Desperate Ghirga Urges Amanda Knox To Show At Florence Appeal, But She’s Created More Problems

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Now we wait for the Sollecito response too. Whoever does turn up if they are the only ones may give themselves an edge.

This might be a one-minute-to-midnight call. Who knows? They might squish one another trying to get through the door.

She’s really painted herself into a corner by alleging (along with her “helpers”) a corrupt prosecution. Logically I suppose she has no choice - it might well look odd if she was willing to face the ‘evil inquisitors’ again. So she is going to brazen it out and live the story she and others have creatively written for her, rather than make an appearance and throw herself on any mercy that might be forthcoming from the court. Our “emaciated”, “anxious” heroine (according to the report) cuts a rather different figure now from the picture of innocence who claimed she wanted to stay in Perugia after the murder to help the police.

In some sense this has all been on auto-pilot given her early confessions, her retractions, her best truths, etc. All the confessions and statements that had to be attributed to dodgy police and prosecution, once she started getting “help”.

It’s quite pathetic how tenuous her hold on reality is. Jail will be one of the best places for her, she hasn’t got wherewithal to inhabit our world. And on some semi-conscious level she might suspect this. Trouble is others around her are heavily invested in her innocence. How much of this decision is down to them?

You are right, it is tough to make the things worse. But they have been known to be innovative, and Luciano has given her good advice. IMHO.

If I remember correctly, Luciano once compared her as his own daughter. Unfortunately I do not have the feedback from his real daughter. So sad.

Did Luciano flew down to Seattle or this was an advice on telephone? I am just curious whether he has stopped trusting the great American invention.

Florence is a very beautiful place. I missed the museums of this small town but I want another chance! Please!

Frankly speaking, I blame the PR machine for all her troubles. By now she would have completed half of her term and got some discount and commission and would have become a great sensation in the Perugia prison.

She took another girl’s youth and she wasted her own in return. Nature is so cruel.

@Odysseus

She had the best option that she never used: beg forgiveness!

@chami

Agreed. That really was her best option. Even I would be somewhat moved by that, which says a lot given my otherwise total contempt…

So that is Ghirga’s strategy then.

Playing the FOA game a bit as then they would spend more years fighting extradition.  But she will have to go in the end so why put it off.

As Odysseus says above, she’d have been much better off serving her sentence and would nearly be out now.  Instead her family and followers have helped her make it much worse for her.

Can’t she see that? Her legal troubles are endless. Why doesn’t he just tell her to face the music and get on with it?

What about RS? Is he returning to Italy for the appeal or is he staying in Florida?

I’m confident she’ll fight extradition.  She doesn’t want to go back to jail, and her supporter/enablers are even more determined on that score.  The slow motion unravelling of the myth of Knox’s innocence may take several additional years.  Which may be a good thing, because that might give the major media outlets enough time to let more dispassionate reporters take a close look at the evidence.

I agree with you Ceylon . I think everything has been building up to point that way for a while, with everything she’s being saying angled to gain support over it.
There’s no guarantee though that she won’t be extradited eventually.
I think too it’s a shame she isn’t already further through her original sentence.

If Sollecito cracks, which I think is likely, that’ll be the bursting of the dam.  Every major news outlet that’s promoted the FOA line will feel obliged to re-visit the story more carefully.

“Every major uews outlet that’s promoted the FOA line will feel obliged to re-visit the story more carefully.”

And not before time, too.

But how certain is it that Raffaele will attend?

Good question, Thundering.  I’m not knowledgeable at all about federal extradition procedures, but given that he’s an Italian citizen, I suspect he doesn’t have much leverage.  His recent behavior indicates he feels cornered and desperate.

Hi Odysseus

Yes you are quite right I remember full well how free and easy Knox was in Jail. At least there she was cut off from the idiots who have helped to create the myth of innocence for their own financial gain.

Thank You, Peter, for this update.

I am not surprised that Knox will not return to Italy for the re-trial.  She “knows” and so do her “handler” what the outcome will be ...

It is going to be interesting to see IF Raf returns ... By the way, is Raf still in the U.S. ?

Having read the news reports both US press and translations of Ghirga’s comments over on PMF, I am not so sure that Ghirga urged Knox not to show up now.

It seems she has refused to go and is claiming she doesn’t understand why the system can be ‘black, then white and then black again’.

All fodder for the fight against extradition.

do any charges in this case other than murder qualify for extradition? given the balls up this whole thing has been from start to finish would she be extradited if convicted a second time? the one that leaves me more curious is sollecito - an Italian citizen who will face an Italian court.

P.S. Interesting photo.  When was it taken? 

Edda looks pleased with herself whereas the two lawyers look positively worn out. 

I wonder if it was taken just before AK was ‘sprung’?

@thundering

I am also curious about the photo.

Mama appears full of confidence but trying to hide her worries. That is all I can read from her face.

Luciano looks lawyerly enough but surely he does not appear to understand the American mind. He resents his lack of freedom.

Who is the smoking gentleman behind? He gives away a lot!

Mama is holding a plain old telephone, I presume. But she thinks that it is a weapon of mass destruction. (free advice) Some yoga and exercise will do good to your mind and soul. Try it!

Hi Thundering and Chami

The image is dated 10 October 2009. That was a month or so into the defense portion of the trial and it was not going very well.

There were tales of Ghirga thinking of walking off the team, and Bongiorno disappeared for several sessions. None of them seemed convinced their clients were innocent.

They seemed pretty stuck for any arguments that might help. Many of the Knox conspiracists only came along later and dont realise what a decisive trial this was.

The photo was cropped. Here is the whole thing with handbag showing.

_

Sorry, chami, you have confused me.

Is your yoga advice for me or for Mama?  I really am not flexible enough for yoga!!!

I thought she was clutching the strap of a green bag ......

Here is a translation by TomM (a main poster here) which he posted on PMF.

While it now seems it may have been Knox taking the initiative, the reasons listed above seem even more telling - granted, though, that she did not organize the PR and may not have picked precisely that group of posers.

http://www.lanazione.it/firenze/cronaca/2013/08/24/938732-amanda-knox-seattle-processo.shtml

http://www.lanazione.it/firenze/cronaca/2013/08/24/938953-amanda-knox-seattle-processo.shtml

Perugia, August 24, 2013 - “I HAVE SUFFERED 86 hearings and on dozens of occasions I have presented spontaneous declarations, what else should I say or what more can I do? “ Amanda Knox tries to look beyond the mists of future proceedings in Italy.

A few days ago in her hometown of Seattle, she met Perugia lawyer Luciano Ghirga, her long-time attorney. It was a briefing in anticipation of September 30, when the trial will open in the Court of Appeal in Florence after the sensational decision of the Court of Cassation that annulled the acquittal of American student and her boyfriend of the time, Raffaele Sollecito.

Five days of intense debate between the lawyers, lawyer Carlo Dalla Vedova was there also, and the young defendant on trial for the murder of British student Meredith Kercher in Perugia and notwithstanding she became a major figure in a long-running court case. Long and grueling hours spent on the trial papers with only the comfort of the presence of family members, interspersed with rare breaks for lunch in this or that exotic locale in the Chinese district of Seattle, the area where Amanda lives alone in an apartment only rarely visited by her musician boyfriend.

“I DO NOT WANT to avoid the new trial that is waiting for me, but I don’t go back to Italy because I do not understand,” this is what Amanda says with a mixture of force and fear. “And after what happened - reports Ghirga - it is really hard to blame her.” Having lost a lot of weight, in the grip of anxiety, aware that she is about to face a crucial test for her own fate. Amanda seems to be far from the cynical and uninterested young person of many, perhaps hasty descriptions. “Inside” the process, at least psychologically, but not to the point of appearing before the courts of Florence. Just because obviously - what emerges from her words - she believes that she has already honored all her obligations to our judicial system. For this new stage of the proceedings, which she is struggling to understand as being very different from the judicial standards of her country, Amanda relies entirely on her lawyers but by no means does not feel the weight of the moment.

THESE ARE DAYS of anxiously awaiting being lived in Seattle. Amanda studies and works normally and attempts to relieve the tension. For three days a week she is employed cataloging in a city library, the rest of the time studies languages ​​and writing. She seems to hold back a lot of the new bond of affection, and the publicized recent meeting in New York with Raffaele actually did not have any personal meaning for her. The two keep in touch with each other but there seems to be something else to join them, which is not another chapter of a never ending story.

Amanda often sees her parents and in fact her world seems to be fully contained in a quarter of an hour’s walk. She does not have a car, she walks to the library or places of interest. That she does not have great memories of Italy, and Perugia in particular, is understandable. In fact she knows very little of Perugia because she hadn’t been there long. She had recently arrived and did not know anyone is verified fact. Even having to explain that now her future will be decided in Florence was not easy. She knows Florence and the beauty of the city, but it is difficult to understand as an American what mechanisms of territorial jurisdiction can come into play in our judicial system.

Thanks, Pete.  So it was taken before she was sentenced guilty. 

Yes, I saw the translation on PMF earlier.  Thanks.

On that report translated by TomM:

Tough for Knox to appear, obviously. Maybe she should have thought of that before putting her name on a book which helps to make it so much tougher. The other problems created by her pack of loonies could have been shrugged off as not her doing.

On her claim that she doesnt understand the system, it is simple enough: this is KNOX’S appeal.

Knox herself has her own name on an appeal against the conviction by the Massei court. The main part of the appeal is BY HER not by the prosecution, who dont have much to appeal about except maybe the mitigating circumstances Massei granted, to lop five years off the sentence.

If she doesnt go back she risks a sentence of 30 years plus more time for the felonies in her ill-conceived blood-money book. The very existence of the book and the huge sum she accepted are themselves in serious contempt of court.

Her publishing team really ought to race to get those books off the shelves and start seeking a settlement.

Yes.  How stupid was book!  And how ridiculous to avoid your own appeal!! 

I see the book as part of the building up of the case against it.  Portrays her as a naive and quirky young, ‘clueless’ girl railroaded by an unfair system in a foreign land.

I wonder if she really believes she will win a fight against extradition?

@thundering on 08/25/13 at 07:09 AM

Sorry for my poor English. The yoga advice was for Mama as I felt that she is under considerable stress (see how tightly she is holding the strap: the clenched fist conveys some information: mama is angry).

Her face (overall) suggests that she is not happy with the way things are going on at that time. Peter has finally clarified the context and time.

By the way, yoga can be practiced by any and you need not be slim or trim or flexible. There are some physical exercises in yoga that need a supple body (I too do not have that much flexibility at this ripe young age) but to get rid of stress, you can just start with some breathing exercises for 10-15 mins every day. And I know it works (it has worked for me).

I don’t see it as advice from Ghirga.

I see it more like Knox has told her counsel she isn’t going to show and they have flown to see her, her family, her handlers and her advisers for a series of crisis meetings in order to spell it out in no uncertain terms that she will be in even more serious do-do.

Of course, she wont listen. She knows best.

Ghirga has had to make his statement albeit reluctantly in my opinion - it is either that or throw her under the bus.

Haha!  OK, thanks, chami. 

I do get stressed quite often - nature of the job!

I can see at some point all her advisers/hangers on etc; will simply fade into the sunset and have nothing to do with her. Except for her family of course she will be alone and her family? Well for Knox this might be worse than anything.

Edda knows damn well that she is guilty. I remember a photograph from the original trial where Edda confronted Knox for the first time. It was in the court room. That photo was very telling indeed because the look on Edda’s face said it all. In other words.

“What the Hell have you done this time?”

Check it out it’s well worth the effort. Of course Edda knows, as does Knox’s family. Lastly I predict that the hangers on (who in it only for the money anyway) will raise the profile in the hopes of some idiot such as Donald Trump will send a cash donation.

Should that happen it won’t change anything at all. justice one way or the other will be served or as I have pointed out “We will not be going away.”

@ Grahame Rhodes:

I well remember the photo you mean.  Edda had a green top on and Amanda a skinny light blue one. 

I thought exactly the same as you.

Wow ... very interesting that Knox’s Italian defense lawyers made a “house call” to Seattle ...

Of course, no way would Knox visit her lawyers’ offices [in Italy] to discuss the upcoming legal proceedings.

Just my humble opinion but no doubt this was a “last ditch effort” to have Knox return to Italy for the re-trial of the Appeal.  Her attorneys are well are aware of the consequences if she does not return.

So IF she does not go back to Italy, will her Italian defense lawyers have to deal with her “Extradition” ?  No doubt they have had enough of the “dramarama” of Knox and her “handlers.”

True Justice is coming, Meredith !

@Grahame Rhodes

@thundering

This picture

Yes, that is the one.  There was also another one which showed the expressions of them both from a different angle.  Amanda was looking very sheepish.

Hello thundering

Yes! Faces don’t lie. Edda knows damn well she’s guilty.

Sorry Odysseus Thank you also

Lastly I predict that the hangers on (who in it only for the money anyway) will raise the profile in the hopes of some idiot such as Donald Trump will send a cash donation. way.”

Posted by Grahame Rhodes

————————————-

Hi Grahame,

I saw this morning and it looks like Trump has some major problems of his own to deal with :

“New York’s attorney general sued Donald Trump for $40 million Saturday, saying the real estate mogul helped run a phony “Trump University” that promised to make students rich but instead steered them into expensive and mostly useless seminars, and even failed to deliver promised apprenticeships.

Trump shot back that the Democrat’s lawsuit is false and politically motivated.”

Link at : http://www.nypost.com/p/news/national/donald_trump_fraud_attorney_general_m0kG8Ww6hmXybcicHxKXMP

Looks like he will be staying away from Knox this time ...

Ah ... one down ... and how many more to go ?

@Odysseus on 08/25/13 at 11:14 AM

Ah, this is the pic worth a 1000 sheeps!

Mama, please control your temper!

Edda seems to be intimating “you’d better tell me the truth about all this, not your usual pack of lies”. I doubt she ever did.

The three perpetrators have certainly not let much slip out. Yet.

They are sociopath. They are evaluating sociopaths. They define future sociopaths.

Excellent intuitions on the images above. We have thousands of images, maybe we should use a few more.

Chami asked on 08/25/13 ay 6:53 am about the image at the top of the post:  “Who is the smoking gentleman behind? He gives away a lot!”

He does. That is a national journalist, a longtime friend of Ghirga called Meo Ponte. We mentioned him once or twice. He lived in Perugia once and got to know Ghirga back then.

Insofar as any Italian journalists have been a foolish tool of the Knox cause and distorted the hard facts to Italians (there have been very few) Meo Ponte sure was one of them. His investigative skills and judgment and balance seem very poor.

If you google “meo ponte” and “amanda knox” you will find many of his often strident Republicca reports, some translated into English. Here’s one of them.

He was a pro-Knox source (or mouthpiece for Ghirga) for the Knoxaholics, who often quote him on their sites - Dempsey quotes him approvingly in her book in pro-Knox mode without attempting to get any police response. Click here.

Odd how even Knox’s own book departs from that. Dempsey is another foolish tool.

Here’s USA Today using him as a source just weeks ago:  http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2013/04/30/amanda-knox-italy-reactions/2124693/

Meo Ponte, an Italian journalist who covered the case for La Repubblica, said that many Italians thought Knox was guilty only because they did not know the details of the case. He described the original trial “shameful” for convicting Knox.

“To sentence someone for murder, you have to have proof,” Ponte told USA TODAY. “You can’t say whether she is innocent or guilty. The problem is there is no proof, and we do not know who was in the house.”

Here below is Meo Ponte on his own Facebook page shown promoting the pro-Kox cause. Terrible how even some Italian reporters lost their cool. Because there was so much money sloshing around?

Nah… heaven forbid, right, Frank? 

_

Well, well, well. The client from Hell. So Knox cracks the whip and Ghirga and Dalla Vedova come running to the rainy city. They probably returned to Italy jetlagged and as confused as when they began with Amnesia Knox who forgets her re-appeal. \

She probably lied to both lawyers saying she won’t return and then VOILA! she shows up for shock effect, her style. Even if she appears in Florence we’ll only be treated to more lies and deception. Everything hinges on Raffaele now. Knox is truly in his grasp. As others have explained, he may be the more subtle manipulator with a longer endgame.

She has lost weight due to her nervous stomach which she had long before she went to study in Perugia, and which I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy; it’s hard to keep healthy when you’re terrified at all times in a no-win situation.

The book was Knox’s foolish indulgence, she can’t claim that was a vision, many trees sacrificed themselves, roll the presses the lies just keep coming. She had more peace in Capanne, paying back society by accepting her deserved suffering. Mild and brief as it was, it proved only a token payback for Meredith’s suffering and perpetual loss.

On the other hand, Knox is doing the right thing by working at the library and staying close to home, finishing school and being frugal. No doubt some nefarious plot is brewing under her fake coolness, some escape route.

I hope Ghirga and Dalla Vedova had a good time in the emerald city. The huge expanse of the US is hard to fathom unless visited. They probably got a bellyful of the Mellox gang in three hours. Did they stay at the Seattle Marriott or Hilton, who knows? They wasted time and energy dragging suitcases around and passing through TSA airport security while Maresca’s been carefully honing his strategy in strength and peace for a grand finale.

@Hopeful

Ha, ha. “Amnesia Knox”. Nice one, not heard that one before!

@Peter,

In the photo posted by you on 08/25/13 at 07:05 AM, Meo Ponte appear to be quite satisfied with the deal he got (what was the deal, by the way?) and was happy to stay a little behind. But later, as you can see in your post on 08/26/13 at 08:07 AM, he was told that he has not delivered and he is now vigorously defending his performance. You are absolutely right, it must be the effects of the greenbacks!

@chami

Re: the photo on 08/25/13, the man to the right of Meo Ponte has a furtive expression….. as though there is some secret scheme in play…... my thought.

@Miles

I agree although I do not know what it is. It appears that he is prevented from f*rting. It is coming from the other (anyway they are interchangeable, I presume) side.

My personal guess.

I keep gazing at Meredith’s beautiful pictures to the left of the screen. Such a beautiful, loving person, whom I will never forget.

Where next:

Or to next entry Amanda Knox Dithering Over Court Appearance For Appeal Going Over Very Negatively In Italy

Or to previous entry Wildly Successful Foreign TV Network Enters The US Market With An Agenda To Educate Americans