Beyond The Italian And UK Media Reports That Knox Was Found Not Guilty Of Calunnia II

Comments

Pete, as you make clear, the Guardian mistranslated the Name of the serious charge recently dismissed by the Florence Court.

Now that we know this serious charge has been dismissed, what remains?

Hi Cardiol:

We still have a lot to put online (Wiki and TJMK) and the drawing of media attention to that to render the PR mute or on the spot. Maximum six months.

What also remains is measures if any the Kerchers might want to take (Maresca is on this hard) plus the several book trials: two for vilipendio and calunnia are going on now. Each official who feels impugned could sue separately or in a group for diffamazione (libel) now they can read in Italian what is in the English-language books.

Also going on now are the Sforza trial, the Alessi trial, and the pending Maori trial. The Hellmann DNA consultants and maybe Hellmann himself are being looked into as well.

But above all officialdom has already won the moral high ground in Italy. The very surprising Marasca/Bruno report last September (mentioned in the post below) helped to achieve this, and seems to have taken the wind out of the sails of RS and AK, maybe for good.

Loyola found out about it too late, and it seems improbable that any other law schools will be conned - if a rumored very paranoid Knox still has the nerve to try.

If firm proof emerges as we think it will that Michael Heavey, Steve Moore and John Douglas lied to the State Department about the hard proof against Knox - and “forgot” to mention the mafia angle that helped to get RS and Knox sprung - hold onto your hats.

Liz Houle summarizes where the rumors in the US publicly stand - Italian opinion is if anything more certain of political interference than this and “knows” mafia fellow-travelers played a role - actually it was RS that first hinted of that. 

http://www.examiner.com/article/amanda-knox-acquittal-defies-logic

Some speculate that this conflict of reason is due to political pressures on the Italian judicial system not to render a verdict that would give Knox a prison sentence. A prison sentence would automatically lead to a request for Knox’s extradition.

Rumors of U.S. political figures pressuring Italy to not ask for Knox to be extradited swirled around before Knox’s murder trial earlier this year. Shortly before Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito were sensationally acquitted of murder, reporter Nina Burleigh wrote: “Knox’s best chance for avoiding extradition would be to convince the State Department to rebuff the Italian minister of justice. . . diplomats in both Italy and the U.S. expect an extradition request to be denied: ‘I don’t think either Italy or the U.S. wants a major burr under our saddle in terms of relationships between our countries, and this would be that, if the Italians pushed it.’ If they do, the source adds, there ‘is not any way’ the U.S. will arrest Knox, nor will it have her declared a fugitive.”

Harvard Law Professor, Alan Dershowitz, said about Amanda Knox’s case,“This is not a case, as it’s been projected in the media, of no evidence at all. It’s a case of the kind that would have resulted probably in a conviction in most courts in America. ” But as Julian Ku, a law professor at Hofstra University pointed out,“The takeaway is it’d [extradition] be a political decision, not a legal one.”

This political process was investigated by Italian-based journalist Andrea Vogt who filed multiple Freedom of Information Act requests. Vogt writes that her requests were to establish two things, “First, they show insight into how American citizens in trouble abroad are supported (or not, depending on your viewpoint) by their government. Second, they contribute transparently to the established written government record, clarifying diplomatic aspects of the case that until now have remained hidden while the saga played out solely in Italian courtrooms and the media.”

Vogt was not sent eleven of the documents she requested. Those that were released showed that, ” . . .the U.S. Embassy in Rome declared the Amanda Knox matter ‘Case Closed’ in a cable to Washington just days after the American’s clamorous 2011 acquittal. The memo reveals wishful thinking on the part of some U.S. diplomats, who were only too eager to see the thorny case come to a clean close.”

The end result was that Amanda Knox who shares a July 9th birthday with OJ Simpson, Jodi Arias and Steven Avery has gone down in history as another murder suspect acquitted under “strong suspicion.”

There is something to add to the Breaking News box at the top which at the moment reads thus:

<blockquote [removed]><center>Breaking news. It seems appeals against the Knox calunnia verdict may be expected both from the Florence prosecutor (who had asked for a sentence of 2 years 8 months, below the extradition threshold but a second felony conviction Knox could carry for life) and also from civil complainants. Charges for false claims of crimes in Knox’s book expected before calunnia appeal, complicating legal situation for her. This trial resumes 22 January, and Sollecito’s & Gumbel’s very soon.</center></blockquote>

It is that Mario Spetzi was also acquitted of calunnia at first instance but was then found guilty of calunnia on appeal.  In Knox’s case there is a gray area in the law: defendants dont get charged for lying at trial but at the same time cannot maliciously accuse law enforcement of crimes.

Good news about the appeals. I would expect the police to be very keen she doesn’t get away with it.

Just to say thanks to this site I get the truth.  And ‘articles’ like some in the Guardian are corrected.

Thanks DavidB

Here’s a false rumor floated by, of all newspapers, the West Seattle Herald (Knox herself?).

Perugia Prosecutor Giuliano Mignini had wanted Knox to spend from eight months to years in prison, as well, for claiming she was interrogated under duress, according to the West Seattle Herald.

Dr Mignini had no interest in the case as he was not present for Knox’s session with Rita Ficarra which was not even an interview let alone interrogation - it was mere list-building.

Bizarrely it was Dalla Vedova who in his absence persuaded a Perugia judge to attach him and move the trial to Florence, back in the day when Mignini was being maliciously prosecuted in Florence (the only case of malicious prosecution in this entire case, reversed scaldingly by Cassation).

So as he wasnt present at Knox’s list-building he had nothing of substance to contribute at this trial, and of course he wasnt the prosecutor in this case as implied in the quote.

The gutless wonders at the West Seattle Herald should confront Amanda Knox with this false claim of a crime which is at least as serious as the charges in the above case:

Like I said before, people don’t like to feel they have been made fools of, and a backlash will happen when public fury is unleashed against those who have deliberately lied, maligned and assisted criminals to evade justice. Guede may have much, or little, or lies to tell. AK/RS-Gumbel/OGGI may or may not be charged with various crimes. Only one has to be shown as dishonest, or disingenuous, to throw all the others into doubt. From what I have read Mignini is measured, intelligent and more than capable of ruffling judicial feathers. If certain judicial courts in Italy think they can just acquit everything that pertains to AK/RS and the situation will disappear then they are deluded, as is the US. Meredith lived, laughed, loved, experienced life and its joys, and should have for many more years to come. Italy should revisit its evidence and open an investigation into the Guede accomplices. The acquittal motivations which basically say, well they were probably guilty but the defence says we could be wrong so we’ll acquit, aren’t good enough for the world to believe. Not this side of the Atlantic in particular. The US Secretary of State needs to wake up and look closely at the information he was fed and satisfy himself of the veracity of that information. Elected officials pay a high price for uninformed actions. I hope that all the aforementioned investigations go ahead, i.e. Hellmann and his court appointed DNA experts. As far as I’m concerned anything which brings the public back to Meredith, justice for her and closure for her family is good.
Just as an aside, Profazio? is still entrusted to investigate the Florence murder, the DNA will still be handled by the Rome Scientific Laboratories, the same Italian justice system will handle the court hearings. So they are still trusted in their investigative techniques, scientific results and ability to effectively try murder cases. Hellmann is retired from service, the Marasca/Bruno route to the judiciary has been sealed. Says a lot doesn’t it?

The above sounds like I’m knocking the US in general, hope you all understand I’m talking about specific sections of the US.

It must give Ms Knox absolute nightmares to know that every word she utters (in public or in print) is subjected to proper forensic analysis by this site in particular.

In the British press, it’s really only the Guardian which promotes her innocence due to Gumbel being one of their own. Most of the rest of the press in the UK express some degree of incredulity at all things Knox related.

I am delighted that the Italians will appeal the latest verdict and am heartened by what happened in the Spezi case. What will come first I wonder, a complete mental breakdown by Knox and/or Sollecito, or some form of justice relating to some of these charges at least?

It’s to Peter Quennell and the excellent team of posters on this site’s enormous credit that they keep chipping away at this. Must be akin to Chinese water torture for Knox. Drip drip drip Amanda, eventually everyone will know who and what you are.

Meantime, we have Guede’s upcoming interview to ponder on. I expect that he will merely reiterate what he has said before i.e. outright lies about Meredith engaging with him in some sexual encounter and him not really seeing the assailants but being aware that it was Knox and Sollecito.

If the man had a shred of decency, which he clearly doesn’t, he would come absolutely clean and admit that he participated in a violent three person assault and that he disgustingly violated Meredith when she was in a state of distress and vulnerability.

If he did this, it would be devastating to Knox and Sollecito as it would have the ring of truth that hasn’t come from any of their accounts thus far. He definitely holds the key but will he turn it? No I think is the short answer.

Guede knows he will be out soon and he will try and convince society at large that he is no danger to anyone; he was just a poor patsy being made to pay the price for what two white kid’s did. I expect the race card to played without shame or embarrassment.

Guede actually sickens me just as much as Knox and Sollecito do. They are all cut from the same mangy cloth.

@davidmulhern

They are all cut from the same mangy cloth. Birds of a feather certainly flocked together that very dark night in Perugia.

If Guede does try and convince society at large that “...he was just a poor patsy being made to pay the price for what two white kid’s did” it would certainly be reprehensible but somehow to be expected. After all, the demented love birds and their equally demented acolytes in FOA have done their best to point the finger at “drifter” and black man Guede. They’ve played the race card as well.

You never know, Guede may have a light bulb moment and realise that coming clean is his only chance of redemption - and the interview is a good time to start. We can hope!

I hate to be cynical, but have to share the sentiments: Guede is unlikely to give anything beyond the half truths already told.  Does he have a book deal, or is he still angling for a new trial?  Does he think that taking a new ‘‘position’’ will help him?  Note: I say new ‘‘position’’ and don’t use the word ‘‘truth’‘.  With the mess Bruno/Marasca left behind, now is the time for a sentence reduction, or better.  You don’t get that by being honest.

As with Davidmulhern, I find Guede is just as repulsive as AK/RS.  He could have ended this long ago without risk, as his sentence was confirmed in 2010.

Remember in the summer 2014, Sollecito’s ‘‘press conference’‘, RS didn’t tell us anything, other than ‘‘AK went out’‘, and it was a total waste.

I hope I’m wrong, but doubt it.

Still trying to make sense of the latest ruling, in a way that doesn’t use the words ‘‘corruption’’ or ‘‘political pressure’‘.

(1) Judge Massei ruled Knox framed PL and was not coerced or tricked into doing it.  He gives her a year. (December 2009)

(2) Judge Hellmann ruled Knox framed PL and was not coerced or tricked into doing it.  In fact he increased her sentence to 3 years. (October 2011)

(3) Judge Cheiffi and Cassation 1st Chambers ruled Knox framed PL and was not coerced or tricked into doing it.  They uphold the 3 years, but put the ‘‘aggrvating factors’’ back on. (March 2013)

(4) Judge Nencini ruled Knox framed PL and was not coerced or tricked into doing it.  He increases it to 3 1/2 years. (January 2014)

(5) Judge Bruno/Marasca and Cassation 5th Chambers ruled Knox framed PL and was not coerced or tricked into doing it.  In fact they say any attempt to appeal to ECHR is dead. (March 2015)

So even ‘‘AK/RS’’ judges H/Z and B/M think the false accusation merits a jail sentence.

Yet even with these 5 rulings, Knox’s claims in June 2009 of police brutality ‘‘aren’t’’ bogus?  Knox was a no-show at trial, and LG/CDV didn’t present anything?!

Hello Davidmulhern. Your observation that Knox worries all the time, in my opinion at least, is incorrect since you are approaching her as a sane person. She isn’t sane at all she is mentally sick and goes through life in a fog of her own sick mind. She really believes the lies she tells others. That is the basis for her success in convincing the gullible fools who are only able to read simple sentences. They scream innocent because they do not have the moral or intellectual intelligence to think otherwise. As for me I have managed to ruffle a few feathers by saying that the world would be a better place if such people as Knox and Sollecito would be removed from it. I have made no secret of my position on this and if it were to happen tomorrow then I would be quite happy about it. Of course Meredith is gone while these two slime are still alive which is a bitter pill but perhaps time will fix things. I live in hope.

Hi Chimera

“Still trying to make sense of the latest ruling”.

Too early. We’ll get the report when it is released and hopefully also the court submissions from both sides, but do see above: (1) accusations on the stand are a gray area in Italy where defendants on the stand are not under oath; (2) this happened in Mario Spetzi’s case too. RS and AK face a lot of other charges and it could even be a good thing that the heat is jacked up.

As we’ve often explained Italian law enforcement needs to have some special protections in law, as in addition to actual assassination they were routinely facing character assassination. The Knox-Mellas-Sollecito campaign doesnt differ except in its global nature from those campaigns, and in Italy there is perceived here both a mob angle and a US Government angle (odd bed-fellows).

Hi Chimera, The only way I can make sense of the latest ruling is that the interview wasn’t taped, or the tape is misplaced. In its absence no corroboration of either story can be shown and as has been pointed out previously the Italian justice system has a slant towards the defendant. There is substantial and irrefutable evidence in the books, particularly AK’s Mignini interrogation which didn’t happen, to show she lies in an attempt to show officials in a bad light. If all of the current and future trials based on the book evidence fail then I’m afraid the “c” and “pp” words are the only credible solutions. Although I see Calunnia 2 as disappointing I’m a lot more keen to see prosecutions carried successfully with unambiguous, verifiable reasoning which AK/RS can’t brush under the carpet.

Hi YorkshireLass

At trial even the defenses acknowledged it was not an interview (let alone an interrogation) merely a sharing of information by a potentially useful person (which could have been done anywhere).

As the trial transcripts of all investigators and the translator there coincide and would win in a slander court (which this wasnt) I doubt it is doubts about what “really” happened that swayed the judge.

And remember, anyone who feels impugned can sue for slander anyway; its easy in Italy. No prison sentence but unless Knox had gone back to Italy she was not prone to that anyway.

I do recommend waiting for the judge’s report. This is a kabuki dance with many tongue-tied, and already Marasca and Bruno gave RS and AK a nasty surprise (not, of course, reported in the American press).

Also wait for the book suits. In the book Knox really names names, no holds barred. She went way beyond what she said on the stand - eg the false accusation against Mignini as you note.

Thanks Pete, let’s see what the judge says.

Where next:

Or to next entry Reports That On Italian TV Thursday Guede Will Claim Knox & Sollecito Initiated Attack, Caused Death

Or to previous entry Capturing Collective Memories: Of Broadway Dance And Of Family Life