Tuesday, October 07, 2014

Translation Of The Nencini Sentencing Report Explaining The Failure Of The RS & AK Appeal

Posted by Our Main Posters





This is the report by Judge Nencini now in English which the Italian Supreme Court will be ruling upon next March.

The 355-page report was kindly emailed to us by Skeptical Bystander for the translation team on PMF-dot-Org which did all the work. Translation of the legal concepts and references was tough work but precise.

The translators were Ald, Jools, Kristeva, Olleosnep, Maundy, Catnip, Tiziano, Katsgalore (our ZiaK), Thoughtful, Sallyoo, The 411, Tom, and Popper, and the proofreaders were Tom, Thoughtful, Popper and Skeptical Bystander.

While the report can stand alone for the meticulous detail it includes, for a full confident understanding it should be read in conjunction with the following posts:

In April last year the Supreme Court reinforced the definition of how narrow first appeals and their sentencing reports should be, which the Hellmann court had wildly exceded.

See the top posts here. Our Italian lawyers reckon Judge Nencini has now followed that guideline to a tee.

That makes overturning this legally impeccable report really tough for the defense teams of Bongiono, Maori, Dalla Vedova and Ghirga, none of whom have ever won a case before the Supreme Court.

Among the many factors making it worse for the perps, the Prime Minister of Italy Mr Renzi is from Florence. For years he has worked closely with the highly respected Florence court.

Attempts at a political endrun around Nencini and the Supreme Court will be dead at the gate.

Posted by Our Main Posters on 10/07/14 at 03:28 PM in

Comments

Impressive work! Thank you, wonderful team, merci, Skep!

Posted by Bjorn on 10/07/14 at 07:17 PM | #

Yes, thank you very much for your hard work. It is indeed impressive. Compare this to what the Knox & Raffi supporters spend their time doing…I just can’t wait for this smug pair to be behind bars.

Posted by Wascana on 10/07/14 at 08:57 PM | #

Congratulations are in order for the whole team at Perugia Murder File. A PDF copy of the motivations report has been posted at the Wiki as well:

“A translation was prepared by unpaid volunteers from PerugiaMurderFile.org to promote a better understanding of the circumstances surrounding the death of Meredith Kercher and the case against Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito in the English-speaking world.”

Posted by Ergon on 10/07/14 at 10:31 PM | #

Thank you to everybody. Much appreciated and carefully read. Excellent clarity and flow, thanks again.

Posted by SeekingUnderstanding on 10/08/14 at 01:37 AM | #

I was interested to see that Nencini gave careful thought (as indeed he does consistently) to the motive behind the fake break-in, - showing how this, and the cleaning up, would only have been carried out by someone who had a clear self-interest in doing so.
He elegantly proves that only Knox had such an interest.

He also demonstrates, through the contradictory catalogue of phone cell activity around midday on November 2nd, again how this reveals calculating manipulation of events. He shows how Knox called Romanelli in fact from Sollecito’s and shows her spun story to be what it was - a deliberate lie, to try and get her flatmate to come home and discover the stage set.

When Nencini sees ‘malicious’ he is unafraid to call it so. Yet the whole report is an illustration of restrained and illuminated reasoning, giving a convincing narrative. I love the way he is simply dismissive of ‘non-logical reasoning’!

No wonder Knox is quiet. She has been seen through.
There is less on Sollecito, but sufficient. Nencini is categorical and clear. That is the message : enough prevarication and dissembling, - enough proof is enough, beyond reasonable doubt.

Posted by SeekingUnderstanding on 10/08/14 at 11:09 AM | #

his statements on bra clasp are final, without much appeal,  read at the end of the dna section.

Posted by Popper on 10/08/14 at 04:21 PM | #

This report and the translation of it is an absolute masterpiece. Nencini is quite detailed and logical in his reasoning.

I love Antonio Curatolo’s testimony and Nencini’s explanation as to why it is very relevant. Indeed, Curatolo’s testimony is quite damning evidence against the two convicts.

Thank you Skeptical Bystander and team. This is truly a marvelous work!

***

P.S. A bit off topic, but it looks as though you were right once again Peter and RS and Gumbel now have this to look forward to:

Raffaele Sollecito and the U.S. based British writer Andrew Gumbel, who was the ghostwriter on Sollecito’s book “Honor Bound,” published by Simon and Schuster, have been ordered to trial in Florence over allegedly false claims about the Perugian prosecutor who secured convictions of Sollecito and Knox in the trial of first instance.

The court order, signed by Florence judge Limongi and deposited in the Florence court clerk’s office September 18,  sets a preliminary hearing for January 22, 2015 in Florence”

By Andrea Vogt. Continued: http://thefreelancedesk.com/amanda-knox-trials-meredith-kercher-case/

Posted by Johnny Yen on 10/08/14 at 04:47 PM | #

I’m struck by how much the tone of the sentencing report and its remorseless logic and absence of pussyfooting resembles the Micheli report of early 2009.

Nencini is quite decisive that only Knox had a motive to rearrange the crime scene (as it undoubtedly was) and Micheli came to the same conclusions

http://www.truejustice.org/ee/index.php?/tjmk/comments/understanding_micheli_4_the_staged_scene_who_returned_to_move_meredith/

*******

Added to the text of the main post at the top are these credits to the thirteen translators and four proofreaders of this document:

The translators were Ald, Jools, Kristeva, Olleosnep, Maundy, Catnip, Tiziano, Katsgalore (our ZiaK), Thoughtful, Sallyoo, The 411, Tom, and Popper, and the proofreaders were Tom, Thoughtful, Popper and Skeptical Bystander.

I worked a lot with the (respected and highly paid) translators in the UN (which ZiaK works for) and the translators here are the most eager bunch I have encountered.

They are often “first with the news” and so translations often come in accompanied by pretty good tips too. 😊

Posted by Peter Quennell on 10/08/14 at 04:52 PM | #

Review of Nencini

I finished Nencini last night. It was refreshingly readable, all the way through. I would have liked an index but it was missing in the original so can’t be helped.

He summarizes the evidence in the Massei and Hellmann courts neatly and succinctly.

He gets to the heart of Massei: the evidence establishes the guilt of Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito. This is done in consideration of the whole, as required by the Supreme Court, but it’s a pleasure to read how simply and elegantly he does that.

Guede: He makes it clear Guede was present and involved in the murder and sexual assault. He also separates Guede’s trial from that of Knox and Sollecito, which effectively demolishes their current appeal to the Supreme Court.

Guede could not have broken Filomena’s window (p.91)or entered from there when there was an easier access point (90); this establishes Knox let him in. He could not have attacked and restrained as well as kill Meredith on his own. It is res judicata he did not steal the money, therefore it is credible that a fight over money escalated into violence, assault, murder.

Forensic Evidence: There was a hurried clean up after Guede left. Mixed blood, Knox’s footprint in Meredith’s blood confirmed (Plate 7 of the Rinaldo-Boemia Report)the bathmat foot print belongs to Sollecito, not Guede, there was no need to test the ‘stain’ on the pillow case as it would not prove anything for the purposes of the trial.

There is possible evidence of a woman’s shoe print on the pillow case, obscured because of a fold.

Luminol revealed markings show presence of accomplices (210)

Time of Death: Between 9:00 PM and 0:10 AM (69) He does not tie Capezzali, Dramis or Monacchia to TOD, only to a “woman’s scream” and running footsteps. Formica is mentioned because she didn’t see the broke down car. Her testimony of a “dark man” is mentioned for form’s sake only.

False Accusation: She accused Lumumba because he could not implicate her, VS Rudy, who could (115)

Behaviour: But above all no explanation behaviour defendants (191)

Alibis: Quintavalle and Curatolo are credible witnesses. Last human interaction RS computer 9:10 PM does not exclude him from involvement crime.

DNA: It cannot be proved contamination of knife took place (213)

Independent experts C&V are “objectively deceptive” (214)

Objecting party can’t just conjecture, must prove path of contamination (215)

Gubbiotti/Finzi testimony shows clear chain of transport of knife, obviates chance of contamination (217)

He lists the seized knives including the two jack knives, the Spyderco and CKRT (219) Listing the presence of Knox and Sollecito’s DNA on the CKRT knife seems to indicate he thinks, even if he does not say, that this is the second knife used on Meredith.

The cardboard box could not possibly be a path of contamination for the kitchen knife(220)

He vindicates Stefanoni. The presence of negative and positive controls shows there was no contamination (224)

Professor Torricelli, DNA consultant for he civil parties (229) and others show Meredith is the single contributor, it is definitely her DNA on trace 36B of the knife (232)

Nencini agrees there is a debate on LCN DNA amongst forensic scientists but then it is up to judges to adjudicate (233)

Yes the knife is LCN but it definitely is Meredith as a single contributor to the trace 36B (237)

The use of negative controls and other testimony shows absence of contamination.

“Strong condemnation of the behaviour of Professor Carla Vecchiotti” (238)

Professor Novelli confirmed absence of contamination exhibit 165B (the bra clasp) Hellmann should not have accepted independent experts without even considering opposing opinions from such as Novelli, who is “at least of equal stature as C&V” (239)

There is more 😊

Posted by Ergon on 10/08/14 at 05:02 PM | #

Very interesting to read, I’m taking it slowly! Thanks to all who worked on it.

So far I especially like these extracts, which are aspects of the case I for one had never really considered before:

“...In the second place, who had knowledge of having at their disposal all the time needed to undertake systematic activity to alter the scene of the crime?...”

“And in fact the cleaning activity was done in the corridor and small bathroom, while poor Meredith’s room could not be cleaned, so it was closed and locked. Whoever might have entered the cottage on the morning of 2 November 2007 was not supposed to realize that a murder had been carried out there. To ensure this, all traces were cleaned outside the room where the lifeless body of the young woman was found, whereas the room was closed and locked.

Take them down.

Posted by Odysseus on 10/08/14 at 05:08 PM | #

Hi Johnny Yen:

On the RS book trial (breaking news box at the top) we have the complaint document translated into English and will see if it is okay to post it.

Andrea Vogt provides 12 page numbers to 12 of Sollecito’s and Gumbel’s false claims. Those are the pages of the hardcover version and the Kindle page numbers may be different.

Truly terrible “research” and due diligence by Gumbel and the publishing team (who may also be charged or brought in).

If we can draw a conclusion from Bongiorno’s recent anger and the attacks against the Knox people, it would be that the manuscript was not ever run by her. (It was only available in English of course.) 

Here is the first passage, from page 75, which mischaracterizes, well, practically everything about Sollecito’s Nike shoes.

The main evidence Mignini had to take into the preliminary hearing was my Nikes, and he did everything he could to make them as incriminating as possible. Hours after my interrogators ordered me to take the shoes off, they were examined by a forensic team from Foligno. But the Foligno police were relatively cautious: in the official report they produced that same day, they said they could make no more than a partial comparison with the clearest of the prints left in blood in Meredith’s room and could comment only on the rough size and shape of the shoe, nothing more. Still, they concluded that my shoes “could have” created the footprints found at the crime scene.

Mignini was not satisfied, no doubt because the finding was couched in all sorts of caveats; the Foligno police stressed that the match was a theoretical possibility only. So the next day Mignini went to the Polizia Scientifica in Rome for a second opinion. They had even less information to go on than the Foligno team because they had only photographs of my shoes, not the shoes themselves. Somehow, though, they came to the much more definitive conclusion that my Nikes were the same make, model, and shoe size as the print on Meredith’s floor. No question about it.

Gumbel seemingly read little and obviously didnt read the November 2007 Matteini report (see the post below for all of it). The shoes were not the big deal claimed above; Judge Matteini had a number of other reasons for keeping RS locked up..

http://truejustice.org/ee/index.php?/tjmk/comments/the_knox_interrogation_hoax_10_/

Posted by Peter Quennell on 10/08/14 at 05:51 PM | #

Thanks for the Nencini report. And I’m very glad to learn that Gumbel and Sollecito will not get away with their seriously misleading book.

Posted by DavidB on 10/08/14 at 09:15 PM | #

This as always is wonderful work and so worthwhile.
The forces of evil who rabidly promote the lies and distortions will of course dismiss this along with everything else. This is not surprising considering that they collectively have the mental capacity of a potato. All this will come to either a violent explosion or die with a whimper as all but a few will conclude “Oh well I guess she was guilty after all” then go on to the sports scores.
This above all will finish Knox who just like Jodi Arias has the belief that all she has to do is keep on deny deny deny. Anyway this is another wonderful piece of work and it’s translators are to be much congratulated.

Posted by Grahame Rhodes on 10/08/14 at 11:49 PM | #

Although I didn’t make a reference of the page number, it was good to see Nencini clearly dispense with any concept that Guede could have been the ‘lone wolf’.
Apart from the staged break in, and cleaning, which he showed could be not be Guede, there is the difficult-to-read account of the bruises and injuries on Meredith. He removes any ambivalent interpretation of these, and shows quite clearly that there were multiple attackers…which he then goes on to show how other evidence support these to be Knox and Sollecito. He also points out that Guede was correct when he (Guede ) stated he had always said it was those two.

I think if I am required to explain why they have been convicted to any friend etc, I will point to this demolishment of the lone Guede theory.

Posted by SeekingUnderstanding on 10/09/14 at 03:48 PM | #

The words of Filomena Romanelli when describing her first reaction to seeing her room ransacked (p. 85 of the pdf) brought a sad smile to my face:

“but then also talking with Marco we mentioned this, saying ‘the burglar was an idiot, in addition to the fact that he did not take anything, the pieces of glass are all on top of the things’ “”

Yes, Filomena, those guys are indeed idiots.

Posted by Bjorn on 10/09/14 at 04:56 PM | #

Yes quite right Bjorn. The observation of such arrogant idiocy no doubt helped the authorities to narrow the field of suspects very quickly. Especially after watching AK’s acrobatics at the police station. 😊

Posted by Odysseus on 10/09/14 at 05:14 PM | #

This advice by Cardiol on indexing and search function is jumped here from the thread under the previous post (I use the PDF search function myself but its a messy device.).

*****

@ Ergon, Index?

I know you know, but some readers may not:

Copy Nencini into a Word Processor with a good Search function; most of them are OK.

Watch out for strict literalness; e.g. the word “Artery”, crucial to understanding what happened to Meredith, does not appear in the translation, “arterial” does appear.

You have to search for “arter” to find it. If you do, the search-list will show about a dozen instances of “quarter”, but finally: “arterial”, shows up.

Posted by Cardiol MD on 10/09/14 at 11:36 AM | #

Posted by Peter Quennell on 10/09/14 at 06:56 PM | #

Hi Ergon, Cardiol, others interested:

Heres an index for the Nencini report, hoping that this might help to result in some main posts. 😊 This was created using index generating software.  For now it is a text file of ALL words in the report - warning: there are a lot of different words.

http://www.truejustice.org/ee/documents/perugia/NenciniIndexAllWords.txt

Please cut and paste to MS Notepad or another text editor if the ends of the lines dont wrap. When I have more time I’ll take the usual next step, which is to eliminate by ticking boxes every word that we dont want indexed, and upload version 2.

I hope this is of some use for now.

Posted by Peter Quennell on 10/09/14 at 07:51 PM | #

At the moment there are conflicting page numbers that need to be resolved, so we’re all working on it 😊

The .txt refers to which document?

Posted by Ergon on 10/10/14 at 09:32 PM | #

Thanks Ergon. The txt file I created is the Nencini version we have a link to, unchanged since Skep sent it to me Monday night.

Shall I generate a pinpointed index version (jut key words as usual in indexes) when the page numbers are corrected? It would be an hour or two’s work to weed out the unimportant words.

Posted by Peter Quennell on 10/10/14 at 10:47 PM | #

Apologies in advance to anyone who gets sore eyes reading here between now and next March.

Not only is there the 355 page Nencinin report already, but just beginning are 5 posts of the very telling 100 page 17 Dec 2007 Mignini interview with Knox, translated by Catnip, Yummi and Kristeva, a number of (very damning) posts on Knox’s interrogation hoax, more transcript translation from ZiaK, more posts from Ergon, more from Nell, more from Cardiol, more from Jeff Friend, more on the Sollecito book, more on the irresponsible troublemaker Doug Preston.

Also any local Italian news picked up by Miriam and others who live there, plus all breaking news reported by Andrea Vogt, Barbie Nadeau, and so on. Much of the above will also be included in packages for key media as Grahame was asking for a day or two ago. The BBC etc do read but the tendency is more toward throwing us questions and asking for tips and contacts, emails really come in fast when there’s a development.

By next March TJMK should be more fully rock-solid on the full body of evidence and the weird behaviors of the perps since the trial, and there’ll be a new guideline easier to navigate. All in sharp contrast to Knox and Marriott who seem to have become very quiet.

Check out the PMF forums for a lot of insightful reactions to Nencini. Our own annotated selections will follow shortly.

Posted by Peter Quennell on 10/10/14 at 10:59 PM | #

For starters:

(Revision of original table by Tom M OF PMF.ORG)

Table of Contents

(The PMF translation of the Nencini Report does not have its own page numbering, table of contents, or annotated index. The original table was for page numbers found in the original Nencini Report (in Italian). The convention employed was to insert a bolded, bracketed number at the point where one page ends and the next page begins. Page number in the English PDF is unbracketed).

Title                               1

Disclaimer                           2                        
Case caption, parties and representation             3

Accusations against the defendants [ii]                3

Appellants [iii]                        3

Petitioners [iv]                        8

History of the Case [1]                          10

Reasons for the Decision                     42

1. Introduction [31]                        42

2. The context in which the murder took place.              47            
  Cause and time of death of Meredith Kercher. [37]            47

3. Post Delictum                         76
 
  The alteration of Filomena Romanelli’s room [63]        77                
  The alteration of the murder scene [80]              94

  The theft of two telephones used by Meredith Kercher [85]      100  

4. The Calunnia                         107

  The false alibi [92]                      107

  The calunnia [94]                      110

  The false alibi [102]                      118

5. Evidence that can be drawn from the statements
    of the defendants and of the witnesses. [146]              163

  The reconstruction of the events of 2 November 2007          
  according to the statements of Amanda Marie Knox [147]        164

6. The genetic investigations of the evidence [175]          194

1)  The knife [178]                      198

2)  The bra clasp [178]                      198

3)  The three swabs taken from the body of Meredith Kercher [178]  198

4)  The white bra spotted with presumed blood (Exhibit no. 59) [179]  199

5)  Imitation leather purse found inside the victim’s room
(Exhibit no. 166) [179]                    199

6)  Light blue sweatshirt soaked with presumed blood found in the
victim’s room (Exhibit no. 171). [180]              200

7)  Light blue bathmat positioned on the flooring in front of the washbasin/
sink, affected by traces of presumed blood (Exhibit no. 22). [180]  200

8)  Sample of presumed blood collected from switch plate of the
light in the small bathroom adjacent to Meredith Kercher’ʹs room
(Exhibit no. 23). [181]                  200

9)  Sample of presumed blood collected from the front surface
of the washbasin faucet in the small bathroom adjacent to
Meredith Kercher’ʹs room (Exhibit no. 24). [181]          200

10)  Sample of presumed blood collected from the edge of the drain
in the bidet of the small bathroom adjacent to Meredith Kercher’ʹs
room (Exhibit no. 66). [181]                  201

11)  Samples of blood collected from the transparent plastic
cotton-bud container located on the ledge of the washbasin
(on the left-hand side) and from the inside the basin of the
wash basin in the small bathroom adjacent to Meredith Kercher’s
room (Exhibits Nos. 136 and 137). [181]              201

12)  Sample of presumed blood collected from the toilet-seat [cover]
in the small bathroom adjacent to Meredith Kercher’ʹs room
(Exhibit no. 139). [182]                  201

13)  Sample of presumed blood collected from the right-hand
external side of the door-frame, about 50 cm above the floor
of the small bathroom adjacent to Meredith Kercher’ʹs room
(Exhibit no. 140). [182]                  202

14)  Fragment of toilet paper found inside the toilet bowl of the
large bathroom (Exhibit no. 25). [182]              202

15)  Exhibits 119-120 and 122. [183]                202

16)  Cigarette butt (D) collected [from] inside the blue glass ashtray
situated on the table of the kitchen corner in the living room
(Exhibit no. 145). [183]                  202

17)  Exhibits 186, 187, 188, 189, 190 and 191. [183]          203

18)  Exhibits Nos. 176 and 177. [184]                203

19)  Exhibits nos. 178, 179 and 180. [184]              204

20)  Exhibit no. 183. [185]                  204

Exhibit no. 36 [198], [208]                  217, 226

Exhibit no. 165 B [202], [237]                  220, 255

7. Shoeprints and footprints [250]                  268

  The footprints revealed by luminol [260]                279

8. The attempted fabrication of evidence at the appeal level.
  The declarations of Aviello and Alessi. [263]              281

9. The statements made by Rudy Hermann Guede [289]          305

10. Conclusions [308]                      325

11. Sentencing [328]                        344                    
    P.Q.M. (for these reasons) [337]                354

Posted by Ergon on 10/11/14 at 04:40 AM | #

So if you want to find the chapter or segment in the PDF, enter the unbracketed page number shown here.

Underhill is putting together a searchable PDF for the Wiki, and “someone who wants to contribute to the inexorable” is working on the index. Awesome!

Posted by Ergon on 10/11/14 at 04:47 AM | #

Thank you very much Ergon.

If it’s of help or interest :
Page 55 Meredith’s injuries
page 60 Details of her immobilization

Pages 71 to 76
Definitive analysis of why there had to be multiple assailants; Guede and others, presumably a male and female.

(Nencini then assembles the evidence, at length and sparing no crucial detail, and presents why the Court judged that these two were, in fact, Knox and Sollecito).

Posted by SeekingUnderstanding on 10/11/14 at 01:08 PM | #

Interesting on p. 104, the technical defense of Knox suggested that the murder could have been carried out by other people with keys to the apartment, that is Ms. Romanelli or Ms. Mezzetti, nice try.

I’m half way through the report and I find it very clear, logical, and powerful, I imagine a Cassation judge will have absolutely no problem validating it, if I were Knox I’d brush up on my Carribean Spanish, if I were Dog the Bounty Hunter I’d get fresh ammo and batteries for my GPS.

Posted by Bjorn on 10/11/14 at 05:44 PM | #

Hi Bjorn

Obviously the defense grasping as straws as per usual. Will read the report this weekend with high-lighter in hand.
Cheers

Posted by Grahame Rhodes on 10/11/14 at 07:07 PM | #

@Bjorn, good one re: Dog the Bounty Hunter. A sense of humor is most helpful. I’m grateful for it moreso as my son was involved in a fender bender last week. Not his fault and driver was probably texting while driving (that’s uncertain) but calls to insurance, Fed-Ex papers to door, trips to med clinics to check out injuries (none, thank Heaven) his Toyota to collision center for repair then to rental car people who gave him a 2015 Hyundai Sonata…whew, my head must settle before I read Nencini to do justice to his work.

Preferably when I can curl up with a glass of iced tea and cheese snacks or sesame sticks or worse yet chocolates and Twizzlers.

Meanwhile the helpful outline by Ergon and response comments to Nencini by others on TJMK and PMFs have kept me in the loop. It’s great to know we are locked and loaded with many posts ready to roll until the March decision from Rome.

Posted by Hopeful on 10/11/14 at 07:21 PM | #

Thanks, Seeking Understanding. The Table of Contents is based on the headings in the original report in the Italian, so I’ll pass your suggestions on to those working on the index.

There will be quite a body of work to inform the public about this case when we are done.

Posted by Ergon on 10/11/14 at 09:10 PM | #

On another note I should mention several efforts by journalists, some who have no excuse for not knowing better, to paint this an unresolvable case, with reasonable doubt, etc. I hope they will read the Nencini Motivations Report, after which they can have no excuse.

Posted by Ergon on 10/11/14 at 09:25 PM | #

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Or to previous entry Knox Interrogation Hoax #14: Third Opportunity Knox Flunked: Requested Interrogation By Dr Mignini