Wednesday, February 25, 2015

Paul Ciolino Hit With A $40 Million Suit For Real Railroad Job From Hell

Posted by Peter Quennell




1. Paul Ciolino And Meredith’s Case

Investigator Paul Ciolino provides expertise for the CBS Network’s 48 Hours crime unit.

The staffing of that unit are all obsessively supportive of Amanda Knox and all unquestioningly channel the PR. Despite claims such as “16 months of investigation” they seem to have never settled down to do reality checks or due diligence of their own.

They include the talking head Peter Van Sant (from Seattle), producers Doug Longhini, Sara Ely Hulse, and Joe Halderman (fired for attempted blackmail) and the serial fabricator Doug Preston who with major CBS help has perpetrated various damaging hoaxes

In late 2008 Paul Ciolino helped to get the Perugia reporting by CBS off to a very unpromising start.

As Kermit showed Ciolino made a huge mistake in a gotcha attempt upon witness Nara Capezzali.

She had reported to the police that she heard footsteps on gravel by the house and directly below her window on the top deck of the parking facility and then clanging footsteps on the steel stairs a few yards to her right. She also reported seeing several figures on the run.

She would not talk with Ciolino, who got the locations very wrong and also ignored altogether what Madame Nara saw. His replication of the footsteps was by runners down on the bitumin street, which is about three times as far away as Madame Nara heard some steps, with a surface nothing like the gravel drive by the house. Then Ciolino reported that he couldnt hear anything. Hardly a surprise.

In 2009 Ciolino was the main speaker at the infamous Knox fundraiser at Salty’s in West Seattle. His presentation was shrill even by their standards. He was apparently the first ever to describe the case as a “railroad job from hell”.

That inspired this extended rebuttal by Kermit.

Included in Ciolino’s presentation at Salty’s was an angry demonizing rant about Dr Mignini’s sanity. This rant was widely reported, not least in Italy.

In Perugia Knox’s own legal team protested the PR thrust. The BBC interviewed Dr Mignini and in a report on their website concluded the precise opposite to Ciolino’s claim.

In April 2009 CBS 48 Hours with biased takes by Ciolino and Preston aired American Girl, Italian Nightmare, the most misleading major US TV report as of that point, and Peter Van Sant aired his own misleading take.

Later still in 2009 CBS 48 Hours Producer Joe Halderman was arrested and charged with blackmail. Halderman had to resign after pleading guilty and is long gone.

In 2011 CBS 48 Hours aired the so-called untold story of Knox. CBS 48 Hours also aired numerous other short segments (you can find them on YouTube) simply regurgitating the tales by Knox and her PR gang whole, absent any checking of facts.

CBS attempt no balance, nobody with a deep knowledge of the case ever appears. No Italians are ever interviewed. PR shills repetitively appear without being introduced as such. Almost all hard facts are simply left out; the lies by omission are huge.

CBS has done zero translation of major documents, or even reported on them in summary when released. Peter Van Sant and Doug Longhini have posted several dozen of the nastiest and least truthful analyses of the case on the CBS website. A really huge effort, simply channeling the PR.

Although quieter now, Paul Ciolino didnt quite dry up on the case. After the Nencini appeal in Florence he was quoted as saying:

Amanda is a political football, and not so much a murder suspect….They know she didn’t do it. Anyone with half a brain knows she and Raffaele weren’t involved in this thing. This is about national pride, about showing who’s boss in Italy. They are sending the message that, ‘You cannot bigfoot us. You can’t outspend us. We’re going to show you who runs this country and it’s not some little American twit from Seattle.

Italy really awoke to the Knox PR and the biased reporting of CBS etc only late in 2011 in conjunction with the highly evident hijacking of the Hellmann appeal and moreso in 2012 with the defamatory Sollecito book.

2. The $40 Million Lawsuit Against Ciolino And Protess

The news video above and this Chicago Sun-Times report explain the main thrust of the $40 million lawsuit which Ciolino along with Northwestern University’s journalism school and a former professor now faces.

Prosecutors in 2014 in releasing an innocent man after 15 years in prison blamed that group for false evidence and a false confession and for letting the real murderer walk free. Here thanks to our main poster Jools is the lawsuit document itself, an amazing read if you need more proof of how sleazy Amanda Knox’s help can be.

Here are the lawsuit’s opening paragraphs.

1. In 1999, Plaintiff Alstory Simon was wrongfully incarcerated for a double-murder he did not commit. Arrested at the age of 48, Simon spent more than 15 years in prison before he was ultimately exonerated on October 30, 2014.

2. The horrific injustice that befell Simon occurred when Defendants, Northwestern University Professor David Protess, Northwestern University private investigator Paul Ciolino, and attorney Jack Rimland, conspired to frame Simon for the murders in order to secure the release of the real killer, Anthony Porter.

3. As part of a Northwestern University Investigative Journalism class he taught in 1998, Protess instructed his students to investigate Porter’s case and develop evidence of Porter’s innocence, rather than to search for the truth. During that investigation, Northwestern, through its employees and/or agents Protess and Ciolino, intentionally manufactured false witness statements against Simon and then used the fabricated evidence, along with terrifying threats and other illegal and deceitful tactics, to coerce a knowingly false confession from Simon.

CBS is mentioned half a dozen times. It helped in the framing with nationally broadcast segments. In paragraph 85 we are told CBS got an exclusive. What a real surprise THAT is…  The lawsuit document paints Ciolino’s behavior as dishonest and ruthless and possibly criminal as well.

Protess, Ciolino and Northwestern Medill students repeatedly attempted to get the eyewitness to change his testimony, with Protess offering him $250,000 and 20% in “upfront” money for his rights in a book and movie deal;

Protess also told the eyewitness that he could have sex with either of two Northwestern Medill students if he would change his testimony.

Quoted in the lawsuit is this about Ciolino. It is actually written by Protess.

On March 15, Charles McCraney’s appearance was anxiously awaited at a Kentucky Fried Chicken in Kankakee, Illinois. Paul Ciolino’s hair was slicked back. The private investigator wore a sharkskin suit and white-on-white shirt with gold cuff links, his tie secured by an ornate pin. Sitting opposite him were David Protess and Rene Brown, dressed down for the occasion…  Protess introduced himself [to McCraney] and then Brown. “˜And this is Jerry Bruckheimer, the Hollywood producer I was telling you about,’ said Protess as Ciolino extended his hand….

In paragraph 94 Ciolino’s alleged threatening of Simon into a confession is described as follows. .

Ciolino and a fellow private investigator “bull rushed” (in the words of Ciolino) Simon in his home with their guns drawn; 

Ciolino told Simon that he was a police officer;

Ciolino showed Simon a videotape of a man, who is now known to be an actor, falsely claiming that he saw Simon commit the murders;

Ciolino threatened Simon that they could do things the “easy way or the hard way” and mentioned that he would hate to see Simon have an accident;

Ciolino showed Simon what Ciolino described as a “devastating” five minute CBS-TV broadcast of Protess and Inez claiming Simon committed the murders;

Ciolino falsely told Simon that he was facing the death penalty and that the Chicago police were on their way to Simon’s house to arrest him;

Ciolino told Simon he could avoid the death penalty by providing a statement that he shot the victims in self defense but that Simon had to act quickly because Ciolino could no longer help him once the police arrived;

Ciolino promised Simon that he would be provided a free lawyer if he agreed to give a statement;

Ciolino promised Simon that Protess would ensure he received a short prison sentence if he agreed to give a statement;

Ciolino promised Simon would receive large sums of money from book and movie deals about the case if he agreed to give a statement.

Believing he had no other viable option, and acting under extreme duress and the influence of narcotics, Simon was knowingly and intentionally coerced into providing a false statement implicating himself in the murders.

It is this supposedly forced confession that above all cost Simon 15 years.

There is so much more. This may be a very tough lawsuit for Ciolino to beat as well as a career-killer. Northwestern University is no friend of Ciolino and may choose to go hard against him.

They do have a favorable track record.  The students of the journalism school had for years been questionably used by Protess’s arm of Barry Sheck’s Innocence Project to gather defense evidence slanted to getting supposed innocent prisoners released.

Protess was fired for this by the university several years ago as hangers-on tried to defend him.

The Innocence Project again… This is all too reminiscent of Greg Hampikian in Boise, Idaho, who corrupted Hellmann’s DNA consultants to try to frame people, and misrepresented hard evidence to try to allow guilty people to walk free.

And all broadcast by your local CBS station.


Comments

If you watch the numerous CBS videos or read the numerous attacks on Italy on their site, do you spot a trend? CBS 48 Hours is prone to leaving an awful lot out.

Where is CBS’s translation of even one major document? Where is evidence of knowledge of even one court transcript? Where is the real reason the appeals were allowed? Where are the five opportunities RS and AK were given before trial to prove they had no role? Where are the bad times the defense had in 2009? What about the lengthy trial sessions behind closed doors? Where are the numerous conflicting alibis?  Where are the numerous whacks at one another by RS and AK? Where is AK’s disastrous stint on the stand? Where is any mention of the dealer Knox screwed for drugs? Where is the current trial of RS for his book? Where is the trial of Oggi for Knox’s book? Where is the Knox interrogation hoax? Where is the Carabineri lab nailing the “science” of C&V? Where is the known corruption of the Hellmann court? Where is the downfall of defense witnesses Alessi and Aviello? Where is the Guede/lone-wolf hoax?  Where is the downward spiral of Frank Sforza now on trial in Italy and wanted by US and Canadian police? Where is any fair remark about the Italian system or its staff? Where is the long overdue expose of the Preston hoaxes? Why are Spetzi’s many losses in court not there? Where is the truth about the Narducci 22? Where is Dr Mignini’s total rebound and promotion after Cassation sharply repudiated a rogue prosecutor and judge in Florence?  Why does CBS feel such a need to defame so many Italians in English from so far? Where is any mention of the PR’s corrupting very big bucks?

Posted by Peter Quennell on 02/26/15 at 04:23 AM | #

Re Ciolino he doesnt seem exactly competent or very bright. Steve Moore by another name. On PMF dot ORG they have long questioned his credentials.

Here is Ciolino thoroughly suckered by the Knox Interrogation Hoax and just making stuff up by the handful about that night.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UfeCk5_Z-4o

Re Northwestern, how to do real damage to a journalism school. And female students having sex with witnesses to win a case? They had to do that for good grades?

Staff and students at a couple of the elite journalism schools way have in a minor way checked out the reporting and found it wanting.

But considering this is perhaps the biggest legal hoax ever attempted, they really should be doing a lot more, and learn from it and adjust against it and stop it ever happening again.

The biased PR shill Nina Burleigh is a graduate of the Columbia school. She attacked a lot and then whined when called out. Columbia shouldnt be proud of that.

Both Columbia and CBS are less than two miles across the river from where I live. I can see Columbia from here; CBS is hidden by some taller buildings in between.

Posted by Peter Quennell on 02/26/15 at 04:44 AM | #

One problem that has come to light as a result of the Meredith Kercher case is the Innocence Project is run almost as a franchise operation, with various University’s legal, journalism and forensics departments all being used to provide free research which then is used to burnish the brand name. On the other hand, their lackadaisical oversight seems based on the fact they are basically, not suable.

How did Hampikian rope the Innocence Project into defending Amanda Knox?

Answer: he didn’t. She never was an IP “featured case” but he did, as director of the Idaho branch, conduct his one man defense of Amanda Knox and rope in other individuals to make it seem as though IP saw this as a miscarriage of justice. According to IP’s own rules, they never could have made such a determination.

Now that Barry Scheck’s vanity project is being examined more closely because of its association with Northwestern, I say this is a good thing.

And all those front organizations like Bruce Fischer’s? Already irrelevant, thanks to IP’s bad odour, no matter how much they want to inflate their er, successes.

Posted by Ergon on 02/26/15 at 05:49 AM | #

Scary reading!

Posted by chami on 02/26/15 at 08:18 AM | #

It’s going to take a whole lot more than a paper clip and duct tape for MacGyver to mend the seriously tarnished image of the US media and their paid PR booster clubs. It IS, however, not beyond a proper spell…

Posted by Professor Snape on 02/26/15 at 11:14 AM | #

Amazing - this is all new to me. It seems that every time a rock is lifted in this case all manner of creepy-crawlies are exposed.

Posted by Odysseus on 02/26/15 at 12:45 PM | #

Hi Ergon and Snape.

The reporting out of Chicago on this (a lot) talks about the university journalism school at length, but how the Innocence Project dragged them into this is missed. Ergon was very smart to call it a franchise; it really is, with franchiser Barry Sheck asleep at the wheel and not spotting these cases gone wrong. Knox was lauded at their Portland Oregon event.

The Idaho arm lost its federal funding and barely survives and this arm in north Chicago was full closed down. Andrea Vogt did great investigation of how public funds - university resources - allowed Hampikian to get as far as he did.

While universities have too often been behind the curve, many including the excellent UW did adjust in light of Amanda Knox finding a way to create liability without any monitoring or control. Steve Moore was evicted from a university when his killer-groupie syndrome overflowed.

In Northwestern’s case the university management and journalism school management DID smell a rat and finally evicted Professor Protess from its staff. Their problem is that this goes back more than a decade - the poor guy framed served 15 years.

Posted by Peter Quennell on 02/26/15 at 02:08 PM | #

And that is ironic indeed, Peter. If journalists (the few notable exceptions aside) had done their job this case would have been reported properly in US media.

What we did on the Meredith Kercher sites is admirable for the very reason that we pulled the slack and outdid the actual professionals.

Yes, it’s a pity that journalists haven’t looked more closely at the role of the Innocence Project, focussing only on the buffoonish Ciolino and quietly retired professor Protess.

It is indeed very good we saw past the ra ra boosterism of organizations like CPJ and IP, and their role in misreporting, is now available for researchers in the future.

Citizen journalism is here to stay.

Posted by Ergon on 02/26/15 at 03:36 PM | #

CBS has made many millions off Amanda Knox. But she is not the only media cash-cow here.

Just east of Phoenix Arizona a jury of 8 people is out right now, deciding whether to put Jodi Arias to death for killing her ex-lover in 2008.

Many here have seen some parallel to Knox: troubled childhood, sharp elbows, and jealous spasms which may have led both of them to kill.

There’s some online commentary by some who live right there, pointing out that there are nearly 70 other “Jodi Ariases” awaiting trial, and in going for the max the town has cost taxpayers over $3 million already for her DEFENSE.

Why go for the max, for death? Well it was a pretty horrific killing (as was Meredith’s) probably fantasized or planned in advance. But also this same unit of CBS has played a part.

Again and again and again CBS’s inflammatory reports have taken Arias apart with resultant very big bucks in advertising for them. See one example here.

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/the-mind-of-a-killer-unraveling-the-lies-of-jodi-arias/

Why their truly massive support for Knox, in bizarre contrast to what they did for Arias? Well, for one reason, Arias could afford no PR and if no death sentence was in sight the CBS audience would wander off.

Same for Casey Anthony in every way. Inflammatory outrage by CBS at the crime (though there are similar crimes barely reported in the US every day), and then inflammatory outrage by CBS when a Florida jury let her off.

Arias like Knox has a killer-groupie fanclub of her own, but they lack resources and media inroads and against CBS etc they have made no dent. In Casey Anthony’s case jurors said they didnt like the prosecutors’ overkill.

This is a new jury for Arias. Kinda like Hellmann’s. A real wild card.

Posted by Peter Quennell on 02/26/15 at 04:29 PM | #

Look no further than the connections of Douglas Preston with a grudge, Gogerty Marriott selling exclusives with the Knoxes, and the full panoply of Italian skulduggery with Berlusconi, Mario Spezi, the Sollecitos, the Monster of Florence cover up, Peter.

It was quite a struggle for seven years. But it was worth it.

Posted by Ergon on 02/26/15 at 05:14 PM | #

One thing embarrasing to CBS in the Arias case that CBS seems to have conveniently “forgotten” to report.

http://www.fox10phoenix.com/story/27552176/2014/12/04/hearing-held-over-alleged-prosecutorial-misconduct-in-ariass-trial

Posted by Peter Quennell on 02/26/15 at 05:16 PM | #

Hi Ergon

“Look no further than the connections of Douglas Preston with a grudge, Gogerty Marriott selling exclusives with the Knoxes, and the full panoply of Italian skulduggery with Berlusconi, Mario Spezi, the Sollecitos, the Monster of Florence cover up, Peter.”

Right. Grudges, many following from real crimes, as Preston’s did. And skulduggery with some mafia and rogue-mason tinges.

And of course all the greedy paws outstretched. Big money has been a massive factor in the slanted coverage of this case.

Posted by Peter Quennell on 02/26/15 at 05:51 PM | #

Oh dear…...this does not augur well for then rest of the clan.

If I tried to list each and every one of them who has lied either on TV or in a book, denigrated the judicial system in Italy or abused the many judges who are convinced AK and RS are guilty I could be writing for a long time.

I believe this lawsuit is the tip of the iceberg headed towards Seattle.

Posted by Smacker on 02/26/15 at 06:03 PM | #

Yet, the very clueless FOA, still referring to Paul Ciolino’s bombastic “investigation” of Nara Capezzali today:

https://twitter.com/Noel_0409/status/570711316404400128

“It’s a matter of life and death, Signora!”, as he bangs on her doors in the wee hours.

How many ‘investigators’ all hoist by their own petards.

Posted by Ergon on 02/26/15 at 07:08 PM | #

Noel on Twitter has the intelligence of an ant hill.

Posted by Smacker on 02/26/15 at 07:31 PM | #

Talk about obsessive, as the top post did…  Below are some of the posts on the CBS website by the CBS producer (not reporter: he is a producer) Doug Longhini. The de-facto PR shill is also a producer of the biased CBS longform TV reports, and also the one who brings Ciolino and Preston in. .

[Long para that was here now jumped to top of Comments above because someone noted that it applies to all of CBS too.]

February 11 2014 Convicted killer in Knox case eligible for daily release

February 7 2014 Was Amanda Knox a political pawn in Italian politics

February 5, 2014 Judge who sentenced Knox, Sollecito under fire for remarks

January 31, 2014 Amanda Knox and double jeopardy: Does it matter in Italy

November 1, 2013 Amanda Knox Update: Newly tested trace evidence reportedly points away from Knox, but how will prosecutors respond

October 16, 2013 Amanda Knox Update: DNA test result is a win for American accused of murder in Italy

October 4 2013 Amanda Knox Update: Would $139,000 have helped stack the odds in favor of Knox in new trial

September 30 2013 Amanda Knox Update: Will a tiny piece of untested evidence on a butcher knife decide new trial outcome

March 20 2012 Amanda Knox’s parents to go on trial in Perugia

November 23, 2011 We’ll be listening: Amanda Knox case reveals extent of Italian wiretappin

November 2, 2011 Amanda Knox prosecutor Giuliano Mignini back in court as a defendan

April 20, 2011 Amanda Knox reporters harrassed, jailed by authorities

September 30, 2010 Amanda Knox Exclusive: Former FBI Agent Fired by School for Speaking Out on Knox Case

April 23, 2010 Monster of Florence: Amanda Knox Prosecutor’s Satanic Theories Rejected by Judge

April 15, 2010 Amanda Knox Framed: Picture Hung in Italian Police “Hall of Shame” BEFORE She Was Charged With Murder

April 22, 2010 Amanda Knox Exclusive: Convicted Prosecutor Giuliano Mignini May Return for “Appealing” Courtroom Drama, Citing Loophole

March 26, 2010 Amanda Knox, Two Faces of Justice: Convicted American is in Italian Prison, Convicted Prosecutor is Free

March 18, 2010 Amanda Knox Italian Police Bombshell: We Knew She Was Guilty of Murder Without Physical Evidence

March 9, 2010 Jailhouse Confession Rocks Amanda Knox Murder Case

December 16, 2009 Amanda Knox May be Joined in Jail by Giuliano Mignini, the Prosecutor That Put Her There

April 8 2009 American Girl, Italian Nightmare

Posted by Peter Quennell on 02/26/15 at 07:43 PM | #

CBS tried to do a railroad job against justice for Meredith. The links in Peter Quennell’s comment above prove it. Doug Longhini has a mega axe to grind with Mignini.

Doug Longhini of CBS mocks “Italian CSI types” as saving money on rubber gloves by reusing dirty ones, said “Italian police lab appeared to work under concept that DNA stands for Do Nothing Analytical, said Perugia should be renamed Paranomia from the old fantasy novel.

He asks why are Curt and Edda being sued for criminal slander by the police and likens it to “Alice in Wonderland jurisprudence” then pooh-poohs the strength of the case against the parents. Yet they told the whole world in an interview with John Follain that the police abused Amanda in her interrogation, thus implying all her statements were coerced. Later Amanda picked up the “I was psychologically tortured” mantra once safe again in Seattle. Are her claims of PTSD and panic attacks linked to police brutality or generic jailhouse stress, who knows? But she can handle anything without her moms’ best friend, Valium, she said, and said she refused to let prison “change me”.

Last chance, Amanda, take a lie detector test.

Carlin Miller writing for CBS eagerly headlined his hope that Mignini would join Amanda in jail since Mignini “put her there”. Miller waves the abuse of office and abetting charges against Mignini. And as Quennell points out, where then is CBS’s journalistic follow-through to equally report that Mignini was cleared of the charges?! They don’t relish that story, that an important judge has been found innocent of wrongdoing, yet that outcome they desire for a fox. So much for their yellow journalism integrity.

There’s been better journalism and research done by TJMK and PMF than by CBS for all the CBS money ads sold.

And no matter what the final verdict for Amanda Knox, the Meredith justice sites don’t need more validation than their honest search for truth. Citizen journalism as Ergon said.

The likes of Paul Ciolino who used more brawn than brains in his wild effort to discredit widow Cappazalli as a witness, finds himself now in big big trouble for possibly twisting the truth in another murder case and even pretending he was police. 

Then Longhini laughs at Mignini (prematurely), said “Mignini’s resume has taken a tumble” referring to the Hellman verdict, said “Mignini lost the Knox-Sollecito appeal; his witnesses were discredited, his DNA evidence deemed unreliable”. Longhini draws a half-baked and crooked parallel between Knox wearing a cat burglar costume for Halloween with Mignini wearing a prosecutor’s robe, as if the latter is ludicrous and arrogant but the former not.

CBS stories in above links also claim that “Italian Scientific Police have a questionable track record” referring to Trace 36I which is Meredith’s DNA on the knife. Said the police and prosecution came up with “bizarre witnesses against Knox and Sollecito…more fitting for a Zoolander-type movie”. Said of early arrests and “case closed” that “Perugian authorities made a grave error…they jumped the shark”.

It doesn’t get much more slanted than this.

Posted by Hopeful on 02/27/15 at 01:06 AM | #

@ Ergon, - Agreed. People here on TJMK have truly outdone the professionals, and that citizen journalism is here to stay.

@ Jools - Thank you for posting the suit.  Stunning.

This is both morbid, and very promising at the same time.

Interesting that N.U. Innocence Project was involved, but kind of sick, using the case as a ‘‘project’‘.  Odd coincidence, Amanda Knox went to the Oregon Innocence Convention in 2014, shortly after Judge Nencini upheld her murder conviction. I believe this slap in the face was noted in Nencini’s report.

Frightening, to take a cause so seriously, as to twist your own principles to achieve it.

Ergon is completely right. On this site, we spend a lot of time fact-checking and reviewing emails, letters, statements, court sessions, verdicts, and press conferences.  We do far more due diligence than those [reporters], whose professions obligate them to.

Just remembered:  Stephen Colbert recently left, (Colbert Report), and Jon Stewart (Daily Show), will be leaving.  They were legendary in critiquing the media.  They are missed by many.

Sorry, I’m rambling here. Stunned.  Thank you for posting this.

Posted by Chimera on 02/27/15 at 09:49 AM | #

Remind you of anyone?

Michelle Carter, smiling sweet face, so sad about the suicide of her “friend”, until the text messages show that she was the one who encouraged him to do it:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2972283/Michelle-Carter-18-encouraged-friend-life-raised-money-name.html

_

Posted by Mark on 02/27/15 at 07:04 PM | #

@Mark

Yes she does remind me of someone. Give me time,  it’ll come to me…

What on earth made her encourage him? How can she live with herself?

Posted by Odysseus on 02/27/15 at 10:17 PM | #

There will be those who will insist that Michelle Carter is innocent. These are the same kinds of people who also insist that Jodi Arias is innocent They, just as the Knoxoholics do, is to suffer rampant psychological denial which over time had puzzled me to a great extent. Why is it that in spite of all the evidence proving guilt without any shadow of any doubt at all do they insist that it’s all lies, all made up or part of some great global conspiracy which includes nations?

In order to understand such people it is necessary to figure out why. That way their arguments regarding innocence can be countermanded and dismissed for what they are which is a psychological sickness. They will try anything in order to bolster their argument which includes making up supporters who do not exist. The reason is as follows.

The denial of the facts is because the personality is not adaptive enough to integrate the information.

ie “If I accept that I am wrong then my Ego will collapse.” Denial, Projection, Reaction formation, Rationalization, and Somatizing are Ego Defenses.

In other words by excepting that these people are wrong and Knox is guilty as charged then they are forced to take responsibility for her actions and the actions of others by proxy. If they accept that they have a problem then they are forced to be responsible for that problem.

As far as the Knoxoholics are concerned it becomes just like alcoholics anonymous. By admitting that they are alcoholics they are forced to come face to face with their own failings and admit to themselves that such a problem exists.

In Knox case it’s even worse because this brings about Ego Collapse and loss of identity because the supporters of Knox identify with her as victim. They will do and say anything rather than face the truth because they are unable to face the reality of guilt.

This does not touch on others such as Steve and Michelle Moore and Bruce Fischer and Paul Ciolino, never mind Joe Halderman and the other slime who try for profit at someones expense. Curt Knox Chris Mellas are even worse because they will sell anyone down the river including their own guilty daughter for personal profit.  Therefore they manipulate public thinking towards their own sick ends which is financial gain.

Posted by Grahame Rhodes on 02/27/15 at 11:57 PM | #

@Grahame - you are so right.

Furthermore, Assisted suicide, including doctor-prescribed suicide, is a common law crime in Massachusetts.

Anyone arguing that Michelle Carter is innocent is into denial. She can be held accountable as a felon in Massachusetts, even if she is a prescribing-doctor.

And even where doctor-prescribed assistance is not illegal, it requires the presence of a fatal disease, such as Cancer, with death expected in less than 6 months and the intent to promote death-with-Dignity.

Here, Miss Carter urged her victim to get back into his car and die with no dignity whatsoever.

Posted by Cardiol MD on 02/28/15 at 06:54 AM | #

@Mark and Cardiol MD, this Michelle Carter is absolutely horrifying. She is so adorable on the outside, at first glance a real cutie American beauty that I would love to call a daughter if the inside matched the face and glow. Yet a heartless predator.

On the outside Carter seems everything positive, healthy and wholesome. Omigosh but on the inside she carries some deep dark festering hatred for this poor boy the son of a tugboat captain, a decent young man with his whole life ahead of him that she urged to his death, despite seeing his fear when he tried to leave the carbon monoxide fumes in the truck and his desire to live. “Get back in,” she said and he died. It’s heartwrenching.

He had so much going for him and was ready for college. He was worth a hundred thousand of this trashy Michelle Carter, poor boy to be duped by her mask and her fake advice.

Her cold hatred hid behind a smile. Her sickening lies and pretense of grief over the fellow she helped kill are enough to create paranoia in me or in anyone who sees how evil can hide so cleverly, hide as a friend. Let us all beware and get more discernment and watch behavior not words.

She is living proof like Knox that you can’t judge a book by its cover. The guy should have had more sense than to listen to the devil in sheep’s clothing, it was his ultimate decision and Michelle may not be culpable legally, I don’t know. It’s a very slippery slope to tag others with a person’s suicide who was nowhere near the scene nor physically forcing anyone’s death, but she is a monster and a born liar as her social media fake grief reveals. She even asked, “Why did this have to happen?” Heartless and rotten. Words cannot describe the revulsion I feel when I see her “lovely” photo. Deliver us from evil.

Posted by Hopeful on 03/01/15 at 07:34 AM | #

So what is the common denominator? I hate to say that society is to blame but blame therein lies to a certain extent. We are bombarded by movies that depict violence, but just like military war games it’s not real because after the games are over everybody who has been killed gets up and goes for lunch. In movies people get killed all the time but afterwards, it’s only a movie and not real. News programs do not show the real horror of war and people being beheaded is eradicated as being too violent for human consumption. Even if it was shown people would interpret it as being a scene from a film and not real. Murderers, rapists, tortures ertc; do not think about it being the end of a life since it is not happeneing to them personally. They do not see the harm they do because it is removed and the simple squeezing of a trigger is impersonal. Add to the mix a sociopathic individual such Amanda Knox or Michelle Carter and this is the recipe for murder. Make no mistake though, I am not in any way shape or form condoning such action, but people judge killers by how they appear as well as the denial complex that all the apologists exhibit.

Posted by Grahame Rhodes on 03/02/15 at 03:50 AM | #

@Grahame:
“The denial of the facts is because the personality is not adaptive enough to integrate the information.
ie “If I accept that I am wrong then my Ego will collapse.” Denial, Projection, Reaction formation, Rationalization, and Somatizing are Ego Defenses.”

@Hopeful:
“...watch behavior not words.”

You both are absolutely correct!!!

Posted by all4justice on 03/02/15 at 08:00 PM | #

A few months ago there was a ruling (now on appeal) that Alstory Simon contributed to his own framing, because he had pled guilty and acted out a role defined for him.

By itself, this doesnt make the civil suits go away, but a ruling the other way would have helped. The appeal may achieve that. Meanwhile, Ciolino seems to be not talking very much…

http://chicago.suntimes.com/news-chicago/7/71/701765/alstory-simon-denied-certificate-innocence

story Simon, released from prison, denied ‘certificate of innocence’

Written By Rummana Hussain Posted: 06/18/2015, 01:07pm

Alstory Simon served 15 years in prison. He was freed last year. | WBBM-TV photo

In a stunning ruling, a Cook County judge on Thursday said a Chicago man was “innocent” of a double murder for which he served time in prison for but denied him a “certificate of innocence” and a shot at compensation from the state by finding that he was to blame in part for his conviction.

Judge Thomas Byrne said Alstory Simon played a “role” when he pleaded guilty in the double murder case that resulted in another man convicted of the murders being freed and eventually brought an end to the death penalty in Illinois.

Byrne outlined his reasoning in a 15-page ruling that maintained that Simon was a willful participant in the plan to clear Anthony Porter of the 1982 murders of Jerry Hillard and Marilyn Green.

Porter was just hours from being executed, and his release pushed former Gov. George Ryan to declare a moratorium on the death penalty.

“Simon’s willingness to go along with the story even after his conviction is telling,” the judge wrote, skewering Simon and then-Northwestern University journalism professor David Protess for creating “fiction.”

Simon, now 65, has since said he was forced into confessing by Protess and Paul Ciolino, a private investigator who was working with Protess in the investigation leading to Porter’s release.

Simon said Ciolino promised him free legal representation and ensured him he would get a short prison sentence. Simon also claims Ciolino told him Porter would pay him money he would receive from a legal settlement and that he would make millions from book and movie deals about the case.

Simon believed he he would be compensated for his compliance, the judge said. He “played an important role in Protess’ plan to abolish the death penalty in Illinois,” Bryne wrote in his decision. “Without Simon the allegation of Porter’s innocence was unpersuasive, and the circumstances surrounding Porter’s release would not have been as dramatic or garnered the amount of attention that they ultimately did. Simon’s willing participation was crucial. By playing his role, Simon assisted Protess in influencing the public perception and manipulating the criminal justice system, resulting in the release of a convicted murderer.”

Simon just furthered the “fiction that Protess was feeding to the public through the media,” the judge said.

“Simon acted out his role and gave a convincing performance,” Bryne wrote.

Simon also was motivated to plead guilty to the double murders in 1999 to avoid charges in a homicide case in Milwaukee, Byrne said.

“By pleading guilty, Simon received a tangible benefit by avoiding potential prosecution in Wisconsin,” the judge wrote.

Even though some still say Porter was the killer, State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez launched a reinvestigation of the case in 2013 and concluded a year later that Protess and his students used “alarming tactics” that led to Simon’s plea.

Simon was released from prison after prosecutors dropped charges in the murders in late October 2014.

Simon has since filed a federal lawsuit against Northwestern University, Protess, Jack Rimland, who was Simon’s defense attorney in 1999, and Ciolino.

Arthur Lurigio, a psychology and criminal justice professor at Loyola University Chicago, said the judge made a “reasonable and fair decision” and couldn’t have ruled any other way.

Simon, who made a tearful apology to the victims’ families, did not meet the four-pronged legal standards needed to receive a certificate of innocence, Lurigio said.

“It’s very clear to me that Simon’s own voluntary conduct led to his conviction. That’s crystal clear,” Lurigio said.

Simon’s attorney, Terry Ekl, said he would appeal the ruling.

“Over the past 12 years, I have been representing Mr. Simon we have had a series of setbacks prior to securing his freedom. This is another setback and I am confident that the judge’s ruling will be overturned on appeal,” Ekl said in an email to the Chicago Sun-Times.

“Although we agreed with the judge’s conclusion that the evidence is clear that Simon was innocent of the charges and that he had been framed by Protess and Ciolino, we disagree that Simon brought about his own conviction by pleading guilty,” Ekl added.

Posted by Peter Quennell on 02/04/16 at 02:52 PM | #

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