Wednesday, June 06, 2012

Action On Dr Galati’s Appeal To The Supreme Court Today Moved Ominously Closer

Posted by Peter Quennell



[Italy’s Supreme Court of Cassation is the large structure at right background]


The ANSA news service is reporting today that Dr Galati’s appeal was formally accepted by the Supreme Court on 15 May.

The case has just been assigned to the First Criminal Division of the Supreme Court which is responsible for appeals involving murder. A hearing and outcome which could involve the appeal being punted back to Perugia to be done again properly might be expected in about seven months.

Still no word from Sollecito or Knox or their teams about the exceptionally tough appeal Dr Galati filed against Judge Hellman’s interim verdict releasing them. Our Italian lawyers are surprised that there has been no announcement of any new legal help.

Do the still-accused or their families understand what is about to hit them? Cassation appeals are considered very specialised and certain Rome lawyers make a good living doing nothing but handle them. 

Dr Galati was a deputy chief prosecutor at the Supreme Court and would seem to have the Knox and Sollecito teams who are inexperienced at that level thoroughly out-matched. If Knox fails to appear at any appeal trial re-run she would lose the advantage of personalising her own plight with the help of her flash-mob in the court.

In Italy there is enormous suspicion that politics and money played roles in bending the outcome the last time around. The prosecution clearly felt that, and there seems a good chance the full story will not remain hidden.

We also hear that the continued rabid postings of Curt Knox’s hatchetmen are increasingly under the microscope. No sign their campaign does anything but hurt. It sure put real resolve into this appeal.

Comments

I understand that the Curt Knox and Edda Mellas defamation hearing is now scheduled for January 24, 2013 (also seven months time).

Posted by starsdad on 06/07/12 at 12:06 AM | #

Of course the media is pretty silent on this development.

Posted by Jeff Friend on 06/07/12 at 08:23 AM | #

Hi Starsdad.

This looks to be a tough one for Curt and Edda to win, especially if the appeal trial has to be done over again, though any judgment against them will be mild compared to what could have been incurred in the US or UK.

As you know that calunnia suit is being brought by the police officers who were involved with the interrogation that night, Knox’s voluntary questioning as a witness, in which Mignini was not at all involved. The Machine will post soon on the many deliberate myths propagated about that interrogation.

Nothing much would have happened if Sollecito, who was being interrogated in the next room, had not thrown Amanda Knox to the wolves when his phone record showed he had lied. Knox then came out with her description of having been at the house while her employer, Patrick, murdered Meredith.

Early in the morning she asked to write up those same claims (why?) and Mignini was called in simply to watch her do that. He asked no questions of his own. Much later Knox claimed she was abused but she cannot identify by who, and on the stand at trial in 2009 she pretty well retracted all.

Her prison conversations with her parents were all recorded and they could come to be played to be precise about what they were told. That the defense team have apparently not asked for those tapes suggests they dont really want them played. Do they have any strong points? Hard to see any.

Posted by Peter Quennell on 06/07/12 at 01:09 PM | #

There is a particular saying of which I am proud to repeat here.

“IF YOU HAVE PATIENCE AND A PLAN THEN ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE.”

and so it goes. Personally I don’t care how long it takes for ‘True Justice for Meredith’ to be served but served it will be.

Thank you Peter as always

Posted by Grahame Rhodes on 06/07/12 at 04:35 PM | #

Again we must wait. How tiresome for those of us impatient of results. Yet Peter is surely right, now we know the Supreme Court will hear the prosecution appeal early next year, maybe around the time that Amanda’s book appears.

Any stir that her book may cause must reinforce the urgency of the court’s deliberations, a foreseeable success contributing the influence of an awakened public interest in the final outcome of the tragic death poor Meredith suffered on that same night when Amanda Knox was the only housemate home, or in town.

I am coming around to Peter’s stronger conviction that justice will be done, at last. Pray God it’s true.

Posted by Ernest Werner on 06/10/12 at 09:40 AM | #

I’m getting quite nervous actually.

Posted by James Higham on 06/11/12 at 04:32 PM | #

Post A Comment

Smileys



Where next:

Click here to return to The Top Of The Front Page

Or to next entry Today And Tomorrow Are Really Key Days For The Italian Economy If Future Sums Are To Work

Or to previous entry Andrea Vogt Reports First-Hand On The Earthquakes That Have Hit Italy’s Economic Epicenter