Demonizations By Knox: Book Claims About Prison Traumas Contradicted By Many Solid Sources
[Above and at bottom: an animated Amanda Knox in red t-shirt at a prison rock concert]
1. Knox Claims: Hell-hole Of Sin And Debauchery
That opening remark of a preview by the National Enquirer of Amanda Knox’s forthcoming book has been widely parroted in other American media reports.
Putting out new claims in the book like that is apparently considered to be worth the huge risk of extra years behind bars for contempt of court described in the post below this one.
Still, the US edition was sanitized after the annullment by the Supreme Court of the Hellmann appeal, and the UK publication of the book was canceled altogether.
So what are these remaining shock-horror claims? We intend to post commentary on them all.
Several concern Knox’s time in Capanne Prison where, it should be remembered, she actually served a three year sentence for lying. This was a sentence recently ratified by the Supreme Court, for criminal lying about the involvement of Patrick Lumumba in Merediths murder.
Main prison claim 1: sex advances by staff
One of the prison claims made public names a now-retired senior prison guard who Knox now claims asked her for sex. Actually this is hardly new news. Knox made the claim but in a far weaker form in 2011.
Then as CBS reported she had in fact concluded the guard was not even serious about sex. He was seeking to understand her.
Investigative journalist and CBS News Consultant Bob Graham, reading from Amanda’s letter to him: “”˜He was fixated on the topic of sex, with whom I’d done it, how I liked it, if I would like to do it with him. When I realized that he really wanted to talk to me about sex I would try to change the subject.’”
Correspondent Peter Van Sant: “What does this letter say to you about what she’s been going through?”
Graham: “It says in a time when she was clearly traumatized by the events of the death, the murder of her flatmate, that there she was, an innocent abroad, because she was innocent, she is innocent”¦ and here she was being pressured, further pressured in a prison system, a system that at least she should have had some degree of safety.”
Graham, reading Amanda’s letter: “I realize that he was testing me to see if I reacted badly, to understand me personally. He wanted to get a reaction or some information from me. I did not get the seriousness of the situation.’”
Knox’s claim seems to have left Italians contemptuous. “Yet more lies.” Here is a commentary on Knox’s claim of sexual harrassment in Il Giornale.
AMANDA: “THE WARDER WANTED TO HAVE SEX WITH ME”.
Nino Materi - Monday 15/04/2013 - 15:38.
And in the end do you want to see that we will have even have to compensate Amanda Knox for the “psycho-sexual” abuse suffered in prison in Perugia? By now we have become used to everything in the ugly story of the murder of poor Meredith Kercher.
But you really need a strong stomach to get used to the idea that the girl from Seattle should even be earning millions of dollars with true-story book (“true” in a manner of saying) which rummages in the trash of the Perugia thriller. A literary destiny which associates Amanda with the other key character at the crime scene: that Raffaele Sollecito author of a another true-story book (once again “true” in a manner of saying). Sollecito’s memoir is entitled Honour Bound: my Journey to Hell and Back with Amanda Knox, while Amanda’s “best-seller” is called Waiting to be Heard.
Pages in which Amanda ““ among other things ““ tries to make herself out to be an ingenuous, modest creature actually “molested” by the sexually implicit sayings of a supposedly dirty-minded prison warden. Amanda writes, or the ghost writer does, “The screw would ask me with whom I had had sex, he wanted to know how many boyfriends I had and whether I wanted to go to bed with him.” The period referred to is when the American student was in the Perugia prison following the first stage sentence for the crime of Meredith’s “friend”.
Then, on appeal, Knox (and Sollecito) were acquitted and now Cassation has ordered a new trial for them both. Meanwhile Amanda has gone back to Seattle (from where she will obviously never return to Italy) and she is enjoying the proceeds of her new career as a writer, not to speak of being a guest of agony TV, where between tears she tells how she was persecuted in our country. And the more she cries, the more the audience hits the roof and the more Amanda’s bank account grows. No talk of repaying her debt to Italian Justice…
In the 400 pages published by Harper Collins, the New York publishers which obtained the exclusive on the memoirs of Amanda after paying out about three million dollars, there is no lack of titillating details. A perfect location: the cells of Capanne Prison. Here Amanda tells about “continual requests from a prisoner to start a lesbian relationship with her”. In other pages she recalls how “she was informed of being HIV positive shortly after her arrival in gaol”.
Then the shock-revelation about a prison guard who is now retired. Knox accuses him of ” doing nothing but talk about sex with her from the day she arrived after her arrest”. In a message to a girlfriend, the girl from Seattle tells how the man in uniform accompanied her on every medical visit, twice a day, and in the evening how he would call her up to the third floor of the prison to an empty room to chat. “He was obsessed with sex, with whom I had done it, how I liked doing it, whether I wanted to do it with him,” she writes in the book. “I was so surprised and scandalised by all his provocations that sometimes I wondered whether I was not misunderstanding what he was telling me. When I realized that he wanted to talk about sex I tried to change the subject.”
The guard is now suing the girl for defamation after Amanda said that she had been abused during the questioning. In an interview with Bob Graham, an English journalist very close to the Knox family, the guard admitted talking about sex with Amanda, but claiming that she was the one who introduce the topic: “I talked to her a lot, but only to calm her down. I asked her how many boyfriends she had had, but it was always she had to start talking about sex.”
Anyone who wants to rummage in the garbage, buy the book by all means.
Main prison claim 2: malicious sex-partner humiliation
The second main claim against a prison official concerned the preliminary results of a routine HIV test required of all prisoners and a list of sex partners. The list of sex partners was reported in the media in 2008 as if the prosecutor and prison doctor had engineered the result and then leaked it to the public.
What did we find when we looked closely into this?
Knox’s own diary made quite clear that she was the one who decided to create such a list, and the list in fact seems to have been leaked by Knox forces.
Back then, even Knox herself exonerates the doctor and prosecutor.
Main prison claim 3: Italian prison conditions are unbearable
Italian prison conditions and treatment, Knox claims, were so bad that they made her life miserable. She says that at times she became very despondent, and even claims to have imagined doing away with herself.
However, Italian prison conditions except for occasional overcrowding are widely considered among the most humane, caring and rehabilitating in the world. Compared to US prison conditions, they are like night and day.
And this almost universal claim of every prisoner everywhere is contradicted by the media on which she and her family worked hard; by prison staff and official visitors, and even by the US Federal Government itself.
2. Flood Of Rebuttals By Family, Lawyers, Numerous Officials
(1) Contradicted by the extensive media reporting
Occasional despondency is not all uncommon among those paying their debt to society. And there is scads of reporting that Knox had adjusted well to prison.
Here is a report by ABC News after Knox was found guilty in 2009.
Knox said that she felt “horrendous” the night that the verdict was delivered. “She said the prison guards did come in to hold her and make her feel better. She said the other prisoners were good to her,” Thomas said.
The reporter said the prison is “extremely clean.” Knox’s cell, which she shares with another American who has been sentenced on drug charges, is small. “It had a little bathroom with a door, a bidet, a sink, a shower…. better than some of the things I’ve seen at summer camp or boarding school.”
The women inmates are allowed to go to a hairdresser once a week.
The prison is a new facility, just opened in 2005. The women’s ward has an infirmary, an entertainment room with a pool table and ping-pong table, and a library. There is also a small chapel. Outside there is a little playground for children with benches and toys because there are cells specifically for women with children. Currently there are two women in Capanne with children.
It was very widely reported over four years that Knox was given the opportunity to do all these many things rarely encountered in American prisons: Learn the guitar. Read a lot. Watch TV. Study foreign languages.
Do artwork (colored pictures of hands). Attend rock concerts where she was seen leaping up and down (images here). Attend classical concerts. Attend Christmas parties.
Knox even played a major part in the creation of a rock video with a rock group. Unfortunately for her, that video appeared to many to come close to a taunting murder confession.
And on various occasions Knox was quoted as saying prison guards were kind to her.
(2) Contradicted by Knox’s own mother
Knox’s mother Edda Mellas contradicts her on the experiences in Capanne. This was when Knox had been inside for two years.
They [the family] insist that she has tried to draw positives from her time inside, rather than wasting energy getting angry and resentful about the fate that has befallen her.
So it is we are told that she has whiled away the time by helping teach other inmates English and yoga and by learning to cook, to do needle-point and to play the classical guitar.
“˜She’s made it a time to learn, to learn about herself and the friends she has and the way the world works,’ says her mother. “˜She realises it’s not about her any more, she truly sees herself as one of the lucky ones in there.
“˜She sees women in there who have no support, or good lawyers, or even family, they have nothing.’
(3) Contradicted by the US Embassy and State Department
US Embassy staff regularly monitored Knox’s treatment both during trial and thereafter. She was given chances again and again to lodge complaints with an Embassy officer.
But as we posted here in June 2010 and here in May 2011 cables from the US Rome Embassy to the State Department in Washington DC released to reporter Andrea Vogt contained ZERO complaints.
This matters incredibly because it constitutes the official take of the US Federal Government.
It will be front and center of State Department and Justice Department considerations when an arrest warrant for Knox is issued and extradition requested both of which could happen soon.
(4) Contradicted by Member of Parliament Rocco Girlanda
Mr Girlanda visited Amanda Knox in prison approximately 20 times for the specific purpose (or so he claimed) of checking her prison conditions. In fact that was the only way he could legally visit her, although oddly enough a book and a number of other pro-Knox actions emerged - even a complaint to the President about the Perugia prosecutors.
After Knox was released late in 2011 Mr Girlanda specifically praised the prison staff in this statement.
Perugia Prison Police The Example of Professionalism.
The PdL Party member of parliament Rocco Girlanda praises the officers of the Perugia prison.
“I’ve had the opportunity to describe to the Minister of Justice, Nitto Palma, the great professional behaviour shown by the Perugia Penitentiary Police with regards to the court case that saw Amanda Knox as protagonist, a behaviour that I had always observed during the course of my visits to the Capanne prison in the last two years.” So says Rocco Girlanda, Umbrian deputy of the PdL, after the conclusion of the appeal trial of Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito.
“In recent months I have had the opportunity to make dozens of visits to the prison, which also included some of the petitions presented by the senior management of the premises and my commitment in this regard, always finding, that starting from the director Bernardina Di Mario, continuing with the Penitentiary Police commander Fulvio Brillo, up to the entire personnel employed, the helpfulness, the courtesy and their professionalism which allows me to say that Perugia is a model structure on the national landscape, managed and directed in the best way and with a large dose of humanity on the part of the staff employed.”
(5) Contradicted by Knox’s own Italian lawyers
Knox’s lawyers Mr Dalla Vedova and Mr Ghirga visited her again and again during the 2009 trial and 2010 hiatus and 2011 appeal. Knox once again had dozens of opportunities to lodge complaints with them - lawyers who could have initiated Supreme Court action in response.
When Knox was released late in 2011 Mr Dalla Vedova and Mr Ghirga were interviewed by the TV station Umbria 24:
The lawyers: “she never complained about the prison”.
Amanda Knox “has never complained about the conduct/behavior of the prison police supervisor” and “she has never mentioned his name”: to say so are the defenders of the American woman, lawyers Carlo Dalla Vedova and Luciano Ghirga, commenting on what was reported by the tabloid The Sun. “
Ghirga said: “In the diary Amanda never makes the name.”
Della vedova said: “We are grateful to the management staff of Capanne prison for their cooperation even given to the family’s requirements. Amanda has never reported violations against her.”
“She absolutely has received the correct treatment and the outmost solidarity, within compliance, especially in the prison’s female section.”
(6) Contradicted by prison guards and other inmates
Some assiduous and highly vredible reporters captured the view of a difficult, narcissistic, uncaring Amanda Knox which is very commonplace around Perugia. The real faults lie with Knox, in effect. This report is by one of them.
Prison guard Angela Antonelli saw Knox every day for two years and says she became closer to her than most. Antonelli paints an intriguing portrait of her, saying she survived behind bars with an almost astonishing degree of self-possession, burying herself in writing letters, singing Beatles songs and playing a guitar.
But it did not, she says, endear the young American to her fellow inmates ““ who took to calling her the Ice Queen.
“˜She never once cried when I was there,’ recalled the warder, speaking at her cluttered home in the city. “˜I often spent the nights there and looked into her cell through the hole to check on her and the others.
“˜Other people ask for tranquillisers, cry, shout that they didn’t do it, that they’re in pain, that they can’t go on. “Why did this happen to me?” they shout.
“˜Many prisoners bang their heads against the walls or even sew up their mouths, scream, vomit, cut their wrists. But she showed no reaction.’
This impression of extraordinary self-confidence and steadfastness is supported by fascinating correspondence seen by The Mail on Sunday, including one particular letter.
In letters written to her former boyfriend and co-accused, Raffaele Sollecito, Knox shows something close to contempt for her accusers and the overwhelmingly hostile public opinion in Perugia.
In one, written a year after the murder, she writes: “˜The truth is in plain sight THEY HAVE NOTHING ““ only their twisted imaginations.’ There is no mention of life in jail, of other prisoners, or indeed of Meredith.
A number of Knox’s prison letters to Sollecito were intercepted by the authorities in an attempt to gain some clue about the events leading up to the murder in 2007. This one, shown to The Mail on Sunday by Antonelli, had been among them.
Amanda Knox was obsessed with The Beatles, constantly singing their songs in prison.
Her letters to former boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito, which were shown to The Mail on Sunday by warder Angela Antonelli, were peppered with references to their songs.
She signs off one letter: “˜Let It Be! Here Comes the Sun!’
Her diaries, too, were littered with references to the band, together with doodles of flowers and peace signs.
The song she credits with helping her through her four years in prison was Let It Be, the final Beatles single before Paul McCartney left the band.
It meant so much to her that, according to warder Angela Antonelli, she tore out a page from her notebook and wrote out the lyrics, in English and Italian, and gave it to Ms Antonelli as a gift.
Writing in a clear and careful hand, her letter to Sollecito concentrates on the injustice of the charges against the two of them, and on her hopes of freedom.
She also refers to a dream about being greeted by President Barack Obama on her return to America.
She writes: “˜I dreamed he welcomed me personally, shaking my hand, back to the States.’
In prison, Knox kept herself to herself, said Antonelli.
While the majority of prisoners were attempting to make some sort of communal life together, she declined to socialise, preferring the company of her daily journal.
“˜Other prisoners made cakes, biscuits, pizza and always shared with their cellmates. Amanda ate what the others made but never made anything herself,’ the warder said.
“˜Also in prison people borrow each other’s clothes but Amanda never shared her clothes nor accepted clothes. In my view, she behaved as though she were superior and looked down on the others.’
After finding herself alone in a foreign prison, Knox’s caution is perhaps understandable ““ particularly as, before her acquittal, vicious media coverage in Italy had branded her a “˜devil’ whose alleged part in the murder was fuelled by sex.
But whether it is understandable or not, Knox’s reticence appears to have troubled those around her.
Antonelli said: “˜She absolutely never spoke about that night with anyone. She would not talk about Meredith’s murder. Amanda never once spoke about Meredith and never spoke about Guede.’
Rudy Guede was a drifter from the Ivory Coast who, in a separate trial, was convicted of Ms Kercher’s murder and who remains in prison.
Antonelli added: “˜Even if Amanda didn’t kill Meredith, she hasn’t done anything to help people understand what happened that night.
“˜She thought only about her own survival. She’s impenetrable, you will never be able to understand what really happened that night. Amanda showed almost no emotions.
“˜The only time I ever saw her being nervous was when she was waiting for her mother to send her the second Harry Potter book.
“˜She was really quite anxious, saying, “When is my book coming.”
“˜She lived through her books, she transported herself away through her books like her hero Harry Potter.’
She was not vain however, and other inmates were surprised that she appeared to make little effort with her appearance.
“˜People thought she was very good looking but she never mentioned her looks,’ said Antonelli, who at 62 has now retired from the Italian prison service.
Antonelli said that although Knox deliberately isolated herself from both her fellow prisoners and the staff, she became closer to her than to most others at Capanne.
Knox even gave Antonelli presents, including a doily she had made and a hand-written transcript of the Beatles song Let It Be. She got attached to me because I’m a maternal sort of woman,’ she explained.
“˜She tried to become close but I distanced myself.
“˜Sometimes I felt she was like a vampire because of her strong personality ““ as if she was trying to suck emotion from me.
“˜She was very different to other 22-year-olds who were in the prison. She knows what she wants and is very determined. I’ve never seen a girl like her, especially as she was so young. It was as though she was constantly doing a job interview, showing the best side of herself.’
There is the same sense of determination in the letter from Knox to Sollecito, dated November 11, 2008, seen by The Mail on Sunday.
She refers to her current “˜extraordinarily difficult’ experience and the ups and downs of life. Good will come of the situation she finds herself in, she assures Sollecito, and she will be brave and patient.
She tells Sollecito that her accusers just cannot look at themselves properly and see that they are wrong.
Last month Italy’s Supreme Court ordered Knox and Sollecito to be re-tried ““ in the light of which her decision to publish Waiting To Be Heard, with its criticisms of Italian officialdom, might be seen as something of a risk.
That said, it seems unlikely that she will ever travel to Italy to face the court.
Antonelli is clear that Knox was “˜never physically abused’ at Cappane, but she also says that “˜one guy asked her how she liked to be pleased in bed’ ““ which could support Knox’s claims to have been subjected to inappropriate remarks.
The man accused has denied any allegations of harassment.
Curiously, when Knox’s prison diary was published in Italy in facsimile form it gave little hint of the hardship she describes in her new book.
She wrote compulsively in her cell, maintaining her journal four times a day. The handwritten pages, complete with doodles and scrawled Beatles lyrics, say such things as: “˜The prison staff are really nice. They check in to make sure I’m okay very often and are very gentle with me.
“˜I don’t like the police as much, though they were nice to me in the end, but only because I had named someone for them, when I was very scared and confused.’
The someone she referred to was an innocent man ““ Congolese bar owner Patrick Lumumba, whom she falsely accused of murdering Meredith.
She later insisted the accusation was a result of police intimidation.
In fact, her prison diary, describes her Italian jail as “˜pretty swell’, with a library, a television in her room, a bathroom and a reading lamp.
No one had beaten her up, she wrote, and one guard gave her a pep talk when she was crying in her cell.
Today, she is an innocent woman; but to those who were with her in Cappane, she remained an enigma until the moment when, amid turbulent scenes at the Perugia courthouse, she was acquitted.
“˜Even when she was released, she didn’t say goodbye to a single person in the prison,’ recalled Antonelli.
“˜In my opinion she showed no compassion or sensitivity to others. She just walked out.
‘Is that human?’
Posted by Our Main Posters on 04/25/13 at 10:20 PM in Defendants in court, Amanda Knox, The wider contexts, N America context, Hoaxes Knox & team, 16 Interrogation hoax, 21 Nasty prison hoax, Hoaxers from 2007, Knox-Marriott PR, Hoaxers from 2011, Amanda Knox #2, Hoaxers: media groups, ABC Network
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I am shocked but not surprised.
I find the most disturbing,and strange fact is the report about her total disregard of personal hygiene. This accords with valid complaints that Meredith made re sharing the apartment. It is, on a very basic level, an act of substantial hostility towards everybody.
Sometimes a very angry two or three year old will smear themselves, making themselves deliberately dirty and smelly, as a way of getting back at their mother - having a wilfull tantrum. They enjoy the carer’s distress.
But they grow out of it and adapt to reality - of being other than totally egocentric.
Posted by SeekingUnderstanding on 04/26/13 at 10:09 AM | #
Excellent photos showing Amanda’s “terrifying ordeal in prison”. They should be forwarded to IIP/anywhere to support their case. Poor Bambi.
Posted by DF2K on 04/26/13 at 11:50 AM | #
Hi DK2K
Click through to here if you didnt already and see the strenuous attempts by Knox’s entourage to eliminate those obviously-happy images of Knox from her video.
Weirdly, the subliminal message “I did it” was allowed to pass in the video, but the notion of Knox actually making progress in prison was definitely not for the public to take in.
Knox’s annual birthdays were reported with family help - far more than Meredith’s ever were.
Posted by Peter Quennell on 04/26/13 at 01:40 PM | #
It is not hard to find reports quoting Knox saying prison was okay.
From the 411 on PMF here is one by Giancarlo Mazzucca, who at the time, was the editor of Il Resto del Carlino, and who interviewed her in prison in July 2008.
Amanda explains that her days in the Perugian prison are not all that bad. The important thing is to have a life plan. Between runs in the gym, studying (she’s deepening her knowledge of five foreign languages) strumming her guitar, Ms. Knox claims that she’s never bored. She isn’t writing any more memoirs, just letters to family members and friends.
Posted by Peter Quennell on 04/26/13 at 02:26 PM | #
Today’s NYT reports a change in England’s Libel Law:
“Defendants in libel suits will now be able to rely on a so-called public interest defense, making the case that they published their statements in good faith, in what they believed to be the “public interest†— whether or not the statements were true. And statements are to be judged defamatory only if they lead to actual damage to the aggrieved party.”
This seems to help-protect Knox, her publishers, and others?
Posted by Cardiol MD on 04/26/13 at 06:29 PM | #
In response to Cardiol above, Ak’s behaviour, and that of her ‘camp’ has undoubtedly been derogatory towards the Italian Justice system, as well as deeply hurtful towards the Xkercher family on many levels…but I suppose proving it as ‘actual damage’ is something else again?
Posted by SeekingUnderstanding on 04/26/13 at 06:43 PM | #
Hi Cardiol. Though I like the UK change this isnt at all relevant that I can see.
First, neither Knox or Sollecito or those they seemingly falsely accuse of crimes are in England, with the exception of Knox they are in Italy where Italian and not UK law applies.
Second, read paras 3 and 4 of this post again. http://www.truejustice.org/ee/index.php?/tjmk/comments/lawyers_are_puzzled_at_why_knox_seems_so_intent_on_risking_extra_priso/
Nobody is talking simple defamation at this point. This is (or sure looks like) a deliberate attempt to bend the outcome of an ongoing legal process by using big-bucks PR.
Remember Knox already served three years for the LESSER crime of calunnia against Patrick.
If she or Sollecito or the PR want to use tactics long favored by the mafia in accusing officials of crimes, then laws put in place to protect the courts from the mafia tend to switch in.
It becomes a criminal case not a civil one of defamation though in Italy civil cases do tend to follow.
By the way check why judges and prosecutors in the US all get handled with kid gloves. Tough measures are available here too, even where it seems anything goes.
Posted by Peter Quennell on 04/26/13 at 07:11 PM | #
@Peter,
Would you let us know the detail of the actual law that applies,regarding the book and interview, in Italy?
Posted by SeekingUnderstanding on 04/26/13 at 08:59 PM | #
Hi Pete.
Of course it isn’t relevant in Italy.
My point was restricted to England & Wales as Capital Avenues of libel-attack against AK.
As the NYT article states:
” London’s reputation as the libel capital of the world, “a town called sue,” is poised to end.”
Posted by Cardiol MD on 04/26/13 at 09:21 PM | #
Hi SeekingUnderstanding. Yeah we can translate and make a post out of the relevant law. That sounds like a good idea.
Its extensive and it continues to surprise us that as its invoking for Sollecito etc was widely reported in Italy and Bongiorno and Maori could both be impacted because they helped Sollecito a little with his book, Ghirga and Dalla Vedova are not laying down the law for Knox’s book.
We do think the Sollecio book may have spiraled out of control because it was written in English by someone (Andrew Gumbel) with a huge chip on his shoulder toward Italy who confined himself to FOA sources. Who checked it out in final draft in Italy we have no idea.
In his interview tour in the US even Sollecito seemed pretty uncertain what he’d said. His own dad didnt know, that’s for sure. Talk about Keystone cops. That pretty well describes their side.
Posted by Peter Quennell on 04/26/13 at 09:29 PM | #
Good stuff by TJMK main posters. Thank you. This post tears to shreds Knox’s bogus claims long ago debunked.
The hardest part of prison life was probably keeping her mouth shut about her crime, and “pink clouding” for the PR value of epic stoicism. If she had wanted to become friendly with other inmates, Foxy could have been much happier, but her guilt got in the way of that freedom. Socialize with cellmates? No way, she was terrified of talking to them because she knew the truth would waft out eventually.
Sharon Feinstein paints a portrait of a very quiet, distant, walls-up woman who refused to get close to anybody behind bars. Maybe Foxy’s parents had begged her to zip it, say nada Amanda, shut up you’ve already nearly got yourself and us hanged by your talking. Daughter, stay silent, we’ll get you out of here, force yourself to say nothing to anyone. Soon Knox found the secondary gain of that was to hoard valuable info to sell to the media. If she talked to other inmates, those women might sell or usurp her stories or twist what Amanda said. Either way it was a risk.
Amanda’s prison misery (versus prison ministry) was created by her own fear of being snared by friendships. She knew she’d be tempted to reveal the truth of what really happened at the cottage. She knew cellmates would winkle it out of her, even inadvertently. No doubt her colleagues in Capanne were playing a game of cat and mouse with her for years. Class differences, ethnic differences, educational gulfs, nationality clashes, there was confusion on how to read a cellmate.
Amanda knew that truth tends to slip out and that she tended to be indiscreet, so she repressed herself against her vocal nature to become guarded and defensive, completely aloof while saving all the tidbits of daily prison life in written form for a yarn she could sell to Harper-Collins. She was leveraging every day of prison time for Foxy Marie Pace the H.O.T. jailbird runner, Mistral child and dancing queen. She crocheted snowflakes, plunked guitar, taped a flag to the wall, stretched her body, ran like mad, exercised to exorcise, lived through books and wrote volumes (not many direct thank-you letters, one giant email would do later for all the suckers). But did she talk? No, she held her peace for her own gain.
Then Sharon Feinstein took the tweezers to Knox’s prison behavior with detailed interviews of her cellmates. Feinstein put Amanda under a microscope and out came the truth: fear, guilt, indifference to everyone except her legal team and suddenly much needed family. Feinstein’s probe revealed some possibly undiagnosed schizophrenia with Amanda’s refusal to groom much before courtroom appearances or wash her cell often or care about societal norms. As someone else said, that’s a form of hostility when others are saying “Your odor is bothering us, please.”
To the other criminals in Capanne Amanda probably felt vastly superior using an “I’m out of their league” mentality. (this from a person who could barely mutter “thank you” for a kind favor, who rebutted “You stink,” with “No, you stink.” subtext: Don’t they see I’m an undiscovered Einstein? I can’t be bothered with these petty concerns.) Think Sheldon Cooper, Big Bang Theory.
She had no natural desire to create friendship with such foreigners, mainly because she knew she couldn’t hide her guilt from them if the women got to know her well. How awful to be unmasked by such lowlifes. She probably used the language barrier to thwart friendships as well as hiding behind books. She was afraid the other women were jealous of her privileges.
The women’s desire to converse would be an irritating waste of Foxy’s time but more frightening a constant temptation to reveal the truth of her roommate’s murder or her real feelings for Raffaele (contempt but fear of his power as a witness). All her attitudes would become public knowledge, her feelings toward Rocco, Lumumba (hey, did he come on to you? did Rudy get high with you? you like Italian guys? American guys? your mom’s German? look, you’ll get pregnant, I did. The girl you killed, she deserved it? mine did). If she talked much the female prisoners would easily sense her true feelings about everybody: Curt, Chris, happy Ghirgha, Brooks Brothers dalla Vedova and ruthless Bongiorno, stagecraft Edda and most dangerous of all towards Meredith and her family. Need we mention the prison staff, the most dangerous people of all for Knox’s immediate survival.
Her natural anger at the prosecutor might be a welcome common ground among other inmates, but chatter about him or the police would lead to other revelations. She was in the complimentary phase towards Italian justice, flattering them as long as she needed them, avoiding more charges after her police brutality snafu.
Bottom line: Loose lips sink ships. Less said the better. Jail friends were simply potential leaks to the press outside of her control.
It must have been so hard for a joker like Amanda to steer clear of jabbering which might have led cellmates to see she was guilty of murder. If the women around her had been victims of domestic violence, she could have feared payback. It wasn’t cost effective for Amanda to gain friends. Also it would have reinforced a sense that she was in prison for the long haul, and she was using her third eye to see her way out. Her lawyers helped with that despite an arrogant, unteachable and recalcitrant client. For all her grand self-opinion she was not in their league.
It’s quite dreadful to watch the stilted interaction among her and Carlo dalla Vedova and Luciana Ghirgha when she cozies up to them at the defendant’s table in court, embarrassing everyone with her general indiscretions and pretended girlish innocence barely masking the seething violence, caged heat and con artist flirt beneath, obviously desperate to use her normal wiles. Everyone watching her could see it. Her wellbred Italian lawyers must have been revolted but you know the saying, “Say money and the dead will rise.”
Posted by Hopeful on 04/26/13 at 11:49 PM | #
” Lack of personal hygiene”...could you possibly be referring to the stains in the bathroom both girls shared ? I know something about this since I used to live in a co-ed flat myself before I moved into my single apartment.I sometimes noticed traces of menstrual blood myself and even an unflushed lavatory on one occasion but refrained from commenting because I didn´t want to embarrass anyone. Maybe this could happen to all of us.Though it is disgusting it maybe not always be intentional . Or is a lack of personal hygiene an indicator of serious underlying issues ?
Posted by aethelred23 on 04/27/13 at 12:51 AM | #
Very helpful, Hopeful. Well done. Certainly a must-read.
Many have believed Sharon Feinstein cleverly captured the real prison truth of Knox (also observed by others) without being at all sure why Knox was driven to take herself there. I think this makes it clear. As perps themselves, those with her in the cell would be able to see right through her and soon winkle it all out. This urge to put her side of it out there will plague her all of her life. Its close to the surface there in her scribblings and emails and in the prison video linked to above.
Many dont realise that Knox’s two days on the stand in the Patrick sub-trial in mid 2009 was a rough minute-to-minute fight between Knox’s defense lawyers and the prosecutors, with Knox sitting there at the mike so eager to talk. The defense still couldn’t stop a hard callous contemptuous side of Knox from breaking out.
Her father shushed her at their first meeting in Capanne in November 2007 after she had said in effect “I cannot deny that I was there… ” He must have found ways to keep warning her to keep mum even though they were forbidden private talks. Curt Knox with his “secret” history of anger issues had a special interest in this, Edda Mellas maybe less-so, and Chris Mellas even less.
One more point of relevance. Curt Knox said Amanda knew little of what to expect when she came out. It seem the family and Girlanda and the lawyers and suckers had all misled her into believing she’d be the Queen Bee the whole world adored. You can see in Feinsteins notes how there was a Queen Bee in waiting in the cell.
Posted by Peter Quennell on 04/27/13 at 01:28 AM | #
Hi aethelred23.
Yes there were hygiene issues in the house but you can see the description of Knox’s hygiene issues in prison via the Sharon Feinstein link.
Posted by Peter Quennell on 04/27/13 at 01:50 AM | #
Whenever I look at an article about AK nowadays, I am always struck by how much happier she seemed back in her prison days. Except a few photos where she appeared gaunt, she always came across as reasonably cheerful those days. Now she looks miserable in most photos, even when she is out dancing or enjoying with that funny-pants boyfriend of hers. So much for her being traumatized in prison.
By the way, in case people haven’t seen it, looks like not many believe her book will sell:
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/amanda-knoxs-waiting-be-heard-447373
Posted by Sara on 04/27/13 at 02:20 AM | #
Hi Sara
Knox did manage to create a lot (after her rather odd fashion) in the very supportive environment there in prison. Amazing all those projects they can undertake. Holiday camp indeed.
Knox liked Italy a lot, thought she might marry and live there, and has often talked of going back. Now it is uncertain whether she can reside there even in the long-shot event she gets off, because she already has one conviction to her name.
Plus she is chained to a whole army of anti-Italy bigots. Sollecito has always been the one more disliked in Italy and he has had angry crowds roar at him in the street. No wonder Switzerland is on his mind.
That Hollywood Reporter report fits with what Fly By Night is posting about demand for the book on PMF. The toning-down of the book after the Cassation ruling late March might have removed some of the worst cracks at the “usual villains” though as the post here shows, her animus shows through.
So she will get the worst of all possible worlds. Few people buying her book and fewer still buying in, while the book is picked over here and in Italy for false claims and felony defamations which could end up costing her a lot.
Posted by Peter Quennell on 04/27/13 at 02:51 AM | #
She had to write the book as everyone was expecting and waiting for it. But she had nothing to write about as obviously she couldn’t tell anything that anyone might want to read. So she had to resort to her default sex lies and video tape genre relying on her ‘American daughter’ image back home in the US to sweep her along in safety.
I believe that they are really banking (pardon the unintended pun) on there being a groundswell of public opinion in the US which would prevent an eventual extradition.
I must say that when I first read the recent DM article with the graphically described physical examinations I was shocked on her behalf.
I remember listening to every single one of the recordings of AK on the stand over on PMF. She came across the most callous in the Italian language ones. It really was ‘sit-bolt-upright-in shock’ callousness as Peter describes above. I cannot find those recordings anymore yet the two English-language ones seem to be widely accessible.
Her recent whining about the Kerchers wanting them to read her book 🙄 is in the same callous category.
The hard AK facts stare us in the face yet it still is a leap of the imagination to place her in the sphere of utter inhumanity.
Our humanity demands that we see others’ humanity and it is really beyond the realms of our humanity to see and comprehend the utterly inhumane.
Posted by thundering on 04/27/13 at 04:05 AM | #
@aethelred23
Loss of interest in personal grooming can be a sign of schizophrenia. It’s definitely a sign of low self-esteem unless a person lives in the bush without running water. Even Crocodile Dundee rinsed his socks. Feinstein reported that cellmates said Knox actually ignored body odor that bothered them.
I doubt Meredith would have been angry over minor bathroom clutter or even small signs of female monthly “stuff”. There must have been a constant failure of Knox to flush or more than a drop or two of blood on floor and toilet to make Meredith recoil and wonder at such careless standards. Knox knew Meredith had to use that same toilet every day, she just didn’t care or respect Meredith or herself.
Was that how she acted in her Seattle home with Deanna and Edda? or with Cassandra’s daughters? Prisoners claimed Knox had to be taught basic cleaning skills on arrival to the cell, and she balked at such chores at the della Pergola cottage. More reason to wonder at the sudden attack of soapy cleaning and mops and showering around the time Meredith died—very suspicious.
Schizophrenia has many more warning signs than simple grooming lapses. As for grooming of hair, skin, nails, clothes it is not necessarily a sure sign of schizophrenia if a person has some bad hair days, or is a bit lazy (I’m no expert at all), but an ongoing lack of initiative to clean one’s hair, skin, face and privates reflects a very harmful state of mind.
That doesn’t mean a person must be red carpet or catwalk ready every day to belong to society, but disheveled and bizarre personal appearance makes a loud statement of someone who is either flouting norms or doing a serious flight from reality. Just go to a wino den or a homeless shelter and smell the reek. It doesn’t take long to want out, and to appreciate people who bathe and use soap and brush their teeth.
Posted by Hopeful on 04/27/13 at 04:10 AM | #
@Hopeful
Why am I reminded constantly of Jody Arias’s denials of reality. It seems that people like Knox and Arias are the same in that they firmly believe that by denial of something they find unpleasant it does not exist. ie it did not happen. This self delusional state of mind is particularity present in people who have no real identity of their own, but can only function in life through other people by taking on their persona. This of course does not excuse them in the slightest. In fact society should be protected from people such as these.
Sollicito for example lived and lives in a dream world inhabited by drugs, manga comics, and knives. These people have many things in common. They are usually intelligent. They have very high sex drives. They are highly manipulative and paranoid of anyone who they perceive who sees through their fake persona. Very dangerous and of course my fervent wish is that all of them, like the rabid dogs they are, will be locked away from the society they wish to control.
Posted by Grahame Rhodes on 04/27/13 at 07:11 AM | #
Interesting article today on the Guardian. AK’s penpal seems unaware of the later-claimed harrassment, which I find a little strange. In the article, AK is reported to have called her cell mate (just one?) “nice” and refers to playing volleyball with “the girls”.
I am mentioning these points particularly as they seem to fly in the face of the disturbing comments, reportedly extracts of her book, regarding her incarceration that are currently circulating in the media.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/apr/26/my-penpal-amanda-knox
Posted by TruthWillOut on 04/27/13 at 07:59 PM | #
Just an addendum from me.
There seems to be some puzzlement regarding Knox’s (and the Knox P/R machines) increasingly strange stupid behavior of flying in the face of any Italian authority and thereby making things worse.
The only answer must be ‘EGO’. Bruce Fisher (not the brightest bulb by any stretch) must be believing his own press. Very dangerous to say the least. I sincerely hope they continue to go down this path.
Posted by Grahame Rhodes on 04/27/13 at 08:15 PM | #
@Hopeful So let´s hope some competent psychiatrist gives her the meds she so obviously desperately needs !
Posted by aethelred23 on 04/27/13 at 09:18 PM | #
If you allow me one further comment: Do you really think an illness like schizophrenia exists ? Psychiatrists love diagnosing about almost everything and anything with schizophrenia if it stands still long enough! Unless of course you´re rich , a student or privileged otherwise.
If Knox didn´t wash herself , it could merely have been a deplorabe lack of personal hygiene, who cares, or she was simply lazy. Diagnosing murderers with personality disorders or mental illness is futile in my opinion.
http://willsavive.blogspot.de/2011/07/mentally-ill-in-perugia.html
Weird you happen to mention the homeless; that´s what a doctor of psychiatry referred to as well when I asked him to explain to me what “schizophrenia” is . He told me many of them suffered from this condition and were diagnosed with it too late and were living in the streets as a result.
A curious coincidence that many of the homeless I´ve spoken to admitted that they had been treated in a psychiatric facility. I wonder what was ultimately responsible for their social descent : their illness or something else?
Posted by aethelred23 on 04/27/13 at 09:36 PM | #
From Andrea Vogt Twitter, “......... I will likely release full #amandaknox state dept cables April 30.”
Posted by True North on 04/28/13 at 01:30 AM | #
There’s an excellent article on the BBC website about bad maths in court which includes an interview with Coralie Colmez who is one of the authors of Math on Trial:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-22310186
Posted by The Machine on 04/28/13 at 03:09 AM | #
Andrea Vogt is going to rain on Amanda Knox’s parade:
“... I will likely release full #amandaknox state dept cables April 30.â€
https://twitter.com/andreavogt
Posted by The Machine on 04/28/13 at 03:52 AM | #
Talking of raining on Amanda Knox’s parade, so could the Italian Supreme Court of Cassation.
The report on the annulment of the 2011 Perugia appeal and some rigid guidelines for the 2013 or 2014 Florence repeat are due out any day now. The arrest warrants could follow at any time.
With Knox clearly flouting the law with her illegal and obviously inaccurate book and interview and aggravating Italian-American relations, she might be handed back to Italy with great relief.
Posted by Peter Quennell on 04/28/13 at 04:51 AM | #
“With Knox clearly flouting the law with her illegal and obviously inaccurate book and interview and aggravating Italian-American relations, she might be handed back to Italy with great relief.”
Good.
Let Justice be served.
Posted by thundering on 04/28/13 at 08:50 AM | #
From The Machine: Andrea Vogt is going to rain on Amanda Knox’s parade:
“… I will likely release full #amandaknox state dept cables April 30.â€
Excellent timing.
Posted by thundering on 04/28/13 at 08:57 AM | #
An article has appeared in the Sunday Times today by John Follain, with a fair appraisal of the ‘book’.
A comment has been left with the name of this site as a source for facts.
Posted by SeekingUnderstanding on 04/28/13 at 11:10 AM | #
Hi SeekingUnderstanding,
It’s good to hear that someone has recommended TJMK as a source for facts about the case in the comments section of The Times website. I can imagine David Marriott spitting feathers every time someone mentions TJMK or PMF on media websites.
It’s been a terrible year for the FOA with Sfarzogate, lawsuits filed against Raffaele Sollecito and Andrew Gumbel, Math on Trial being featured in the New York Times and on the BBC website and above all the Italian Supreme Court annulling the acquittals and confirming Amanda’s Knox conviction for slander.
Posted by The Machine on 04/28/13 at 11:46 AM | #
I’m delighted to see that the most read article on the BBC website is about Amanda Knox and bad maths in court:
Most Read
1 Amanda Knox and bad maths in court
2 Duke ‘well’ despite eye injury
3 Fatal aircraft crash investigated
4 Mother tells of Dubai ‘torture’
5 M9 death teenager named by police
Posted by The Machine on 04/28/13 at 12:09 PM | #
@the Machine
Yes, my friend (a mathematician) has just pointed this out to me, ..and now he is listening to me! (about the evidence).
It seems to me that a civilized and healthy, progressive society depends ultimately on good law and the good maintenance and administration of that law.
Any PR campaign - unfortunately so easily facilitated nowadays - that undermines, distorts, deals in deception, appeals to fears rather than logic…is bad for everyone.
If we lose our respect for truth, and seeking verity ceases to be a habit, society as a whole will decline, diminish.
Sorry if that sounds a bit pompous, I know I can sound like an English Victorian essayist at times!
Anyway, that’s why I do what I can, and am glad to point out this link.
Posted by SeekingUnderstanding on 04/28/13 at 12:31 PM | #
Yes, a bad year for the FOA.
What I want to know is when will they realise they are on a losing wicket and dump her?
Posted by thundering on 04/28/13 at 12:53 PM | #
Hi SeekingUnderstanding,
There is a real momentum building and David Marriott and the FOA are powerless to stop it. The truth won’t be suppressed indefinitely. That’s why the likes of Doug Preston and Nina Burleigh have lashed out at us. Amanda Knox is now a convicted criminal and a proven liar. This undoubtedly will go against her at the new appeal in Florence.
I hope to see more posters joining Twitter and making their voices heard. Amanda Knox and bad maths in court is still the most read story on the BBC website and it is currently being shared on social media websites around the world.
There will be more bad news for the FOA when Andrea Vogt releases the official cables on 30 April. Her timing is impeccable.
Posted by The Machine on 04/28/13 at 12:53 PM | #
People don’t like being taken in, that’s for sure…of course they don’t - it’s an abuse of trust, of the co-operative glue that holds us together and helps us be organised.
Posted by SeekingUnderstanding on 04/28/13 at 01:24 PM | #
The Daily Mail just said that “According to the book, the police interrogated Miss Knox for hours and would slap her on the back of her head. Italian police are taking legal action against her parents for making similar allegations”.
She can’t really be that stupid - can she?
Posted by Spencer on 04/28/13 at 02:37 PM | #
Very impressive result in the imaginary statistic’s tests (two coin-tossing tests) by Coralie Colmez, a mathematician. My education as a Lutheran seminarian over a period of eleven years (& beginning at 13) was strong in doctrine but weak in math.
I accept what Ms Colmez says, namely that a probability of 92% in one test & of 84% in another result in an overall probability of 98.5%, but one might have expected an averaging of scores at 88%. Not the case.
Going back to schizophrenia for a moment, I don’t see any sign of that in Amanda who is very clever in manipulating reality. Her psychopathology has somewhere in her personality a radical root but need not include a disease formerly called dementia praecox for its oddly frequent occurrence in the young.
And her prison trauma may be entirely genuine in but in this attribution displaced. It is her own trauma arising from her crime in rape & murder which on this hypothesis menaces her sober moments.
Finally, as to personal hygiene: James Joyce was known to be averse to soap & water. One might almost question his sanity for the seventeen years he spent on the unintelligible Finegans Wake, which somewhere Shaw himself dismissed as madness (& his daughter Lucia was certifiably insane.)
I expect to examine Amanda’s book come Tuesday & buy it if it engages my interest. But it may not.
Posted by Ernest Werner on 04/28/13 at 03:00 PM | #
drip, drip, drip
gosh I feel so, so sorry for the Kerchers, having to endure this. RIP Meredith, and to your family and friends, please know that you’re in the thoughts of many who believe the guilty walked away.
Shame on you Telegraph.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/10023597/Amanda-Knox-wrote-letter-to-Meredith-Kerchers-family-insisting-she-was-not-the-killer.html
Posted by TruthWillOut on 04/28/13 at 03:44 PM | #
It was the PR campaign that drew me to this case.
I find it fundamentally wrong that people can hire a PR company in order to pervert the course of justice.
Equally, they can employ people they ‘know’.
The Knox family employed an American judge to speak up for them.
His belief that Knox is innocent?
He lives a couple of blocks away from the tearful Edda Mellas and his daughter was in the same carpool as Amanda Knox for 4 years so she must be innocent.
I shudder to think if I was attending court at a trial of someone who had savagely murdered a family member of mine and the judge was friends of the accused.
I think Judge Michael Heavey needs his history looking into, perhaps there are many miscarriages of justice to be found.
Posted by DF2K on 04/28/13 at 03:51 PM | #
@SeekingUnderstanding
I just read your comment concerning the P/R campaign which
“Undermines, distorts, deal in deception, appeals to fears rather than logic…is bad for everyone.”
This describes ‘FOX News’ exactly. Another of Rupert Murdoch’s garbage news where anything salacious rather than facts is par for the course.
See Fox News take up the Knox case with screaming headlines such as ‘Our Poor American Girl’
Please excuse me while I throw up in my mouth
Posted by Grahame Rhodes on 04/28/13 at 04:32 PM | #
@Grahame Rhodes. Yes.
The way the PR campaign appears to be swallowed wholesale, as others have said, somewhat as in a religious cult (i.e. uncritically) is deeply upsetting.
It is inevitably more so in the USA. I don’t think the majority opinion here in England will be going along with it soon.
Being fair- minded is incredibly important to us British, or English anyway.
I have just come across this, which I feel is relevant, in Melanie Klein’s ‘Envy and Gratitude’ :
“It appears that one of the consequences of excessive envy is an early onset of guilt. If the premature guilt is experienced by an ego not yet capable of bearing it, guilt is felt as a persecution and the object that rouses guilt is turned into persecutor.”
The object here presumably being the Italian justice system.
In the same writing she examines the distinction between jealousy and envy, the latter being very powerful with inner rage.
Posted by SeekingUnderstanding on 04/28/13 at 04:56 PM | #
The John Follain article that SeekingUnderstanding refers to in an earlier post is available here….
Posted by starsdad on 04/28/13 at 06:08 PM | #
Thanks Machine for your ref. to the BBC’s timely account of Coralie Colmez’s, Thoughtful’s co-author daughter, exposure of H/Z’s hubris.
H/Z [Translation p.56] had written:
“….the sum of the two results, both unreliable due to not having been obtained by a correct scientific procedure, cannot give a reliable result, apart from possible analogies.â€
Of course, we do not agree that Meredth’s DNA on the knife was “obtained by an incorrect scientific procedure, but C. Colmez pointed out that even if the scientific procedure was questionable, H/Z’s reasoning was mistaken:
“You have to view the two forensic tests as not separate from one another, but as one big test…. You have to view the two forensic tests as not separate from one another, but as one big test….So what this means in the case of the knife in the murder is that if it were tested again, and once again the DNA was Meredith’s profile we could be a lot more certain that the DNA on the knife is indeed Meredith’s.”
And if the knife were tested again and the DNA did not match Meredith Kercher’s profile? That would be good news for Knox and Sollecito, she says: “This would mean that this major piece of evidence against them would be discredited.”
H/Z are not experts on the subject of Probability; they had a duty to obtain expert-opinion evidence on that subject, but they did not, instead they arrogantly assumed they “knewâ€.
Thank Mother Nature for C.Colmez, and the BBC.
Posted by Cardiol MD on 04/28/13 at 07:43 PM | #
Shocking. What a poster at perugiamurderfile.org says he learned today! His name is brmull. He posts today 28 Apr 2013, 06:52 that a couple claiming to be ex-FBI approached his family members and asked them to intervene to Dr. Mull to stop posting about Meredith’s case. They claimed to be in fear of their daughter’s safety from brmull and showed comments he had posted online as proof.
They hinted they might leak them to the media to embarrass and humiliate the good doctor and hurt his family. It sounds like a veiled threat to get him arrested, too, not just sued. He says he feels he can’t post anymore out of deference to his family’s wishes and the fear induced by this in person visit from some ex-FBI couple, who claim brmull poses a threat to their daughter and to the public at large.
I doubt there’s even a smidgen of truth to this couple’s accusations. It seems a brazen attempt to intimidate and silence a man who is intelligently arguing about facts of a murder investigation that point straight to the couple’s heroine, Amanda Knox.
In fairness to this couple, they also seem to have thrown out a ‘lifeline’ to brmull, implying that if he shuts down his posts critical of Amanda Knox they will back off and not take him to court or do worse to him and his family.
Does this bullying have anything to do with Steve Moore? I don’t know. He is the ex-FBI guy who said he’d be glad for his daughter to be a roommate of Amanda Knox, a woman who used drugs, acted promiscuous, and also was caught up in the murder of her roommate.
If brmull feels he needs to go underground to protect himself from expensive legal action despite the charges being completely unfounded, I hope he will find a way to increase his internet presence all the same or more for the justice of Meredith Kercher. He says he will continue to fight for his beliefs in this case but now from behind the scenes. Discretion is the better part of valor, so he needs to do what he thinks best for himself and his family. If this ex-FBI couple has come to his family to intimidate him into silencing his free speech rights, boy is somebody highly irritated and vindictive.
Doctor brmull is one of those who walk openly and tall, since he joined perugiamurderfile.org in the autum of 2011, so he has been posting more than a year and a half. Those with intellectual prowess and credentials make the best targets. Are these tactics of some ex-FBI couple justified? They should have identified themselves by name if they approached his family with such a complaint. I’m on brmull’s side as best I can be with minimal information of what he wrote or didn’t write that somehow terrifies them about their daughter. It sounds trumped up and vain, and an excuse to strongarm.
I greatly appreciate brmull’s long illustrious input on the Kercher murder case. With valor and honesty using his real name he has stood tall to defend the prosecution of villains. I guess some ex-policemen don’t like that. I am pro-police. I respect good policemen and value their courage. Real policemen keep everybody safe and I admire the Perugian police for trying their best to keep crime down. I respect the FBI, the real FBI. Anybody using them for bad purposes is walking on thin ice.
Posted by Hopeful on 04/28/13 at 08:41 PM | #
@DF2K, Seekingunderstanding, Grahame Rhodes and all -
I too am drawn to this case in large part because of the media PR manipulation that feels almost as criminal as the original evil act. And I agree with your observations.
It’s interesting to read the posts of people from different countries and in some ways, I think, perspectives are shaped by nationality. Either, as SeekingUnderstanding mentions, as a sort of national “societal tendency” (my quotes) toward balance or skepticism, or, in my opinion, even more so by exposure to media coverage.
But the campaign isn’t taking off as those vested heavily had hoped. And this shameless self promotion is creating a lot of rage and disgust. Obviously here on this site. But everywhere from Seattle to Europe, people are at least wrinkling their noses at this.
But my anger is not so much at AK. I am increasingly convinced that she, without her parents and the criminally malicious PR campaign that has given rise to FOA and carpet-bagger-legal pundits and the whole ABC/HC involvement, would have eventually told a slightly more truthful version of her “best truth” or rather, I should say, more of the truth would have come out.
I think AK is tying to please her parents still. I think a lot of this is about how she’s seen, specifically by her family. She is “behaving” for them. Probably always has been. She always seems to be “performing” and I don’t think it’s just for the cameras in the courtroom. It’s no wonder that AK’s perspective of event always involve her objectification in some way. Usually as a sex object. Because she creates that! She objectifies herself (look at me now. see me now? mom, mom, look at this. hey look at how I do that. dad? ...)
To me, the pathology here rests with the Knox/Mellas family. It’s almost as if they are trying to make this go away in their own minds by working like crazy to create the image of their victimized little girl. The harder they work, the less they’ll have to think. They’ll become “drunk” with it.
I don’t know to what extent you can call their behavior illegal. But it is certainly evil. And morally wrong. And this torture to the Kerchers, (and by extension to all who are affected by the cruel hypocrisy) is nearly as vile as that inflicted upon Meredith. J’accuse!
(sorry for the long post… I got carried away 😊
Posted by carlos on 04/28/13 at 09:23 PM | #
Hi Hopeful,
This is an absolutely appalling story and I hope Brmull contacts police immediately for a restraining order and has the police contact the FBI. There is a name for this behavior:
(you said) “In fairness to this couple, they also seem to have thrown out a ‘lifeline’ to brmull, implying that if he shuts down his posts critical of Amanda Knox they will back off and not take him to court or do worse to him and his family.”
In my book that’s called blackmail. Throwing out a lifeline to someone you are trying to drown? A lawyer might find some other names for it.
This is very upsetting.
Posted by carlos on 04/28/13 at 09:32 PM | #
@hopeful Send the afor mentioned couple round to see me. I know they have my address particularly Bruce Fischer. As for the other two, yes its sounds like Steve Moore and his strange wife. Yeh lets go
Posted by Grahame Rhodes on 04/28/13 at 09:37 PM | #
@carlos
Yes…it’s what I call The Unbearable psychology :
AK is so disturbed or disordered in her psychology and personality (whatever the eventual label) that she finds it unbearable to acknowledge she has flaws, like anyone, and makes mistakes sometimes, like all of us.
So she has to be nice, special, innocent, without shadow. And needs everyone else to prop up and perpetuate this image of herself too.
She has even hinted as much. When she says “I am not that monster…” (etc), it is as if saying, ” I find it unbearable to acknowledge that I may have behaved monstrously, and I would find it too unbearable for others to see me as a ‘monster’....anything other than the ‘good’ image I am projecting of myself.”
“Therefore I cannot be, because it is unbearable to me.”
In this sense, the whole PR campaign does everyone a dis-service, including her, because whatever her role, or guilt, or innocence - whatever happened, and why,...just needs to be quietly assimilated and come to terms with.
The more restraint can be shown, with no personal hate or attacks - the more this site can be dignified, and detached and fair - (as indeed it tries to) the better it will be for everyone.
Posted by SeekingUnderstanding on 04/28/13 at 11:03 PM | #
I also believe BRmull should contact the police & the FBI, at the end of the day I am sure BRmull will do what he considers is best for himself & his family.
It is blackmail & harassment, I feel really sorry for the guy & his family at having to deal with these lunatics.
It is truly shocking at the depths these moronic people will stoop, disgusting behaviour and it stinks of the crazy Moore’s.
Posted by Jeffski1 on 04/28/13 at 11:21 PM | #
Maybe BRmull can open under a new name. That is if he feels intimidated. Personally I would go with what Jeffski1 mentioned. Also it is indicative that the Moore desperate these idiots become the more they will lash out. I am only so sorry I was not there to take them in hand. Of course they won’t come and see me because desperation such as this shows them to be the cowards that they really are.
Posted by Grahame Rhodes on 04/29/13 at 12:45 AM | #
The PR circus is going on in Seattle:
http://www.king5.com/news/Amanda-Knox-speaks-out-ahead-of-release-of-her-book-205142541.html
Posted by Hungarian. on 04/29/13 at 01:30 AM | #
Hi Hungarian,
I don’t know how I got through the King 5 item you posted above, it was quite vomit inducing.
It’s remarkable how people so easily buy the PR spin and misinformation.
It seems to them that Waiting for the Turd will be a blockbuster.
It couldn’t be more different of course. There is chatter already that prosecutors in Perugia and Florence will be evaluating it very closely and comparing it with what Knox has proclaimed in court.
I am hoping the motivation report will be published around the same time which will take a little gloss off the launch of this awful book.
Posted by DF2K on 04/29/13 at 01:52 AM | #
DF2K
I totally agree with your first sentence. Unfortunately this IS the News in Seattle and people believe what they read or watch. It is unbelievable sad.
AK is on the front page of People Magazine with Gwyneth Paltrow who is the most beautiful woman of the world. The only good thing is that right under AK is the Boston Bomber with his picture. It seems that the left side of the front page is for the criminals…
Good job People!
Posted by Hungarian. on 04/29/13 at 09:27 AM | #
Do you have any article in English which talks about Mignini and his promotion / future promotion and /or his exoneration from crimes? There are so many posts on abcnews about Mignini being a ‘sex-obsessed old man’ or ‘an idiot’ or ‘crazy’. It would be good to have something factual about him in English as a link.
Posted by believing on 04/30/13 at 11:11 PM | #
Andrea Vogt pointed out on her website that the charges against Mignini have been nullified:
“In recent months, Perugia Prosecutor Giuliano Mignini has been quietly winning a number of important victories in the Monster of Florence case. It wouldn’t matter at all for the Knox case, had the group lobbying for her innocence not latched onto the Monster of Florence link to paint him as a crazed power-hungry conspiracy theorist. But since Knox was acquitted, the oft-cited abuse-of-office charges (and the trial) against Mignini were nullified in Florence.”
http://thefreelancedesk.com/?page_id=148
Posted by The Machine on 05/01/13 at 12:38 AM | #
Hi Believing and Machine
On Mignini and his vindication, promotion, and reinstatement of the Narducci case. It has been a four step process.
1) Andrea Vogt refers to the nullification of the Mignini + Giuttari trial outcome by an appeal judge a year ago in Florence.
2) What happened next takes some explaining. You can skip this part if you want though it is funny and dramatic and Yummi did a a great narrative here:
3) Next Cassation issued THREE decisions on appeal, all in Mignini’s favor, all in the past few weeks:
<ul>a) The Hellmann appeal was anulled (total annullment is very rare).
b) The case against Mignini and Giuttari was declared ILLEGAL because the rogue prosecutor who brought the case was also the one claiming he was damaged! (By Mignini capturing him on tape - a tape recording approved by a judge).
c) The Narducci investigations stopped by Judge Micheli was again given a green light by Cassation (which puts Spezi in risk of prison and possibly Preston as he was one of the 22 obstructing justice).</ul>
4) And then Mignini was promoted to Deputy Prosecutor General of the Region of Umbria which makes him the next Prosecutor General after Galati retires.
All this was widely reported in Italy. The following post which you might share widely is based on that reporting, there is no opinion or slanting in it:
We do see a need for a long version of all this, and it will appear in coming weeks when the book excitement dies down. Pity we coudnt do it sooner. As usual though, we are way ahead of the US media.
Posted by Peter Quennell on 05/01/13 at 01:07 AM | #
The prison guard and the cell mate’s accounts of Amanda’s behaviour is all revealing stuff. Indicating of course that she is cold, emotionless, and has a lack of empathy for the suffering of others. She did not regard her fellow inmates as equals and showed them no courtesy or consideration. She had no embarrasment or concern regarding her lack of personal hygiene, or the discomfort this was causing to others.
She obviously did not want to become friendly with other inmates because she did not want to reveal her guilt. Her bad personal hygiene and lack of consideration for others ties in with what Meredith said about her. Also, she is a very good actress and good at masking her true feelings. Tellingly, she did not speak of Meredith or her supposed friendship with her.
What is also interesting is how she continually claims people are sexually attracted to her i.e. the male prison warden and the female prisoner who allegedly wanted a lesbian relationship with Amanda (despite her lack of personal hygiene). The warden has challenged the claims made by Amanda. It would appear that Amanda uses sex in her dealings with people. This seems to be a pattern. No doubt she used this to manipulate Sollecito and Guede to turn on Meredith on the night of the murder.
The inmates and prison guard saw the real Amanda. The court version was the act. That Fox news supported Amanda with the sickening ‘Our American Girl’ is disgusting. It would appear that as long as you are American you can get away with murder. Does Murdoch have no allegiance with the UK? Meredith was after all, British. Murdoch does own the Telegraph and The Sun, 2 UK papers.
I wonder what would have happened if this had happened in the US, and Meredith had also been American? Or if Knox had been the one murdered in Perugia, with the same evidence against say an Italian girl? I wonder what Knox’s parents would have been saying then? I wonder whose side Fox news would have been on then?
Posted by Susan Maria on 03/22/16 at 03:27 PM | #
Hi Susan Maria
Insightful post. Its undisputed that Knox was into drugs-for-sex right up to the day of her arrest. Widely known in Italy because thanks to her the dealer was put away, but it only surfaced years later in the US. That dealer relationship was part of her problem with Meredith (he was sometimes in the next room) and for years after part of her festering problem with Raffaele as well.
http://truejustice.org/ee/index.php?/tjmk/comments/Questions_For_Knox_Why_Does_Book_Smear_Others/
Both US and UK media have taken all sides. Fox was actually a latecomer and never carried very much. The main Knox-Mellas poodles were CBS (48 Hours) and NBC (Morning Show) and CNN now and then, but each channel was sometimes frank about guilt. Barbie Nadeau wrote a blistering few paras about how nasty and strong-arm Marriott’s PR was. For access reporters were made to pay.
In the UK, same thing. Mixed bag. The BBC and Sky and ITV were sometimes fair, sometimes not. The Daily Mail was a two-edged sword. Worst was the Guardian and the Independent, they never ever reported Italy’s view of the case.
http://truejustice.org/ee/index.php?/tjmk/comments/the_uk_independent_sure_has_drunk_the_kool_aid/
Right now, its a house of cards. Wait just a few months, and you’ll see published and broadcast new research that will leave Knox & Sollecito and their media poodles with no place to hide.
Posted by Peter Quennell on 03/22/16 at 06:53 PM | #
Nothing has changed of course Knox is still into drugs as another attempt at escapism. Which drugs we will perhaps not know. but given her psychological profile it’s a given that she will explode sometime. Those around her should be aware that this is liable to happen. I’m just waiting for the eventual end result. Of course she is trying hard to disappear into anonymity and in that lies part of the conflict. she seeks the lime light while trying to keep up her failed appearance of innocence. It’s not going to happen. I personally look forward to her eventual demise either through breakdown or a steady spiral down into madness.
Posted by Grahame Rhodes on 03/24/16 at 10:51 PM | #
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