Thursday, January 15, 2009

Good Overview Of The Case In Germany’s Der Spiegel

Posted by Peter Quennell

Click above for the two-part report by Alexander Smoltczyk.

Based on the numbers of reports appearing in Germany, interest in the case is high there. It seems to rank fourth after Italy, the UK, and the US.

There is some mild sensationalism in the newspapers there; not much. Reporting on the whole is as in this report: factual and objective.

Before she moved to Perugia Amanda Knox stayed with an uncle in Germany and interned for a day or two at the Bundestag in Berlin. German is one of her languages.

An on-the-run Rudy Guede was caught on a train in Germany and after a brief period he was semt back to Italy where he broke from the other two.

And Italy is the Number One tourist destination for Germans on vacation. They know and really like the place.

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Another Book Deal We Are Maybe Not In Favor Of

Posted by Peter Quennell

Click above for the breaking story. This book now seems prejudicial, and it might be good if it’s withdrawn.

The passage we quoted in an earlier post actually seemed beneficial to Knox. The book is not out in English.

[Added] The author has now stated that the contentious passages in the book were all written by Amanda Knox herself.

In my book I used the diary written by Amanda Knox herself and which is now part of the evidence in the trial against her.

‘I don’t understand how the fact that I have retold her own words in a book can have a negative influence on her trial.

Earlier proceedings have already established the sexual element of the this case and that is what I am saying in the book.

So Amanda should sue… herself?! The diary excerpts sure are getting a lot of reads. It was an Italian best-seller over Christmas.

Sounds like that withdrawal is too late and this may be a red herring that goes nowhere.

Mr Mignini, Pehaps Keep A Close Eye On This Person, Too

Posted by Peter Quennell

[Amended] That guy on the far left is said to be Frank. We owe you one, Candace. Thanks for the tip.

An email that came in from a trusted source says Frank’s collaboration on the book deal is believed to be dead.

If that really is the case, it is good news, and that is the end of this story. We’ll keep watching, though.

By the way we dont really go looking for stuff on Frank. It just pours in. Perugians seem really ticked at him.

Monday, January 05, 2009

And Newsweek’s Most-Read Stories Over The Long Weekend Were…

Posted by Peter Quennell

Three on Meredith’s case in the top six.

Click above for a more readable version. The thriller headlines used here don’t quite reflect the cool, precise Newsweek stories which the online readers were reading.

Good news for those wanting objective coverage, everything to come out, and the chips to fall where they may in the case.

And bad news for those not wanting these three particular outcomes…

Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Eight Weeks Now And Counting! Our Year-End Report

Posted by Peter Quennell

Here’s where we seem to stand now, two months (yes just two months!) after TJMK first launched. 

1) In the United States here in recent months, Meredith Kercher had become almost invisible in the press reports on the case. The Associated Press report we criticized a week ago is a case in point: half a dozen paras on Amanda Knox’s Christmas plight, and one cold sentence on the Kerchers’ Christmas plight.

2) TJMK has been the one site (try to find another)  to actually draw some of the attention back to Meredith Kercher, to show that she was a really bright and attractive person, to illustrate the London and Leeds environments that she came from, to explain how very much her intended year in Perugia meant to her and how hard she had worked for it, and to show that as the one and only true victim in the case, Meredith REALLY matters,

3) In the United States here, coverage of the emerging public evidence of the case has been between thin and non-existent, and there have been some actively misleading reports. Even the excellent NBC Dateline report that we praised a week ago left out some key evidence points.

4) TJMK has been a solitary voice (try to find another) in setting out the full sweep of the publicly available evidence in a cool and methodical way for everybody’s consideration, the American media’s included, without any exaggeration or misinterpretation, and with the repeated caution that, kinda like an iceberg, most of the evidence is still out of sight.. 

5) In the United States here, there has been a considerable attempt to stir up sentiment against the Italian legal system and the prosecutor. Legal experts here in New York tell us they cannot think of another case where a legal system has been so mischaracterized and a police force, evidentiary service and prosecutor so ridiculed. For example check this out..

6) TJMK has been a solitary voice (try to find another) in explaining how the Italian legal system actually works, in noting that it is actually extremely fair toward defendants, and in showing respect for the efforts of the police, the evidence service, the judiciary, and especially the prosecutor for the case.

7) In other media and other areas of the blogosphere you can find a number of sensationalized reports about Amanda Knox and a lesser number about Raffaele Sollecito.

8) We have generally not commented very much on Sollecito, who remains quite an enigma to us. We have not dwelled on any of those lurid reports about Knox, and we have actually shown a certain sympathy for the plight of Knox who we suspect may have serious unaddressed psychological issues, and who we think has been served very badly by the well-funded, bare-knuckles public relations campaign.

9) We have unmoderated comments here, with no registration required, and we have welcomed all comments in the general tone of the site regardless of point of view. We fund the site ourselves, we dont request contributions, we carry no advertising, and we have no secret book deals in the wings. The agenda simply remains justice for Meredith and some eventual signs of contrition to provide the Kercher family with some sort of closure. And that is it.

10) Two post-length comments appeared here yesterday that showed very little sign that any of the many posts on the evidence on this site had ever been read or understood. If they had been taken into account, such claims about Guede as sole perp would in our view have been impossible. It was not what the commenter said that led to the rebuttals (though he or she mistated some hard facts) so much as the volume of contradicting facts here that he or she ignored and went past. Rebuttals do not seem to have taken a harder line against Knox and Sollecito than comments on any previous posts. 

11) We think we have provided many people with a better appreciation of the really remarkable person Meredith was, and the truly sadistic nature of the crime committed against her. We have run an uphill truth-focussed campaign for her justice which seems to be gaining real traction now against some very well-funded, money-making, smoke-blowing interests. And we have gained respect from the media.

12) We would like to see Guede come out with an ACCURATE description of the events on the night (which he hasn’t yet) and let the chips fall where they may for the remaining two defendants. And we’d really like to see a strong show of contrition from the perp or the perps to the Kerchers to hopefully provide them with some closure.

Very many thanks to all of our sharing, caring, and extremely insightful contributors.  Happy new year, everyone.

And rest in peace, Meredith. You had a very, very good life ahead of you…

Sunday, December 28, 2008

New Pressure Now On Rudy Guede To Start Talking? EDIT

Posted by Peter Quennell

[click above for Guede profile]

There’s a new report in the Italian press that Guede is apparently now transferred to the sex offenders wing of the prison mentioned below.

It seems that sex offenders are not great favorites among the other prisoners, so the point of such a move might be to protect him rather than to give him an additionally hard time.

Or could this be more pressure on him to start talking? Guede seems to have made remarks to his lawyer in the last several days intended to convey to the Kerchers that he is sad for them at what happened.

Prosecutor Mignini has a reputation among people who actually know him and regard him with respect for above all wanting justice and closure for the families of victims.

And for wanting to know precisely what happened. He is not really known for being among the most vengeful of prosecutors, or for seeking particularly harsh sentences.

If Mr Mignini is not having periodic chats about what is best for Meredith’s family with the Kerchers’ lawyer Mr Maresca, it would be uncharacteristic of him.

Closure for some victims’ families can be above all a matter of knowing what happened and why, and of hearing some real contrition from the perp or the perps.

Mr Mignini seems to us just right for this kind of outcome, and the Kerchers have several times seemed to suggest that they think so, too.

May the whipsawing, if that is what it is, please continue…

Saturday, December 27, 2008

Where The Convicted Perp And The Defendants Are Now

Posted by Peter Quennell

About one hour’s drive apart.

Not that they are doing too much driving these days, of course. Due to present circumstances.

Italy’s prison system is among the more innovative in terms of the rehabilitation of prisoners. If they need one, prisoners get taught a trade skill before they bounce back into society.

So Rudy Guede, along with (if convicted) Amanda Knox and (if convicted) Raffaele Sollecito, could re-enter society as champion pizza makers.

That’ll be the very good European pizzas, of course. The wonderful Four Seasons for example. With artichokes.

That could go over very well in mid-century Seattle.

And this structure below is? Answer is below the shot.

The solar heating on Terni prison. This was the first solar heating on prisons in Italy. It would seem that Sollecito is the most snug of the three.

At least in the summer, when the sun shines the most.

Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Okay The Whole World Gets To Hear Who’s On The Jury

Posted by Peter Quennell

[click for larger image]

The need for security must be minimal.

And Judge Massei’s desire for transparency perhaps maximal - he has already taken pains to emphasize that the conclusions of the six Peoples’ Judges get equal wight with the conclusions of the two Court of Assizes judges when they all huddle together to decide guilt or innocence. 

La Nazione has published the names - so far, the only Italian paper to do so - and a couple of biographical details.

• Anna Maria Artegiani (51): her profession is listed as secretary of a primary school and she lives in Marsciano. There is a prominent Perugian artist. with the same name.
• Angelico Evangelisti (38): no details of him as yet
• Maria Ludovica Morelli (37): no details of her as yet
• Angela Irene Ceccarini (43): she now lives in Perugia and is originally from Todi
• Andrea Valentini Valentini (35): he is a criminal lawyer in Perugia, and is originally from Umbertide
• Paolo Rapetti (57): no details of him as yet; there is a Perugian footballer of that name.

Several of them have apparently not been following the case, and were uneasy at the wall of reporters’ notebooks confronting them and the coming publicity.

Judge Massei remarked that the role of Peoples’ Judge in this case is a civic duty, and with a dry smile urged enthusiasm for something that does not happen often in most peoples’ lifetimes. 

Too much publicity? Perhaps. The Italian papers have new stories several times a week. Periodically some of them do seem to go ape over what look like defendants’ stunts aimed at sympathy.

Yesterday Nicki kindly posted negative comments from Corriere della Sera on Rudy Guede’s shot at fame as a poet. The backlash could lead to more secluded digs for the perps if found guilty.

But frequent commenter DS was left wondering if the perps - one perp, anyway - could still come out way ahead of the game. 

Discussing the case on a dedicated blog is one thing, but the tabloid press have gone to town on this story… Even I’m getting sick of seeing Amanda in the press and I’m following this story like a bloodhound!!

If Amanda is found innocent, she’ll be in Italian Hello magazine showing off her fab new kitchen & her amazing figure by the end of her first week of freedom. If she is found guilty, she will be notorious and have TV movies made of her life. 

Considering that she will be out of prison even with a guilty verdict by the time she is 50, she will have a nice media-paid-for nest egg to come out to and slip into obscurity.

[Australian prisoner in Indonesia] Schapelle Corby (according to the Sydney Morning Herald libel fans!) is making piles of money by handing all her biography copyrights to her sister’s Balinese husband but then people are more assured of her innocence and she hasn’t changed her story. 

Regardless, Amanda will no doubt find a way to profit from this media interest whatever happens.  In a sick hideous way, this case is possibly the best thing that has even happened to Amanda thanks to the papers. 

They need to starve her of the publicity oxygen that her and her parents so clearly crave by their continuing to feed the media beast.

Monday, December 22, 2008

Perugia: Jury Selection May Be Completed Today

Posted by Peter Quennell

[click for larger image]

Update: three men and three women ranging from 35 to 57 years old, including a young lawyer, have been selected. Three women and one man have been selected as alternates.

Italian media are reporting that a jury of six, with four alternates, should be announced by the close of court business today. We remain curious as to whether their names will become public.

Judge Beatrice Cristiani is now mentioned to be the second judge alongside Judge Giancarlo Massei, the President of the Court of Assize. The name we have been seeing previously was Judge Carla Giangamoni.

Also being reported is this attempt at poetry by Rudy Guede, six weeks into his 30-year sentence.

My tears are born from the darkness of solitude, full of pain. My tears, my tears. Transparent as water are my tears, but full of truth and love.

Doesn’t read to us like a confession or a reaching-out to the Kerchers for forgiveness. Reader comments under the story on the Corriere della Sera website are universally negative.

He has twenty-nine years and 46 weeks to rework it.

Thursday, December 18, 2008

The Defendants’ High-Stakes Blame Game: Key Moves By Rudy Guede Explained

Posted by Michael

The blame game

For many months now, the defendants and their lawyers, and for that matter the prosecutors, have been playing a fascinating game of three-dimensional chess.

None of the three have fully broken from the other two - so far.  But each has been making chess-like moves that seem to be attempts to make sure they aren’t the ones - or the only ones - hung out to dry.

It is even possible that Rudy Guede’s stiff thirty-year sentence was such a move, to squeeze him to come clean at the Knox/Sollecito trial - though he may not have much to bargain with any more, if the physical and witness evidence is as encompassing as it seems. 

Guede’s first story

In November 2007, shortly before his arrest, Rudy Guede had a Skype conversation with his friend Giacomo Benedetti over the Internet. It was his second, and recorded by police.

He told his friend that he knew Meredith and Amanda and he had been to the cottage on a couple of previous occasions, visiting the boys who lived downstairs. But that he wasn’t at the cottage on the day of Meredith’s murder.

Guede’s second story

This story later changed, after his arrest in Germany. It was whilst awaiting extradition back to Italy in late November 2007, that he wrote his so-called German Prison Diary.

In this diary Guede related a second version of events.

He admitted to being at the cottage the night of the murder, supposedly on a date with Meredith. But on emerging from the bathroom to the sound of screams, he was confronted by an unknown Italian male, standing over a dying Meredith, knife in hand.

After a brief struggle, the man fled, with an unseen accomplice Guede said he heard but could not see, lurking outside the cottage.

Guede’s third story

Later, in April 2008, Guede requested an audience with the prosecutor, where he gave a third account. It was essentially the same account as the second - but with key differences.

He now stated that it was Raffaele Sollecito that he saw wielding the knife in the cottage that night. And it was Amanda Knox who was the unseen accomplice outside the house, as he had recognized her voice.

A false interpretation

According to one or two Amanda Knox defense sites, this apparently damning testimony by Guede is in reality evidence for the innocence of Knox and Sollecito.

Their argument is that because Guede did not mention the other suspects in his Skype conversation, his diary, or his initial interrogation by the Italians, instead waiting until April, this serves as evidence of the duplicity of a lone-wolf criminal taking advantage of an opportunity to pass the blame onto two innocents.

However, the logic of this blame-passing argument does not stand up to close scrutiny. There was actually more going on.

RS and AK alibi problems

Amanda Knox had been arrested on 6th November, after claiming to have been in the kitchen of the cottage whilst Patrick Lumumba, the owner of the bar where Amanda worked, entered Meredith’s bedroom, and raped and then killed her.

But meanwhile, in his own interrogation, Sollecito had admitted to police that his first account (that they were together at his place all evening) had been a lie, and that Amanda had left his apartment mid-evening, not returning until the early hours of the next morning.

A court hearing then confirmed the status of Knox and Sollecito as official suspects, and denied them release or house arrest whilst the investigation unfolded. The reasons given being that there may be a flight risk, and a high potential that they may interfere with evidence and witnesses.

Case against RS and AK strengthens

From that point onwards, the case against the suspects only grew stronger, with more evidence against them emerging almost by the day. The police claimed they could place them both at the scene of the murder, and that they had what could be the murder weapon.

A large knife, found seemingly hidden in Sollecito’s apartment. Sollecito had a liking for knives, owning a collection, and admitting to having always carried one on his person since he was fourteen.

Despite Knox’s later retraction of the statement in which she had falsely accused Lumumba, their situation was steadily looking bleaker.

Rudy Guede’s new advantage

With Guede’s arrest in Germany, about three weeks after the crime, he must have known his own game could be up. Forensic evidence could link him directly to the crime scene.

At that point, he had an advantage that few suspected murderers ever have; two patsie, Knox and Sollecito, already sitting in jail and ripe for taking the fall for him.

But despite the fact that there was a case against them, and that they could not account for their whereabouts, Guede went out of his way not to actually name them.

Instead, he wove that yarn above, one that had little credibility and was widely ridiculed on the internet. Even the judge at his hearing told him his story was just not credible.

Guede still holds back

But still he avoided naming Knox and Sollecito - who if really innocent could hardly have said anything in response that would have made his situation worse. They would not have been present at the murder, and therefore, would have no counter-evidence to offer.

At that point, Guede would have had nothing at all to lose by naming them, and possibly a very great deal to gain.  So why didn’t he?

It only makes any kind of logical sense that he didn’t name names if in fact Knox and Sollecito actually were at the scene of the crime.

They would then have been able to respond to Guede’s accusations with allegations of their own, which could have jeopardised any hope he may have had of being acquitted of Meredith’s murder.

Guede suddenly reverses

So why did he suddenly change his statement, and name names, and why did he wait so many months before doing so?

The answer, it would appear, lies in a change of the tactics in this chess game being pursued by Raffaele Sollecito’s defence team.

Anxious to show that a Nike footprint found in Meredith’s room was not that of their client’s, Sollecito’s team began arguing that it was in fact Guede’s.

Other noises from Sollecito’s lawyers suggested that they were readying to point the finger at Rudy Guede as a sole perpetrator, as part of their defence strategy.

Why Guede names names

For Guede, it would not have been lost on him which way the wind was blowing. Fearing that he was going to be railroaded into taking all of the blame, he responded by naming names.

Even then, though, he did not go as far as he might have. He did not claim that he actually saw Amanda, for example, only that he heard her.

However, the move did serve as a warning shot across the bows of the other suspects.

And it was an important move in the game of chess still being played out among them.