Thursday, October 30, 2008

Ground Increasingly Disappearing From Under Knox-Sollecito Defense

Posted by Peter Quennell





Judge Paolo Micheli has now been interviewed by Messaggero Umbria, a newspaper published in Perugia.

The judge really seems to have arrived at a very clear conception of how the cruel, senseless deed took place.  Observe in particular these findings below.

All of them are devastating to the talking-points of Friends Of Amanda recently parroted in dozens of news outlets.

Three attackers were present

I took the opposite approach to that of the defence teams. The lawyers claimed that there was no proof of conspiracy between the three because they didn’t know each other and Kokomani’s testimony wasn’t reliable. They also said that it would have been impossible for them to have organised the crime since they had previous commitments which then fell through. My starting point was the three’s presence in the room where the crime was committed.

DNA on the bra clasp was RS’s

I don’t believe [the bra clasp] was contaminated. The dna either came from outside or it was in the room. It’s not possible that Raffaele Sollecito’s dna was in that room. He had no reason to go there.

No contamination of the knife DNA

It’s true that Amanda’s dna was also on another knife found at Sollecito’s home but there can’t have been contamination. I checked both the objects seized from the cottage in via della Pergola and Sollecito’s apartment in corso Garibaldi. Only once, on Nov6 last year, were objects taken from both locations on the same day and the officers who entered the two buildings were not the same.

Guede was not unknown to other two

The fact that there were no calls [with Rudy] is easy to explain; since Oct27, Rudy hasn’t had a mobile phone. It was taken off him by the police. One of the couple knew Rudy. Meeting people in Perugia is easy, it could have been a chance meeting too.

There was definitely sexual assault

There are some doubts about the dynamics and the position of the victim’s body when she was stabbed. These are however not sufficent to repudiate the hypothesis of sexual assault…. Sexual assault is also an “˜invasion’ of the body as was described in the autopsy. It is certain that the rapist pulled the victim’s top up. Some blood had also run down onto the trousers. It’s therefore plausible to think that whoever violated the victim put their hand down her trousers.

Why there was no rape

Why didnt they complete a rape?] Because she screamed. Also with a knife at her throat and being held down it’s likely that she shouted out. There is a witness, Nara Capezzali, who said she woke up and was shocked by this scream.

Meredith was restrained while taunted

On the victim’s right-hand there was one small cut, a few milimetres long, in between two fingers. On the left-hand, there were four clearly visible cuts. Also the tip of the finger had blood on it. This indicates that the victim’s right-hand was being held as she tried to defend herself with the left. After the fatal stab, she put her hands on the wound.

That last remark really drives home the true horror of Meredith’s incredibly cruel last few minutes. Someone was ferociously slashing away at Meredith like a maniac with a knife. And then did nothing at all to save her.

Walked out on her while she was still alive, clutching her neck to stop the life-blood flowing out of her.

After months of murky semi-silence from police and prosecutors, now the sentencing dossier quoted below and this interview seem like a fire-hose of information.

Is the judge signaling to the defense that a long-form trial will not work to their advantage? That they should simply cave now? Plead guilty, and hope?

And if they don’t, how on earth can they fight THIS sad, sick, depraved stuff?

Comments

I like this blog better than IW where I have posted things under another name, well done guys, nice for Meredith.

This interview is very convincing to me and gives me some peace of mind that he is the right judge for the case. He does see it as a nasty sex crime, and likes the physical evidence and finds it okay enough to convince him along with the woman’s scream heard by the neighbor above.

He could care less about the alibis of AK and RS, or the mobiles, except for Rudy didnt have one! And he doesnt even talk about the blood stains except on Meredith’s jeans, which he can still consider in the next trial. I feel a bit less tense than I have for weeks. It was never clear to me until today that it would go Meredith’s way.

Posted by Marie on 10/31/08 at 02:46 AM | #

Nice sentiment, and I think quite common among women who watch the case.

The bad news is that this post above is (so far) the ONLY reporting here in the US of what the judge has just said.

The good news is that we will propagate this site and its posts very widely next week, getting it high up on Google Search and so on, and emailing its presence to a lot of newspapers and other news outlets.

I’ve swung a meme once or twice before and it’s exciting and challenging and one of the really fun things to do.

And in this case the RIGHT thing to do.

Posted by Fast Pete on 10/31/08 at 03:34 AM | #

Pete you are doing an absolute brilliant job as many other people are reading True Justice for Meredith, her family and friends….

Keep up the good work everyone and Marie is right regarding feeling a little easier at the moment…

I think that the defense teams, PR and IW can no longer blame corrupt prosecution for any of this… it is way past that!

LW

Posted by Love Wolf on 10/31/08 at 10:06 AM | #

So many incredibly smart and caring people in Europe and the US have contributed so much over the past year to sorting out the core truths from the hurricane of spin and misinformation on this case. 

I only came alive on the case late, after reading them with complete fascination for many months on what is now the PMF forum. I have really grown to love those truth-seekers.

Posted by Fast Pete on 10/31/08 at 03:55 PM | #

Great piece there Pete and you are right to say that the defense lawyers need to be worried.  The above reads to me like the judge would convict all three suspects if they could.  The judge buys the prosecution story, if he didn’t the two for trial would be free.

Posted by daisysteiner on 10/31/08 at 06:53 PM | #

Hi Daisy,

It’s not just judge Paolo Micheli who thinks there are serious indications of Amanda’s and Raffaele’s guilt, but also the preliminary judge, Claudia Matteini and the judges at the Italian Supreme Court. The prosecution’s case against Amanda and Raffaele is formidable.

Posted by The Machine on 11/02/08 at 12:20 AM | #

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