After 6 Years Heavey Is Still Heedless Of His Errors Pointed Out Again & Again & Again

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The Comment by the Prof:

For Boise State University professor Greg Hampikian, there’s no mystery at all about what happened to 21-year-old Meredith Kercher, who was found murdered in 2007 in Perugia, Italy, prompting charges against her roommate, Amanda Knox of Seattle, and two others, who later were cleared. “I know what happened,” Hampikian told an audience of about 200 at Boise State University today. Kercher, he said, was sexually assaulted and murdered “by one guy - Rudy Guede.”

http://www.spokesman.com/blogs/boise/2011/oct/17/hampikian-amanda-knox-case-i-know-what-happened/

I looked into his list of publications and saw that he has one publication in a forensic journal. But then it was published in 2013!

List of publications of Prof Greg Hampikian:

Adamopoulos, L., Montegna, J., Hampikian, G., Argyropoulos, D. S., Heitmann, J., & Lucia, L. A. (2007). A simple method to tune the gross antibacterial activity of cellulosic biomaterials. Carbohydrate Polymers, 69(4), 805-810.  Retrieved from http://www.scopus.com
Alileche, A., Goswami, J., Bourland, W., Davis, M., & Hampikian, G. (2012). Nullomer derived anticancer peptides (NulloPs): Differential lethal effects on normal and cancer cells in vitro. Peptides, 38(2), 302-311.  Retrieved from http://www.scopus.com
Besecker, J., Cornell, K. A., & Hampikian, G. (2013). Dynamic passivation with BSA overcomes LTCC mediated inhibition of PCR. Sensors and Actuators, B: Chemical, 176, 118-123.  Retrieved from http://www.scopus.com
Bourland, W. A., Hampikian, G., & Vďačný, P. (2012). Morphology and phylogeny of a new woodruffiid ciliate, etoschophrya inornata sp. n. (ciliophora, colpodea, platyophryida), with an account on evolution of platyophryids. Zoologica Scripta, 41(4), 400-416.  Retrieved from http://www.scopus.com
Bourland, W. A., Vďačný, P., Davis, M. C., & Hampikian, G. (2011). Morphology, morphometrics, and molecular characterization of bryophrya gemmea n. sp. (ciliophora, colpodea): Implications for the phylogeny and evolutionary scenario for the formation of oral ciliature in the order colpodida. Journal of Eukaryotic Microbiology, 58(1), 22-36.  Retrieved from http://www.scopus.com
Bourland, W. A., Wendell, L., Hampikian, G., & Vďačný, P. (2013). Morphology and phylogeny of bryophryoides ocellatus n. g., n. sp. (ciliophora, colpodea) from in situ soil percolates of idaho, U.S.A. European Journal of Protistology,  Retrieved from http://www.scopus.com
Bullock, C. W., Jacob, R. B., McDougal, O. M., Hampikian, G., & Andersen, T. (2010). Dockomatic - automated ligand creation and docking. BMC Research Notes, 3 Retrieved from http://www.scopus.com
Crayton III, M. E., Ladd, C. E., Sommer, M., Hampikian, G., & Strausbaugh, L. D. (2004). An organizational model of transcription factor binding sites for a histone promoter in D. melanogaster. In Silico Biology, 4(4), 537-548.  Retrieved from http://www.scopus.com
Davis, M. C., Novak, S. J., & Hampikian, G. (2011). Mitochondrial DNA analysis of an immigrant basque population: Loss of diversity due to founder effects. American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 144(4), 516-525.  Retrieved from http://www.scopus.com
Deak, F., Kiss, I., Sparks, K. J., Argraves, W. S., Hampikian, G., & Goetinck, P. F. (1986). Complete amino acid sequence of chicken cartilage link protein deduced from cDNA clones. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 83(11), 3766-3770.  Retrieved from http://www.scopus.com
Dror, I. E., & Hampikian, G. (2011). Subjectivity and bias in forensic DNA mixture interpretation. Science and Justice, 51(4), 204-208.  Retrieved from http://www.scopus.com
Gaudette, M. F., Hampikian, G., Metelev, V., Agrawal, S., & Crain, W. R. (1993). Effect on embryos of injection of phosphorothioate-modified oligonucleotides into pregnant mice. Antisense Research and Development, 3(4), 391-397.  Retrieved from http://www.scopus.com
Goswami, J., Davis, M. C., Andersen, T., Alileche, A., & Hampikian, G. (2013). Safeguarding forensic DNA reference samples with nullomer barcodes. Journal of Forensic and Legal Medicine, 20(5), 513-519.  Retrieved from http://www.scopus.com
Hampikian, G., & Andersen, T. (2007). Absent sequences: Nullomers and primes. Paper presented at the Pacific Symposium on Biocomputing 2007, PSB 2007, 355-366. Retrieved from http://www.scopus.com
Hampikian, G., West, E., & Akselrod, O. (2011). The genetics of innocence: Analysis of 194 U.S. DNA exonerations Retrieved from http://www.scopus.com
Henderson, P. T., Jones, D., Hampikian, G., Kan, Y., & Schuster, G. B. (1999). Long-distance charge transport in duplex DNA: The phonon-assisted polaron-like hopping mechanism. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 96(15), 8353-8358.  Retrieved from http://www.scopus.com
Kanu, A. B., Hampikian, G., Brandt, S. D., & Hill Jr., H. H. (2010). Ribonucleotide and ribonucleoside determination by ambient pressure ion mobility spectrometry. Analytica Chimica Acta, 658(1), 91-97.  Retrieved from http://www.scopus.com
Karalova, E. M., Sargsyan, K. V., Hampikian, G. K., Voskanyan, H. E., Abroyan, L. O., Avetisyan, A. S., . . . Karalyan, Z. A. (2011). Phenotypic and cytologic studies of lymphoid cells and monocytes in primary culture of porcine bone marrow during infection of african swine fever virus. In Vitro Cellular and Developmental Biology - Animal, 47(3), 200-204.  Retrieved from http://www.scopus.com
Krane, D. E., Bahn, V., Balding, D., Barlow, B., Cash, H., Desportes, B. L., . . . Zabell, S. (2009). Time for DNA disclosure. Science, 326(5960), 1631-1632.  Retrieved from http://www.scopus.com
Moeller, K., Besecker, J., Hampikian, G., Hampikian, J. M., Moll, A., Plumlee, D., & Youngsman, J. (2006). Prototype continuous flow polymerase chain reaction LTCC device: Design, fabrication and biocompatibility issues. Paper presented at the IMAPS/ACerS - 2nd International Conference and Exhibition on Ceramic Interconnect and Ceramic Microsystems Technologies, CICMT 2006, 358-361. Retrieved from http://www.scopus.com
Moeller, K., Besecker, J., Hampikian, G., Moll, A., Plumlee, D., Youngsman, J., & Hampikian, J. M. (2007). A prototype continuous flow polymerase chain reaction LTCC device Retrieved from http://www.scopus.com
Ullakko, K., Wendell, L., Smith, A., Müllner, P., & Hampikian, G. (2012). A magnetic shape memory micropump: Contact-free, and compatible with PCR and human DNA profiling. Smart Materials and Structures, 21(11)  Retrieved from http://www.scopus.com
Valverde, L., Rosique, M., Köhnemann, S., Cardoso, S., García, A., Odriozola, A., . . . De Pancorbo, M. M. (2012). Y-STR variation in the basque diaspora in the western USA: Evolutionary and forensic perspectives. International Journal of Legal Medicine, 126(2), 293-298.  Retrieved from http://www.scopus.com
Zubizarreta, J., Davis, M. C., & Hampikian, G. (2011). The Y-STR genetic diversity of an idaho basque population, with comparison to european basques and US caucasians. Human Biology, 83(6), 685-694.  Retrieved from http://www.scopus.com

Sorry, the last line got cut.

I know you are talking about the Judge, but forgetting the Prof!

Both are but small cogs in the big wheel called the “PR Machine”.

How about the motivation? Italian Judges provide a report card: I liked it. We need a motivation report for the Judge and also for the Prof.

Hi Chami

No, the Prof is not forgot. See the box at top on Andrea Vogt’s new report. Hampikian is to be the next post; we are still gathering stuff. This certainly helps, I for one did not know that. 

Both are big PR cogs.  Hampikian is the only US expert on [something] still lending their scientific credibility to the PR campaign.  Heavey is the only [ex] senior official trying to gain some traction for Knox at top levels of government and lending legal credibility to the campaign.

If they are both on the skids, both the science and the political/legal thrusts may be done.

Hi, pat_az,

Great piece! I hope there will be a part II to Judge Heavey, including how he promised the disciplinary committee he wouldn’t lend his judicial office to defend Amanda Knox then broke that promise by advocating endlessly afterwards.

Heavey also traded on his daughter’s supposed friendship with Amanda Knox to promote her ‘innocence’, only to have her publicly repudiate that through writer Steve Shay.

Thank you pat_az. Great stuff…

God he’s weird and rather pathetic this Heavey character.

If ever there was a picture of someone refusing to retire/grow old gracefully it’s this self-important ex-judge. Does he realise how stupid he sounds?

He begins his missive “US citizen Amanda Knox is a neighbour and classmate of my eldest daughter…” Well that is supposed to seal it I suppose. (Cue Obama to his secretary - “just another old man finding it hard to come to terms with being someone of no special importance anymore and with no future role - bin it”).

It must be very difficult to spend the best part of your life acting and being seen as an all-wise judge and then to have that life-time role taken from you abruptly on retirement. How to make the transition from someone of importance to someone of zero importance? With extreme reluctance and difficulty it seems in Heavey’s case.

Some people only just begin to face up to deeply entrenched psychological issues when they retire.

An ambitious and successful career can actually be a way to avoid difficult psychology, and hide from issues in childhood or upbringing that have been too painful to previously acknowledge.

Retirement can actually resemble a mildly traumatic time for some people, and certainly requires adjustment.

The retirement age for judges in Washington State is 75. I believe Heavey did not actually retire; he decided (ostensibly for health reasons) not to face an election again.

See his vilifying remarks on Dr Mignini in the letter? Dr Mignini is considerably more senior, as the Deputy Prosecutor General of Umbria, than Heavey ever was as a mere elected county judge.

Dr Mignini has had a much more distinguished career. He is one of the relatively few who accepts the risk of taking on the mafia. He is admired throughout Italy and thanked daily on the streets of Perugia.

My guess is in due course Heavey and some other malicious defamers may have to eat their words.

@ SeekingUnderstanding

I agree with that wholeheartedly. A life well-lived has no need for position/status - the latter is a petrified life-denying state that betrays deep insecurity and fear of change. All too common though. In fact one is considered something of a failure in our culture if one can’t display the necessary degree of petrification and consequent attachment to material goodies -:)

As you say, retirement can bring up all sorts of issues that have been kept from conscious awareness (like a poor marital relationship, suddenly exposed by having to be together 24/7).I wonder how the long-suffering Mrs Heavey is getting on with the grumpy and role-less ex-judge mooching around the house all day?!

@Peter

Interesting that Heavey decided not to face election again so he hasn’t officially retired as such but he’s given up his role and that will have the psychological consequences that Seekingunderstanding mentions.

Dr Mignini - now you’re talking! Can’t imagine him writing to the Italian President with special pleading for an Italian woman facing a murder conviction overseas, for no better reason than she just happened to go to school with his daughter!

@Odysseus

I wonder how the long-suffering Mrs Heavey is getting on with the grumpy and role-less ex-judge mooching around the house all day?

Yes!

Must be true for 1000s of women whose 8 hr/day freedom is being taken away by the retired husband.

They are retired but not tired!

I have suggested to many, and many have accepted, that they pick up some voluntary community work after their retirement. I often get interesting feedback from several sides!

I concur with SeekingUnderstanding: he needs to learn to adjust.

But he cannot beat the Prof!

Excellent post - again.

Let us continue to expose the rot.

Is there a direct link to your blog, please?

Thank you.

Just seen the link: http://aklwei.wordpress.com/2013/10/29/is-admonished-judge-heavey-ret-preparing-to-mislead-congress-again/

I am really glad Pat Az unearthed this. He must have been surprised when it showed. Pat wrote that it was “apparently” sent and I can see why.

It doesnt show up on Google at all except for one archive website which however proves it did leave Heavey’s “chambers” (the address given is that of his house).

http://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/808611/consularfailureknox.txt

Maybe it was only sent out on paper? Did all the FOA get copies? Are whole forests being cut down in Knox’s vain cause?

The letter was apparently copied to members Congress (all 535 of them? really?) and the media (who obviously universally ignored it or it would show up more on Google).

This self-important mode of sending “letters to top people” copied to hundreds (whose crank incoming mail usually goes straight in the garbage) is repeatedly used by Heavey and others like Joel Simon in the CPJ.

Heavey surely must know now it is pretty ineffective, as not even one Congressperson showed up for his panel.  The mode looks to me primarily like a way of asserting one’s importance to peers rather than actually getting through to top people and having a real effect.

We may see here Heavey’s attempt to leapfrog the other white knights and head the parade, ostentatious also in Rocco Girlanda, Hampikian, Steve Moore, Bruce Fischer, all of them with so-called careers that must have left them mega-frustrated.

Chami said “How about the motivation? Italian Judges provide a report card: I liked it. We need a motivation report for the Judge and also for the Prof.”

Writing those amazing reports (well maybe Hellmann’s was not so amazing) must take weeks but I agree, they are likable. I do wonder what Heavey’s and Hampikian’s would look like.

One thing Heavey the law & politics guy and Hampikian the science & DNA guy have in common is they both espouse the Lone Wolf Theory. This requires a lot of nasty demonizing of Guede and a lot of burbling about the sheer amazingness of Knox.

How to nail that zombie theory once and for all?! Judge Micheli tried in 2008 and yet it still keeps coming. Here is a link to about two dozen of our Lone Wolf posts, with one of James Raper’s excellent posts presently at the top.

http://www.truejustice.org/ee/index.php?/tjmk/C720/

@Peter,

I was simply wondering what they saw in our lovable foxy knoxy!

Or, is it the sweet smell of money, that also comes in various incarnations (e.g., favor and power being the most imporatant of them).

Guede comes later, in fact much later. He is the proverbial lamb around which any theory can be made to fit.

Two possibilities jump to my mind:

What would have happened if AK were British and MK American?

Or, this is more interesting,

Guede were white and Raf were black!

Speaking of Report Cards: Judge Heavey was rated very low in a survey of 1500 attorneys of the King County Bar association:

http://seattletimes.com/html/localnews/2004121398_judges12m.html

“Other judges at the bottom of the list include Michael Heavey, Carol Schapira, Laura Middaugh and Mary Roberts.”

Peter
Point with Heavey’s junk mail. Seems your right in that he wants to assert his legal muscle. (That’s the one he keeps in a box under his bed.) In order to jump the queue and make himself more important to the FA crowd. Same as Hampikian. Sad really, pathetic old men trying to retain some semblance of past glory, not that Hampikian ever had but there you are.

I do wonder increasingly how far the letter to the President got. It reflects what Heavey has said many times before and since and its on the web and Pat Az found it on King5.

But some cooler heads among the Knox crazies (which does not of course include Fischer) were backing off Heavey’s self-promoting rants in 2011 when the appeal seemed to be going their way.

Even some of the crazies might have found this part of the letter seriously weird.

On November 6, 2007, at 5:4.5 a.m. 20 year-old Amanda Knox was arrested for the murder of her roommate after an all-night interrogation performed by a dozen poljzia officers who operated in “tag team” rotation.

The Perugian police denied her food and water, cuffed her on the back of the head and, most importantly, prevented her from sleeping.

After her arrest, she was paraded as a trophy through the streets of Perugia.

Yes, well…

“
  The Perugian police denied her food and water, cuffed her on the back of the head and, most importantly, prevented her from sleeping.

  After her arrest, she was paraded as a trophy through the streets of Perugia.
“

It only shows that the PR team never forgets the entertainment value at every step.

Peter

Re: “she was paraded as a trophy through the streets of Perugia”

All part and parcel of the beyond-dumb portrayal of Italy as ‘mid-evil”, a country which seemingly has a few statues and monuments of passing interest, which any self-respecting (?) American wants to say they’ve seen, that they’ve got the T-shirt, etc (hello Obknoxious), but actual immersion in the culture… forget it.

For a certain tranche of America a trip to ole Europe is kinda fun but there’s nothing like the return home to the unpretentious, total moderness of America and the joie-de-vie, cough, of eat-on-the-run at fast-food joints, mass drone-killing worldwide and the right to bear arms against a sea of troubles (often the local primary school), all without the fussy encumbrance of tradition.

Mid-evil? If I didn’t have many intelligent American friends who generally agree with me, some of whom would never go back to their homeland, I’d be tempted to generalise here but the xenophobic basket cases that are attracted to FOA are something else. The only seriously worrying question is how much of the demographic do they represent?

Regarding Hampikian … Andrea Vogt’s bio used to state that she spoke “Idahoan,” which I thought was a clever and entertaining thing to say – elaborating on the joke about every state speaking a different language. 

How appropriate that she had the opportunity to investigate Idahoan antics – I can think of no better person to do so.  If only her FOIA appeal time limit hadn’t expired – we would know so much more.  Two statements from the Orrick article are very informative (http://blogs.orrick.com/trade-secrets-watch/2013/11/08/the-role-of-alleged-trade-secret-forensic-evidence-in-the-amanda-knox-murder-case/): 

1.  “In the four years following circulation of that letter, Hampikian gave countless presentations and made numerous statements to media outlets, explaining why he believed the DNA evidence from the crime scene conclusively proved that Knox was innocent.” 

2.  “But when Vogt plowed through Italian court documents to find the evidence to back up Hampikian’s public statements about his direct involvement influencing the process, she came up empty. According to Trade Secrets Watch’s own review of the Italian court records, that’s because Hampikian did not submit any expert reports or provide written or oral testimony in any of the Italian appeal proceedings.”

Thus Hampikian is a Public Relations agent, another carnival worker barking outside the defense tent. 

A “shill” in common parlance (from Wikipedia):  “Shill can also be used pejoratively to describe a critic who appears either all-too-eager to heap glowing praise upon mediocre offerings, or who acts as an apologist for glaring flaws. In this sense, the critic would be an implicit shill for the industry at large, possibly because his income is tied to its prosperity. The origin of the term “shill” is uncertain; it may be an abbreviation of “shillaber.” The word originally denoted a carnival worker who pretended to be a member of the audience in an attempt to elicit interest in an attraction.”

Regarding Judge Peevish – oh, I’m sorry, did I misspell that? – I meant Drudge Heavey. I imagine that I must have imagined it differently.  County Judges are always competing with television personality Judge Judy for ratings. 

This topic is a perfect introduction for a description of the county level judge/jury process, which I had wanted to write about previously, in response to inquiries here about how that process works in the United States. 

First of all, county judges are elected, which in effect makes them no different from politicians.  Federal judges are appointed, but they are appointed by elected officials (i.e. politicians), so they too are no different than politicians.  Juries are selected randomly from voter registration records, that is from the very proof that they vote for politicians.  Obviously the voter suppression in the United States consequently results in jury suppression. 

For each case, scores of potential jurors are notified by mail to arrive at the courthouse on a certain time and date.  There are some methods of deferring this, but if called, sooner or later one has to go.  These scores of jurors wait in some meeting room, typically a windowless subterranean room ,while randomly selected subsets of them are called up to the courtroom to be questioned by the prosecution and defense lawyers. 

Once in the courtroom, the judge compares him or herself to some TV judge personality, and then turns over questioning of prospective jurors to the lawyers.  So at this point there are three groups of potential jurors:  those sitting in the jury box, being questioned; those waiting in the courtroom to replace jurors whose answers do not please the lawyers and who are removed from the jury box, and those still waiting down in the waiting room. 

In a trial involving a handgun, for instance, a prospective juror might be asked if he or she owns a handgun.  If one answers “No I do not own a handgun and I believe citizens should not be allowed to own handguns,” then congratulations! You will be removed from the jury pool and be allowed to leave the premises.  If one answers “I don’t own a handgun yet, but I’ve been thinking about buying one,” then you may get on the jury, while the response “I own a handgun – it’s in my car – do you want to see it?” will certainly get you a seat on the jury. 

By the way, even if you answer the questions to the satisfaction of the defense, the prosecution can always come back later and have you removed from the jury, and vice-versa for the prosecution, in both cases for no stated reason.  In other words, there is a lot of subtle communication going on, and one is being judged on a number of intangibles.  In short, it seems more “public relations” exercise – choosing suitable consumers - than jury selection. 

Based on the arduous process above, jury selection can often take many, many days.  Each day, prospective jurors must return to the courthouse and go through the process over and over, until the lawyers are happy with the jury selection, at which point the trial can commence.  In the end, however, it usually comes down to money:  the side with the most money is likely the side that will win.

Statement from Nigel Scott, Lib Dem Councillor in Haringey, London: LondonSupporter » Sat Nov 16, 2013 7:12 am http://www.injusticeanywhereforum.com/viewtopic.php?p=122772#p122772

” I have just seen the comments above. (I am Nigel Scott and I post here as LondonSupporter.) I am an advocate for Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito because they are innocent and because I am appalled at the travesty of justice that has been visited on them by the Italian legal system and some of its practitioners. Like most people I do other things as well. I have a day job, working for a health charity and I am a local councillor in a London borough (US equivalent = councilman) and a school governor. These are all separate activities but the fact that I may do one does not impinge on the other. What they all have in common is that they involve trying to help people and trying to make a positive difference. Sometimes I have succeeded. I have never mentioned my local government position when campaigning for Amanda and Raffaele nor would I do so. My other activities have been publicised by crazy people following internet searches. They have also sent me emails threatening to ‘report me’ to the council. Naturally I have advised the council’s legal department of their activities.

As an elected councillor I am free to engage in other activities in my spare time as long as I do not bring my office or the council into disrepute. I contend that campaigning for innocent people who have been framed for a crime they had no connection with, is a valid use of my spare time and I do not intend to be intimidated by a bunch of numpties, most of whom are not even prepared to support their beliefs by using their real identities.

This case has been overwhelmed and derailed in part by the activities of haters and I intend to stand for truth for as long as they continue to spread lies.”

Aside from the fact I am glad he is finally using his real name, it might be suggested that taking an accused murderer to the gravesite of his victim against the expressed wishes of a grieving UK family is something he has neither excused, nor explained, nor does he seem unable to understand how this might bring his council into disrepute, if anyone were to challenge him on that. Truly, the actions of a “numpty”.

@Ergon

Hmmm Interesting… first though.
What’s a ‘numpty’?

And second. Nigel Scott tips his hand by calling anyone with a contrary view ‘Haters’ Mind you in that he’s definitely got me pegged because I hate the destruction of intelligent people such as Meredith Kercher over unwashed bottom feeders as represented by Knox and her brood. Or as my mother used to say. “Inferior breading stock.” Of course as everybody knows the only word you will hear when somebody mentions Haringay is “It smells of the local gas works and is too close to the railway line to be of any importance.”

Numpty

Scottish usage:
a) Someone who (sometimes unwittingly) by speech or action demonstrates a lack of knowledge or misconception of a particular subject or situation to the amusement of others.

b) A good humoured admonition, a term of endearment

c) A reckless, absent minded or unwise person

a) “No. That wisnae wit she meant, ya big numpty!”

b) i.e. “Silly billy”, “You big dafty”

c) “That numpty’s driving with no lights on!”

Nigel Scott is a numpty 😉

Or as Billy Connolly used to say. “It’s a Beigism” That means the only colour is zero just like these self styled purveyors of filth.

I am learning something new everyday.

Today I leant about numpty.

They say ‘numpty’ in Yorkshire a lot…

Really! Never heard it on Lancashire. Must be the War of the Roses.

Hampikian is not reliable, hence the Boise-Stonewall, but otherwise, not unversed in DNA tech.-speak.

Excellent report. Thank you Pat Az for the point by point rebuttal of another senseless attempt at logic by the clueless.

The stupidity of these so-called experts continues to astound me. “The Perugian Police denied her food and water” - she had just had dinner for god’s sake. Both she and RS have admitted that. In fact, RS even made the police wait for him while they finished dinner. Who the heck needs food and water right after dinner?

They “prevented her from sleeping”. Are you seriously telling me that a 20 year old college student, living in a foreign country on her own and by all accounts making the most of it, found it so hard to stay awake till 4-5 am? Isn’t she the same one who was so desperate to join Meredith for the all-night halloween party just a few days ago? Suddenly very conscientious about bedtime, aren’t we?

“Amanda spoke little Italian, yet was not allowed to have an interpreter to assist her” - not only is this untrue as has been pointed out, it is also likely that even the best interpreters in the world wouldn’t have been able to help much, given AK’s attitude. In her book, she talks about how the interpreter was a “useless woman” and how she decided to take charge. Even if there was some amount of miscommunication, it is more than likely that AK herself caused it by not letting the interpreter do her job.

@Cardiol

Both Halkides and Hampikian are well versed in DNA tech-speak. And both are active researchers with decent lists of publications.

But like many of us, they have strong opinions and often their passion is clouded by their judgment (or, perhaps, it is the other way!). And that affects, as you rightly say, their reliability.

It is a very common disease. Boise is just trying to rehabilitate a good scientist who has strayed into limelight.

Interesting blog on Patrick Moore’s All Things Crime sitehttp://www.allthingscrimeblog.com/2013/11/19/hate-the-oxycontin-of-women-in-social-media/

where the author, a man, I presume, but his name there is ‘Pitchforks’, states that most of the ‘hate’ against Amanda Knox (and Jodi Arias and Casey Anthony) is directed by women, because that’s the way they are. Do drop by to see such misogyny in action, also some replies 😊

One comment from a Knox supporter is peripherally interesting:

“Joan James”:
Recently there has been a concerted and fairly fruitful effort to ferret out their actual identities as well as some info on who they are and why they’re stalking Amanda online. It’s been, to put it mildly, very interesting to put names, faces and personalities to these tags. (I think Ergon might vouch for that?!) The main reason for this effort is that some of these people, in some of their more virulent posts, have made very precise, very lethal threats relative to the life and safety of both Amanda and Raffaele, as well as their families and friends!!!

What can you say to such people?

“
Dr Hampikian’s work on the Amanda Knox case was part of the product of Ms. Knox’s criminal defense and was conducted within the bounds of an attorney-client relationship. As such it appears that the records you are requesting are exempt from public records act disclosure.
“

This is from the BSU response taken from Freelance Desk.

Even if I assume that he is working pro-bono, why does he not admit his part?

The case is becoming curiouser and curiouser.

Apologies: the site above is at http://www.allthingscrimeblog.com/2013/11/19/hate-the-oxycontin-of-women-in-social-media/

Interesting, chami. First they say it is research and a ‘trade secret’ and now it’s protected under attorney-client privilege?

Our Amazing Armenian is an attorney as well? Wow.

Looks like Steve Moore has got some serious competition for this years ‘baffoon’ award.
Heavey needs to get himself a hobby, gardening or gnome painting, something like that. As an artist, I can assure you, not only will painting keep his mind active, his wife will appreciate it too.

When I first read postings by Nigel Scott, I honestly thought it was the same guy who claimed he lost his virginity and fathered a child to an alien. Alas, after a quick google search, the ‘alien lover’ turned out to be Councillor Simon Parkes, not Councillor Nigel Scott.

Quote below from Councillor Simon Parkes, which is in the same context as something Amanda Knox would say:

“I think I am fairly clear in my head that I am being monitored [by aliens] very closely and if there is anything that’s seriously about to happen or does happen then I am fairly confident in my own mind that they will intervene, they have in the past”.

Thanks for this excellent article Pat. Judge Heavey’s stupidity and ignorance have been laid bare for all to see. He presents himself as an expert on the case and gives presentations arguing that Knox and Sollecito are innocent. It’s embarrassing that he didn’t know that Amanda Knox was provided with an interpreter. You don’t expect a Superior Court judge to act like a dunce. Somebody should explain to him that he’s not in a position to provide a definitive eyewitness account of what happened when Knox was questioned on 5 November 2007 because he wasn’t there.

@The Machine

“Somebody should explain to him that he’s not in a position to provide a definitive eyewitness account of what happened when Knox was questioned on 5 November 2007 because he wasn’t there… “

I am told that justice is blind (whatever that may mean) but I now see that the delivery-boy (with due respect to the ex-justice) also appear to be blind.

But he has complete faith in the guide-girl, who was there.

Where next:

Or to next entry The Rise And Fall Of “Frank Sfarzo” And His Disastrous Trip To The US And Canada

Or to previous entry The Rise And Fall Of “Frank Sfarzo” And How “Sfarzogate” Ripples On And On