Steve Moore Is Baffling Informed Case Observers On Both Sides Of The Atlantic
We posted a week ago querying claims first made by Steve Moore to Seattle investigative reporter Linda Byron.
Now everybody seems to be doing it.
Our own well-informed posters have been going through the various claims made to Linda Byron and reporters on the morning shows in the light of the Micheli and Massei Sentencing Reports. They have apparently not yet encountered even one Moore claim that can credibly be considered legitimate.
The lone wolf theory Steve Moore is trying retroactively to espouse was first ridiculed by our poster Kermit in his much-viewed Spiderman Powerpoints late in 2008.
And then it was methodically demolished early in 2009 by Judge Micheli, and again by Judge Massei in his own report released in Italian last March.
Our legal and law enforcement supporters in New York and Washington who have long followed Meredith’s case are also scratching their heads over Moore’s claims.
Why did he fail to master the Massei Report (which all of them have now read - and admire) before so vehemently going live?
Several also question the professional ethics and legal wisdom of accusing THE ITALIAN COUNTERPARTS TO THE FBI without hard proof of having fabricated evidence to prove his case.
And in Italy, there have been several sarcastic rebuttals.
The latest comes from Walter Biscotti as reported by Ann Wise for ABC.
Mr Biscotti is the effective lead lawyer for Rudy Guede - who, it should be noted, ended up with a sentence of only 16 years for acting smart and somewhat penitent, while Sollecito and Knox may eventually face up to thirty.
After former FBI agent Steve Moore came forward in the United States last week, appearing on ABC’s “Good Morning America” and other U.S. shows to defend Knox’s innocence, Italian newspapers picked up on the interviews with banner headlines.
“Amanda, new accusations from the U.S.,” read the leading daily Corriere della Sera Saturday. “A former FBI agent, who carried out a private investigation, tells American TV: ‘Rudy Guede is the murderer and evidence was manipulated to make her [Knox] look guilty,’” according to the subtitle.
That was too much for Walter Biscotti, a lawyer representing Rudy Guede, the third person—along with Knox and her former boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito—convicted of murdering Meredith Kercher in Perugia, Italy, in November 2007.
An indignant Biscotti contacted ABC News in Rome today in response to the headlines.
First of all, he said, he wanted to speak in defense of the Italian judicial system. “I think it is only right that I speak out in favor of the Italian justice system, of which I am a part,” Biscotti said, “and of the courts of Perugia in particular….
Biscotti took offense with statements made by Moore, a 25-year FBI veteran with international experience, implying that evidence was planted during the crime scene investigation.
“He said that investigators manipulated the evidence, an affirmation that would get you arrested in a minute, if you said it in Italy,” Biscotti told ABC News.
“It is a serious accusation against the Italian legal system and, as a man of the law, I cannot accept this,” Biscotti added…
Biscotti also took issue, as he has done repeatedly in the past three years, with attempts to put the blame for the murder solely on his client, Guede, whom, he says, he is defending pro bono.
He said lawyers for Knox and Sollecito told the media after every hearing in their year-long trial “there is no point holding this trial because these two are innocent, the only guilty person is Rudy,” and he criticized a list of U.S. legal experts who have spoken out about the case in the United States.
We know of not even ONE similarly qualified person who has READ the Massei Report and is not impressed and convinced by it.
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By Storm Roberts (Innai)
Good for Mr. Biscotti. If there is one thing I have learnt from this sad case it is how much care and how many “checks and balances” there are in the Italian Justice system - the entire legal cast, from the large numbers of judges through the prosecution team to the defence lawyers have all been excellent and are right to be proud of the legal system in which they work, they know it has it’s faults, I am sure, but evidence manipulation certainly is not one of them.
I think Mr. Ghirga’s comments are quite telling. I suspect he is busy doing his job and, after noting Moore’s criticism, he has just got on with his daily life.
Alas, we must suffer fools for they have a right to postulate on their soap-box until the cows come home. However, what I find amazing is that media-houses give him voice. The details (as proved by the Italian legal structures) of this very sad murder are generally accepted in the mainstream, if one reads general reporting and also the comments placed by the wider public in reply to this reporting. So why any media house would give Steve Moore the time-of-day is beyond me. They loose credibility and they won’t pay the bills that way… it’s just not good business…
@ Terence - they give him airtime because they want viewers and ratings.
In the USA, nobody has been given an alternative opinion, nobody has read the Massei report and presumably the news networks figure that American audiences will be interested by a story that shows an American “expert” talking about how a photogenic US woman was “mistreated” by them there foreigners in that there medieval Europe.
Personally, I believe the American public deserves better and should not be treated as if they are xenophobic idiots…
They deserve to have all the facts available so they can decide for themselves. But the media networks reckon that won’t sell…
Personally, I think that Mr. Moore is grandstanding for the notoriety - his “15 minutes in the sun”. Either that or he personally knows one of the other characters in the Knox/Mellas circus and is trying to “do them a favor” like Judge Heavey and others, and if so is in danger of losing all credibility in connection with his profession, though retired. If this is the best that we can expect from the FBI then God help us Americans…....
Thanks Terence and Lilly. I agree with you both. The networks increasingly have their backs to the wall as their former advertising dollars move increasingly to the internet.
As they grow editorially more and more shrill, we observe their credibility and their trust levels crumbling - polls show that websites like TJMK can achieve much higher trust levels. Terence in effect notes this.
We know the journalism schools here in NYC, Columbia University and New York University, are both trying to fight this vicious editorial spiral down and to get some quality and credibility and trust back into print media and broadcasts which they believe is the only way back to an economic mainstream-media future.
Also that there are excellent reporters in each of the five networks who would like to do good reporting and commentary on the case (Ann Wise posts fine reports from Rome for ABC, NBC Dateline broadcast three highly objective reports, Fox News except for Geraldo Rivera has been neutral, and even CNN and CBS have occasionally shown objectivity.
And also that that this growing self-destructive editorial shrillness is not dominant in media in other parts of the world. The British Broadcasting Corporation actually runs a terrific cable channel, right here in the US, and (along with Dr Who!) half a dozen times daily it presents truly impressive one-hour newscasts of what is going on around the world. This channel carries fairly upscale advertising and is said to be a considerable revenue-earner.
TJMK was twice mentioned by the BBC Overseas Service by the way and the readership load went absolutely haywire. Our hoster had to throttle the site back to around 300 readers online at any one time. What this suggests is that there is a really huge international audience waiting to hear a lot more about Meredith - and about the truth.
The Massei Report in English continues to be downloaded and circulated in hard copy at the rate of several thousand a week. One or other network will be the first to jump. Tick tick tick.
Steve Moore’s credibility has been completely shot to pieces. When he was interviewed by Frank Shiers on Kiro FM, he got countless basic facts wrong.
His claim that evidence against Knox was manipulated makes him sound like a paranoid and hysterical conspiracy nut. As with all conspiracy theorists, he wasn’t able to provide any proof to support his wild-eyed claims.
By Storm Roberts (Innai)
Trust is something that is hard to win and easy to lose; the credibility of a journalist or paper/news source can be destroyed if it is found that they have not done their research/relied on a bad source/failed to voice both sides of the argument. Many people trust their news sources - it is only when a story they know about is reported that they can judge how well their news source is doing.
A lot of news sources have lost their credibility and my trust recently, for their reporting of this case or for political bias for example. The NYC universities are right to be worried and to be taking steps to increase quality and bring back credibility.
The “World” arm of the BBC is by far it’s best news source, by the way, the foreign correspondants working for Auntie Beeb tend to be excellent.
I don’t have television, so can only comment on what I have seen on the occasions I do come across a TV, but it seems to me that even on serious programmes, like news broadcasts, there is an assumption that entertainment comes before information and they seem to think the attention span of the average person is incredibly short. All worrying trends.
As for facts, what is it that they say? “Never let the facts get in the way of a good story.”?
@ The Machine
It’s likely that Moore was briefed on the case by the Knox PR agency, rather than his independently researching, coming to conclusions etc.
So it’s not surprising that when he’s questioned and asked a question about detail he has not been briefed on, he flubs it.
I think it is almost certain he is a recruited spokesperson by the Knox PR campaign. Probably retired, missing a regular income, missing maybe the thrill of being important, and was a soft target for the PR campaign.
It would be interesting to research how he came to this case…
Hi Lilly,
It doesn’t take much common sense to understand that Knox’s PR agency is hardly an objective and reliable source of information. Perhaps, we’re expecting too much from Steve Moore. Anyone who thinks there is a huge sinister conspiracy in Italy to frame two innocent people, won’t have any common sense.
You would think that the journalists that interviewed him would have asked him for some evidence of this dastardly plot. They should have also asked him who was behind it and how many Italian officials are involved.
By Storm Roberts (Innai)
And surely, if you believed there was any impropriety in an investigation, your first point of call would be the Police Complaints Commission or equivalent (sorry, I don’t know what the Italian or American equivalent body is called). Or your Embassy.
As you say, Machine, common sense does not seem to be involved.
Doug Bremner is another white knight who wants to save Amanda Knox from the dastardly Italians. He’s made the deeply racist and xenophobic claim on his blog that corruption is endemic in Italy:
“That corruption is endemic in Italy is a fact.”
He goes on to repeat the FOA myth that Mignini had bizarre theories about satanic cults:
“The prosecutor also had bizarre theories about satanic cults that were just imagination.”
He tries to justify Amanda Knox’s repeated lies with the demonstrably false claim that she was interrogated for 43 straight hours:
“AK was interrogated for 43 straight hours by 12 different investigators who used “tag team” techniques that are not used in most civilized countries. That is called coercion.”
Doug Bremner is clearly ignorant of the fact that Amanda Knox lied to Filomena and the postal police on 2 November 2007 and to her friends in an e-mail on 4 November 2007.
Doug Bremner thinks that the bare bloody footprint on the blue bathmat was a shoeprint:
“Sollecito left a visible bloody footprint on the blue bathmat.” (Harry Rag).
“the shoe marks did not match his shoe.” (Doug Bremner).
If Doug Bremner had bothered to read the Massei report, he would have known that the bloody footprint on the blue bathmat matched the precise characteristics of Sollecito’s foot, but couldn’t possibly belong to Rudy Guede.
He erroneously claims that there was no evidence of cleaning:
“There were no footprints in the room and no evidence of cleaning, a fact glossed over by most commentators.”
Judge Micheli and Judge Massei both stated that there was evidence of a clean-up at the cottage. Somebody had clearly cleaned up the trail of bloody footprints leading up to the visible bloody footprint on the blue bathmat. The scientific police applied luminol to the hallway and the bare bloody footprints of Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito magically reappeared. Luminol also revealed that Meredith’s blood had also been cleaned away in Filomena’s room and Amanda Knox’s room.
Doug Bremner suggests the abundant amount of Sollecito’s DNA on Meredith’s bra clasp was the result of contamination:
“This was found SIX WEEKS after the murder and had been moved from its original location, which raises the possibility of contamination.”
Predictably, Doug Bremner doesn’t explain how this contamination occurred.
Doug Bremner…Anne Bremner…is this a ‘family thing’? How many more Bremners are there!?
I see there is also a Steve Bremner commenting on Doug Bremner’s blog. I have just read all the comments under Doug Bremner’s post.
They do sound beleagured and very out-numbered on the mental illness and brain damage claims as the true cause of Anne Bremner’s behavior and on the facts of Meredith’s case.
Maligning Italy and the justice system and prosecutor with made-up facts is a totally losing position for the FOA cause and the Bremner family enterprise.
Maligning those who are showing that Anne Bremner also has trouble with the truth in directions other than Amanda Knox’s case is also a totally losing position for the FOA cause and the Bremner family enterprise.
As our various lawyers are pointing out in the emails now, they seriously need a Plan B which accomodates to the Massei Report and the truths about Italy, the system, and the prosecutor. And to the hard truth about Anne Bremner on the night.
I agree, this FBI agent´s retirement must be getting to his head. His attempts at explaining away Amanda´s guilt are so formulaic that they become cruel . According to statistics Amanda doesn´t fit the expected pattern of a violent killer , his philistine condemnation of Rudy Guede , implying that the whole crime was commited by “that drifter” and his callous failure to even mention Meredith´s name reveal him to be the soulless , hypocritical official that has probably been throughout his whole career. Blind to facts and justice.
By Storm Roberts (Innai)
I would like to ask people such as Mr. Moore precisely how they think their actions are helping Amanda Knox.
She is being tried in Italy, and, from what I have seen, please correct me if I am wrong, the Italian reactions have been somewhere in the range of mildly amused (in the what on earth are they playing at kind of way - amused may not be quite the right word, maybe bemused would be better) to the annoyance as evidenced most recently by Mr. Biscotti.
Amanda Knox has a great team of lawyers in Mr. Ghirga and Mr. Dalla Vedova - she does not need the international waters to be muddied by actions such as these from home. I wonder why this isn’t clear to those who present themselves in the American media to talk on this case.
Has anyone gotten information affirming that Steve Moore actually worked for the FBI? If yes, have they determined in what capacity? Anyone can claim they worked for the FBI, even if they were a janitor. What actual credentials does Steve Moore possess that would make him a credible authority on anything related to this case? Apparently the Knox/Mellas circus is willing to hire anyone that will give even the false appearance of credibility. Desperate attempts from people who claim AK to be innocent. If they REALLY believed her to be innocent, none of this showboating would be necessary and their efforts would be directed at providing additional legal counsel and forensic experts. They claim that she was “tried in the court of public opinion”, but isn’t that exactly what they are attempting to do? No one with any speck of intelligence would think she is the innocent they claim her to be, so they surely must know they are trying to free a guilty person, though they won’t admit it. Every day I pray that Amanda will break down and tell the truth and show them all for the fools they really are.
9/9/10
Mo-in-Mass, you asked about Steve Moore. Yes, he is a real former FBI agent according to posts on PMF several days ago.
I am pro-FBI, but go to a website called:
SignOnSanDiego Forums FBI watch Page 196. Scroll down to post #2934 through #2936. These discuss the suicide of FBI agent Brad Doucette. Moore was working with him.
Steve Moore is quoted on post #2936 where he said of Doucette: “If he had a fault, it was that he cared too much.” Moore said, “When you are a paramedic and see people die, you shouldn’t dwell on their death and the loss. It’s called building walls.” Doucette “couldn’t build those walls,” Moore said.
Mr. Moore has used the analogy in the Knox case, he said on TV he’s like a physician who sees a car wreck and must give assistance.
I also found an actual Steve Moore FBI site where it listed his jobs and info, but I lost the address.
He was stationed in Guam, but about a year after the Doucette disaster (brought on from 9/11 stress, so terribly sad about Doucette), Moore asked for a transfer or something and he’s now an FBI pilot.
Seems Doucette grew up for some years in Washington State. Doucette’s wife, Suzzane, was an FBI agent, too. She was sexually assaulted by someone at the bureau and driven out of Bureau by stress after she complained. She and Brad ended up in Chevy Chase, Maryland attached to Washington D.C. after 9/11. Stress on agents was through the roof.
Quoting from above website: “After 9/11 the atmosphere throughout the bureau became taut. Moore was one of 3 agents who helped Doucette pore over a stack of investigative leads every morning. “It took four of us just to get through that stack every day by noon,” Moore said.
The poster on these SignOnSanDiego Forums is named fruhmenschen.
Where next:
Click here to return to The Top Of The Front PageOr to next entry Steve Moore Really, Really Believes Amanda Knox’s Alibi #5! Or Was That Alibi #7?
Or to previous entry Could Michael Heavey’s Muddled Stance Be Facilitating Future Killers?