Tuesday, January 18, 2011
Inaccurate Report By The Associated Press Carried By Over 2,000 Media Sites
Posted by Peter Quennell
Above is one inaccurate headline. The witness Curatolo has NOT been convicted of drug dealing. No reason to be feeling encouraged. .
1) From the original A&P release last Saturday
That Antonio Curatolo, the eye-witness in the park, had already been convicted was maybe mischievously planted by Luciano Ghirga (image below) the hands-on lawyer for Amanda Knox.
Or maybe he just made a mistake. This wrong fact was then widely quoted in commentary and blog posts. Total search hits are over 2,000.
A defense lawyer for Amanda Knox, the U.S. college student serving a 26-year prison sentence for the murder of her British roommate, expressed optimism Saturday that a drug charge conviction of a prosecution witness might help the American in her appeal in Italy.
The defense always maintained that Antonio Curatolo, a homeless man in the university town of Perugia, wasn’t a credible witness, Luciano Ghirga told The Associated Press in Rome.
Perugia court offices were closed Saturday, and officials could not be reached to confirm Italian news reports that Curatolo had been convicted earlier in the week for dealing drugs. It wasn’t immediately known what his sentence was or if he had been jailed….
“We have always said that he was not a credible witness,” Ghirga said, referring to Curatolo. “It was the court that held he was credible.” The drug charge conviction “will be an additional thing to help prove the witness is not credible,” Ghirga said in a phone interview.
2) From the A&P correction issued today.
This release states that Curatolo has NOT been convicted. As of noon New York time on Tuesday the number of sites carrying this correction is less than 1,000.
ROME “” In a Jan. 15 story about a prosecution witness in the Perugia murder trial of U.S. college student Amanda Knox, The Associated Press, relying on information from a lawyer, erroneously reported that the witness, Antonio Curatolo, had been convicted on a drug charge. Curatolo has been ordered to stand trial on a drug charge, but has not been convicted.
The defenses are seeming pretty desperate. Understandably so. Luckily for justice for Meredith, in Italy as in the US and UK the defenses cannot use a mere charge against a witness to discredit them on the stand.
Posted by Peter Quennell on 01/18/11 at 08:58 PM in Evidence & Witnesses, Other witnesses, News media & movies, Hoaxers: media groups, Assoc Press
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“ In Italy as in the US and UK the defense cannot use a mere charge against a witness to discredit them on the stand. “
Not only the “mere charge†but also the conviction: excerpt from page 36 and 37 of appeal written by Giulia Bongiorno and Luca Maori
“ ...4. Ovviamente, l’attendibilità dei testi non può essere messa in crisi nè a causa dello stato detentivo, nè a ragione dei crimini contestati, non potendo derivare da tali fattori (inconferenti rispetto al fatto narrato), sic et simpliciter, una presunzione di inaffidabilità delle dichiarazioni rese.
Basti solo considerare che, nel nostro sistema, anche nei confronti dei collaboratori di giustizia (c.d. pentiti), che in genere si sono macchiati dei più terribili reati, non esiste una presunzione di inattendibilità e l’indagine sulla credibilità deve essere compiuta dal Giudice prescindendo dalle qualità morali della persona.
Per di più, ai sensi del 2° comma dell’art. 603 c.p.p., trattandosi di prove sopravvenute, l’assunzione delle testimonianze di Alessi, De Cesare, Castelluccio e Trinca deve essere disposta dal Giudice, salvo che non sia vietata dalla legge o manifestamente superflua o irrilevante. ….â€
Discredit to Curatolo travels with discredit to Alessi.
Posted by ncountryside on 01/18/11 at 09:45 PM | #
Luciano Ghirga has seriously damaged his own credibility by making this false claim in the media.
Posted by The Machine on 01/18/11 at 09:47 PM | #
Perhaps he meant to say “a drug charge conviction…” instead of “the drug charge conviction…”. Either way, the media did not help their case in the past, nor will it help their appeals in the future.
The Italian judicial system is far more solid than that, as are all the professionals and experts involved. At this stage, the Defence are clutching at straws…
Posted by Terence on 01/19/11 at 10:28 AM | #
It’s curious that the Knox Groupies are slavering over Curatolo’s alleged drug use, stating it makes him unreliable, whereas SELF-CONFESSED drug-users, Knox and Sollecito, are absolutely honest and reliable. The hypocrisy of the Knoxophiles is sickening.
Posted by Janus on 01/19/11 at 12:38 PM | #
This is reassuring in my hope that we will never hear from Knox again. I’m concerned that she will get off on one of the appeals.
Posted by DougPDX on 01/21/11 at 11:02 AM | #
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