Sunday, March 15, 2009
Trial: Prosecution Witnesses Present Many More Reports On Odd Behavior Of Knox
Posted by Peter Quennell
1) Nick Pisa reported this in Sky News:
Tests found that nobody had worked on Raffaele Sollecito’s computer over an eight-hour period spanning the night when Ms Kercher was stabbed to death in her bedroom, prosecution witness Marco Trotta told an Italian court.
Sollecito has maintained he was at his own apartment the night of the murder, working on his computer. Trotta showed the court videos and said there was “no human interaction” between 9:10 pm on November 1 and 5:32am the following day…
Ms Kercher is believed to have died between 9pm and 11pm on November 1, according to court documents.
2) Other reports from the trial state that the playing of the 90-minute movie “Amelie” from 6:37 pm was the last detectable major action. The 9:10 pm action appears to have been simply the closing of a program that was running.
3) Sollecito’s lawyer Giulia Bongiorno claimed in the trial that while “this computer may or may not be proof or evidence of an alibi” it had proved impossible for the communication police ‘to read data on four of the five machines seized [two belonging to Sollecito, one to Knox, one to Meredith and one to Guede] three of which have suffered electric shocks” and that the reconstruction of the evening’s computer actions “provided only partial and fragmentary data.”
4) The lawyer Francesco Maresca, who represents the Kercher family as a civil party, observed that for him “one of the alibis collapses” because the findings indicate that in the period of the murder there was no human interaction with the computer.
5) Nick Squires reported this in the Daily Telegraph:
The American’s former teacher told the court that four days after the murder she told her class to practise their Italian by writing a letter home.
Miss Knox penned a letter to her mother in Seattle in which she said she was “confused and worried” and that as a way of distracting herself she wanted to going shopping.
The teacher, Antonella Negri, described Miss Knox as “diligent” and “attentive”. She said that at the beginning of the lesson she had made reference to Miss Kercher’s murder. “I saw in Amanda a reaction of discomfort,” Mrs Negri told the court. “She leant forward onto the desk and lay her head in her arms.”
6) John Hooper reported this in the UK Guardian:
Earlier today, another police interpreter described noticing a red mark on Knox’s neck. Aida Colantone said Knox was in the police station at Perugia.
“Since her throat was bare ““ she had a blue tracksuit with the zip in front ““ I was struck in my mind by the extraordinary pallor of this girl from which a red mark leaped out,” she said.
7) Nick Pisa reported this in the Daily Mirror:
The pretty American - known as Foxy Knoxy - is accused with her ex-lover Raffaele Sollecito, 24, of murdering British student Meredith, 21. She could now face a second slander charge after claiming in court she had been hit by police during questioning.
8) And Richard Owen reported this in the London Times:
Chris Mellas, Ms Knox’s stepfather, told journalists at the court that the police investigation was flawed.
Mr Mellas, 35, an IT consultant, said that he had visited Ms Knox three times in prison.
“She is doing OK,” he said. “These things stress her out, and it’s hard for her to see the overall picture. I sit down and tell her that is not going so bad, that the prosecution haven’t really brought anything up in court yet.”
Asked if he shared the defence view that the police inquiry had been mishandled and evidence contaminated, he said: “I think particular portions of it have not been done appropriately, and the court is seeing that as well. We will see how it was conducted.”
He said that Ms Knox was “completely innocent”. There had “not been a day” when he “even considered” doubting her. There is no evidence against Amanda”.... He had spoken to Ms Knox on the eve of the hearing. “I told her she’s innocent and she needs to speak up for herself.”
Asked for his opinion of the Italian justice system he said: “It is different from ours, but I’m sure it will end up OK. As soon as this is done she will want to rejoin her family and friends. But do I think she will come back to Perugia? Most certainly.”
Posted by Peter Quennell on 03/15/09 at 03:30 PM in The officially involved, The defenses, Evidence & Witnesses, Other physical, Trials 2008 & 2009, News media & movies
Comments
Some restraint seems to show up there in the Mellas comments about the Italian system.
Keeping Amanda in cloud-cuckoo land may be good for certain parties who may come to be seen to have contributed to some enormous pent-up anger in Amanda Knox which may have exploded on the night in question.
And thus make them perhaps liable for enormous civil damages down the road.
But is it really the best thing for HER to be kept in cloud-cuckoo land, one has to wonder?
Her attempts in court to stand up and give herself some sort of a defense look clumsy, naive, half-baked, and actually very sad.
Way to go, family. It increasingly looks like you are hanging a sick girl out to dry here.
Posted by Peter Quennell on 03/15/09 at 05:25 PM | #
Easy there Petey, some of us here don’t go throwing names at your town, let alone twice.. I’m sure you have plenty of sickies there too.
Is she really supposed to be good at giving a defense, it seems she doesn’t have one anyway. Do you know what she has said lately, I don’t see much posted about it. Thanks
Posted by tjcchamp on 03/15/09 at 09:33 PM | #
Sorry tjccamp, you know I have in general been quite a booster of Seattle. The mention was ambiguous and I have deleted it so there’s no confusion.
I’ll gather together the remarks knox has made when she stands up and add therm as a comment later. Her total interventions at trial must now number about five.
Posted by Peter Quennell on 03/15/09 at 10:00 PM | #
By the way, the last two interventions as described in the Italian media (nothing much appeared in English about them) sound to have been very lame, nervous and low-voiced, and should not have been encouraged.
Her best choices would seem to be to make firm, convincing, rehearsed remarks, or none at all. If she goes down it’d be good if everyone agrees that she gave it her best shot. That seems the way to end the debate and provide true justice for Meredith.
Posted by Peter Quennell on 03/16/09 at 12:06 AM | #
Is Chris Mellas on her side?
I wonder how much AK appreciates about the big piture too. Curious that it’s CM saying that she finds it hard to see the big picture when her lawyers are the ones best placed to see and explain it. Mellas I believe does not speak Italian and relies on translations and has only just arrived. But it’s generous of him to put her straight. The snarling outpourings from Mellas & Co are usually at odds with the more restrained statements of the lawyers. Being very young she may be more willing to buy-in to the rosy picture that Mellas paints for her. Six hearings into the trial and although much has been ‘scene setting’ both defendents have come off very badly.
Her first ‘spontaneous’ statements were pretty innocuous. But her latest one specifically accuses the police of mistreatment, a claim that her lawyers have always played down and the home town crew have played up. It is the prosecutor I believe that has asked for an investigation. If he has a tape up his sleeve…..
Posted by Faustus on 03/16/09 at 12:09 AM | #
Can I give that one a shot? If he has a tape up his sleeve… she may have walked herself right into another perjury charge. Point made. I do agree, Faustus, let the lawyers run the show. Mellas may best serve Knox’s interests by being on the first plane outta there. There is so much to be learned from the Kerchers on presenting a proper front.
Posted by Peter Quennell on 03/16/09 at 12:39 AM | #
If Knox is facing six years for the Patrick accusation, which she is pretty sure of being convicted for, will she face another six years for accusing the police of hitting her? Assuming there is a tape or the investigation agrees with the police. If so, and assuming she is not guilty of murder, will Knox have to serve twelve years for opening her mouth in court and inserting her size 6’s? Is there any concept in Italian law of serving concurrent sentences? If so, that tweleve is reduced to six. Also does anyone know if time served on remand is counted into any parole calcultation? Finally, is there any additional time likely to be added to a sentence if any fines due/compensation payments are not made? Patrick is claiming around €500,000 which is about the same amount in US$ and I’m going to bet Amanda’s current account balance will not cover that. I’m really just wondering how long it’s likely to be, again assuming innocence of murder, before Knox actually is allowed back on a plane to the USA. Seems to me that she’ll be in her thirties or thereabouts before she gets back to Seattle, even if she is telling the truth about Meredith. Possibly longer if Mellas keeps his great advice coming.
Posted by daisysteiner on 03/16/09 at 04:20 PM | #
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