Overview: This page exclusively covers the 500 or so zombie lies in Knox's English-only 2013 book. See this page for Knox's zombie lies to media and paying groups.
Category: Examples 172-222

5. Knox Book Lies 172 To 222

Posted by Chimera



Also Implacably Nasty…Click here to go straight to Comments.

1. Overview Of This Post

My opinion is that this book is essentially Amanda Knox’s way of getting back at everyone in Italy she ever encountered, while falsely making her notoriously brash, sharp-elbowed, frequently drugged-up persona look endearing, naive, and squeaky-clean.

Knox includes numerous lies, smears, and stories to compromise literally dozens of others. None of them help clear up what happened to Meredith.  And given how rampant the lies are, it doesn’t really clarify anything about Amanda Knox either. All it really does is to muddy the waters, which may be the real desired benefit.

I previewed this series and explained why “Revenge of the Knox” in this post here.  Series post #1 dissected pages 1 to 66 of the new paperback edition.  Post #2 dissected pages 67 to 107. Post #3 dissected pages 108 to 172. And Post #4 dissected pages 173 to 207.

2. Dissection Of Pages 207 to 243.

[Chapter 18, Page 207] ‘’ ... “Foxy Knoxy” also helped sell newspapers. The tabloids mined my Myspace profile and drew the most salacious conclusions. I resented that they took my posts and pictures out of context, emphasizing only the negative. A photo of me dressed in black and reclining provocatively on a piano bench, a shot my sister Deanna had taken for a high school photography class, circulated. They published parts of a short story I’d written for a UW creative writing class, about an older brother angrily confronting his younger brother for raping a woman. The media read a lot into that. There were pictures of me at parties and in the company of male friends, and a video showing me drunk. These were snippets of my teenage and college years. Not shown were the pictures of me riding my bike, opening Christmas presents, playing soccer, performing onstage in my high school’s production of The Sound of Music. Looked at together, these latter images would have portrayed a typical American girl, not as tame as some, not as experimental as many, but typical among my age group””a group that had the bad judgment to put our lives online. Now, at twenty, all I could think was, Who’s writing these articles? Is no one being fair? ...’‘

  • You post this stuff online, and HOW EXACTLY is it taken out of context?

  • Yes, posing on a piano bench.  Good impression

  • You are charged with sexual assault, and previously published a rape story?  Go figure.

  • You posted a video of yourself drunk?  Great idea.

[Chapter 18, Page 208] ‘’ ... My supposedly obsessive promiscuity generated countless articles in three countries, much of it based on information the police fed to the press. It seemed that the prosecutor’s office released whatever they could to bolster their theory of a sex game gone wrong. They provided descriptions of Raffaele’s and my public displays of affection at the questura and witness statements that portrayed me as a girl who brought home strange men. Whatever the sources, the details made for a juicy story: attractive college students, sex, violence, mystery…’‘

  • Supposed obsessive promiscuity?  You published accounts of 4 random sexual encounters IN THIS BOOK.

  • Supposed obsessive promiscuity?  You were known for random and casual sex BEFORE leaving for Italy.

  • Prosecutors never claimed it was a sex game gone wrong, that was something your PR people fed the press.

  • Yes, boning your boyfriend is an odd way of showing grief over your dead ‘‘friend’‘.

  • Funny, you don’t seem to detail all the actual evidence that would be listed at trial.

[Chapter 18, Page 209] ‘’ ... Soon after I got to Capanne, I started getting fan mail””some from people who thought I was innocent, and some from strangers who said they were in love with me. I appreciated the encouraging letters and was shocked, and baffled, by the others. It seemed to me that these men””often prisoners themselves””had written me by mistake. Their passionate, sometimes pornographic scribbling had nothing to do with me and everything to do with the media’s creepy, hypersexual creation. I’d never imagined that I would be bombarded with such perverted attention. And if I was drop-dead sexy, it was news to me….’‘

  • People who thought you were innocent?  Good job, Dave Marriott.

  • All these people write to you by mistake?  Care to explain?

  • Their pornographic scribbling?  What about the book I am reading now?

  • You never imagined such perverted attention?  You flirted with people in court. You wore a ‘‘ALL YOU NEED IS LOVE’’ shirt.

  • Agreed, you are not drop dead sexy, but in your prison writings you compare yourself to Helen of Troy.

[Chapter 18, Page 209] ‘’ ... I felt terrible that my mom and dad had abandoned their regular lives to come to Italy, and that their spouses back home were being hounded by journalists and paparazzi, who staked out their houses, waiting for them to come or go, knocking on the door and phoning them incessantly…’‘

  • Do you feel bad for the Kerchers?  Or for Meredith?

  • Do you feel bad for Patrick and his family?

[Chapter 18, Page 211] ‘’ ... The idea that Meredith and I had been at odds ramped up quickly in the press. A couple of weeks after Robyn’s statement came out, investigators announced they’d found my blood on the faucet in the bathroom that Meredith and I had shared. Prosecutor Mignini hypothesized that the two of us had gotten into a fistfight and I’d wound up with a bloody nose. The truth was far less dramatic””and less interesting. I’d just gotten multiple piercings in both ears, and I took out all eleven earrings so that I could wipe my ears each morning while the shower water heated up. When I noticed the tiny droplets of blood in the sink the day Meredith’s body was discovered, I thought the blood had come from my ears, as it had on another day, until I scratched the porcelain and realized the blood was dry. That must have been what was on the faucet….’‘

  • It wasn’t just an idea. Meredith’s friend’s testified that she was growing to dislike you.

  • Why take out fresh earrings?  That is how the holes close up.

  • Really, that amount of blood from ear piercings isn’t normal?  Why were there no visible signs of infection?

  • You scratch the porcelain and realize they are dry ... why not just remove the blood?

  • Well, the blood could have come from the scratch on your neck, I mean hickey.

  • And the ‘‘orange shaped’’ lump of blood on the bathmat, you thought that was Meredith ‘‘dripping’‘?

  • Makes sense in a way, you see day old poop in the toilet and don’f flush it.

[Chapter 18, Page 212] ‘’ ... Meredith had been dead for just three weeks. I still could barely process the loss of my friend. It infuriated me that the media were rewriting our relationship to fit their storyline. I was a monster. Meredith was a saint. The truth was that we were very much alike. She was more contained than I was, but we were both young girls who studied seriously and wanted to do well, who wanted to make friends, and who’d had a few casual sexual relationships…’‘

  • Give it up. Meredith was not your friend.

  • The media was not ‘‘rewriting’’ anything.

  • You were not alike.  Meredith was a serious student, and a kind, caring person to be around.  You were a loud, unfocused, slob who did drugs, and brought random strangers home for sex.  You took 1 simple language course.

  • Meredith did not have any casual encounters.  This was completely made up.

[Chapter 18, Page 212] ‘’ ... I didn’t know what to think about Raffaele. Hearing that he’d destroyed my alibi was as baffling as it was incensing. Saying I’d put him up to lying was inexcusable and painful. And now this, I thought. Did I misjudge him? I didn’t think so, but I wasn’t at all sure what to make of him. One day we were really close, and the next he announced that he’d dropped me. Had this come from him? His lawyers? Journalists? I rationalized that I wasn’t the Italian girl he needed. I tried to be forgiving. If Raffaele doesn’t want to talk to me again, I’ll understand. This has been traumatic for everyone…’‘

  • You didn’t know what to think about Raffaele?  Because you couldn’t control him

  • Why was it baffling that he destroyed your alibi?  After all, if you were ‘‘beaten’‘, wouldn’t it make sense that he was?  Wait….

  • Yeah, dragging him into a murder tends to be ...(murder) on relationships. Pardon the pun.

  • He needs an Italian girl?  More likely he needs a stable girl, regardless of nationality.

  • Forgiving, you don’t seem to be the type.

[Chapter 18, Page 213] ‘’ ... Argirò was standing a foot behind me when I got the news. “Maybe you should have thought about that before you slept with lots of people,” he chided. I spun around. “I didn’t have sex with anyone who had AIDS,” I snapped, though it was possible that one of the men I’d hooked up with, or even Raffaele, was HIV-positive.

“You should think about who you slept with and who you got it from.”  Maybe he was trying to comfort me or to make a joke, or maybe he saw an opening he thought he could use to his advantage. Whatever the reason, as we were walking back upstairs to my cell, Argirò said, “Don’t worry. I’d still have sex with you right now.

Promise me you’ll have sex with me.” But sometimes I was just angry….’‘

  • Yet another entertaining tale of sexual harassment ... that you did not report.

[Chapter 18, Page 215] ‘’ ... I got out my diary to think this over rationally, imagining who could have infected me, replaying my sexual experiences in my mind to see where I could have slipped up. I wondered if a condom had broken, and if so, whose. If it had, did he know? I’d had sex with seven guys””four in Seattle and three in Italy. I tried to be logical, writing down the name of each person I’d slept with and the protection we’d used. Writing made me feel a little better. I knew I needed to get out of prison and get checked by someone I trusted before I started thinking and acting as if my life were over. I forced myself not to anticipate the worst.

That Saturday, I told my parents what the doctor had said. My mom started crying immediately. “But I haven’t had unprotected sex,” I said, trying to reassure her. “I’m sure it’s going to be fine.”  My dad was skeptical. He asked, “Do you even think they’re telling you the truth?” That possibility hadn’t occurred to me. But when I told them, Luciano and Carlo seconded that idea. “It could be a ploy by the prosecution to scare you into an even more vulnerable emotional state so they can take advantage of you,” Carlo said. “You need to stay alert, Amanda, and don’t let anyone bully you.”

  • Okay, this ‘‘list’‘, while amusing on some level is quite irrelevant to a murder case.

  • 4 guys in Seattle, 3 in Italy?  In THIS BOOK, you list Cristiano/Frederico, Mirko, Bobby and Raffaele.  That is 4 just in Italy.  Can’t you count?

  • Your roommates complained you brought MANY men home.  So it was more than 3 in Italy.

  • You have random sex with drug dealers, but it’s okay because you used protection?

  • Wow, you think this was all a ploy to scare you?  That is paranoid.  Are you sure you’re not doing coke anymore?

  • You tried to be logical?  Then why do this at all?

[Chapter 18, Page 216] ‘’ ... I wondered what they were hoping to find. Did they want to search my clothing for traces of Meredith’s blood? I felt almost smug, because I knew they wouldn’t find anything incriminating, and I hoped it might convince them that I truly had nothing to hide….’‘

  • You knew they wouldn’t find anything incriminating?  Wow.

  • You felt almost smug?  Probably.

  • Were you feeling smug because you knew they found Guede’s handprint, DNA, shoeprint and shit?  The stuff you left behind .....

  • You might convince them?  Well, you initially convinced the police….

[Chapter 18, Page 217] ‘’ ... A few months after that, they released my prison journal to the media, where instead of reporting that I’d had seven lovers altogether, some newspapers wrote that Foxy Knoxy had slept with seven men in her six weeks in Perugia….’‘

  • You are accusing the prison staff of violating medical confidentiality?  Did you report this?

  • Or, was this a ‘‘sympathy’’ leak from your own lawyers?

  • Whether you slept with 7 men in Perugia, or 7 men overall, that is the least of your worries.

[Chapter 19, Page 219] ‘’ ... I was stunned one morning when I looked up at the TV and noticed a breaking news report. There was now a fourth suspect, and an international manhunt for him had been launched. The police didn’t say who the suspect was or how this person fit into the murder scenario they’d imagined, only that they’d found a bloody handprint on Meredith’s pillowcase that wasn’t mine, Patrick’s, or Raffaele’s. The news rattled me, but it also gave me hope. Maybe this meant the police hadn’t completely given up trying to find the truth. For the next twenty-four hours I was consumed by the question Who is this unnamed person? ...’‘

  • Stunned because you expected him to be caught SOONER, or LATER?

  • Fit into the murder scenario THEY imagined?  Your statements include all sorts of things ‘‘your mind made up.’‘

  • Great idea, to leave that handprint.  They got your accomplice.

  • Just because the police see through your B.S., doesn’t mean they aren’t trying to see the truth.

  • Or, more likely consumed with the question of whether he would talk.

[Chapter 19, Page 219] ‘’ ... The name didn’t click until I saw his mug shot. Oh my God, it’s him. I thought back to November 5, when I was sitting in the hall at the questura, assuming I was just waiting for Raffaele, and talking to the silver-haired cop. As I’d been doing for days, I was trying to recall all the men who had ever visited our villa, when I suddenly remembered one of Giacomo and Marco’s friends. It had annoyed me that I couldn’t remember his name. “I think he’s South African,” I told the detective. “All I know is that he played basketball with the guys downstairs. They introduced him to Meredith and me in Piazza IV Novembre in mid-October. We all walked to the villa together, and then Meredith and I went to their apartment for a few minutes.” I’d seen Guede just one time after that. He’d shown up at Le Chic, and I had taken his drink order. Those few words were the only ones we ever exchanged…’‘

  • In your email to Judge Nencini (December 2013), you said you had no contact with Guede

  • In that same email, you said that you crossed paths with Guede exactly once.

  • In this passage, you describe meeting Rudy at your apartment, and at Patrick’s bar. That is TWICE.

  • Even though, you never met Rudy, you remember him joking with the guys (and finding out), he was into you.

  • Even though Guede is into you, the only words you exchange is when he orders a drink?

  • Is Guede some kind of love-sick stalker, that you never had contact with, and never spoke to?

  • So, how many times exactly did you meet Rudy Guede?

Chapter 19, Page 220] ‘’ ... I learned that Guede was twenty and originally from Ivory Coast. He’d been abandoned by his parents and taken in by a rich Perugian family who treated him like a son. He was a talented basketball player who’d made a lot of friends on the court. But over time, he’d been more inclined to loaf than to work, and his surrogate family disowned him. He’d lost his job in the fall of 2007, before Meredith and I met him. Guede had been caught breaking into offices and homes and stealing electronics and cash…’‘

  • His parent abandoned him?  I thought he was an orphan, at least that’s what FOA says.

  • Over time he’d been more inclined to loaf than work?  You seem to know a lot about his work status, despite not knowing him.

  • He lost his job?  You seem to portray him as a drifter and drug dealer.  Most drug dealers are not employed.

  • So, did you find out about these break ins when you met him the ‘‘one-time’’ at your apartment?

  • So, Guede has a history of break ins, you stage break ins as a prank, he has the hots for you, and this never came up?

[Chapter 19, Page 221] ‘’ ... All I could think was that if he’d been put behind bars then, Meredith would still be alive.

  • It didn’t make sense to me that they had let him go but had leapt to arrest me. I’d met but didn’t know Rudy Guede. I didn’t know if he was capable of murder. I couldn’t imagine why he might do something so brutal. But I believed that he was guilty, that the evidence could only be interpreted one way. Finally the police could stop using me as the scapegoat for some phantom killer whom no one could name””a phantom whose place I’d been filling…’‘

    • The same could be said if Seattle police had locked you up for that stone throwing riot. Oh wait, you have no record.

    • They didn’t leap to arrest you.  You wrote multiple statements saying you were at the scene, and witnessed (but did not report,), PL murder Meredith.

    • You believed he was guilty?  How do you know?  You ‘‘met him once’‘, and didn’t know much about him.  It is almost as if you intimately knew what evidence was at the crime scene.

    • The evidence can only be interpreted one way? Evidence like phone records, or lying to police?

    • They weren’t ‘‘scapegoating’’ you for some phantom killer.  You gave statements saying you witnessed PL doing it.

    [Chapter 10, Page 222] ‘’ ... Still, I was surprised it was Guede who had been named, because the two times I’d met him were under such ordinary circumstances. There was nothing distinguishable about him. He’d seemed interchangeable with almost every guy I’d met in Perugia “”confident, bordering on arrogant. Not threatening. Not like a down-and-out thief. Not even odd…’‘

    • The two times you met him? Again, you emailed Judge Nencini you never met him, but crossed paths exactly once.

    • Perugia men are confident and arrogant?  How many exactly did you sleep with?  Never mind, not relevant.

    [Chapter 19, Page 222] ‘’ ... “Rudy?” I asked, repeating his name to make sure I’d heard correctly. “You mean the guy who police are calling “˜the fourth person’?”

    “Yes, Rudy. You know him?” “Vaguely,” I answered, shrugging.  “Vaguely, huh? We’ll see what he says about that,” the cop said.

    I didn’t respond but tried to act confident so he wouldn’t think he was getting to me. I was thinking, Guede won’t have anything to say about me. He doesn’t know me. ...’‘

    • You know him vaguely?  Once again, you emailed the judge at YOUR Florence appeal, saying you didn’t know him

    • You know him vaguely, but he doesn’t know you?  So, is knowing someone a one-way affair now?

    • Guede won’t have anything to say about you?  Hmm… almost like you have something on him.

    [Chapter 19, Page 222] ‘’ ... Within hours, I learned that, before his arrest, he told a friend over Skype, as Perugian detectives listened in, that he’d been at the villa the night of the murder. “I was in the bathroom when it happened,” he said. “I tried to intervene, but I wasn’t able. Amanda has nothing to do with this . . . I fought with a male, and she wasn’t there.” Neither was Patrick, he said. “The guy was Italian, because we insulted each other and he didn’t have a foreign accent.”

    • When his friend asked if it was Raffaele, “the one from TV,” Guede said, “I think so, but I’m not sure.”

    • And this is the PROOF you are innocent?

    • So, Guede weakly identifies Raffaele, but is sure you are not there?  Okay.

    [Chapter 19, Page 223] ‘’ ... Guede apparently tried to establish an alibi by changing clothes and heading to a downtown dance club hours after the murder. His lawyers later said he’d been so frightened by the murder that he’d gone there to calm himself down. He went to Domus again the next night””attracting attention when he continued dancing during a moment of silence for Meredith. He left town the following day. Carlo and Luciano told me he probably got spooked by the media’s attention to the case and decided it was best to leave and take his bloody clothes and shoes with him. They guessed that Guede had probably been in the middle of robbing the villa when Meredith came home, and he had attacked her. As soon as they suggested this scenario, it made perfect sense to me. I hadn’t been able to put all those pieces together before. Meredith’s murder had been so horrific, and my arrest too absurd, it had been impossible for me to think logically about it…’‘

    • Carlo and Luciano?  Hmmm…. so when does Rome lawyer Giancarlos Costa join your team?

    • Guede tried to establish an alibi? Seems he is not the only one.

    • Guede was in the middle of robbing the place, when Meredith came home, but he doesn’t take anything, just murders her, takes a dump and leaves?

    • And how did he break in?  The police thought the break in was staged.

    • How do you know what happened to his bloody clothes and shoes?

    [Chapter 19, Page 224] ‘’ ... I saw it as a momentary problem that Guede was fingering Raffaele, but this was huge! Guede had backed up my alibi: I hadn’t been at the villa. And since I hadn’t been there, since I’d been at Raffaele’s apartment, Raffaele would be cleared, too. We would both be freed….’‘

    • Guede backs your alibi, but fingers you alibi witness?

    • How is this a momentary problem?

    [Chapter 19, Page 224] ‘’ .... Seeing how the prosecution treated Patrick in the two weeks since his arrest should have given me insight into how they worked. My lawyers told me it had been widely reported the week before that Patrick had cash register receipts and multiple witnesses vouching for his whereabouts on the night of November 1. A Swiss professor had testified that he’d been at Le Chic with Patrick that night from 8 P.M. to 10 P.M. But even though Patrick had an ironclad alibi and there was no evidence to prove that he’d been at the villa, much less in Meredith’s bedroom at the time of the murder, the police couldn’t bear to admit they were wrong….’‘

    • Patrick was arrested due to the accusatory statements that YOU wrote.

    • Give you insight into how they worked?  Yes, they investigated his alibi, and released him once it was corroborated.

    • Yes, no evidence of him at the home would surely speed up his release.

    • The police did admit they were wrong.  They released Patrick.

    [Chapter 19, Page 224] ‘’ ... Patrick went free the day Guede was arrested. Timing his release to coincide with Guede’s arrest, the prosecution diverted attention from their mistake. They let him go only when they had Guede to take his place…’‘

    • You seriously think they kept Patrick was held until they had someone else?

    [Chapter 19, Page 225] ‘’ ... I dreamed about the interrogation almost every night during these early days in prison. I would be back in the crowded, close interrogation room, feeling the tension, hearing the officers yelling, reliving the primal panic. I’d wake up sweating, my heart banging. Nothing in my life up to then had compared to that experience. What had happened to me that night? How I could I ever have named Patrick? ...’‘

    • You dreamed about the “interrogation”?  You seemed to be dreaming during it too.

    • Primal fear?  Is tea and chocolate that chilling to you?

    • How could you name Patrick?  Better question would have been ‘‘why’‘.

    [Chapter 19, Page 225] ‘’ ... Then I immediately felt embarrassed, self-conscious that, in one way or another, the few prisoners and guards who happened to see this would misread my actions as selfish. I didn’t know whether the guards were reporting directly to the prosecution, but I knew that everyone thought I was a liar and that anything I said and did would be viewed from that angle””that I was trying to make people think I was innocent by acting happy for Patrick. The police would almost certainly think this was one more instance of Amanda Knox behaving inappropriately””one more example of me as a manipulative, depraved person ....’‘

    • You accuse someone of murder, who is totally innocent.  How are people supposed to view it?

    • Yes, people probably did think you were a liar.

    • Yes, it would seem to strange to be happy for someone you said you were afraid of, and who you falsely accused.

    • Well, it might be less inappropriate, except for the fact you caused this dilemma.

    • Manipulative?  Reasonable conclusion. Depraved?  Not my place to say.

    [Chapter 19, Page 225] ‘’ ... Even if my cellmates didn’t see my reaction as putting on an act, I didn’t want anyone to know what I was actually thinking and feeling. I was protective of myself in that environment. I felt vulnerable and scared, and I didn’t want anyone to see that, even if that’s how I really felt….’‘

    • You just said you didn’t want people to see you as manipulative, but you are now saying you put up a front.

    [Chapter 19, Page 225] ‘’ ... In truth, I did see Patrick’s release as my vindication. By writing my two postinterrogation statements””my memoriali””I had tried to convince the police that Patrick was not Meredith’s murderer. And now the prosecution knew that when I retracted my declarations from that night, I was telling the truth: Patrick was innocent. Raffaele and I had been together at his apartment the whole time…’‘

    • You tried to convince the police Patrick was not involved?  Then why all the ‘‘stuff my mid made up’’ crap?

    • You went from clear and accusatory to confusing and contradictory.  Hardly truth telling.

    • You were with Raffaele?  Didn’t he recently say that you asked him to lie for you?

    [Chapter 19, Page 226] ‘’ ... The prosecution would understand how, under pressure during my interrogation, I had pictured a scene that wasn’t true. I had faith that my lawyers could prove the knife with Meredith’s and my DNA was a mistake. My confidence was bolstered by Guede’s arrest. I didn’t know him. If he was Meredith’s murderer, I was sure people would see that Raffaele and I had had nothing to do with it.  Soon I’d be cleared as a suspect….’‘

    • So, when faced with the loss of your alibi, you pictured a scene that wasn’t true—to divert suspicion?

    • Your lawyers can prove the double DNA knife is a mistake?  Why didn’t they attend the testing?  Right, to use as an excuse later.

    • Why would Guede’s arrest make people believe in you?  People can commit crimes with accomplices.

    • You seem obsessed to be seen in a positive light.

    [Chapter 19, Page 226] ‘’ ... The prosecution could have redeemed themselves. Instead, they held on to Raffaele and me as their trophies.

    I learned that when he signed the warrant for Patrick’s release, Giuliano Mignini said that I’d named Patrick to cover up for Guede. It was his way of saying that the police had been justified in their arrest of three people and that any confusion over which three people was my fault. I was made out to be a psychotic killer capable of manipulating the police until my lies, and the law, had caught up with me….’‘

    • They did redeem themselves. They now had the right people in custody, in spite of your lies.

    • The prosecution held onto you as suspects, only psycho killers take trophies.

    • Naming Patrick to cover for Guede?  Reasonable suspicion.

    • You ‘‘DID’’ manipulate the police until your lies caught up to you.

    [Chapter 19, Page 227] ‘’ ... Patrick gave only one interview condemning the police for his unfounded arrest before his lawyer, Carlo Pacelli, advised him to side with the prosecution, who had taken him away in handcuffs, humiliating him in front of his family, in the intimate hours of the morning. After that, he announced that he would never forgive me for what I had done, that I’d ruined him financially and emotionally. He talked about my behavior in his bar, saying that he’d fired me for flirting with his customers. He called me “a lion,” “a liar,” and “a racist.”

    • Patrick was taken away at YOUR instigation.  Get this straight.

    • Sided with the prosecutors?  Would he side with the defendant who framed him?

    • He wouldn’t forgive you for this humiliation in front of his family?  Who would?

    • Fired you for not doing your job?  What an evil man.  Wait, that is just what you told police.

    [Chapter 19, Page 227] ‘’ ... The truth is that he had hired me not just to serve cocktails but to bring in customers. He had cut back on my days because I was a mediocre waitress and not enough of a flirt to add to his bottom line. Then, after Meredith’s murder, I quit because I was afraid to be out alone at night…’‘

    • You have casual sex with random men, and are not enough of a flirt?

    • You quit because of fear of being alone?  So, why would Patrick still be expecting you to work?

    [Chapter 19, Page 227] ‘’ ... I absolutely understood why he was angry with me. I’d put his reputation, his livelihood, and possibly even his life at risk. I felt sick with guilt. I thought he deserved an explanation and an apology from me. When I asked my lawyers if it would be okay for me to write him, they shook their heads no. “I’m afraid it’s not as simple as that anymore,” Carlo explained. “Patrick’s lawyer will hand over anything you send Patrick to the press.”

    • You understand why he was angry with you?  Well, you seemed to be justifying it by saying he wanted you to flirt more.

    • Yes, he does deserve an explanation and apology.

    • Well, if you want to clear something up, why not put it in writing?  Not that it has ever backfired on you before.  Wait….

    • You flirt with people in court, and are anxious about a letter ending up in the press?

    [Chapter 19, Page 227] ‘’ ... Any communication with Patrick would be publicized and scrutinized and played to my disadvantage, especially if I explained why I’d said his name during my interrogation. I’d have to go into how the police had pressured me, which would only complicate my already poor standing with the prosecution. If I said I’d imagined things during the interrogation, I’d be called crazy. If I said I’d been abused, it would be seen as further proof that I was a liar….’‘

    • Yes, written statements by defendants tend to be scutinized.

    • An explanation would be nice.  Something without any references to drugs, or stress, or visions.

    • Yes, those pesky police-abuse accusations (if false) tend to leave a bad impression.

    • You wouldn’t be seen as crazy, just a B.S. artist.

    [Chapter 20, Page 229] ‘’ ... When I first told Carlo and Luciano I wanted to talk to Prosecutor Mignini, I didn’t think of it as a rematch between opposing sides. I saw it as a chance to set the record straight. Finally….’‘

    • Was it not Luciano Ghirga and Giancarlo Costa who were with you in this questioning?  We haven’t even started and you are already lying.

    • Set the record straight?  You are going to confess?

    [Chapter 20, Page 229] ‘’ ... “I’m sure if I talk to him in person, I can show him I’m sincere,” I told my lawyers. “I can convince him he’s been wrong about me. It bothers me that everyone””the prosecutor, the police, the press, the public””thinks I’m a murderer. If I just had the chance to present my real self to Mignini I’m sure I could change that perception. People could no longer say I’m a killer.”

    Carlo and Luciano looked at me doubtfully. “I’m not sure it’s the best idea,” Carlo said. “Mignini is cagey. He’ll do everything he can to trick you.”

    • You can show Mignini you are sincere?  Didn’t you say in chapter 10 how he bullied a false statement from you?  Right, he wasn’t there.

    • Present your ‘‘real-self’‘?  This is a murder investigation, not a job interview.

    • Trick you?  Or expose your lies and inconsistencies?

    [Chapter 20, Page 229] ‘’ ... “I feel like it’s my only hope,” I said. “My memoriali didn’t change anyone’s mind “”they just made the prosecution and the media portray me as a liar. I didn’t get to tell the judge what happened before she confirmed my arrest. I think I have to explain face-to-face why I named Patrick. I’ve got to make Mignini understand why I said I’d met Patrick at the basketball court, why I said I’d heard Meredith scream.”

    • Did you actually read the memoriali you wrote?  Who wouldn’t conclude you were lying?

    • You have to explain yourself?  Do you want to make things worse?

    • Yes, how did you know that Meredith screamed?  Guede, and neighbour Nina Capellazi both confirmed this ‘‘wee’’ detail.

    [Chapter 20, Page 230] ‘’ ... “It’s risky,” Carlo said. “Mignini will try to pin things on you.” “He already has,” I told them. The first time I met Mignini at the questura, I hadn’t understood who he was, what was going on, what was wrong, why people were yelling at me, why I couldn’t remember anything. I thought he was someone who could help me (the mayor), not the person who would sign my arrest warrant and put me behind bars…’‘

    • You want to meet with the man who tried to pin things on you?

    • Yet, you think that this will clear everything up?

    • You think Mignini is the mayor?  Do city officials typically get involved in murder investigations?

    • Wow, the ‘‘Mayor’’ is a douche, spending all this time at court, police stations and crime scenes.  No wonder those potholes aren’t getting filled.

    [Chapter 20, Page 230] ‘’ ... This time I was ready. This time my lawyers would be there. I’d be rested. My mind was clear. I was going in knowing what I was getting into. I’d take my time and answer all his questions in English. I didn’t think I’d be released immediately, but I hoped that giving the prosecutor a clear understanding of what had happened would help me. Then, as new evidence came forward proving my innocence, Mignini would have to let me go….’‘

    • You were ready?  So you had time to rehearse?

    • Your mind was clear?  So, no more ‘‘best truths’‘, let’s hope.

    • You did answer in English, but in the transcript, you were able to understand Mignini’s questions quite well in Italian.

    • How would giving a clear understanding help you?  Unless it is a straightforward alibi?

    • What ‘‘evidence’’ would be coming forward, proving your innocence?  Did you stage something?

    [Chapter 20, Page 231] ‘’ ... But I wasn’t good at censoring myself. I had only two hours a week with my mom and dad, and they were the only people I could open up to. It made me feel better to vent, and my parents needed to know what I was thinking. I couldn’t see the danger in discussing with them my day-to-day prison life, my interactions with my cellmates and guards, or my case. Since I hadn’t been involved in the murder, I figured that anything I said would only help prove my innocence…’‘

    • Right, you aren’t good at censoring yourself: Meredith’s friends all complained about just that problem

    • How would sharing the day-to-day help prove you are innocent?  You were arrested AFTER the murder, correct?

    [Chapter 20, Page 231] ‘’ ... I hadn’t considered that the prosecution would twist my words. I didn’t think they would be capable of taking anything I said and turning it into something incriminating, because everything I said was about my innocence and how I wanted to go home. I was saying the same thing again and again…’‘

    • Mignini didn’t try to twist anything.  He wanted to clear up many unanswered questions

    • Yes, you talk about your innocence, and the details (from the transcript), are even MORE confusing.

    • If you were saying the same thing over and over, we wouldn’t be here.

    • And this book (even with publishing help), changes considerably.  Everything you say has new versions.

    • Even your lawyers come in new versions.  This book omits Giancarlo Costa.

    [Chapter 20, Page 232] ‘’ ... On their first visit after the knife story came out, Dad and Mom were telling me my lawyers’ theory””that the police could be using the knife as a scare tactic to get me to incriminate myself. “The police have nothing at all on you,” Mom said. “So they are trying . . . to see if you[‘ll] say something more.”

    • The police don’t need to intimidate you.  And this might get you a new calunnia charge.

    • They have plenty on you.  False alibi, false accusation, DNA, incriminating statements….

    • So, has Dad shared his new ‘‘secret weapon’‘?  A PR firm, with David Marriott… ?  No?

    [Chapter 20, Page 232] ‘’ ... “It’s stupid,” I said. “I can’t say anything but the truth, because I know I was there. I mean, I can’t lie about this, there is no reason to do it.”

    What I meant by “I was there” was that I was at Raffaele’s apartment the night of Meredith’s murder, that I couldn’t possibly implicate myself. I hadn’t been at the villa. I wasn’t going to slip up, because I wasn’t hiding anything….’‘

    • Well, your explanation seems reasonable, but would be far more believable except that your alibi witness withdrew his alibi, and signed a statement saying you asked him to lie for you.

    • You can’t say anything but the truth?  I bet Patrick would beg to differ.

    • You didn’t implicate yourself.  You claimed to be a witness to someone else doing it, (and placed yourself there).

    [Chapter 20, Page 233] ‘’ ... Being more careful in the future wouldn’t immediately resolve this serious misunderstanding. A few days later the judge considered those words when deciding if I could be moved to house arrest. In another crushing blow that characterized my early months in prison, my request was denied. I was stuck alone behind bars….’‘

    • Meredith was murdered, and it was a ‘‘misunderstanding’‘?

    • Or rather, lies, false accusations, DNA evidence, and incriminating statements are ‘‘misunderstandings’‘?

    • You were denied house arrest? Go figure.

    • You were also psychologically tested, and the results were alarming.  Yet you omit that as a major reason to keep you.

    [Chapter 20, Page 233] ‘’ ... Calling the intercepted conversation a “clue,” the judge wrote, “it can certainly be read as a confirmation of the girl’s presence in her home at the moment of the crime.” He went on to describe me as “crafty and cunning,” saying that I was “a multifaced personality, unattached to reality with an elevated . . . fatal, capacity to kill again.”

    • It wasn’t until my pretrial, the following September, that a different judge agreed with my defense that it was obvious I was talking about Raffaele’s apartment, not the villa, and removed this “evidence” from the record….’‘

    • Well, your false accusation of Lumumba was crafty and cunning.  Wait, that was ‘‘under pressure’‘.

    • Unattached to reality?  Have you seen the stuff you write?

    • Actually, the ‘‘evidence’’ was never removed.  In fact, Judge Paolo Micheli found enough cause to send you to trial.

    [Chapter 20, Page 234] ‘’ ... Not even my lawyers understood my journal musings on Raffaele and the knife that made their way into the newspapers. I’d written a hyperbolic explanation about him taking the knife from his apartment behind my back. I had to explain to Carlo and Luciano that I’d concocted it because the possibility of a knife with Meredith’s DNA coming out of Raffaele’s apartment had struck me as so preposterous:  ‘’ Unless Raffaele decided to get up after I fell asleep, grabbed said knife, went over to my house, used it to kill Meredith, came home, cleaned it off, rubbed my fingerprints all over it, put it away, then tucked himself back into bed, and then pretended really well the next couple of days, well, I just highly doubt all of that…’‘

    • I’m sure your lawyers don’t understand your journal writings.

    • What is the purpose of these writings?  Were they deliberate, did you assume they would be read?

    • It sounds like a silly passage from ‘‘Honor Bound’’—Amanda’s DNA on Meredith’s bra, because Amanda wore it too.

    • Or this excuse from Raffaele—Meredith’s DNA was on his knife because Meredith pricked her hand while cooking.  (Despite Meredith was never there).

    [Chapter 20, Page 234] ‘’ ... But I didn’t have the luxury of explaining what I’d written to everyone who read it. After my passage was translated into Italian and then retranslated back into English, it bore little resemblance to the original””and a great resemblance to the prosecution’s theories about what had happened the night of November 1:

    ‘‘That night I smoked a lot of marijuana and I fell asleep at my   boyfriend’s house. I don’t remember anything. But I think it’s possible that Raffaele went to Meredith’s house, raped her and then killed her. And then when he got home, while I was sleeping, he put my fingerprints on the knife. But I don’t understand why Raffaele would do that…’‘

    • How would you know exactly what it said?  The writing was confiscated, and according to your 2013 interview with Amazon editor Neal Thompson, (available online), you didn’t get anything back that was confiscated.

    • Actually, (marijuana aside) there are the same elements, Raffaele killing Meredith, then putting your fingerprints on the knife.

    • You could always have taken the stand (without restricted questioning), to explain it.

    [Chapter 20, Page 235] ‘’ ... As the date for the interrogation approached, Luciano and Carlo offered me a few pointers. “Don’t let him get to you. Don’t say anything if you don’t remember it perfectly. It’s okay to say, “˜I don’t remember.’ You don’t have to be God and know everything. It’s better to say, “˜I don’t know,’ and move on.”

    • Luciano and Carlo?  Again, no Giancarlo Costa? See this.

    • Don’t say anything if you don’t remember perfectly Is this advice to withhold?

    • She isn’t God, but according to her writings, Amanda is Helen of Troy.

    [Chapter 20, Page 237] ‘’ ... It bothered me that as I answered him as fully as I could through an interpreter, Mignini would usually repeat the question. I was afraid I wasn’t making myself clear. At first, Carlo, acting as a second interpreter, spoke in measured tones. He would interrupt and say, “What she is really saying is . . .” or “She’s already answered that question!”

    • Actually, the ‘‘interrogation’’ was nothing like what Amanda describes.  Here are the transcripts: one, two, three, and four.

    • And it is Giancarlo Costa, not Dalla Carlo Vedova, who is with Luciano Ghirga.

    [Chapter 20, Page 239] ‘’ ... I was more frustrated than I’d ever been. “Because I thought it could have been him!”

    I shouted, starting to cry. I meant that I’d imagined Patrick’s face and so I had really, momentarily, thought it was him. Mignini jumped up, bellowing, “Aha!” I was sobbing out of frustration, anger.

    My lawyers were on their feet. “This interrogation is over!” Luciano shouted, swiping his arm at the air….’‘

    • Read the transcripts above.  Knox stopped the questioning, not Luciano.

    [Chapter 21, Page 241] ‘’ ... Now I was moving in with Cera. Young, with the tall, lean looks of a model, she worked as a portavito, delivering meals from a rolling cart. She was also in my weekly guitar class, another prison “rehabilitation” activity like movie time. But I was still secluded from the main prison population””a special status to protect young, first-time suspects. The downside was that it prevented me from participating in group activities or talking to anyone but my cellmates. Thankfully, Don Saulo convinced prison officials to let me attend the guitar lessons, just as he had weekly Mass….’‘

    • You had a weekly guitar class?  Wow, can you name one American prison that does that?  Probably not.

    • There is movie time?  Wow, such a hard place to be in.

    • You were secluded because you were a young first timer?  Really, or secluded until they determined if the accused sex killer was a danger?

    • So, how long exactly were you in ‘‘seclusion’‘?  You are very vague on this.

    [Chapter 21, Page 242] ‘’ ... Cera had managed to make her cell homey, clean, and organized. There were bright colored sheets on the beds, postcards taped to the walls, and a colorful curtain tied to the bars at the window. We had a heart-to-heart talk while I unpacked. She was sitting cross-legged on the bed closest to the window. “I should probably tell you right off, I’m bisexual,” she said.

    “That’s cool,” I replied. “I’m not, but I’m definitely live-and-let-live.”

    “You’re not my type, anyway,” she said. “I thought you might be gay when you asked to live with me, but I decided you weren’t.” She hesitated. “You know, your former cellmates said you’re spoiled.”

    Wow. Why hadn’t I realized they would trash me behind my back? They gossiped about everyone else. Cera read my disappointment. “They’re fake. Almost everyone in prison is fake. You’ll see.’‘


    • Prison is not the most socially progressive place, and you wish to publish that your cellie is bisexual?  Some friend.

    • Yes, almost everyone in prison is fake.  Amanda, care to comment on this link?

    [Chapter 21, Page 243] ‘’ ... Cera scoffed. “You don’t know what they say about you when you’re outside”””˜Who does Kuh-nox think she is? She’s saving worms from the rain but killing people.’ Even Lupa says you’re guilty.”  I knew the prosecution didn’t believe me, but I’d assumed the people I interacted with every day would see me for who I was and not imagine the worst. As soon as Cera said this, it seemed obvious””of course the guards would assume I was a murderer. Everyone did….’‘

    • So, is this conversation in English, or is your Italian fluent by now?

    • Why would the guards make this assumption?  They watch over all kinds of people.

    • You have been formally charged with murder, and a judge has said there is cause to hold you.  People might think you are a killer.
    Posted on 08/04/14 at 09:02 PM by ChimeraClick here for my past posts, via link at top left.
    Archived in Knox False ClaimsExamples 172-222
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