Wednesday, January 29, 2014

Continuing Enormous Strength Of The Evidence Which Defenses Seem To Have Abysmally Failed To Shake

Posted by Our Main Posters



[Above Judge Massei at Meredith’s house with panel-of-judges members early 2009]


What this Florence appeal is REALLY about

There is much confusion on this, sowed by various at-distance commentators who don’t read the Italian press or the excellent English-language reporters right there on the spot.

This is NOT a re-trial. This is a FIRST appeal by Sollecito and Knox against the guilty verdicts and sentences Judge Massei awarded them late in 2009. It is being repeated since their defense teams helped to bend the first (Hellmann court) iteration of the first appeal two years ago.

Since the end of 2009 they have been provisionally guilty of murder and other crimes, subject to final ratification by the Supreme Court, which has not yet occurred. Judge Hellmann decided to let them out and travel worldwide. Many think his decision on this was legally weak.

Was there prime-face justification for this appeal?

Under US and UK law many lawyers and judges think the judicial process could have stopped right there in the US and UK, because the grounds for appeal the defenses came up with in 2010 were essentially innuendo about DNA and little else.

But the pro-defendant Italian system unlike almost any other in the world allows appeals if any are filed to automatically go forward. So the bent, stretched-out and illegally wide-scope Hellmann appeal of 2011 was the first result.

Appointed apparently in illegal circumstances to replace the highly-qualified Judge Chiari (the lead-judge for criminal appeals, who then resigned) Judge Hellmann was ill-qualified at best - he was not a criminal judge and had handled only one other murder trial before, which he got wrong.

The annulment of the first first-appeal

The Supreme Court very rarely completely annuls any trial or appeal. But in this case in March 2013 it did just that, on a large number of grounds.

The 2013-2014 Nencini appeal court in Florence starts with the early-2010 Massei report plus new guidelines from the Supreme Court. Nothing else floated since early 2010 counts.

This case seems to break all records ever for (1) defamatory and dishonest PR; (2) dirty tricks, many illegal, by the defense; (3) dishonesty by those accused in two defamatory books and multiple statements to the press; and (4) greed and blood money while the process still goes on.

Contempt of court trials and investigations have commenced to push back, Amanda Knox is particularly at risk because her book contains false accusations of crimes (again) and she defies the Supreme Court in not paying Mr Lumumba his damages though she destroyed his business. 

Suggested Reading: Part One

Sooner or later (no necessarily now) read all the must-read posts in this group here, all the open questions for Sollecito in this group here, and all the open questions for Amanda Knox in this group here.

1. Getting up to speed on the 2008 RS and AK charges

Our four-part summary of Judge Micheli’s report is the best thing to read (scroll down) especially Micheli’s argument that ONLY Knox had any reason to re-arrange the crime scene - she lived there and needed to point evidence away from herself.

Also read Amanda Knox’s and Raffaele Sollecito’s many mutually contradictory attempts to provide one alibi for both.

2. Getting up to speed on the 2009 RS and AK trial

The prosecution performed brilliantly and left the defenses despondent and out-classed (paving the way for more dirty tricks in 2010-13) and we were told that two defense lawyers nearly walked off.

To get a flavor of how badly the defenses did, read this post and this post on Knox’s absolutely disastrous stint on the stand. From there the defense portion of the trial really went downhill.

To get a flavor of how well the prosecution did read about the damning reconstruction (known about in all of Italy but not widely elsewhere) described here and here.

3. Getting up to speed on the Massei 2010 Report

The most vital read of all is the short-form version of the Massei Report by Skeptical Bystander and a team on PMF dot Org. If you have no time to read any posts, make sure to read that.

The other vital reads, not here but on the new “The Murder Of Meredith Kercher Wiki”, are the overview of the evidence and the chart of evidence synopsis.

We had a large number of posts starting in 2010 checking out whether in all details the Massei Report got it right. Read this first take.

4. Getting up to speed on the crime-scene scenario

Vital to understanding the Massei court’s crime-scene scenario which Prosecutor Crini espouses, wade through this excellent reconstruction of the crime in a long Powerpoint by our lawyer James Raper with the Powerpoint whizz Kermit.

About Part Two

The next part of our most-recommended reading from 2010 to 2014 will follow after the verdict to help correct the ill-informed debate over whether Knox goes back to jail.

It hardens the case and in our view leaves no holes for RS and AK to wiggle through. We will point the post to those arguments that anyone tries to raise.

Comments

“I don’t remember any case which has been as highly publicized and where the countries have taken sides,” noted defense attorney Alan Dershowitz, who has written about the case.

And who do we have to thank for that???

Posted by chrrypi on 01/29/14 at 10:31 PM | #

Hi chrrypi

Alan knows full well - but also he goes where the money and spotlight flow.

I hope he doesnt jump as the foolish and now-ineffective Ted Simon did.

Posted by Peter Quennell on 01/29/14 at 10:42 PM | #

I doubt rumors the State Department is saying Knox wont be sent back.

They NEVER act to help druggies, and there is no paper trail to help.

Also theres excellent well-prepared legal help (and a lot of Italian American politicians) waiting in the wings.

Italian rules for senior justice staff forbid them acting to hit back before the fat lady sings.

Knox could face legal trouble for her hard line (or Chris Mellas’s hard line) all the rest of her life.

The first new charges against her will be for her book.

Posted by Peter Quennell on 01/29/14 at 11:03 PM | #

IN my opinion, all the lame interviewers, who have pitched “soft-ball” questions to both Knox and Sollecito have, wittingly or unwittingly, given succour to their respective PR machines.

How many times have we heard Knox, in TV interviews, state that she has served “four years for a crime I did not commit”.

Every single interviewer was so busy kissing Knox’s ass that it did not occur to them to point out to the great fantasist/deceiver that she had been convicted of calumnia,(i.e. she is a proven liar), and that conviction had contributed most, if not all, of the four year prison sentence that she has served - so drop the “innocent sufferer” crap, Knox.

Tomorrow, please God, we shall have the Justice for Meredith, for which this site has, nobly and unfailingly, always campaigned.

Posted by Mealer on 01/29/14 at 11:06 PM | #

Hi Mealer

Good comment. You are right. They are way too quick to kiss her ass. However in the long run the Italians simply cannot lose.

1) There is too much politically at stake and State wont thumb their noses at a well justified extradition request.

2) They already because of the mafia angle have the FBI on their side.

3) Coming down the pike is the criminal trial in Italy and civil trial here over the many defamatory claims in Knox’s book.

4) Sooner or later those who bent the Hellmann trial are going to be exposed.

5) Meanwhile let Knox enjoy an Interpol Red Notice instruction for world wide arrest.

With all that there is no way she can foot the bills or even get a decent job.

Posted by Peter Quennell on 01/29/14 at 11:17 PM | #

Once State hears all the mafia angle and Hellmann court corruption (and the Foreign Affaairs committees in Congress) they wont want to touch this one with a ten foot pole.

http://www.truejustice.org/ee/index.php?/tjmk/C700/

Posted by Peter Quennell on 01/30/14 at 12:04 AM | #

Hi Mealer
Hi Peter

Thoroughly concur with both of your comments. It would be political suicide if the States did not grant extradition of Knox to Italy, also it would be against the spirit of the treaty that was pushed by the Reagan administration.

I really don’t see a problem, because if there is a lot of goodwill will go out the window.

Finally, our thoughts to Meredith and her family, and here’s hoping Judge Nencini really brings down the hammer to this diabolical duo

Posted by forres on 01/30/14 at 12:19 AM | #

@mealer

Very well put. It always comes back (for me) to the damn media. The Knox bunch and their PR effort would have surely already have bitten the bullet and gone quietly and humbly to face justice if it weren’t for the supine and craven journalists on TV and in the press.

There should be an inquest into their behaviour when this is all over. They might be asked amongst other things what precisely they imagine their role is in our society.

Posted by Odysseus on 01/30/14 at 12:23 AM | #

Snowed in, so can’t light a candle for Meredith except at home. Winter storms have shut down the U.S. I did light a candle for the verdict, but felt it was too a small gesture for Meredith.

By chance the candle was placed on top of a brochure from today’s mail advertising a seminar on Revelation. The angels in white, beasts, winged lion in full color and hosts of heaven led by Christ on white horse with sword of judgment, seemed comforting.

May Judge Crini and the Florence jury make the right decision no matter what. May we all have the grace to accept it.

Posted by Hopeful on 01/30/14 at 12:47 AM | #

Nick Squires in the Telegraph seems a bit more factual in his reporting. Maybe the tweeting has helped!

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/italy/10604730/Amanda-Knox-should-be-in-court-for-Meredith-Kercher-murder-retrial-verdict.html

Posted by Odysseus on 01/30/14 at 01:12 AM | #

Deep and caring thoughts tonight for the Kercher family and all those who loved Meredith .

May justice be delivered, and may the clear light shine through the chaos of entanglement and fictions.

Posted by SeekingUnderstanding on 01/30/14 at 01:48 AM | #

Could hardly sleep the night before the Hellman annulment, feeling calm and confident over tomorrow’s verdict. Squires article much better than previous although he does mention the lone wolf rubbish at the end, at least he used an up to date photo of AK, she looks terrible, guilt taking its toll?

Posted by Urbanist on 01/30/14 at 02:03 AM | #

At 26,Knox has the creases and collagen loss of a 50 year old. What will 20 more years of incarceration do to her? She should hit the donut stand and pack a little of that adorable puppy fat back on while she still has a chance. I’m sorry, was that mean- spirited? But, seriously, she looks as old as my 52 year old stepmom.

Posted by mimi on 01/30/14 at 03:38 AM | #

yawn, another booklet by the Focksy Knocksy expert lumberjacks, no idiot left behind, makes good jailhouse reading:

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/amanda-knox-retrial-new-book-3092126#.Uum3jqE27W8

Posted by Bjorn on 01/30/14 at 04:29 AM | #

This post was an excellent idea and I’m definitely hoping it will give many new readers a place to start.  Thank you for your sustained efforts to stand up to the chronic disinformation in the media and fingers crossed that tomorrow will finally bring justice to Meredith and her family.

My thoughts are with Stephanie and Lyle, as well as their parents and brothers at home, and with anyone who knew and loved Meredith.

Posted by Vivianna on 01/30/14 at 05:12 AM | #

The 30th of January is here at last, and at last we will have a verdict.
I am in Qatar at the moment so time is a couple of hours forward from mainland Europe.

Is the verdict expected to be announced at a particular time?

I wonder if the deadly duo slept well last night? Perhaps they did.

As time marches on we get are getting closer and closer to Justice for Meredith and at least the Kercher family will have a smidgen of closure, although nothing will bring Meredith back.

There will be another appeal after this no doubt but it is to be expected from squirming murderers, losers, their handlers and public relations agents.

Posted by DF2K on 01/30/14 at 08:56 AM | #

Is it right it could take at least another 12 months for this to finally come to an end?

Posted by distemper on 01/30/14 at 11:20 AM | #

Latest from Andrea Vogt Twitter reporting from Florence courtroom:

” Judge and jury in #amandaknox case have retreated for deliberations. Verdict not before 5 pm Italy time. “

https://twitter.com/andreavogt

Posted by True North on 01/30/14 at 11:50 AM | #

Whatever the verdict, my attitude will be the same as the Kercher family’s.  They have stated that they have no choice other than to accept the court’s verdict.  They clearly didn’t believe in the Hellman verdict [and it was subsequently annulled] but they kept their dignity and said they had no choice but to go along with the court.

So if the court, in its wisdom this time round, frees Knox and/or Sollecito, we need to accept that that is the court’s verdict. 

Obviously, in the light of all the posts over all these years, we don’t believe the two should be released but if the court says that, then let it be so, pending prosecution appeal.

Can’t see it but still ...

One thing is for sure though.  Italian justice is just as good, if not better, than that of other western nations, they are softer towards the accused than in many countries and assertions in America that Italy is a joke are so ignorant as to be not worthy of further comment.

Posted by James Higham on 01/30/14 at 12:26 PM | #

@James Higham

I too agree.

Posted by chami on 01/30/14 at 12:40 PM | #

New story in English just posted by the Daily Telegraph with repoirts from Nick Pisa etc.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/italy/10607258/Amanda-Knox-and-Raffaele-Sollecito-murder-verdict-live.html

Posted by Peter Quennell on 01/30/14 at 05:38 PM | #

Their futures are with the deliberators only time will explain. It is difficult to see how the original verdict could be gainsaid, there is nothing but the motive which has changed. My thoughts are with the Kercher family as all ways, and now as we wait, I write to keep the tension at bay. And to remember, there against the wardrobe by her narrow bed she lay. The ghastly stillness has its horrors still, the blood has dried where it had once been spilled. She went down beneath that avalanche of bestial savagery still struggling and facing her antagonists and at the last an infinite scream passed through nature, heard by the listening hollows only.  I remember so clearly on that winters day when she was carried in solemn procession to the grave grim and grey, surrounded by flowers that held some winter berries set in wild array, green leaves gathered from the places she used to play, flowers that grow in any soil, works its sweet miracles undaunted by autumn weather or winter snow, blooming fair and fragrant all the year, and blessing those who give and those who receive. She would have wished it that way, “ the bloom should be one which here becomes us, unpins from the sky, the bright sun, the lark singing overhead in the dawn chorus.”

She never gave anything but a cold body to her killers, a cold forced silence in the short time she had left to live, nothing but struggle would she give. In the end all this dark light around her told its story, one of horror to the midnight wind, how it was confined to an almost naked body in which a fragile hope for life began to die. Her family, they remember the beat of her heart, her single minded love and shared her sweet honeyed kiss, one incapable of deceit, that wrapped up even the coldest dawn in the warmth of the earth. God bless you Meredith

Posted by Macthomas on 01/30/14 at 07:34 PM | #

Comments should work over here. I think there must be a maximum of 100 per article.

Posted by Spencer on 01/31/14 at 01:37 PM | #

Italian justice works slowly, but surely.

Any more detail on the judge’s comment “Dalla Vedova should change jobs?”

Meanwhile, Knox is acting and sounding like a guilty fugitive, rather than someone who thinks they are wrongly convicted.

Posted by bobc on 01/31/14 at 02:11 PM | #

Kercher family press conference:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bXp_ynvvHOo

Posted by Spencer on 01/31/14 at 02:13 PM | #

Please do re-post comments in this thread…especially tigger34 and anyone else who doesn’t usually post…would like to hear from you.

Posted by SeekingUnderstanding on 01/31/14 at 03:00 PM | #

Italian justice works slowly, but surely.

Any more detail on the judge’s comment “Dalla Vedova should change jobs?”

Meanwhile, Knox is acting and sounding like a guilty fugitive, rather than someone who thinks they are wrongly convicted.

Posted by bobc on 01/31/14 at 06:10 PM | #

Hi bobc

Maybe Machiavelli inserted that remark as a joke but it is a common observation among the watching legal community in Italy.

Dalla Vedova’s problem is in fact identical to Judge Hellmann’s: HE IS A BUSINESS LAWYER for ferks sake!

More than anyone Dalla Vedova has (1) made myriad mistakes, (2) falsified the evidence in conversation, (3) played dirty tricks and (4) acted like like he’s God’s Gift.

Knox was NOT well advised by him. (Nor by anyone else in her camp but thats another matter.)

Posted by Peter Quennell on 01/31/14 at 06:40 PM | #

The comments that were over the 100 limit and not showing on the next post above now all show. Please check them out.

Posted by Peter Quennell on 01/31/14 at 08:43 PM | #

I agree Vedova does not seem to be fully acquainted with some legal aspects, although I leave some room for lawyerly rhetoric. If the judge is suggesting that he is incompetent to represent his client, that would seem to be grounds for appeal. I don’t want to see these two spinning things out further.

During a summary judgement is an odd place for the judge to make a joke. I think the reason Vedova and others have floundered is because the case against them is overwhelming. I don’t think better lawyers for Knox and Sollecito would have made a difference, even if they made less gaffes.

Posted by bobc on 01/31/14 at 08:53 PM | #

Ah, I see it was Machiavelli’s joke not the judges. Humour does not always comes across well in tweet form.

Now I am not sure which tweets are jokes and which relay genuine information. Very confusing. Perhaps I should follow my normal policy and ignore everything on Twitter.

Posted by bobc on 01/31/14 at 09:01 PM | #

Hi bobc

You are right, all tweet streams seem to veer off into private conversation, often in response to an incoming as actually happened here. My fault forleaving it in. It seemed funny and accurate at the time. We didnt use tweets in 2009 and 2011 and this real-time reporting gave it an edge. Its been a very good tool for us.

Posted by Peter Quennell on 01/31/14 at 09:39 PM | #

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Or to next entry Appeal Session #10: After Defense Remarks Panel Of Judges Reaches Its Decision: BOTH GUILTY

Or to previous entry Strong Proof That Raffaele Sollecito Also Stabbed Meredith Kercher Causing The Lesser Wound.