US Overreaction: Amanda Knox’s Own Lawyer Groans “That’s All We Need, Hillary Clinton”
This is from an earlier report by Beth Hale and Daniel Bates in the Daily Mail
Hillary Clinton has been drawn into the battle to overturn Amanda Knox’s conviction. Amid a growing U.S. backlash against the verdict, the American Secretary of State has agreed to meet a senator from 22-year-old Knox’s home state of Washington.
[Senator Cantwell] said she was concerned there had been an ‘anti-American’ feeling at the trial and said she would be raising her concerns with Mrs Clinton…
Luciano Ghirga said: ‘That’s all we need, Hillary Clinton involved. I have the same political sympathies as Hillary but this sort of thing does not help us in any way.’
Prosecutor Giuliano Mignini said: ‘This senator should not interfere in something she has no idea about. I am happy with how the trial went.’
And this below is from a new report by Nick Pisa in the Daily Mail
It quotes the prosecutor as saying that the case was taken before NINETEEN Italian judges. Such caution is not an everyday occurrence in US justice, that is for sure.
Italy reacted with anger today as a transatlantic war of words broke out with the United States over the Amanda Knox murder trial.
Prosecutors involved in the case were outraged that their handling and the Italian judicial system had been called into question, while newspapers published front page editorials saying they would not take ‘lessons from America.’
It came as it emerged US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton had said she would look into Knox’s case after Marie Cantwell, a senator in the jailed student’s home state of Washington, said she was ‘concerned’ about the trial.
In a front page editorial headlined ‘Passport and Justice’ Corriere Della Sera stormed: ‘Once again here we have rule number one for an American accused of a crime abroad - it doesn’t matter if they are innocent or guilty all that counts is their passport.’
Inside it continued under the heading: ‘When an American passport is as valuable as an alibi,’ and recalled an infamous incident in 1998 when a US pilot escaped justice, despite flying through a cable sending a ski gondola crashing into a mountain and killing 20 people at Cermis in the Italian Alps.
It added: ‘Amanda was tried abroad so her defence campaign have enlisted the help of the State Department. This same administration can’t close Guantanamo but it can find the time to attack the sentence in Perugia.’
Its story on Mrs Clinton’s involvement added America had been reacting as if Knox had ‘ended up in the hands of some despotic regime,’ and said: ‘America is just waiting to send a platoon of Marines over to rescue the poor girl.’
Il Messaggero also ran an editorial on its front page under the headline ‘Unacceptable Lessons’ and also compared it to the Cermis incident.
It wrote: ‘If there is any ground upon which our country will not be taught lessons on civility and respect from anyone, the United States included, then it is the penal process.
‘The United States allows the death penalty for minors in some states, as does countries where the high level of civic justice found in Italy is unheard of, such as Iran, Iraq, Nigeria, Pakistan and Yemen.
‘If Hilary Clinton wants to meet these “doubters” then maybe she can also find the time to look into the cases of numerous Italians held in American prisons for non existent motives and crimes they have not committed.’
There was also criticism of Senator Cantwell’s suggestions the trial was anti-American as many pointed out that ‘an Italian Raffaele Sollecito, was also jailed.’...
Knox prosecutor Giuliano Mignini also hit out at the criticism and said: ‘I am happy. In my conscience I know I have done my duty. It is never easy to ask for a life sentence.
‘That’s especially true in this case where the accused were in their twenties. I have three children who are more or less the same age. Asking for life was the right punishment for the crime.
‘I am not prepared to take criticism from the Americans on how the prosecution and investigators carried out their work.
‘The case went before 19 judges in the end at various levels from a preliminary hearing, through to three levels of re-examination (bail hearings) and all found in the prosecution’s favour.’
Here is some highly recommended reading for the Senator and (f they need it) the State Department.
Posted by Peter Quennell on 12/07/09 at 11:03 PM in The officially involved, The defenses, The wider contexts, N America context, Hoaxers from 2007, Knox-Marriott PR
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I’m so disappointed - now even The Times of London have joined in…
They have only quote Anne Bremner - and no one connected to Meredith or the Italian Justice System.
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/law/article6947979.ece
Do journalists not take the trouble to do ANY research any more :(
Posted by SallySally on 12/08/09 at 12:18 AM | #
The Times. The Comments area is open, directly beneath this (unsigned) piece that SallySally above kindly pointed us to.
Fired-up readers could help our campaign for sanity, good reporting and fairness for Meredith here immensely by placing links to TJMK in all Comments areas like that one.
There are now several dozen Comments area open every day, and new readers tell us they really appreciate being sent here to examine the full evidence for themselves.
By this wednesday latest, we will have a new evidence road-map page up and running, to help to guide the new folks on arrival.
Posted by Peter Quennell on 12/08/09 at 12:31 AM | #
Politics Daily Melinda Henneberger stokes the xenophobia. Not exactly her finest hour.
There are nearly seven hundred comments right now. Superficial but sometimes revealing. Anyone who thinks the US should send the stealth bombers to take out say Venice seems to get rated five stars.
THANKS to a kind reader who emailed us the link to this one. Appreciated. Please read the advice just above? Links toi TJMK really help.
Posted by Peter Quennell on 12/08/09 at 12:56 AM | #
The article on Politics Daily clearly shows the ignorance of that journalist about the case. Where did she read that Rudy Guede confessed to the crime?
I also question her claim that she wrote articles about law when she lived in Italy. If she had, and if she actually attended any trial in a Court of Assize (the only ones with lay jurors), she would have noticed that jurors AT ALL TRIALS are required to wear the banner with the colors of the Italian flags when the verdict is rendered. That’s the law and it has nothing to do with nationalism.
Posted by Commissario Montalbano on 12/08/09 at 02:19 AM | #
CNN and the local Seattle media are the absolute worst. One of the channels only quoted Knox’s family. Then their reporter said “there is still hope left”.
Senator Cantwell is a good senator, but her education was in public administration, not criminal law. Endorsing FOA xenophobia was highly unusual for her being a careful politician. There is a vocal, possibly sizeable crowd here in Seattle that thinks Italy is a 3rd world country. A lot of intellectual dishonesty exists in Seattle. Many people have no problem pinning it on the black guy. But there is no way such a pretty white girl from Seattle could do such a thing.
Posted by stevema14420 on 12/08/09 at 03:53 AM | #
having followed TJMK for the entire 2 years, i am hoping the “evidence roadmap” that you speak of will be a concise, point by point addressing of every piece of evidence. if one watches american television and gets bits and pieces or even looks at this site’s posts for the last several months, it is still almost impossible to grasp the accurate picture that this site has painted. people need to start at the beginning and see the case evolve - THEN and only then does one get the WHOLE PICTURE and see what “tangled web of lies” is woven by amanda and raf.
Posted by gramjan on 12/08/09 at 06:30 AM | #
Thanks gramjam. We’ll get it up in draft and invite you to kick the tires.
Posted by Peter Quennell on 12/08/09 at 06:46 AM | #
I hope your evidence roadmap in non biased and includes both sides of the argument. Much of the evidence is contested. It will take a lot of work on your part to get it right. A timeline along with it would be great.
It would be great if a non biased news outlet would do a 6 hour documentary on the murder covering every bit of evidence and the trial. That would take a ton of work and time.
And please don’t post any more news articles with the inflammatory “Foxy Knoxy” nickname. It was a childhood soccer nickname.
Peter. Please tell the whole story.
Posted by kendall on 12/08/09 at 08:48 AM | #
Peter,
Would you and your folks PLEASE hurry up and pen “The Complete Idiot’s Guide to the Amanda Knox Sentencing” so the media might have some sort of compass? They are more out of hand now than during the trial, and not only on the western side of the Atlantic…Just because a “news outlet” says that there’s an “American Backlash” doesn’t mean there actually is one, and I can gurantee that Hilary Clinton couldn’t give a crap about this case.
Neither I, nor anyone else posting or reading here or anywhere else in the world knows what roles those three kids played, but what we do know is that one of them left UNDISPUTABLE evidence, and the other two lied. Say all you want about Amanda being confused, not knowing the language, being beaten, being told to “imagine what might have happened” etc…You can’t tell me that she didn’t know that Patrick Lumumba had been arrested. For her claims to hold water, she needed to be screaming to the rooftops, to her lawyers, to her parents “That’s not what I said, let him go!”
...They’re both lucky they got by with the sentences they received, given the mess they created.
Posted by nashvilletn on 12/08/09 at 04:06 PM | #
Hi Nashvilletn. You are right, this is needed like yesterday. This is where we stand.
The Italian-language sentencing document only came out yesterday in Perugia. On a document this important we use up to five translators led by Tiziano in this instance to get it just right. A second or third draft is already going the rounds and it should be in final within a few hours.
Commmisario Montalbano already has a long post ready to roll along with this document on the entire legal context now and various routes forward.
We are hanging fire on other posts until this is up there and dominating.
Posted by Peter Quennell on 12/08/09 at 04:21 PM | #
anyone who has followed the trial from its beginning knows that this site presents ALL evidence and points out discrepancies in an objective manner. it is for the reader to determine whether or not she/he believes it. if someone wants to contest what peter writes, that person is welcome to post comments. peter does not censor those who disagree.
Posted by gramjan on 12/08/09 at 04:31 PM | #
Kendall, please feel free to help Peter out with what you know. Peter and the others have for two years, selflessly dedicated this site to present the facts. Fact #1, most of the evidence WAS not contested. The defense’s claims were that the evidence was contaminated yet, they were refused another independent analysis. The Italian Police and Judiciary had nothing to gain (no rewards or accolades)by convicting these three other than getting them off the streets so they would not be able to re-offend. There will be a report justifying the verdict in the case but, the totality of the grusome evidence will never be presented here due to the heinous nature of the crime. I suggest you learn how to read Italian so you can read the 10,000 page recommendation for trial for yourself. I don’t speak for Peter but, I do know that he posts ALL information referring to this trial and its outcome. If you don’t like the articles, don’t read them. Fact #2, there was plenty of evidence given in closed door testimony that really doesn’t concern the general public and I, along with many others, feel the sentence was just.
Posted by tigger34 on 12/08/09 at 09:54 PM | #
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