Friday, August 15, 2014

Legal Timeline Of The Main Case, On Which The Next Ruling By Supreme Court Could Be Final

Posted by catnip



Cassazione (Supreme Court of Italy) seen from the east across the Tiber River


Todays Status

The Supreme Court is due to rule, possibly in the autumn, on what might be the final appeal by Sollecito and Knox on grounds which have not been published. Main steps prior to this:

November 2007

Meredith Kercher is found violently killed in her home while studying abroad in Italy. Her housemate, Amanda Knox, and Amanda’s friend Raffaele Sollecito, as well as Amanda’s boss, Patrick Lumumba, are arrested. A fourth person, Rudy Guede, is tracked down and also arrested. Patrick Lumumba’s alibi is confirmed and he is released.

December 2007, January 2008

Due process hearings authorise the continuation of preventative custody for the suspects, on the grounds of flight risk and possibility of tampering with the evidence.

October 2008

Preliminary Hearing Court, Perugia, Micheli presiding ““ after investigations have completed, the committal hearing finds there is a case to answer and remands Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito to stand trial on the charges of :

    (A) aggravated murder in company of Meredith Kercher
    (B) illegal transport of a knife from Raffaele Sollecito’s apartment
    (C) aggravated sexual assault in company of Meredith Kercher (later folded into charge (A), on the grounds of being part of the same criminal event)
    (D) illegal profiting by possession, to wit: of a sum of money approx. €300 and of credit cards belonging to the victim, and her mobile phones
    (E) simulation of a crime, to wit: staging a break-in in Filomena Romanelli’s room
    (F) Amanda Knox, in addition, calunnia, for falsely claiming, knowing him to be innocent, Diya Lumumba also called “Patrick”, of being the author of the murder

Rudy Guede is tried summarily “on the papers”, as he has requested the expedited trial procedure (“fast-track” trial) and is found guilty of charges (A) and (C), and not guilty of the theft, charge (D), and sentenced to life, automatically discounted to 30 years for choosing the expedited trial procedure.

December 2009

On appeal to the Court of Appeals, Perugia (4/2009, on 22 December 2009), his sentence is reduced to 24 years, automatically discounted to 16 years, the aggravating factors of the charges not being found by the court. His final appeal, to the Supreme Court of Cassation, First Criminal Section, is rejected (7195/11, hearing of 16 December 2010, reasons handed down 24 February 2011).

December 2009

Court of Assizes, Perugia, presided over by Massei ““ finds Amanda and Raffaele guilty of all charges (except the theft of the money and credit cards) but without the aggravating factors applying, and sentences them, with mitigating factors included, to 26 years for Amanda, and 25 years for Raffaele (the extra year for Amanda being for the calunnia).

October 2011

Court of Appeals of the Court of Assizes, Perugia, presided over by Hellmann (after a last-minute replacement) ““ trial convictions quashed, except for the calunnia charge against Amanda (charge (F)), where sentence was increased to time served (3 years); both prisoners released (4/2011, decision 3 October 2011, reasons handed down 5 December 2011).

March 2013

The Supreme Court of Cassation (25/3/2013) found the acquittals on charges A&C, B, D, and E to be unsafe, and annulled that part of the decision, remanding the matter to the Florentine jurisdiction, as per the usual cascade rules, for a fresh determination, and rejected Amanda Knox’s appeal on the charge (F) conviction and sentence.

January 2014

Court of Appeals, Second Chamber, Florence, presided over by Nencini ““ trial convictions on the non-calunnia charges upheld, therefore sentence increased to 28 years and 6 months for Amanda (11/13, decision 30 January 2014, reasons handed down 29 April 2014). All convicted parties to pay the relevant compensation to the various injured parties. Appeals to the Supreme Court of Cassation have been lodged.

Associated Timelines

See the posts here and here on the timing of events arrived at by the trial judges.

Comments

Catnip, thank you for this record of the major milestones in this case. This is very very useful as a refresher. The defendants whether they’ve kept voluminous diaries or file cabinets overflowing with paperwork on the case could not have a clearer record than this timeline.

It is useful for media or anyone who needs an overview of seven years of legal brick-laying right down to inclusion of the various charges that were dropped or sentences increased and by which judges. 2014 here we are.

Posted by Hopeful on 08/15/14 at 04:34 PM | #

Catnip does such a great job with these things. There are some others in our Scenarios group too. Take your pick.

http://www.truejustice.org/ee/index.php?/tjmk/C306/

The top post there now, the Powerpoint by James Raper and Kermit, is a huge body of work that took months.

A case going on for 7 years? A nightmare for the family of the one who died. But Italian justice is careful and very, very pro-perp rather than slow. As there isnt much crime in Italy only the visible police presence is particularly big.

The right to 2 automatic appeals for most crimes is what especially gums up the system- it gums up the European Court of Human Rights too, because Italian appeals are reflexively filed there too, and the ECHR has said that slows down appeals from other countries with real cruelty to investigate.

One had to WATCH the trial through 2009 to see how decisive the prosecution case was, and how, starting with Knox on the stand, the defenses were seriously lost and never made any dent.

Key parts of the trial were behind closed doors; the barbaric torture of Meredith got across to Italian watchers via buzz because there were always leaks but on those days western reporters (none of whom live in Perugia) were not around and probably rightly did no repeat the buzz.

Knox forces were strongarming objective media and only the great Andrea Vogt, Barbie Nadeau, Ann Wise and Follain did not blink.

The Associated Press reporters who get their stories onto 1000 websites (by far the major source of news outside Italy) were bent right from the start.

We fired a shot across the bows of one, Colleen Barry, and she has been more objective since.

http://truejustice.org/ee/index.php?/tjmk/comments/another_highly_misleading_associated_press_report_already_appears_on_7/

Posted by Peter Quennell on 08/16/14 at 05:15 PM | #

Mention of Barbie Nadeau, didn’t she have a debate with Anne Bremner? At website Women In Crime Ink, there are 12 or more posts by Bremner about Knox and FOA. She mentions Judge Heavey first and Tom Wright abundantly.


If you click on the photos of Women in Crime Ink, photos are found on the right side of the webpage. Anne is there. Her photos slideshow and change.

The main positive thing there is Anne Bremner holding her big fluffy yellow cat who weighs nearly as much as she does. In avoiding the trap of Amanda the cat’s wisdom may supercede his owner’s.

Posted by Hopeful on 08/16/14 at 07:36 PM | #

Box at the top phases out (see at bottom) on the two-edged sword of what our media consultant calls “Twitter badgering”.  With her okay:

I’ve found that the best way to deal with reporters is to assume that they want to do a good job and to do whatever I can to help them do a good job.  It might mean pointing them to information they might have missed, or quietly setting them straight on the facts, etc.  Over time, this works pretty well.

It rarely works to take them on directly because then they get defensive and they’re way more likely to dig in their heels.

A lot of time, I don’t ask for a response.  I offer information in the “I found this useful; I hope you do too…” mode.  Oftentimes, a reporter’s worst nightmare is looking stupid - they don’t want to make mistakes and no one likes to be made fun of.  I want them to know I’m on their side because I’m on the side of getting the story straight and the facts right.  I have a perspective and I’m totally upfront about what that perspective is - but I’m relentlessly factual….

In dealing with Seattle media, I would be respectful and cordial and operate with the idea that they still want to do a good job.  Even when it doesn’t seem like it.  Attacking them rarely works.  What’s going to be helpful is to help them understand the case so that they can do a better job of covering it, all the while being relentless factual and endlessly polite.

It is why I really like the Wiki-type summary of the evidence and the docs.  And why I believe Twitter badgering doesn’t work.

Reporters can get defensive when publicly made the eye of the storm. Some have been in touch. Media trends seem to be looking good with just a few still confused. It seems to be hard for the Knox people to come out with any message that would help them these days.

We are being asked for help. In any tweets to the media please consider using real names like some do on TJMK. Anonymous tweets are leaving some reporters underwhelmed, not something we need when there’s growing warmth for pro-justice views.

Posted by Peter Quennell on 08/18/14 at 01:53 PM | #

very nice photo of il palazzaccio

Posted by Popper on 08/19/14 at 12:00 PM | #

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