Posted by Our Main Posters

1. New Non-Development

This is about Knox’s still unpublished “complaint” to the ECHR of 22 November 2013.

Knox apparently tried to claim to that court that Italy had violated one or several of her human rights.  As all legal power in Italy has moved to those Knox demonized, and as she has zero shot at a damages award, this is the one prospect Knox apologists still crow about.

This past Tuesday, under Chimera’s Burleigh post, Ergon posted this deflating message from the ECHR Press Unit (our emphasis added).

Dear Sir,
Thank you for your message and please find here the information we can provide in response.
1. Both parties’ observations have been received by the Court’s Registry.
2. No decision as to the admissibility of the application has been taken yet.
We hope this helps.
With best wishes,
ECHR ““ Press Unit

For ease of linking-to and continuity, we have moved the telling comments by James Raper (2), KrissyG and Peter Quennell that followed Ergon in the Burleigh thread to Part 5 of this new post.

2. Note The Big Media Fail

Ergon found out what all of the media could have found out via a single email. Sorry, BBC, but that is flat-out wrong. No excuse, though you are far from alone in this.

Knox apologists still repost Dalla Vedova’s wrong claim that the ECHR has already “accepted” Knox’s case. It has not.

Some even argue (as Avrom Brendzel tries to, with numerous errors of fact) that Knox’s felony conviction for life for framing Patrick will certainly be annulled. But it seems that was not even the subject of a Knox request (see Part 5 below for reasons why).

3. What’s Most Damaging To Knox?

Most damaging if the court does take the case would seem to be their figuring this out.  They could readily get there by analyzing the same documents we used for the Interrogation Hoax series (currently 21 posts) which are all now in English on the Case Wiki.

This is Italy’s trump card. ALL courts agreed that, charged and warned in front of witnesses that she should say no more without a lawyer, and under NO pressure, Knox pressed on and again framed her boss. 

4. Prior Posts Of Relevance

This post joins this group which are most of the series under the right-column link 24 ECHR Appeal Hoax.

1. Click for Post: Proof Released That In 5-6 Nov Session Knox Actually Worked On Names List

2. Click for Post:  Amanda Knox Lies Again To Get Herself Into Another European Court “But Really, Judge, Its Only PR” (Kermit)

3. Click for Post:  Note For Strasbourg Court & State Department: Knox Herself Proves She Lies About Her Interrogation (James Raper)

4. Click for Post:  Multiple Provably False Claims About “Forced Confession” Really Big Problem For Dalla Vedova & Knox (Finn MacCool)

5. Click for Post:  Knox Demonizations: Multiple Ways In Which Her Email To Judge Nencini Is Misleading (Finn MacCool)

6. Click for Post:  Supreme Court Confirms All Three Were There And Lied, RS & AK Apologists Desperate To Downplay That (Machiavelli)

7. Click for Post:  Knox’s Unsound Appeal To The European Court Of Human Rights Slapped Down By Cassation (Main Posters)

8. Click for Post:  Carlo Dalla Vedova, Is ECHR Made Aware Italian Law REQUIRES Lawyers To First File Local Complaints? (Main Posters)

9. Click for Post:  Carlo Dalla Vedova: Is ECHR Advised You Condoned Malicious Defamation By Knox Of Chief Prosecutor? (Main Posters)

10. Click for Post:  Bad News For Knox -  Buzz From Italy Is Spurious ECHR Appeal Will Probably Fail (Main Posters)

5. Comments Imported From Previous Thread

#1. By James Raper

Four and a half years down the line and still no decision as to the admissibility of Knox’s ECHR application.

Dalla Vedova argued two rather contradictory positions at the final appeal.

“How can we tolerate in Italy that trials can go on forever?” he asked the Court. Another was that he requested an adjournment of the appeal pending a decision from the European Court of Human Rights on his client’s complaint of a violation of her basic human rights ensured by the European Convention on Human Rights.

Had the court acceded to the request for an adjournment, we would still be waiting.

Was Bongiorno keeping the Knox camp in the dark as to the fix, or using him for cover?

Posted by James Raper on 05/24/18 at 04:51 AM | #

#2. By KrissyG

Delaying a trial is an old trick.  We saw that with Henri Van Breda: it took a year for police to even charge him (for the murder of his mother, father and brother with an axe) and he has remained free for another two years as the trial dragged on, adjourning for medical reports, etc.,etc.

The Knox ECHR hasn’t even reached the admissible stage.

(a) she applied too early.  You are not supposed apply until all channels are closed.

(b) she didn’t complain about supposed violations and torture at the time.

Her great hope is in Boninsegna’s MR.  However, that doesn’t really deal with her claims, but is in fact to do with police claims.  It was them who brought the charges, which was mandatory, given the press were told and still are being told of illegal “˜53 hour interrogations’ and being swatted across the back of the head.  But she didn’t report it so there is no third party verification it ever happened.

Boninsegna criticised the police for being “˜maternal’ and for hugging her in sympathy with her sorry plight.

AIUI the ECHR decision as to the admissibility of a case can coincide with their coming to a verdict at the same time.  However, as this is quite complex, it would likely be listed for another date, if admissible.

If it fails the admissibility test (whether it qualifies for their jurisdiction) then that will be the end of the matter.

Posted by KrissyG on 05/24/18 at 05:56 AM | #

#3. By Peter Quennell

Hi Ergon, James R and Krissy G:

Yes, strong signs of passive aggression against Knox and especially her PR (1) seemingly by the ECHR, (2) pretty well definitely (long-term) by her own lawyers, and seemingly even (3) by Boninsegna himself (see below for who he is) and (4) by the Supreme Court’s Marasca & Bruno, who bluntly labeled this ECHR appeal dead on arrival right there in their report.

On (1) the ECHR is very tired of the enormous flow of frivolous complaints from Italy at the appeal stages designed to lean on future courts. They back-burner almost all complaints from Italy.

On (2) here is the defense lawyers’ problem. None of them have really profited from this case, as the outcome was unpopular and the bending of three courts pretty obvious. In their books RS and AK hardly did them any favors. Bongiorno has pretty well given up law for politics. Guede’s lawyers walked away from him; Viterbo Prison legal help and a Rome group took over. Mignini was able to take a tremendous swipe against Maori in a complaint against him.

In 2009 they had publicly complained against the Seattle PR; back in 2008 they had publicly complained about Knox herself incessantly lying - possibly sparked by the fact that (as Chimera has long shown) she cannot lie CONSISTENTLY. (Passive aggression even by Knox against Knox? Our psychologists think so.)

So it has long leaked out of their chambers that this ECHR appeal is really a big fat nothing.  There could be no mention of the claim of hitting and not only because of the reason KrissyG mentions (no paper trail at the time) but also because:

(a) They had made those public complaints about Knox and the PR back in 2008 and 2009.

(b) If they had ever taken Knox’s claims seriously, under law they would be required to report them; if not done, both Knox herself and Italian prosecutors could charge them and at minimum their law licenses would be history.

(3) On Florence Judge Boningsegna. We know the ECHR asked for information on his ruling so this is the context. It’s complicated.

(a) This was a mandatory investigation and trial of allegations against the police Knox made on the stand in 2009 - KrissyG is right, only the police, Knox tried to include Mignini but had to concede he was not present.

(b) Knox would have lost in a heartbeat if the trial was held in Perugia. Knox lawyers shopped judges till they found one foolish enough to order that the trial should be held in Florence and Mignini (for no obvious reason) should be attached to it.

(c) Boninsegna is known as a mafia judge; he is actually in the Florence courts for that reason, having been moved from Calabria where he had way too many mafia chums.

(d) Sign of a leaned-on Italian judge, Boninsegna seemingly quite deliberately wrote nonsense. The transcripts of all Knox’s pre-arrest questionings we finally finished posting recently strongly dont support him.

(e) So as KrissyG noted, in the Boningsegna report the police (actually the Republic of Italy) lost because the police were accused of being too NICE to Knox! How exactly do they take THAT with a straight face through the appeal stages to the Supreme Court?! And how does that ruling help Knox with the ECHR?

(4) On Marasca & Bruno. Another sign of leaned-on judges (apart from their placing RS & AK at the scene of the crime). Marasca & Bruno essentially told the ECHR to piss off as the case had evolved beyond their mandate.

The defenses (not sure if Marasca & Bruno would give them a win) had tried to delay the final outcome until after the ECHR ruling. Bizarrely, this would have created a Catch-22 situation as the ECHR cannot rule until all legal processes are done with, thus placing RS & AK in legal limbo. The defense lawyers would have known that. More passive-aggression?

So there you have it. Passive aggression against Knox, in Perugia, Florence, Rome, and seemingly Strasbourg. Nice going.

Posted by Peter Quennell on 05/24/18 at 08:38 AM | #

#4.  By James Raper

On the 25th November 2013, just as the Prosecution were preparing to present their closing argument to the Court of Appeal in Florence, Knox presented the media with the following announcement -

“Today my lawyers filed an appeal of my slander [sic] conviction with the European Court of Human Rights.” (ECHR)

The appeal was in fact lodged on the 22nd November.

It was not, of course, a slander conviction but something far more serious. The Calunnia conviction was due to the fact that, and before officials charged with an investigation and bringing to justice those who had been responsible for Meredith’s murder, Knox had fabricated evidence against Lumumba knowing him to be innocent. She had blamed Lumumba for the murder, effectively as a witness present at the time.

She appealed her conviction to the Hellmann court and it dismissed the appeal and increased her sentence.

She appealed the conviction again, this time to the Supreme Court, and the 1st Chambers dismissed her appeal at the same time as annulling the Hellmann outcome. Her conviction for calunnia was therefore definitive.

The 5th Chambers nailed that conviction down even further, not only in a passage effectively telling the ECHR to piss off but by also by it’s finding that Knox was indeed present at the time of the murder. That disposes of any argument that Knox could not have known that Lumumba was innocent.

So what are we left with? The ECHR does not have the power to quash her calunnia conviction and the Italians are not going to re-open it. It is extremely unlikely that the ECHR would even suggest this.

So what was the point of the application? Given the timing of the application I have no doubt that it was an extra-judicial PR strategy to undermine, in the event of the Florence court dismissing her appeal against her murder conviction, any attempt to have her extradited back to Italy, particularly were there to be any ruling by the ECHR that her human rights had been abused.

In the event of any such ruling she might get some compensation (so as to be compliant with the Convention) but given what happened to Sollecito’s application for compensation for wrongful imprisonment, I can’t see it as being anything other than nominal, and there is still the not insignificant matter of her not having paid, as ordered, the compensation due to Lumumba.

On the matter of Knox’s acquittal on the long-standing charge of defamation concerning her allegation of mistreatment by police officers, there was not in fact any finding of fact as to mistreatment by Boninsenga. He acquitted her on the grounds, he said, that the correct procedure had not been used at the police station; that she was already a suspect and the law required her to have a lawyer present. Had that happened then no allegation of mistreatment during her questioning would have surfaced anyway. She was therefore immune from prosecution concerning defamation of the police officers.

Knox, of course, repeated the same allegations (being cuffed a couple of times) during her trial testimony, but she wasn’t on oath and the reason for that is that defendants can be expected to lie to save themselves. They are immune from prosecution there as well.

One might ask whether the Boninsenga rationale would also apply to the calunnia conviction as well. An interesting point but clearly, under Italian law, the answer is no, and I don’t think any sane legal system would countenance that.

I can’t see that the Boninsenga judgement, which is contentious anyway (Knox repeated her allegations of mistreatment and regarding Lumumba, in her Memorial, written when not being questioned), will help at the ECHR.

Posted by James Raper on 05/24/18 at 06:44 PM | #

Saturday, April 07, 2018

Knox Sings Pro-IRA Song In Bizarre Irish TV Chatshow Appearance

Posted by Our Main Posters

The Daily Mirror’s Report

Jim Gallagher of the Daily Mirror filed a somewaht cynical, disbelieving, relatively accurate report on Knox’s cascade of lies on Ray D’Arcy’s show.

Now 30-year-old self-styled journalist aka Foxy Knoxy - exonerated of the 2007 killing of Brit Meredith Kercher in Italy - belted out a version of Come Out, Ye Black and Tans on live TV

Amanda Knox aka Foxy Knoxy has appeared on a Dublin chatshow where she sang a pro-IRA song during a somewhat bizarre TV appearance.

The 30-year-old American gave a version of the Irish rebel song Come Out, Ye Black and Tans to a live audience during an appearance in which she appeared jovial, chatty and laughing.

Knox was convicted twice [actually no] of the 2007 killing of her British flatmate Meredith Kercher in Perugia, Italy, but later exonerated [actually no].

On the TV show last night she banged out a few words of the pro-IRA song tune on the The Ray D’Arcy Show chat show, on Irish national broadcaster RTE, in what she said was a nod to the “lots of Irish” people who supported her during her time in prison.

The now self-styled journalist said her followers in Ireland sent her CDs of the Irish rebel music to lift her spirits behind bars.

Ms Knox sang the chorus of one of the songs: “Come out ye’ Black and Tans, come out and fight me like a man.”

The tune is an Irish nationalist song which goads the English police for a stand-off during British-occupied Ireland.

Chat show presenter Mr D’Arcy told Ms Knox after her performance: “That’s the oddest thing I’ve ever witnessed.”

She replied while laughing: “I understood the fighting spirit of it, and I appreciated it.”
Ms Knox sang the Irish rebel song on a Dublin TV chat show

Ms Knox also spoke out about her ordeal and the weight of public opinion which pointed the finger at her over the death Ms Kercher.

“There is no middle ground with people who confront me,” she said.

“There are people who really latch on to the conspiracy theory idea [actually no] that I orchestrated a sex game to punish Meredith for her purity.”

She said people never said it to her face but on the internet.

“People who come up to me are very kind to me.”

Now working as a journalist in her native Seattle, Knox - dubbed Foxy Knoxy during the trial - said she had been portrayed as a sexual deviant and man-eater [actually no] by the Italian police and prosecution to get a conviction. They claimed the murder was the result of a sex game gone wrong.

“Why do they do that to every single woman they want to vilify?” [actually no]

“A good way to vilify women is by attacking their sexuality. As soon as they are a slut they are guilty of anything.

“It’s a lot easier to think that someone like me who has no history of violence, no history of mental illness, who led a totally peaceful life, could somehow rape and kill someone as I’m ‘sexy’.

“Meredith was sexually assaulted but they found the person who sexually assaulted her through his DNA, through his finger prints left in her blood in the crime scene and they still fixated on me having some kind of special sexual role.” [actually no]

She said in prison one of the chief guards, “who asked me for sex every evening,” told her she had HIV and to make a list of everyone she ever had sex with to work out who infected her. [actually no]

“I went back to my cell and my journal and wrote down every single person I had sex with in my entire life and that was seven people,” she said.

“The very next day the [guard] came into my cell and took my diary and delivered it to the prosecution and the prosecution delivered it to the media. [actually no]

“And the story came out that I had slept with seven men in two weeks and was the biggest slut that Perugia had ever seen and so of course I would kill someone.”

Knox said her life collapsed when she heard the guilty verdict.

“I did not realise the world was so unfair,” she said.

“There were a lot of crazy stories going out there and I was being called an adulteress and a femme fatale in the court room but I still thought none of that mattered.

“What mattered was the truth. The whole point of a courtroom is to boil down all this crazy information until all you get is the truth beyond a reasonable doubt.

“I was convinced this was all a big misunderstanding and I was going to go free.

“When that verdict came down that was an existential crisis for me.

“That’s when I realised that the courtroom is more like a battle ground of story-telling.

“The most compelling story and not necessarily the most truthful one wins.

“It didn’t matter how innocent I was, it didn’t matter that was the truth, the sexy story was that the slut from Seattle came and murdered the pure innocent woman from England. [actually no]

“A big part of my wrongful conviction depended on calling me a slut and reiterating that over and over again in people’s minds until I was just a dirty slut that anybody could project all their vitriol towards.” [actually no]

She said she had only met Meredith six weeks before her murder and the English girl had been very helpful and friendly.

Ms Knox said she hoped that one day she would be able to talk to Meredith’s family.

She said she was still in touch with her former Italian boyfriend, Rafaele Sollecito, who was convicted with her of murder but also exonerated, and was trying to find him a job in Seattle.

The two had spent the night together [actually no] before Knox, then aged 20, returned home to shower and change only to find her friend dead.

She was acquitted of the murder in 2011 and returned to the US. But she was convicted again [actually no] in her absence in 2014 before Italy’s Supreme Court definitively acquitted her and Sollecito in 2015.

A petty criminal whose DNA and fingerprints were found at the scene, Rudy Guede, is currently serving 16 years for the rape and murder of student Meredith with a knife.

Knox revealed how she spent 53 hours being interrogated by police after the murder. [actually no]

She said she was hit and eventually under duress agreed that her boss Patrick Lumamba was also involved.

“Certain interrogation technique are very good at getting people to confess whether they are guilty or not,” she said.

“In my case I repeatedly told police everything I knew and they told me I was lying or did not remember everything. [actually no]

“After hours and hours of being screamed at and being hit and being told that I was crazy I started to feel crazy. [actually no]

“I started to feel like the only answer that could possibly make sense was what they were telling me which was that I had amnesia and that I had witnessed her murder and that I was tragically confused. [actually no]

“I broke. They convinced me I had witnessed the murder and Patrick had something to do with it. I said ok and they jumped up and started high fiving each other and left to go and arrest him and there was no evidence against hm. [actually no]

“They just wanted to put someone inside. Next day they said case closed and they had no evidence, they just scared the bejesus out of a 20-year-old little girl who could speak their language like a 10-year-old.” [actually no]

Breaking down in tears on the Dublin chat show, she said: “I felt guilty for years for how they manipulated me but I learnt I’m not the only one this has happened to.

“They don’t have to hit you to get you to break, there is psychological manipulation that goes into tearing down your sense of security and sense of reality. [actually no]

“Before they even arrested him [Patrick] I was telling them no, this was wrong, that I didn’t remember it like that and I recanted. [actually no] They didn’t care. [actually no]”

Thursday, March 29, 2018

Bizarrely Jubilant And Way Too Exposed Amanda Knox Again Fails Liar-Analysis Tests

Posted by The Machine

Pamela Meyer, a highly respected liar spotter and fraud spotter, explains how she knows if someone is lying. TED Talks applies the telltale signs to Amanda Knox.

This brilliant video needs to be promoted as much as possible on social media websites. Most people can’t be bothered to read the official court reports, but they will watch a fascinating TED talk that last a few minutes.

Tuesday, February 27, 2018

Dr Mignini & Dr Comodi Explain The Real Strength Of The Trial Case, Little Disputed In Italy

Posted by Our Main Posters

Because of subtitles watch in full-screen - click icon bottom-right when video starts

Some Context To The Video

This video subtitled and uploaded by Machiavelli shows a live panel aired in Italy on 27 December 2017.

The trial prosecutors are freed finally of professional requirements not to discuss any ongoing case they have a role in.

This is a rule not hampering American prosecutors, mostly elected, who make sure, in those few cases not plea-bargained that actually go to trial, the People’s case is being understood.

In the US an estimated 200,000-plus inmates are innocent but there because of unreported forced pleas. In Italy? None at all.

Italian citizens obtain their substantially more informed and accurate understanding of any ongoing case differently, by way of court documents posted on the Internet and frequent live TV.

The video hammers home the contrast between the perception of the generally highly-informed Italian pubic and the mostly mis-informed perception of the American and British publics.

Fine reporting was deliberately swamped.

Wednesday, January 31, 2018

“Americans Are Paying Knox $10,000 A Gig To Trash Italian Cops - Smart Move Liberating Her”

Posted by Peter Quennell

1. Americans Knox Has Hoaxed

So the news is out to considerable disgust that Knox is being paid up to $10,000 a gig plus costs to lie about her case.

Now she is going global on Netflix’s tail and seeks to hoax bleeding-heart Irish via another Kabuki-style paid interview. Knox has lied to and defrauded these groups so far.

• Roanoke College
• YPOG Pacific Northwest (Walla Walla)
• Westside Bar Association “Injustice Seminar”
• Kentucky Bar Association Annual Convention
• YPOG Beverly Hills
• Florida Innocence Project “Gala”
• Palm Beach Bar Association “Law Day Luncheon”
• YPOG Pacific Northwest (Seattle)
• American Psychology and Law Conference
• Windsor Law’s “Defense of the Wrongfully Convicted Special Event”
• Aegis Living EPIC Annual Conference
• Union League Club of Chicago
• Loyola Law “Life After Innocence Annual Luncheon”

That adds up to thirteen, a lot of people Knox has directly hoaxed, to say nothing of her book and of the millions Netflix has hoaxed. Plus the presumed Irish lovefest this weekend.

2. The Misleading Marketing Pitch

Here is the pitch for Knox on the All American Speakers site.

Amanda Knox was tried and convicted for the murder of British student Meredith Kercher, who died from knife wounds in the apartment she shared with Knox in 2007. Knox and her then-boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, were both found guilty of killing Kercher, receiving 26- and 25-year prison sentences, respectively. In October 2011, Knox and Sollecito were acquitted and set free. In March 2013, Knox was ordered to stand trial again for Kercher’s murder; Italy’s final court of appeal, the Court of Cassation, overturned both Knox’s and Sollecito’s acquittals. Knox and Sollecito were again found guilty of murder in February 2014, with Sollecito receiving a 25-year prison sentence and Knox receiving a 28.5-year sentence. The Supreme Court of Italy overturned her and Sollecito’s convictions in 2015.

3. How That Pitch Misleads

The marketing of Knox as cash-cow is replete with wrong implications, to get the paying customers quickly on the hook before it occurs to check with Italy. Here are several:

1. “There were several trials and Italy just kept trying”

Untrue. In fact (1) there was ONE very definitive trial, in 2009; (2) Knox and Sollecito appealed in 2011 on very narrow grounds and were wrongly set free as appeals were not done; that court was provably bent and the result was annulled by the Supreme Court’s First Chambers (the “murder court”); (3) the First Chambers (not the prosecutors) ordered a repeat of the first appeal in 2013-14 and the 2009 guilty verdict was confirmed; (4) in Knox’s and Sollecito’s final appeal a provably bent Fifth Chambers (which normally never handles murders) declared them not guilty but involved anyway in the mother of all weird rulings. Had that appeal correctly gone back to First Chambers, they would still be locked up.

2. “All four years Knox was in prison were unjustified”

Untrue. In the first year she repeatedly failed to convince courts including even the Supreme Court, in the face of ever-mounting evidence, that she should make bail or house arrest or be released entirely. The other three years were fully justified because with no provocation she accused an innocent man of murder and never ever retracted her claim.  Endemically Knox tries to make out her “interrogation” was forced and therefore it was all the cops’ fault not hers.  But see here. There was actually no interrogation as such at all, she was not forced to confess, the malicious accusation of murder against an innocent man was spontaneous, and she sustained it for several weeks.

3. “Knox was exonerated proving lower courts wrong”

Untrue. Knox was not exonerated. And the provable bending of three courts is ignored. The mafia role in sliming Italian justice and liberating the pair is swept under the rug. Almost every Italian has long known what was going on but to talk about it or write about it is not something they like to do. The existence of the mafias does not make them proud and to talk of them is not always safe. We first wrote extensively here and most recently again extensively here about why and how the manipulations occurred.

4. “Knox is a model for all prisoners wrongly held”

Untrue. They can learn nothing from this. Maybe 200,000 are wrongly held in the US; are any seeing a way out via Knox? There is no mention of the role of the brutal PR campaign which few could afford. Omitted is how damaging and dishonest it was and still is, how destructive to so many additional victims of Knox, and how focused on making a buck. Knox is not the only speaker being paid to lie to crowds; others are as well. Numerous books and articles are involved and media and consultant fees. This is a cash industry now, not a charity, with Knox as hallowed cash-cow.

4. Where This Hoaxfest Goes Next

More and more is out in the open. There are attempts to change the subject when curiosity about these subjects is on the rise - but notice how there is no direct pushback and there are no legal threats. Those who have foolishly acted as witting or unwitting mafia tools want zero attention to their roles here.

Don Corleone surely smiles broadly in his grave. Never has Italian justice been trashed around the world on a scale anything like this. Very nice if groups who have rented Knox and become aware they were hoaxed choose to demand their $10,000 back right now. That’d end the blood-money flow at one stroke.

Friday, January 19, 2018

Interrogation Hoax #21: Illustrating How Batshit Crazy The Knox Interrogation Hoax Has Become

Posted by Our Main Posters

Knox again making things up, despite vast evidence and her defense team to contrary

1. From Impeccable Police Process…

Click here for the overview of our huge Interrogation Hoax expose.

We are coming full circle now, with new translations showing what happened at the very start, from the day Meredith’s body was found, to the day of RS’s and AK’s arrests.

In those days Knox and Sollecito provided information about possible perpetrators in four relatively brief sessions with investigators in the central police station, and they signed the written records on every page.

It is pretty obvious from those signed depositions why no court believed Knox was forced to frame an innocent man.

Even Knox’s own defense team did not believe the hoax (yes she actually had one, though hoaxers leave this awkward fact aside). Though it took us some time to translate it all, some of that stark evidence against Knox has been available in English for years.

And yet it could be quicker to list here who among the Knox apologists HASN’T put this hoax on steroids than who has.

2. To Interrogation Hoax On Steroids

This is from a hyped keynote presentation to a New York conference of senior government justice officials from all over the world.  It mentioned no original sources as proof and was not peer-reviewed. No attempt has ever been made to set the record right. The 37 untrue statements are rebutted in Part 3 below.

Meredith Kercher was found raped [untrue] and murdered in Perugia, Italy. Almost immediately [untrue] police suspected 20-year-old Amanda Knox [untrue], an American student and one of Kercher’s roommates””the only one who stayed in Perugia after the murder [untrue]. Knox had no history of crime [untrue] or violence and no motive [untrue].

But something about her demeanor [untrue] such as an apparent lack of affect [untrue], an outburst of sobbing [untrue], or her girlish and immature behavior [untrue] led police to believe [untrue] she was involved and lying, when she claimed she was with Raffaele Sollecito, her new Italian boyfriend, that night [untrue]. 

Armed with a prejudgment of Knox’s guilt [untrue] several police officials interrogated [untrue] the girl on and off for four days [untrue]. Her final interrogation started on November 5 at 10 p.m. [untrue] and lasted until November 6 at 6 a.m [untrue] during which time she was alone, without an attorney, tag-teamed by a dozen police [untrue] and did not break for food [untrue] or sleep [untrue].

In many ways, Knox was a vulnerable suspect””young, far from home, without family, and forced to speak in a language [untrue] in which she was not fluent. Knox says she was repeatedly threatened [untrue] and called a liar [untrue]. She was told [untrue], falsely [untrue], that Sollecito, her boyfriend, disavowed her alibi and that physical evidence placed her at the scene [untrue].

Despite a law that mandates the recording of interrogations, police and prosecutors maintain that these sessions were not recorded [untrue]. 

Police had failed to provide Knox with an attorney [untrue] or record the interrogations [untrue] so all the confessions [untrue] attributed to her were ruled inadmissible in court [untrue].

Still, the damage was done [untrue]. The confession [untrue] set into motion a hypothesis-confirming investigation [untrue], prosecution, and conviction”¦.

It is now clear that the proverbial mountain of discredited [untrue] evidence used to convict Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito was nothing but a house of cards [untrue] built upon a false confession [untrue].

3. And Pesky Hard Facts

Neither Knox’s own lawyers nor any court ever believed Knox’s fluctuating versions of what happened on 5-6 November 2007 to make her frame Patrick for murder and maintain that for 2 weeks.

Only a guilty person would let such claims stand. All courts saw that and so Knox is a convicted felon for life. She served three years for the malicious accusation, and she still owes the victim $100,000.

Below, how to destroy the hoax in 12 points.  See further our extremely detailed 20-part series on Knox’s interrogation hoax (via the link in our right column) with numerous translations as proof.

1. Police provably kept open minds, and did not immediately suspect Knox though her odd behaviors were hard to miss, or treat her differently than others with possible useful facts.

2. She was not the only one with possible useful facts told to stay in Perugia for several days; others were told they might be needed again; no others complained.

3. There is no documented investigator prejudgement of guilt, even at her fourth and final quite short session on 5 Nov when the subject was provably once again listing more visitors to the house.

4. She was never tag-teamed by a dozen police, and she signed every page of all four session reports which named the mere several officers who were there.

5. There was no 50 or more hours of sessions. No session lasted from 10:00 pm to 6:00 am. All four of her sessions over 4 days combined may not have exceeded that length of time.

6. The fourth and final session on 5-6 Nov was unplanned, and when she turned up late on 5 Nov and was told to go get some sleep, she insisted she wanted to remain.

7. All four sessions were recorded and she signed. She was never threatened or called a liar; her conniption when shown a text message on 5-6 Nov happened spontaneously and very fast.

8. On 5-6 Nov 2007 Sollecito also u-turned - and blamed Knox! No tag-team there. Knox never confessed; she made a false charge of murder against someone else, allowed to stand for several weeks.

9. She did not simply claim she was with Sollecito that night; under no pressure she repeated several times in writing that she went out and all courts allowed that. Sollecito said she did too.

10. After she broke she was told several times she should not talk further without an attorney. No questions were asked of her after that but she pressed on.

11. She had a translator at all four sessions, though she herself chose to speak in Italian now and then. She made and handed over notes in Italian.

12. At trial she confirmed she was provided with refreshments and helped to get some sleep. She was never refused bathroom breaks and confirmed she was not hit.

4. In Conclusion

This hoax is a money-tree for Knox. A blood-money tree. Act the real victim, shake the tree, and tens of thousands fall out. Knox is to blame, but far from the only one. Most of the hoaxers are trying to shake their own money-trees too. Knox’s speaker agency and her PR and lawyers and publishers all want a big payday. Huge sums are at stake.

Can the hoax survive?  Probably not for long. It needed a 100% rebuttal which finally we have achieved now. And it needs Knox’s confidence and her credibility. Even one disbelieving voice from the audience could show the world that the empress has no clothes.

Monday, January 15, 2018

Interrogation Hoax #20: ALL Knox Q&A Sessions 2-6 November 2007 WERE Recorded #2

Posted by Our Main Posters

More Ndrangheta rounded up in Perugia’s recent sweeps

1. What Does The Hoax Allege?

As the previous post noted (see Part 3) this widely-promulgated hoax alleges among other things:

(1) that the total hours Knox was questioned from 2 to 6 November was upward of 50;

(2) that Knox was the main suspect for the murder of Meredith from the get-go;

(3) that the “interrogation” was conducted by tag-teams of investigators working in shifts;

(4) that Knox was under duress and forbidden bathroom breaks, sleep and refreshments.

(5) that Knox was refused a lawyer and all questioning sessions were illegally not recorded.

(6) That the outcome was “a confession”.

2. Who Are The Main Propagators?

Again as noted in the previous post, the frontrunners in propagating this huge hoax are Doug Preston, Steve Moore, Michael Heavey, Paul Ciolino, Saul Kassin, John Douglas, and Bruce Fischer.

Also Steve Moore, Steve Moore, and Steve Moore. Seemingly for him an obsession.

Thousands of other accounts accept their word as gospel. Curt Knox and Edda Mellas have repeated it often, blaming Amanda when challenged (really).

Amanda Knox herself attempts to fire up this hoax again repeatedly. Watch her do so and cry her eyes out with foolish Netflix, and maybe with foolish Roanoke College and VICE TV soon.

But testimonies of numerous investigators at trial that she sat through without objection confirmed one another, strong proof that nothing on the list above is true.

So far, the hoax is a huge fail. See Part 2. No judge in 2007, 2008, 2009, 2011, 2013, and 2015 ever accepted that a “confession” was forced out of her. Knox’s own lawyers did not believe it.

3. Where We Stand On The Sessions

We have already posted the records of all Q&A made and signed by Knox herself for 2 November and for 5 and 6 November.

These for 3 and 4 November are the middle two. Both these short sessions took place at the questura, after Knox had been with Dr Mignini and police officers to check out the house. (There was testimony at trial by officers who were part of those teams.)

You will see below that the core interest of the investigators in these sessions is also almost exclusively upon others who might have been around the house in recent times. If anything, they point away from Knox, not toward her, and you will see Knox actually building on that.

Her next session, her fourth and unplanned, on the night of 5-6 November, was used to add yet more names of possibilities, seemingly a delight to Knox, but then she broke unexpectedly, and she left under arrest some hours later.

Sollecito was not interviewed at all on either the 3rd or the 4th. His next session, only his second after the 2 November interview (scroll down) was on the night of 5 November. That was to explore discrepancies in his phone records, and he also left under arrest.

These sessions were not at all unusual. In the same period numerous sessions with others also took place, including every person named in the Knox and Sollecito sessions.

In this same period, several phone conversations of Knox and Sollecito were recorded and transcribed, along with phone conversations of Meredith’s friend Sophie Purton and some others as well.

They are available on the Wiki. They don’t really add anything, except for Knox complaining to her Aunt Donna in Germany at length that the police will not let her leave. So much for staying in Perugia voluntarily, to help police find the killer of her “friend” Meredith.

4. Signed Record Of Knox Statement 3 November

Police station of PERUGIA
MOBILE Team

Subject: Summary minutes of information of a person informed of the facts made by: KNOX Amanda Marie, born in Washington (U.S.A.) on 09.07.87, domiciled in Perugia in Via della Pergola No. 7; identified by Pass. No 422687114 issued by the U.S. government on 13.06.2007. Tel. 484673590.

Day 3 November 2007, at 14.45, in Perugia at the offices of the Mobile Squad of police headquarters in Perugia. Before the undersigned officers of the judicial police: Inspector FACCHINI Antonio and FICARRA Rita, in service respectively at police central operations in Rome and the office in the inscription indicated above.

Together with the person named in the subject who speaks sufficiently the Italian language, but is assisted by the interpreter Marco Bacha. Following the statements about the death of KERCHER Meredith Susanna Cara, she already made on 2 November 2007, hereby declares the following:

“In the elaboration of what was already reported yesterday at 15.30 p.m. at these offices, to be precise, when I said I checked the girls ’ rooms and that these were all in order, I meant to say that apparently there was nothing missing but not that there were no things out of place.

In fact, the oddest thing, besides the broken glass, within Filomena’s chamber was the fact that some of her clothes were on the ground.

This morning, when I entered the apartment of the boys who live below us, together with the police and the magistrate [Mignini], I got to notice that the bed of Stephen’s room was completely untidy, as it did not have sheets and pillows, and the bedspread dirty with blood was tossed on the bed all ruffled. The thing seemed to me very strange because usually Stefano’s bed was always neat with linens, pillows and blankets. Sometimes I had noticed that on the bed there were also well-folded clothes.”

A.D.R. [Q&A] This was impressed on me because usually, when I go to that house, I can see into his room, which usually has the door half-open and the bed is always in order.

A.D.R. I attend the boys’ house for a variety of reasons, for example to play the guitar together with James, sometimes to play Risk, sometimes to get a coffee or to have a chat. I dined with them, in that house only in one instance in early October. There were present besides me Laura, Filomena, Giacomo, Stefano, his girlfriend, Marco and three friends from Rome of whom I remember only the name of one, a certain Daniel. The last time I was at the home of the boys was about a week ago to simply greet them.

A.D.R. I’m not aware that Meredith smoked and I’ve never smoked. Meredith had told me that when she was in England she smoked but that then she had decided to quit as it was healthier.

A.D.R. I personally do not smoke cigarettes or even joints. I think my friends don’t too. They smoke only cigarettes, whereas with regard to the boys, on occasions when we have been together and playing guitar, I saw that they were rolling cigarettes with papers but I never thought that it was anything other than tobacco.

A.D.R. None of the boys has ever manifested a particular interest in us girls,  Only Marco, but only as a joke, sometimes he was a witty one.

A.D.R. Around mid-October, while I was at the “Le Chic” pub where I work, I met Hicham, who us girls nicknamed Shaky, who I also met and recognized yesterday evening at your offices [questura]. At the end of my work shift at about 02.30 o’clock, he offered a ride home with his moped, and I agreed. Arriving below his house he asked me in for a drink. I was hesitant, but as he insisted, I accepted while specifying that I could only remain half an hour.

So I thought that he wanted to take me to another bar but then, when we arrived below his house, at his insistence I went home with him. I went into the house entering a room in which there were other Italian kids watching TV, when Shaky said I should follow him to his room. Entering his room, he closed the door. He wanted to talk to me. At that point I was worried and told him I preferred to return home immediately because I felt very tired. Shaky continued to insist that he wanted to talk to me, to get to know me better, while I was asking to leave. We kept discussing this for about an hour and a half, when he finally gave up and took me back home.

A.D.R Even the other girls knew Shaky, they had met him more often than me. I am not aware of their level of friendship with him, since I usually do not go out with them.

A.D.R. As far as I know Meredith has never quarreled with Shaky, I can only say that she found him kind because on one occasion, returning from the disco he had offered her a ride home. This does not mean that Meredith also considered him insistent, though after I told him about my episode she told me that the same thing had happened to Sophie too

F.L.C.S.
The Reporting Agent

5. Signed Record Of Knox Statement 4 November

Police station of Perugia
Mobile Squad, General Affairs Section

Subject: Minutes of summary information from a person informed of the facts made by Amanda Marie KNOX, also already reported in other general statements.

On 4 November at 2.45 p.m., in the offices of the Mobile Squad of police headquarters in Perugia, to the undersigned officers of PG: VQA. GIOBBI Edgardo, VQA CHIACCHIERIA Marco, Comm. NAPOLEONI Monica, and English-speaking interpreter COLANTONE Aida.

Also present is the above-named in question making additions to declarations made on 2 and 3 November at these offices, on the facts of the case being investigated. She declares the following:

A.D.R. [Q&A] I know a young man who frequents an internet cafe which is called INTERNET POINT located in the centre of Perugia near the Duomo. This young man is Argentinian and is called Juve for whom I provide the phone number 320/3758112.

A.D.R. Yes, he came to my house at least five times, the latest being on October 31, 2007. He knows Meredith because he met her at the pub with me.

A.D.R. Juve has never tried to stay with me, but has a way of embracing and touching, even when he is not drunk. He’s engaged, and he has always said he follows good principles towards his fiancee.

A.D.R. Juve is about 1.80 meters high, skinny with a little “bacon”, dark curly hair down to his neck, dark complexion, usually dresses in jeans, t-shirts and sneakers.

A.D.R. Meredith had no close relationship with Juve and when he came by to see me Meredith wasn’t there. I knew that Juve did not like Meredith, because of the attitude that the latter showed to him.

A.D.R. The other men I brought home are a certain Spyros, height about 1.80, (tel. 3293473230), only once, in October, and on that occasion he met Meredith without talking except for their greeting. Also Daniele of Rome, for whom I do not know the telephone number; Daniele came home 2 times, the second time he spoke with Meredith saying goodbye.

A.D.R. Also ALESSI Pasquale known as Jafar. He is the owner of the Merlin Bar; He knew Meredith, who he intended to have work for him. Meredith said he was nice; she never said that he had called her. I don’t know if Jafar knows the location of our house.

A.D.R. Also I know Giorgio the friend of the boys who lives below. He often came to my home, and knew Meredith with whom he had friendly relations. Giorgio had danced on the premises with me, with Meredith, and with the others. Giorgio is not tall, he just exceeds my height.

Amanda KNOX is made aware of the fact that, by proxy of the Attorney General, acting as a witness, she is bound to secrecy in order not to prejudice the investigations now ongoing.

This minute after reading and confirmation is signed by all those present.

OAU

5. Some Conclusions

So. This is it. We have the full picture of all four Knox sessions and both Sollecito sessions pre-arrest. All signed by them. Numerous names advanced and little needlings of some of them by Knox, but not much otherwise.

Certainly no interrogation. No obvious drama. Not so many investigators. No hard targeting of Knox. No confirmation bias. And not so many hours taken. In total, surely below ten and that includes the writing of reports.

No denying of food, water, sleep, bathroom breaks, or a lawyer. No obvious forcing or oppression. No serial tag-teams interrogating day and night. No obvious reason for Knox to complain that the sessions were oppressive.

Exactly what are Doug Preston, Steve Moore, Michael Heavey, Paul Ciolino, Saul Kassin, John Douglas, and Bruce Fischer still on about? And Knox herself?

Sunday, January 07, 2018

Despite Disinformation From Apologists And Even Supreme Court, Law & Science Support Damning DNA

Posted by James Raper

Chief DNA expert Dr Stefanoni with prosecutor for DNA Dr Comodi

1. Post Overview

There was a substantial body of evidence that many observers found convincing enough even without the DNA results from the Knife and Bra clasp.

But at trial much of the other evidence was largely ignored by the defence. It would be fair to say that those DNA results were the subject of disproportionate attention, and subjected to repeated attacks from the defence.

So it is worth having a recap and review of the basic facts and how this evidence was dealt with by the judges in this case.

2. The Knife

Test Results

The knife was collected from Sollecito’s flat based on a likely match to Meredith’s main wound.

On examination in Dr Stefanoni’s lab in Rome it was found to be clean but she swabbed a striation in the blade and examined what she had. As to whether the sample (36B) was quantifiable she had a positive result but she also wrote “too low” in the laboratory records and without recording the actual quantification. In her testimony at trial she remembered that the quantification was in the order of about 100 picograms.

Given the quantity she did not risk subjecting the sample to a biological or presumptive blood test either of which would likely have interfered with the efficacy of a DNA analysis. Nor did she divide the sample so as to be able to repeat the standard amplification procedure, for the same reason.

Having amplified the entire sample it was then processed by the electropherogram.

Each and every one of us has 16 chromosomes in our DNA strand by which we can be identified; the sex denominator and 15 that, taken together, can be said to be unique to each individual in that the molecules in chromosomes are repeated a different number of times in every one of their loci. In each loci we have a pair of alleles due to the fact that we inherit half a chromosome from each of our parents. The molecules of the chromosome, not just in each locus but in each allele, are repeated a different number of times and the machine is able to read and record these repetitions, known as short tandem repeats, or STRs.

These 15 chromosomes are denoted by markers and they are among core STR loci for inclusion within a database known as CODIS (Combined DNA Index System). It is these 15 STR markers we are primarily interested in as they are highly variable among individuals and are internationally recognized as the standard for human identification. The 15 markers appear in the table below.

The result was unarguably Meredith’s DNA profile.

The STRs in the result exactly matched those in Meredith’s profile save for one of 30 alleles. That was in Marker D21SW11.  Here are the details.

Not just the STRs match but the sequence of loci as well, with which we are familiar from a transposition of the electropherogram graphs.

One would still have to calculate the statistical probability of someone else having the same match. For a complete match ( 15 pairs plus the sex chromosome) one would have to imagine seeking that person in a population of a trillion people.

The RFUs for the sample ““ the measurable height of the peaks in the graph and indicating the amount of DNA ““ were low, and it is accepted that with this sample we are dealing with Low Copy DNA. The expert analysist thus has to exercise some caution in interpreting the results because of the phenomena of stutter, allele drop out and background noise from the machine when the quantity is low. Stutter and allele drop out usually occur in the amplification process and for this reason international guidelines recommend a repetition of the amplification in cases of Low Copy DNA. One can see why that would be desirable were the result not as clear as it is in this case.

There is only one unique contributor in this sample and the STR data effectively disposes of such concerns, particularly given the wide variations between the matched repetitions in the markers.

The defence beat the non-repetition drum for all it was worth ““ which was nothing at all ““ but incredibly, and with the help of the so-called independent experts, they managed to obtain rulings from Hellmann and the 5th Chambers that the sample result was unreliable for the reason that, as the independent experts would have it, it was “not supported by scientifically validated analysis”, which basically means that the test was not repeated.

What none of these tosspots did was mention or evaluate the data in coming to this conclusion. All they ever had, and what they put forward, was a hypothetical possibility (that there might be some doubt were the two tests to differ) which on a superficial level might seem reasonable but which, on evaluation, is neither plausible nor helpful.

Given the clarity and strength of the result in the test that was done it would be exceedingly unlikely that, on a repetition, there would have been such a differentiation that one would no longer be confident of the initial profile reading. No expert argued, or was able to argue, not even the independent experts, and certainly not based on research presented as evidence, that there would still not be an acceptable profile for Meredith Kercher even if the match was not as precise as the first due to the aforesaid phenomena.

Indeed, in the subsequent testing (which the independent experts did not want to do) of sample 36I, taken from the blade at a later date, we note two things.

There was indeed a repetition of the amplification in that case because more sensitive equipment enabled the testers to do that, but even with a DNA quantity of 5 picograms (20 times less than the quantity in 36B, and substantially increasing the risk of the aforesaid phenomena), and with the chemistry and process of amplification being exactly the same, there were only three alleles that were deemed to have dropped out.

Had that occurred on a re-amplification of the much greater quantity of DNA in sample 36B, we would still have had an acceptable profile.

We can, therefore, place considerable reliance on the result from 36B even if it is not absolute proof.

Nonetheless, the defence advanced two arguments against the knife being the murder weapon, a detailed discussion of which is somewhat outside the scope of this article.

The first is that it did not match the major knife wound; and the second is that there was no proof of there having been blood on it.

I have discussed these in detail elsewhere. Their argument that the knife could not have matched the wound is not at all convincing, and although there was no proof of blood on the knife (for which, of course, there could be an obvious non-exculpatory reason) sample 36B could not be tested for blood. So it may have been, and of course, it did not need to have been blood anyway to give a DNA result.

So, if the validity of the identification is reliable for trial purposes, could it nevertheless be unreliable because it is the result of contamination. We are looking here at contamination in the laboratory or contamination by touch transfer. The answer to both scenarios is that it is very unlikely. The reasons are as follows :-

Laboratory contamination

Negative controls were undertaken prior to the testing of 36B. The Independent Experts had assumed that these had not been done simply because they were not attached to Dr Stefanoni’s consultancy report.

The testing of 36B was a full 6 days after the last previously DNA tested trace of the victim, as proven in the SAL records. The independent expert Carla Vecchiotti admitted on cross-examination that this lapse of time was sufficient to avoid lab contamination.

The testing was undertaken in accordance with the provisions of Article 360 of the Criminal Procedure Code which, if the provisions are complied with, allows into evidence the result of non-repeatable testing. The provisions were complied with. Experts for the defence were present when the sample was tested and made no criticism of the procedure or of anti-contamination controls.

Contamination by touch transfer (non-primary transfer)

The knife was collected from a kitchen drawer in Sollecito’s apartment by operatives who wore anti-contamination gloves and shoes.

The operatives who visited Sollecito’s apartment had never been to the cottage where Meredith was murdered.

In any event Meredith had never been to Sollecito’s apartment

On collection the knife was placed on its own into a paper bag, which was sealed and placed into a folder, and this was taken to the police station, where the knife was removed by another officer wearing anti-contamination gloves and placed in a box sealed with scotch tape, and the box was then sent to the lab in Rome.

As to inadvertent touch transfer, from the primary donor (Meredith) to an agent (say Knox), and then onto the knife, this seems somewhat outlandish, if not impossible. Would not Knox have touched a lot of other things in between; and how often does one hold a large kitchen knife by the blade?

3. The Bra Clasp

Test Results

A single swab of the metal hooks of the clasp was taken by Dr Stefanoni from both the metal hooks. DNA analysis revealed that it was a mixed sample.

The sample (165B) was quantified for DNA and this time it was recorded on the SAL Cards. The sample contained 5.775 nanograms of DNA. As there are a thousand picograms to a nanogram, the sample was well over the 200 picograms below which a sample is nowadays to be treated as Low Copy Number.

The analysis showed the mixed DNA profiles of Meredith and Sollecito and potentially a third contributor. Dr Stefanoni calculated that the ratio of Meredith’s DNA to Sollecito’s was in the order of 6 : 1. The main expert for the defence, Professor Tagliabracci, calculated that the ratio was 10 : 1 but that would still mean that the quantity of Sollecito’s DNA was still significant at 577.5 picograms.

All the RFU’s were over the recommended minimum guideline.

There were, in fact, two DNA tests conducted on the sample, but these were different from each other rather than repetitions. One was the standard autosomal analysis (as in the case of 36B) the other being an analysis of the Y haplotype. The 16 pairs of autosomal STRs are a better indication of an individual’s genetic identity, as they are unique. The Y genetic profile is not as unique as the genetic profile, as it is shared with other persons, specifically the donor’s paternal male line. A male gets his Y haplotype from his father.

Altough a matter of interpretation in a mixed sample, it was asserted that all the 15 pairs plus the sex pair were in place for Sollecito’s genetic profile on the autosomal analysis. The defence, however, disagreed with the assertion. Professor Tagliabracci expressed doubt as to five of the loci. The independent experts agreed with him as to four.

Even if Professor Tagliabracci were to be right, the result would still satisfy the Crown Prosecution in England & Wales where 10 matches is deemed to be sufficient.

However we also have the analysis of the Y haplotype which has 17 loci. The Y haplotype is Professor Torricelli’s specific area of expertise and she testified that the 17 loci compatible with Sollecito’s haplotype were very clear with the peaks well defined. Checking with the haplotype databank she found that had only 11 loci been noted a search would have produced 31 subjects with the same haplotype whereas on a search with 17 she found none.

No doubt there are a good many males walking around in Italy who share Sollecito’s haplotype, even with the same 17 loci, but the probability that any one of these was in the cottage on the night of the murder, rather than Sollecito, would seem to be so small as to be absurd.

We can rely on the identification of Sollecito’s DNA on the bra clasp.

We then move to the issue of possible contamination.

Laboratory Contamination

• Again negative controls were in place


• The testing of sample 165B was a full 12 days after the last previously tested trace of Sollecito


• Again the testing was in accordance with the provisions of Article 360 of the CPC

Contamination by touch transfer (non-primary transfer)

The position here is less straightforward than with the knife. Once Meredith’s body had been removed the clasp was found under a pillow that had been beneath Meredith. It was photographed where it was found on the floor but not bagged and it was not until 46 days later (on the 18th Dec) that it was collected. It had moved a few feet and was found under a small rug. The collection of the clasp was on video.

The defence (to include observations made by the independent experts) made a number of points with regard to contamination.

• The delay in collection increased the risk of contamination as the police as well as forensic operatives had been in Meredith’s room after the bra clasp was first discovered and before the cottage was sealed off on the 8th Nov. All of this activity, including the return of the forensic operatives on the 18th Dec, would have allowed ambient dust (posited as an agency of transfer) to move around and settle.


• The forensic search had concluded on the 5th Nov but the police had been there afterwards on the 6th (when the rooms in the house had been checked again) and then again on the 7th (to check on the washing machine and to collect the computers).


• When Dr Stefanoni and her operatives returned to the cottage on the 18th Dec it was noted that many items in Meredith’s room had obviously been handled,  moved around and/or removed, and that her mattress was in fact in the living room.


• There were lapses in protocol on that day in that the operatives had not changed their gloves each time items were touched in Meredith’s room, a practice that Dr Stefanoni admitted had happened


• The clasp, after being collected by hand, was placed on the floor to be photographed. One of the hooks was bent, suggesting that it had been stood on.


• A close-up of the bra clasp being held in the gloved hand of one of the operatives appeared to show (it was claimed) a smudge on a fingertip and spots on it which, it was suggested, were dirt.

These observations would have to be evaluated from the facts that emerged from the trial, and per se.

• If the bent hook had been stood on that would have to have occurred even before the pillow was removed to expose the clasp. The clasp was photographed in situ and already showing the bent hook. This was also as Dr Stefanoni remembered it when it was first seen.


• Of course items had been handled in Meredith’s room by the forensic team. This was a murder investigation. However no items removed from the room were returned to it, for instance those taken away for analysis, or the mattress.


• According to the testimony of the officers who entered Meredith’s room on the 6th and the 7th they had not been able to see the bra clasp although it was known that it had not been collected. This would indicate that it was already hidden beneath the small rug. It would be somewhat disparaging as to their professionalism to suggest that (a) they had lied, and (b) they had gone ferreting about on the floor for it.


• As to a smudge on the operative’s glove, this is speculative. Hellmann acknowledged that it would be a matter of interpretation as to whether this was a smudge or a shadow.


• As to the spots of dirt, again it is speculative as to whether these were dirt or blood, or anything else. After all there was dried blood on the fabric of the clasp and the spotted glove belonged to the operative who was holding the clasp.

There are also the following observations that would have to be made.

• As there was no suggestion that Sollecito had ever been in Meredith’s room, other than on the night of the murder, one has to posit a plausible “innocenti” theory as to how his DNA was on the clasp; that is, a plausible theory of contamination. There is always a possible risk of contamination. The independent experts stated in their written report that they were unable to exclude that the result from sample B was derived from contamination. That contamination is a possibility is a safe conclusion with which one cannot disagree, but this is not enough.


• Hellmann wrongly (see the 1st Chambers’ decision annulling the acquittal) thought that it was incumbent on the State to “guarantee” the results of the DNA analysis, as if that is possible when there is always a risk of contamination. It is surely sufficient for the prosecution to show that all reasonable steps were taken and that, as a consequence, contamination was not probable. The defence have, obviously, to demonstrate the opposite, and if they had successfully made some inroads into the former (that the steps taken were not all sufficient enough to be reasonable, given certain lapses of protocol) then they still fell a long way short of showing that contamination was probable as a result.

That the defence struggled with that task is demonstrated by the following observations we can take from the facts.

• A plausible source for the postulated contaminating trace was not established. The only other identified trace of Sollecito in the cottage was his DNA mixed with the DNA of Knox on a cigarette stub in an ashtray in the living room. If that had been the source then one would have expected Knox’s DNA to be mixed in with sample 165B.


• Clearly also the unsourced contaminating trace would have had to have been carried into Meredith’s room somehow. Such a trace could not have originated in her room. That would have meant that Sollecito was there, which would hardly be exculpatory. Any breach of protocol would be meaningless in that context.


• As to how such a trace may have been carried into the room, we can only speculate. Did someone step on a trace on the floor and walk it into her room? Or carry it in by glove? This sort of speculation simply lacks any degree of probability (given the impossibility of knowing whether there was any such trace outside the room and that an operative would have made contact with it).


• Clearly the said trace has also to end up adhering to the hooks. This leads us to the physics of transference. Simple contact is not, by itself, enough. After a period of time, when the DNA containing substance is no longer reasonably fluid, there has to be some pressure for there to be an exchange of trace, in this case, to the metal. Nothing like that can be observed in the video of the collection and the point also disposes of the idea that DNA in ambient dust may have been an agent of transfer. And this after what we must consider were a number of movements of the postulated trace. There is only one scenario, among the many, which could have involved no more than three steps (tertiary transfer) ; an operative touching the trace and then directly handling the hooks. Even here the likelihood is that the trace of Sollecito’s DNA on the metal hooks would have been so small it would be Low Copy DNA, which it wasn’t.


• It appears that even Hellmann struggled with the task. In his Motivation he says that contamination probably occurred, not in the laboratory, nor when the forensic operatives were at the cottage, but when the police officers were there, and precisely by them onto the bra clasp, which would have to be during their two visits on the 6th and the 7th. In other words he manufactured a probability from personal speculation based on no evidence at all,  indeed contrary to the testimony of the officers involved, and taking none of the foregoing observations into account. The 5th Chambers fared no better. All they could do was allude to the video still of the glove with “a smudge” and the “spots of dirt”.

4. My Conclusion

How on earth could the 5th Chambers conclude that Meredith’s DNA profile on the knife and Sollecito’s DNA profile on the bra clasp had “no probative or circumstantial relevance”?