Try "Select all" in your browser.... that should at at least surround the text with some other colour, maybe even invert the text.

This from Italy with a Google Translation below:

http://www.agi.it/in-primo-piano/notizi ... _in_italia

"Amanda has always loved Italy and Perugia, and has more 'frequently expressed a desire to return to visit. Perhaps this could come very soon."
Said the lawyer Carlo Dalla Vedova, one of the lawyers of Amanda Knox, the American girl acquitted last September along with Raffaele Sollecito, of the charge of murdering Meredith Kercher (the two had been convicted at first instance and 26 respectively ed 25 years in prison.). A few months after obtaining before the Court of Assizes of Perugia, the appeal of young Seattleite could go back in a courtroom in Perugia. Her lawyer, in fact, called this morning to the single judge of Perugia, Giuseppe Noviello, about hearing Knox as a witness in the ongoing process towards its parents (defended by the same Dalla Vedova and Luciano Ghirga), Edda and Curt Mellas Knox, accused of libel against some policemen at Perugia police station.
"Amanda is fine now and has taken over her life - said the lawyer Dalla Vedova -. From January has also resumed her studies and has never hidden the desire to return to visit Italy. Her testimony could be an opportunity to return to Perugia. " Curt Knox and Edda Mellas were indicted for an interview which appeared in 2009 on a British tabloid, in which both parents "attributed to the police - says the head of charge - the actions and conduct of departures from official duties. In particular, contrary to the truth, that Amanda had not been assisted by an interpreter, that she had not been given 'food or' water, which had been 'abused' both physically and verbally "and that" had been hit behind head and threatened with a slap. " Against parents of young American plaintiffs were five police squad Perugia police station, assisted by the lawyer Francesco Maresca, the Kercher family lawyer. The judge ordered that the five agents this morning are heard as witnesses in court on March 30 next year. It's not 'yet been set, however, the date on which should be heard Knox.

Thanks for that Bill. Very interesting.

I just read the section on foot prints in the Hellmann Report. Very interesting take on the ones in the hallway versus the single one in the bathroom.

The report noted that the one in the bathroom was of a RIGHT foot (only right footprint at all outside of Meredith's room). The report then went on to note (apparently) that all the footprints in the hallway and living area were of a LEFT foot. In fact, it suggests that Rudy lost his right shoe in the bedroom and stepped into blood, went to the bathroom to wash it off and that is why only left footprints lead down the hallway, out of the cottage (apparently carrying his shoe and sock).

Very interesting take and counters that the footprint in the bathroom isn't Raffaele's because logic also demands that it be Rudy's or else there would have been left and right prints leading through the house.

That Maresca character has his sticky fingers in everything, doesn't he?

Have to read that but isn't there a better explanation for the single foot print on the bath mat - that Rudy took off his shoe and sock in the bathroom to wash his right trouser leg, placing his bare foot in the bidet (or the shower) to do so and then replacing sock and shoe?

I imagine at some point he knelt down in the bedroom on his right leg, e.g. to mop up blood with a towel and soaked just that knee and/or shin but neither shoe. He may have picked up blood on his left shoe when returning finally to go through the bag on the bed. The blood would be progressively getting drier over time resulting in his not leaving pronounced prints in blood as he left.

This is a problem for the Perugia authorities. I think what's going to happen is that Knox and her parents are going to say in court that the police did hit her and coerced a confession from her.

Then what?

It's funny I was having a ding-dong on PMF yesterday about media manipulation by the Perugian authorities and I completely forgot the other aspect of the dual strategy: not only did they feed a constant diet of lies to the media, they also tried and continue to do so to shut up anyone who didn't toe the party line. Is Italy a totalitarian state?

It looks like the Knox family are going to challenge the authorities to imprison them, if they dare. If they really are going back there for the calunnia trial that has to be the reason.

Can I join in saying 'Wow' at this point? Wow. If that's the plan, they must be getting some very bullish advice. Hope so. Wow.

The Perugia court system should have quietly dropped these calunnia charges. I think they're going to end up embarrassed now.

If I were Amanda's lawyer, I would be asking one question, repeatedly, all day. Hour after hour.

'Where are the recordings?'

An interesting sidelight on Frank Sfarzo's blog -- Chicago was home to some pretty cool journalists, some of whom were truly working under threat of arrest or worse most of the time, so maybe he could get some comfort from the success of the wildly politically divergent, but passionate advocates of free speech and thought.

Mike Royko -- "Boss" the biography of the first Mayor Daley, in Roman costume hiding behind his lace curtains and daily masses. Bestseller and Pulitzer winner.

Studs Terkel -- Bestseller, etc.

http://www.nytimes.com/books/99/09/26/s ... daley.html

Tough guys right from Hollywood legend. Frank Sfarzo is continuing in the honorable tradition of exposing the concentration of power/corruption and the political "bosses" who enforce the corruption.

Then they'll produce the tapes, but like the Nixon/Watergate tapes, there'll be an 18 minute gap.....

Considering your education, my friend, I am serving notice that from this point on, that Wow™ is now a trademarked term.

I am presently in conversation with the editors at Oxford English Dictionary - and if I get them on my side, you can expect a visitor from my solicitor in the morning.

That'll teach you to steal..... Wow™, just wow™.

Or, they will be badly dubbed with Napoleoni impersonating Amanda and expressing thanks for the cups of tea and biscuits and could they please dim the lights a little and just moderate their voices ever so slightly and the bit where she says 'Lumumba' will be so slurred that it could actually be either that or, quite possibly, if you listen really hard ... 'Guede'.

That throws me back onto ****ing hell, which excludes me from polite society. Is that what you want? Waow.

What will give the video away is that it will be Mignini himself in an Amanda-wig under the bare-lightbulb, wearing an "All you need is love" T-shirt. I don't want to be sexist here, but I think Knox actually looks better in it....

No fair with cheap, knock-off Wow™'s.

I think a movie told frank's perspective would be really cool. Hopefully he'll at least write a book.

Gosh but Frank is funny. I just came across this and it made me LOL (it's about Curatolo's evidence in trial 1):

'Nothing new from my side: I always said Curatolo was not credible.
I remember President Massei’s reaction to Toto’s delusional deposition. At the end of the questioning, things didn’t add up. Saying Amanda and Raffaele arrived between 9 and 11 was a bit vague. President Massei asked him if he could narrow in the time a bit. And Toto narrowed the time: They arrived between 9:27 and 9:28, he promptly said.'

That's good isn't it?

I'm looking for the quote I put here of Nina Burleigh's, where she quotes Peggy Ganong of as much as saying, "I saw a picture of Knox, and saw a killer." On the surface, that sounds fairly silly.....

Yet a poster on the JREF site has posted what is perhaps a more full quote of Ganong's. In fairness to Ganong (yes, if one like me claims to be on the side of sweetness and light, I have to willingly give credit where it is due), here is the quote from JREF in full.

Oh anglo, please don't let me down. I mean after last night's tour de force on PMF.net you are my new hero. It was an inspired performance. Your comeback to capealadin after hours of barracking was just priceless. For those who missed it, the brutal interrogation started at 4.54am, followed by about 40 relentless posts asking the same question over and over, lasting all night till 11.11am when the boy finally answers:

"Cape - I give up. You got me. What's your favourite theory? I will sign anything you put in front of me."

Genius. And you know about Leeds United from the early 70s. OMG. I imagined I was about to construct a shrine to you in my kitchen.

But now, I find you cannot even handle that iPad of yours. You don't know your docstoc from your prog rock. What is it about lawyers that they can't handle technology? Second oldest profession, so new stuff is confusing? As I said before, get yourself a real computer. You know it makes sense. And then I imagine I can get that shrine sorted.

PS I'm still

LOL

I'm not sure Capealadin really gets the time zone thing (typical insular yank IYAM). She thought she had me on the ropes and all the time I was sleeping . Pity Amanda idn't try that in the Questura.

Funny thing is, I consider myself quit a wiz with these new-fangled computer-thingies so I don't know why you thing I need to get a 'real' one.

All this raises a question: HTF would she know what a killer looks like?

I bet the pic was photoshopped by the Daily Mail

..... which, now that I think of it, may have been Burleigh's point. Maybe Peggy actually had something stuck in the "corner of her eye" that skewed her vision....

But then, this reminds me of the kind of speech someone gives when they try to convince someone else they are not a racist. They bring it up, and then in a series of convolutions which dance on the edge of believability, end up with a firm declaration that what they'd brought up is not to be taken that they are a racist.

Or sexist. "I said to myself, how odd, the person in that photo looks more like a woman than a man. Shortly thereafter, I realized that the photo I had seen was of a woman and not a man. I did not deduce from this error on my part any notion of gender. All I deduced was that the person in that and other photos taken on the same day looked seriously out of it. I don't think that is a very earth-shattering conclusion, and it has nothing whatsoever to do with being male or female."

Ninety-five words. Peggy used 95 words when she could have said, "I have no clue, other than on the evidence, why anyone would or would not be guilty." Seventeen words.

Does this qualify as doth protesting too much?

Just balancing the admiration with a bit of banter. Can't have people thinking I'm a FOAL groupie.

One thing that struck me about your interaction last night, and following up on a few posts above about what makes guilters tick, they simply don't accept that Stefanoni is wrong, or that the footprint is wrong. Or is it a case of guilt implies Stefanoni correct, rather than the other way round. Believing Stefanoni correct because they're guilty would of course be seriously screwed up logic. But suppose they really do believe that Stefanoni is correct.

You say, he can't have the clasp. Michael says, oh yes I can. You say Stefanoni is wrong, Michael says she's an experienced field operator, unlike the two professors who know nothing about the real world. etc. etc. It's like panto. Perhaps we'd need a whole platoon of forensic scientists from all over the world to say she's wrong. Even then, I doubt they'd give it up over at Guilter Central. It does beg the question: what would it take? How about Mignini to be jailed on corruption charges? Stefanoni to be found guilty of conspiracy and perjury? Who knows.

Perhaps I'll just have to wait for episode 3 to see how it all pans out. Maybe they'll even win you over. The horror, the horror!

___________________

Bill,

This is incorrect. (Yes, you can blame Wikipedia for this one too.) John Follain's interview with Amanda's parents---and her sister Deanna---was published in June 2008.

///

Perhaps they will.

I think they have some problems though, being wrong being the main one. That means they have a problem constructing a theory which makes sense. You can see that with Ergon's ridiculous contortions (Guede is/is not a murderer being a fairly basic one) and Michael's reluctance to stick his jaw out and attempt an account of the crime or just the clean up. The risk of taking a knock out blow is too great.

I cannot claim my own knowledge about this, but the guy at the courthouse (when he was still talking to me) was adamant - whereas a clean-up can be successful in masking a crimescene, so that little can be gleaned from the scene....

1) the clean-up itself is always apparent
2) the clean-up cannot be selective, meaning removing one perp's trace while leaving another. I took this to mean that such macro-forensics (my word) as fingerprints and shooe/footprints are hard enough to individually identify without advanced training and equipment - better to erase all of them. Removing micro-forensics (my word) selectively is ludicrous.

I took all this to mean that if there is no sign of a clean-up, then you can be 99 44/100% sure there wasn't one, unless a trained Mafia-cleaner was involved, and they get big bucks.

Try this on Michael. However this may be the equivalent to driving in a Canadian winter - you spin your wheels a lot.

To be fair, this is something any of us could say when presented with something new. It's human nature to form immediate, lazy and uninformed judgements. But it also depends on where you say it. If you mutter it to yourself or a friend in private then fair enough - it's a half-joke. If it's something you tacked onto a public article about the case, then that's not reasonable. In public you need to be better informed before spouting off, or accept the very public consequences.

I don't believe that what one says is always what one really means. It all depends on context. In private we don't have to be as thought out or as rigorous as in public. This becomes an issue when a private comment is made public by someone else (choose your friends wisely). I always look for the original context when making a judgement on what someone said (e.g. (I imagine) I was in the kitchen when I heard Meredith scream).

However, if we fast forward from the time she saw that photo, to when she was more aware of the case, I think it's probably likely that Ganong did indeed keep that photo in her mind when justifying her belief that the young girl was a killer. In that sense, Burleigh is probably correct.

Ganong's statement was bizarre and nonsensical anyway.

Obviously by definition Knox looks more like a killer than a murder victim. Because she's not dead. Anyone who is actually walking around looks more like a killer than a victim.

This is a BIG ONE for me. I've wondered this so many times, I've lost track! And every time I've thought "OK, this will surely do it" I've been wrong.

Lol.
You really nailed that one.

I must say that is an interesting scenario... but why, oh why, would Vogt/Mignini need a place outside of Italy to safeguard their material?

There seems to be a quoting/editing mistake because don't recall writing that. maybe I was suffering from the effects of a spell or something.

'Twas me who suggested in jest that Vogt-Ganong's real concern was to get stuff out of Italy into a database, say, in Seattle - away from Mignini's clutches. Mignini was not shy about busting down Sfarzo's door and getting Google to shut down access to his site - getting FRIGGIN' GOOGLE to interfere...

My polyanna attitude to Vogt is that she needed to continue to play ball with the prosecution, be shown willing to print prosecution crap (mixed-blood DNA, "I was there" stuff), knew that as a foreigner herself that she could easily be brought in like Douglas Preston had been..... and often signaled that this thing was going to be taken care of at appeal anyway, which it was.....

I was fantasizing that this was all a plot by Marriott to do a fifth-column, end run around Mignini, with deep cover operatives Ganong and Vogt feigning loyalty to the prosecution, all the while Ganong putting the "cult" in cultivation of nuts cases in the discussion area of PMF. So that if anyone with half a brain ever read things over there, they'd stampede back to IIP for some actual sane disagreement and dialogue.

After all, we here on the third-floor of Marriott-PR Supertanker Central, have always wondered why you need a retinal scan to access the higher floors. Rumour is now rampant that Peggy Ganong actually runs the PMF site from just below Marriott's penthouse suite upstairs.

Retired Pilot has gone rogue on us, because he claims to have won the Christmas Hamper at the last staff party, but had yet to collect. Little office politics like that surely do spill over, don't they!

Whatever you do don't run these ideas past erasmus. He'll think you're serious. What? You are? Oh, sorry.

I mean, I think erasmus is just totally nuts with all his conspiracy theorising - but then I remember it's Italy we're talking about and everyone goes nuts just trying to work that place out and probably erasmus is being conservative and it'll turn out the whole thing was one of Berlusconi's bunga-bunga parties gone wrong, or maybe one of the Pope's.

Why would Amanda's parents bother fighting that slander trial in Perugia? Why would they ever want to set foot in that country again? They would never be extradited, because slander isn't a criminal offense in the U.S.

I remember talking to an Italian some years ago about the Kennedy assassination. I was a bit shy about speaking my own conspiratorial mind, lest he think me a nut job. Then he started talking about the dark, Masonic, Knights of the Templar conspiracies that simply are part of the soil in Italy, and said, "Of course Kennedy's assassination was a conspiracy. What's the matter with you, you seem a little shy about it!"

That's why I'm only allowed to work on the third floor, here at Marriott PR Supertanker headquarters. I'm still pissed about not getting the Christmas bonus! I'd quit, but blowing the calunnia thing will not look good on my resume.... the third floor was in charge of buying off Hellmann and Zanetti on that one, and one little mistake and we pay for it with our Christmas bonuses! Bastards.

Y'know, from my cubical here I can see the Marriott parking lot. There's Peggy now with her big-brimmed hat and sunglasses getting out of her car.... if I can make it to the elevator and go down to the lobby, maybe I can get back into the elevator and see if it is her.... she's going to hafta take off those sunglasses for the retinal scan.

If I can break-open the rumour that Ganong is working with Marriott to prejudice the world against the guilters, by encouraging all the crazy-stuff on PMF, then my resume will be rehabilitated. PR-secrets are the most fleeting of all.....

For further additions to the list of "myths" surrounding the case (JREF Grinder):

"Cartwheels" -- a reference to "Volpone" (The Fox) by Ben Johnson and a phrase about a "tumbling whore."

That whole reiteration of that internet meme bothered the heck out of me and I couldn't figure out why it was so familiar (way back in the Dark Ages, my degree was in English Lit). Only occurred to me about a month ago where the reference came from -- not exactly a featured play in US schools these days.

Clever reference but obscure for most US folk; and it sure gained a lot of traction somehow.

Because it's a massive injustice. Because they don't want to be seen to run away or let the bastards get away with it. Allowing it to stand but relying on non-extradition could be seen to be cowardly - what are you afraid of. Because they want to fight back and turn the tables. Why should they be cowed when they've done nothing wrong.

But then, to do all that requires huge energy, resources and on-going commitment. The danger as I see it is getting sucked into a Bonfire of the Vanities scenario where you become a professional defendant. Your whole life gets given over to fighting law suits. It's a tricky balancing act.

Or perhaps they just think: OK I'll turn up for your mickey mouse court case. I'm not afraid of the truth. Do your worst and, if you want to find me guilty and fine me (they'd be mad to try and imprison them) then we'll see how international opinion plays out. Do you really want to look even more ridiculous in the eyes of the world than you do at the moment, for what you did to our daughter.

It's fascinating stuff. I hope they screw the bastards.

They have good reason to be in the mood for a fight. We only get one life and when someone sets about destroying your own, or worse, your child's that is reason enough to commit yourself totally to the struggle, come what may.

Where is the voice of reason within Italy which can demand that these defamation/slander charges must be made to 'go away'? Is Frank Sfarzo the only Italian who speaks out against this evil?

Bill,

I found myself saying, "Wow, just wow" in class yesterday, immediately realized I was breaking copyright law, and so cited "Bill Williams" as the source (I want to be a role model for my students). Did I do enough? Will I have to cite you every time I say it? I'm worried--please advise.

BTW: While perusing the muster rolls of the U.S. 7th Cavalry at the battle of the Little Big Horn (June 25, 1876) the other day, I came across the following entry:

Williams, William C.
Co. H, Private
b. Wheeling, WVA, March 25, 1856
enlisted Sept. 27, 1873
in hilltop fight--wounded
d. May 22, 1919, Norfolk, VA

Is that you, too? Or is that the OTHER Bill Williams? Whichever, it's quite an accomplishment to have survived LBH, and all I can say is, Wow, just wow!

I'm with you all the way on that, Freeski--it's what keeps me attached to the case, and why I am still hanging out at IIP. I want to see the bastards get everything that they deserve, and to have to pay over everything they own to Amanda and her family.

I just thought of something.

Under Italian law, you are immune from prosecution for anything you say in your defence.

So it could be the most wonderful opportunity for Amanda's parents to say EXACTLY what they think of Mignini and his band of keystone cops, who assaulted and imprisoned their daughter for four long years, and in front of the world's media and television cameras.

That could be really worth it. And it wouldn't hurt the book sales either!

If that's so, then how could they get away with prosecuting Amanda for calumny for something she said in her own defence at her first trial? Or am I missing something here?

Yup, you're in a heapload of trouble.... all us Bill Williams' noted your indiscretion. Confession, in this case, will not be good for your soul.... we're getting the Perugian prosecutors in on this, just so that we don't have to be deterred by, let's just say, issues of law.

As for the fellow we call, Willie Williams, who died in Virginia, just after the great war - he was part Sioux Indian. At family gatherings he used to say, "Custer had it coming," and at church he'd interrupt the minister's sermon by yelling out, "Don't worry, Custer died for your sins!"

Under Italian law, you are NOT immune from prosecution for anything you say in your defense!

That is why Amanda has been charged with slander for statements she made accusing the interrogators of yelling, lying, and striking her when she was interrogated. Amanda made these statements when she testified in court on June 12 and 13 of 2009. Amanda's parents have been charged with defamation and/or slander for repeating Amanda's statements to British reporters.

The slander charge against Amanda is separate from the calunnia charge where she is charged for falsely accussing Lamumba of murder during the same interrogation referenced above.

If Amanda were to testify for her parents, one has to wonder if she would accrue an additional slander charge for repeating what she said when testifying at her first trial. Just have to love those Italians!

We've discussed how Profazio arrived at the crime-scene at about 1:45 pm, Nov 2. While not clear if he thought the break-in was staged or not - any good investigator would cover off that possibility, meaning - "follow the people known to have keys."

Well here's a wild thought.

What if it is all about the laptops? I'm sure that's been posited here before.... but:

see: http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.actio ... 4981060523

1) On 13 October, the law offices of Paul in Via Del Brocchi in Perugia were broken into, the thief(ves) broke a window with a stone to get in, they drank a Fanta soda from the refrigerator. Stolen from the office was a laptop, mobile phones, USB flash drives and a printer.

2) On October 27, Maria Del Prato at her nursery found a young black unhooking the cable to her computer in order to put (info?) on his laptop. When the police went through his backpack and found, along with a large kitchen knife he had taken from the kitchen nursery, they found a mobile phone and a woman's gold watch. The handset has been identified as belonging to the law firm of Paul Brocchi which was recently burglarized. no thief identified(!). Rudy told police he had bought the laptop from a man the train station in Milan.

3) Monday morning (the 29th?), Rudy was presented at the law offices of Paul Brocchi to apologize for their laptops. Once again told the story of the man at the train station in Milan.

4) Three nights later Guede breaks into Filomena's window - either he's risking that Filomena's bedroom door is locked from both sides and cannot get into the house...... or...... here's the wild idea......

5) He's breaking in through her window because he's after her laptop. She's a budding lawyer.... the connection here is Guede, laptops and lawyers.

Who has written about this before, becuase I don't think I'm making this up?

6) Then Filomena, the budding lawyer, crosses a friggin' police line to go fetch her laptop, in effect interfering with a crimescene.

7) Within a day, Filomena goes to the Questura where the police have apoplexy, but do not charge her. They seize the laptop. Incredibly, she's not even given a non-traffic citation!

8) ALL computers seized in relation to the Kercher crime have their HD's either fried or interfered with so as to interfere with functionality.

What is this about? Can someone point to a larger conversation about this?

Quite right, I meant slander of the police interrogators, separate from calumny against Lamumba.

I don't remember who it is but someone definitely brought this connection up before and there IS a conversation about it somewhere on here. Keep looking because it is definitely here.

So, can someone tell me, in Italy, can you slander an institution? She didn't say person X hit me or abused me. She said she was hit or abused by "police". So it's not a direct accusation against any one individual. Surely, if an individual officer stood up and said, I was slandered, she could turn around and say, I never said you did anything wrong.

Maybe anglolawyer can tell us how it would work in the UK. Suppose I say the old bill (cops) hit me and abused me, versus, Officer Plod - yes him right there, with the funny nose - he's the one who whacked me. Also,how would this play out in the US?

Amanda made her claim that the cops hit her in while giving evidence in her own defence. The appropriate charge, were her evidence false, would be perjury rather than slander. You can go to jail for perjury but it is rarely prosecuted because, mostly, defendants who are held to have lied in defending themselves tend to be convicted of the crime they are facing and punished for that, with the nature of the defence taken into account in sentencing by the loss of credit which would otherwise accrue for pleading guilty or not flinging mud.

What is unheard of here is the police being so hyper-sensitive to criticism that they bat writs and charges around at the drop of a hat every time someone accuses them of something.

As to whether you can defame an institution a quick look at Gatley on Libel and Slander tells me ... no. You cant defame a class of persons either, so you can say 'all lawyers are liars' and I can't sue (totally wrong if you ask me) but if words, though directed at a group, may be interpreted as pointing at a particular individual that person may sue.

I love really old cases. In Foxcroft -v- Lacey (1614) Lacey said, in reference to a pending claim involving Foxcroft and 16 others, 'these defendants helped to murder H.F.' and it was held that each of the 17 was entitled to sue. Damages three groats and an hour in the stocks (I made that bit up).

Statements in judicial proceedings or reports thereof are absolutely privileged. Worth remembering next time you are charged with murder: you can say what you like about anybody before they haul you off to Rykers Island.

And how come we never hear anything about Laura Mezzetti's laptop? Very suspicious, almost as though they knew there was nothing on it worth frying ... Who is it around here who might help shed some light on all this and maybe join up all these dots?

I'm certain this has probably been discussed and also a little surprised at myself for never giving it a thought. Now that Hellmann has ruled that the staged break in did not exist can Rudy be charged with the burglary? Or would this had to have been proven during his trial? I suppose the latter is more likely

I have written about this under Compatibility and a couple of other places. The notion is that RG was actually working for the police a little bit like the Watergate guys and was stealing lawyers' laptops because Mignini was desperately defending himself from a nasty prosecution. The laptops might have information that Mignini could use in his own defense or information he could use to intimidate others in keeping silent during his own case. They probably had some sense of which lawyers were likely to have information which would be of use and that explains why Filomena's laptop but not the other roommate's laptop was taken. It explains why Mignini kept the carabinieri out of the case, framed AK and RS in order to justify a lenient sentence for RG, was so anxious to get RG back from Germany before the German police could question him. It also explains why they jumped on the chance to arrest PL based on flimsy evidence. In a university town, it does seem strange to target a second floor lawyer's office if you are trying to steal a laptop. I generally don't like conspiracy theories, but there is absolutely nothing that I would put beyond Mignini and the local police who probably have a complex and interdependent relationship with local criminals. I am sure that their mindset is that "we are fighting the diabolical Illuminati and Masons and devil worshipers and the end justifies the means."

Interesting I just thought of. If Rudy was involved in some conspiracy with police or other officials. If this case was in the US then couldn't those involved in the conspiracy be charged with murder under a felony murder rule. I think which only applies to certain states.

Out of all the people that were involved in this mess I would like to see Stefanoni, Comodi and Giobbi being punished. Mignini not so much, he clearly needs help. And, of course, I would like to see Guede getting more years in jail.

I ran across this comment from Brmull, well known anti-Knox poster at PMF. I am frantically trying to source it, lest I be called out for attack-by cut-and-paste sniping. Then again, when did that ever stop anyone?


Reading this, I thought, "Which part of the word 'diary' does Brmull not understand"? Myself, I am an unrepentant diary-keeper, and mine resemble ramblings directed at myself.

That these writings were never meant for public consumption, some were literally stolen and published illicitly, says all I need to hear.

Brmull should voluntarily release his own personal musings to the internet, if he thinks this is fair game.

There. I've had my random rant for the morning?

I've run across this, which is the record of the Wikipedia Mediation (circa Aug 2011) between Brmull, LedRush, and CodyJoeBiddy, on the charge that Brmull was editing the Meredith Kercher page from a non-Neutral-Point-Of-View position. It is the height of hilarity to read Brmull trying to claim no particular point of view. (Note - no less than Jimbo Wales himself had to step in - the Kercher page was the 60th most viewed page out of 18 million! at that time.)

see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia%3AMediation_Cabal%2FCases%2F2011-07-29%2FMurder_of_Meredith_Kercher#Statement_from_brmull

Can he be said to represent a NPOV?, esp. when he appears on nearly all newspaper-online talk-forums, and argues relentlessly on Amazon.Com review pages. His favourite line: "I am a Knox-hater and proud of it."

Now THAT'S what I call a neutral point of view!

(Random pot-shot-mode off.)

He has. They are on .org

Wow!

Click HERE to find out how much it cost Italian taxpayers the useless 3d video that Mignini presented during the closing arguments of the first trial.

Good find. Not sure it should be considered useless, though, as it contained highly prejudicial material not supported by any evidence (including the transfer of the lamp) which may have affected the jury.

I meant, he should release diary-like musings, half-baked ideas you want to try out in print.... past sexual partners, maybe an Indiscretion or two, that you only meant for your future self, and not to be printed in the newspapers....

Who of us could survive that?

I remember the Quebec legislature clerk in Quebec City who, on her lunch break, composed an e-mail to a friend, the firend had enquired how the "date" went the previous night with this hunky guy.

The clerk wrote back in detail, the postively gymnastic positions and food groups made use of...... that's about all I can say without really blushing.....

She got briefly distracted, and so when she presssed "send", she inadvertantly sent the e-mail to every MNA (member of the legislature) as well as every civil servant in the Quebec government. These were the days before anyone knew what "vriral" meant, but that is what the e-mail went. Viral.

They even decided not to discipline her. No need.

Can you REALLY use strawberries like that? Who knew?

Has Brmull EVER made personal, non-Knox admissions and confessions about life?

That's the question isn't it? Could the attack on Meredith have happened the way depicted in the video?

In our court system, there is the concept of full disclosure. Here, all the defense would need to say is, "This has not been given to us, we need a few weeks to be able to prepare a rebuttal." Next thing you'd know, the house lights would come back up and you'd be in a two-week recess.

But the video itself shows exactly how the crime against Meredith could NOT have happened.

Sorry to digress but that story reminds me of a similar one involving a night of passion between two city lawyers. She emailed him something about something having 'tasted good' and he forwarded her message to a few trusted friends ... and me and several million other people were reading about it in the press a day or two later. Eek!

I have been considering gathering the lawyers together to settle a constitution for our St Johns community. I may suggest nightly readings from your diaries as a mandatory communal activity in the canteen when there's nothing good on telly.

According to the TGCOM article, the Video was not even acquired as a case document by the court. I wonder who leaked this document
http://www.tgcom24.mediaset.it/document ... 3_file.pdf

I shouldn't be allowed to see things like that (original source docs) as they get me too excited. That's really a 'spare no expense' prosecution isn't it? Almost as though it mattered.

And imagine what AK and RS felt when they received a fax in prison with a 200 K€ bill for a stupid video.

The only possible reaction to this is the billwilliamsian one: W.J.W.

Let no one ever again speak of a "million-dollar PR machine" in reference to Amanda's family's efforts to help her over the course of nearly four years. Not in light of this.

If I were an Italian taxpayer I'd be demanding a full accounting of the expenses incurred in the prosecution of this case, as well as the ability to view this video so that we can all see exactly what 182,000 euros buys you these days. For that kind of money this thing had better be in the running for a prestigious film prize.

Heaven knows, I've been yammering away about the choosing of the "wealthy" targets for long enough. Mignini and his banditti have some 'splainin' to do. Did the locals make enough from various press folk to cover the costs of this insane prosecution?

All I can say is LOL, 182,000 Euro.

I wonder how much Stephanoni and Novelli and all of the other idiots cost?

That sum is particularly interesting since the famous night interrogation wasn't recorded for lack of funds, if I remember correctly.

What about the cost of taping 37,000 telephone calls? Can this really be true? Suppose each call lasts an average of 5 minutes (a conservative figure, especially given so many women involved ). That's, er, more or less 3,100 hours. Laid end to end it's 144 days. Given an 8 hour working day for listening to calls we have a total of 432 man-days just listening. Roughly two years' work at €25,000 per year for the poor sap listening to all the dross about thongs and pizza

Transcripts? Every call? £500 per day. Chuck in €216,000 for that. The listener isn't the brains so s/he will have to report to someone and there probably needs to be someone who edits rhe material down dor Mignini to take with his meals. Roll that up into one more guy at €35,000 per year.

Machinery, equipment, staff welfare, light, heat, rent, sanatorium expenses (it's boring work) say €80,000.

€496,000 I make that. Actually seems quite cheap now I add it up. What did I miss?

Double the costs because only specialists are working on such matters (example: lT specialists)!

___________________

Flipp,

Want to see first-hand how stupid ---ignorant, inaccurate, and fictitious--- the video was? There was a media story released during the initial trial profiling the producer, Luigi Guadagno, wherein was also published some stills from the video. See: Slide Show, HERE.

///

Didn't this article come out in Italy? I'd love to know what people there are saying about it.......

Please note, that my Perugian brethren will be paying you a visit for the use of Wow™. Acronyms are covered.

This is a quote from something I just read:

I think the only real viable long-term option for the future, is to completely gut out the inside of the cottage and open plan most of it, remodel the exteria, perhaps a bit of landscaping alteration too, and then put it on the market for sale as a commercial/industrial/workshop type of premises. I could see something like a family blacksmiths there, or a carpenters for example

My question is - are there really still "family BLACKSMITHS" around?

What panet are you on? I find our family blacksmith absolutely indispensable. We have forged a great relationship with him.

Thanks Fine. Interesting. Seems they have Meredith in a different place to where I imagined. Looks like plenty of space for people too, another live issue. Wonder if the scales of peoplevto room are accurate. Also looks as though they are standing right where all the blood was. (so plenty of foot prints).

Thanks for the link, Fine.
It looks that the video presented several scenarios, in the second and fourth screenshots we can see a scenario very similar to the one proposed by Ron Hendry.

In trying to find out what all the lies Knox was supposed to have told in Nov 2007, and coming up empty handed, I am reminded of some of the lies that continued against Knox - in Oct 2011 alone (three listed below) as the acquital happened.

If nothing else, this case has set some sort of record for unfounded rumours, most directed against Knox, but others on all sides have not escaped either.....

I shall press ahead with "lies" Knox was supposed to have told..... so far, the only one I can remember from Dempsey's book, is that Knox fibbed to police about Kercher in an early interview - playing down Kercher's sex-life and marijuana usage. So her first "lie" was to protect Meredith's memory!

- Meredith Kercher is forgotten http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/oct/03/meredith-kercher-forgotten-says-family?INTCMP=ILCNETTXT3487 Meredith Kercher has been forgotten, says family,'Brutal death' of student Meredith Kercher has been forgotten as Amanda Knox appeal against murder conviction reaches end

- private jet standing by to whisk Knox away if found innocent http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/sep/30/knox-plane-standby-appeal Amanda Knox said to have plane on standby if appeal is upheld, Family of victim Meredith Kercher had difficulty finding air tickets, says lawyer as appeal comes to an end

- Kercher family planning $12 million lawsuit against Amanda Knox http://www.nwcn.com/home/?fId=132500858&fPath=/news/local&fDomain=10212 Kerchers say report of Amanda Knox suit is bogus

_________________

Flipp,

Nope. Just one scenario was presented, the prosecutors' scenario of Amanda, Raffaele, and Rudy murdering Meredith, narrated by Comodi. (In that scenario different assailants were in the bedroom at different times during the assault.) The stills linked above might be misleading in being incomplete templates, not fulling fleshed-in. For example, Barbie (Angel Face, First Edition, pp 158-162) describes the video as clearly showing Amanda as a female (with "big breasts"), and Meredith is said to have appeared wearing blue jeans. Which means the stills were not extracted from the video, proper, but were used in the creation of video.

///

And cheesy and misleading, and amateurish! It looks like a group of test crash dummies doing gymnastics in a Barbie Dream Home.

Or a bad day at the Sims

Back to Barbie's truly awful book, which we were discussing a while back. Two things I just read:

1 she pours scorn on the idea that AK & RS prodecuted notwithstanding the arrest of Guede in order to save face, but then records unblinkingly that the police continued to harass Patrick long after his release 'to save face'!

2 she records a party at the Red Zone, hosted by Biscotti and attended by, among others, Napoleoni, Zugarini and even Micheli! It is worth remembering what a small place this is. My impression is that things work very differently in a provincial environment in which everyone knows everyone else and the big city where you may never find yourself against the same opponent twice and fraternisation of this kind is much less in evidence.

Sorry - no time to chat. I have to go put my chainmail on and saddle up for work.

It's made the Italian papers - the cost of the non-sensical video (which the call "useless"):

http://translate.google.com/translate?sourceid=navclient-menuext&hl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Etgcom24%2Emediaset%2Eit%2Fcronaca%2Farticoli%2F1035246%2Fi%2Dconti%2Ddel%2Dprocesso%2Dad%2Damanda%2De%2Draffaele%2Dcosi%2Dil%2Dtribunale%2Dbutta%2D182mila%2Deuro%E2%80%A6%2Eshtml
We are the accounts of the trial of Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito. E spunta una spesa davvero folle: il Tribunale, infatti, ha liquidato 182.784 euro per un filmino di 20 minuti che ricostruisce la scena del delitto. And check have a really crazy: the Court, in fact, has paid 182,784 euros for a video of 20 minutes, which reconstructs the scene of the crime. E' quanto risulta da questi documenti pubblicati in esclusiva da Tgcom24. It 'is evident from these documents published exclusively by Tgcom24. Un video importante? A video important? Una prova fondamentale? A key piece of evidence? Una ricostruzione decisiva? A reconstruction decisive? Macché: le immagini furono proiettate in aula, a porte chiuse. But no: the images were projected in the courtroom, behind closed doors. Ma furono ritenute irrilevanti a tal punto che non sono mai entrate nel fascicolo del processo. But they were deemed irrelevant to the point that they have never been in the files of the process.
La domanda allora è legittima: perché la Procura spende 182.784 euro per un filmato destinato all'oblio? The question is legitimate: because the prosecutor spends 182,784 euros for a movie destined to oblivion? La somma, fra l'altro, è piuttosto significativa: 10 volte il costo di un film come Paranormal Activity che ha sbancato i botteghini di mezzo mondo, più o meno quanto un programma tv di successo… The sum, among other things, is quite significant: 10 times the cost of a movie like Paranormal Activity that was dug out of the box office over the world, more or less successful as a TV show ...

Commissionato il 2 aprile 2009 dai procuratori di Perugia Mignini e Comodi, il filmino della polemica è stato realizzato da una società di Todi, la Nventa Id srl utilizzando tecniche 4d. Commissioned April 2, 2009 by Mignini in Perugia prosecutors and convenience, the little clip of the controversy was created by a company of Todi, the Nventa Ltd. Id using techniques 4d. Il tribunale sperava forse di recuperare queste somme da Raffaele e Amanda, come dimostrano i verbali di noti tifica nel carcere di Terni e Perugia. The court hoped perhaps to recover this by Raffaele and Amanda, as shown by the records of known typhoid in the prison at Terni and Perugia. E invece, i due ex fidanzati come è noto sono stati assolti. Instead, the two ex-boyfriends as is known were acquitted. Risultato? Result? Il costo esagerato di questo video ricadrà tutto sulle spalle dello Stato. Exaggerated the cost of this video will fall on the shoulders of the state. Che non ha i soldi per pagare gli imprenditori che riforniscono le mense degli ospedali. That does not have the money to pay contractors who supply the canteens of hospitals. Ma, guarda caso, versa senza batter ciglio 182mila euro per un video (inutile) voluto dai pm. But, strangely, pays 182 thousand euros without blinking for a video (useless) wanted by prosecutors.

Like I said, Bill, I'm curious to see the public's reaction in Italy to this article.

What about this article - although not (yet) directly linked to Perugia and the way the press in the U.K. may or may not have played an active role in directing the Perugian police and prosecutor:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2012/jan/28/news-international-four-men-arrested

Sun journalists and police officer arrested in corruption investigation
Met police search News International's headquarters in Wapping as four current and former Sun employees are arrested

Add this to the earlier Guardian report that journalists were actually bullying police, and I do not think it is much of a stretch to believe.......

Vogt, Nadeau, and Pisa thought it was manna from heaven that the Foxy Knoxy stuff landed in their laps, in Italy, away from the U.K. defamation laws. They had a direct interest in promoting a Foxy Knoxy myth, and seeing that it was sustainable in the long haul..... they had motive, means (chequebooks and a penchant for actually bullying police back home when necessary, cf. Surrey police report), and opportunity in a small, provincial town where everyone knows everyone, drinks in the same bars.....

The challenge I put out to anyone who thinks this is dreaming in technicolour is this:

Who among you five years ago though that News of the World would be out of business, and that Rupert Murdoch would be humble?

If the truth could bring down Murdoch, if I were Pisa, Vogt, and Nadeau, I'd be looking for a country that did not have extradition back to the U.K.

Kind of makes you wonder how many police officers in Italy were receiving payment for "updates". If you're wondering where all the early leaks came from, this may be your answer.

The animator is probably someone's (in the hierarchy) idiot nephew who just finished an online course. [snark] At least, that would be the case in Chicago.

Our local family blacksmith is sonething of a community gathering place. It's a wonderful way to educate the kids about the world of work, seeing swords and axes actually being made. They also geld horses. Always great entertainment for the little ones!

Well, Perugia IS medieval, isn't it?

We also have a PTA petition against the recent banning of witch burning on health and safety grounds. It seems that the fear of lawsuits is preventing traditional family fun, which is a real shame. Hanging witches is frankly not that entertaining.

Does pressing or pricking the witches provide more family fun whilst teaching strong moral values? There really should be a educational alternative to burning for the good of society as a whole.