Thursday, December 22, 2011

First Italian Criticisms Of The Hellmann Verdict Statement Now Starting To Appear

Posted by Peter Quennell





Early days yet and the main crack at Hellman’s report will not arrive for another month from the prosecution, but the Italian news service Adnknonos offered this editorial. .

The Appeal Court is ridiculous to think that Guede is the only one guilty

The reasons set forth by the Assize Court of Appeal in Perugia for the killing of Meredith read oddly. According to the criminal court Rudy Guede alone did it.

This is ridiculous. Prosecutor Manuela Comodi spoke in court of the ‘embarrassing performance of’ experts’ on the testing of the murder weapon and the victim’s bra clasp.

“Too bad that the judges of the Court of Appeal have slavishly married the thesis of these so-called ‘experts’‘’ says Massimo Montebove, the president of the National Council of Police Unions.

‘‘The work of forensic science, the testimonies, the reconstruction of the truth of the facts of the case carried out to date all show that the verdict of guilty in the first instance was well grounded. ” Mr Montebove added.

Do not forget that attempts at delegitimization will always be directed at the police and the scientific flying squad, including international pressures that many say were placed and other murky development talked about in the media.

One thing is certain: the game is not’ over. We are only sorry that Amanda Knox may not pay for her responsibilities if she is again found guilty following a new appeal trial that could be decided by the Supreme Court

Comments

Has it been decided whether or not there will be an appeal?

Posted by devorah on 12/23/11 at 01:59 PM | #

Hi devorah Seems it is considered not good legal form to announce an appeal prior to the report coming out and any precise grounds being established, though prosecution and AK’s legal team and her parents said back in October that they expected they would.

Prosecution would seem to have a very good shot at winning an appeal based on what our lawyers are reading in the Hellman report.

RS has nothing to appeal about because he was not sentenced to anything. Rudy Guede would not seem to have any route to an appeal though he is said to be feeling very sore.

AK’s team have the toughest situation in deciding as she has served the term she was awarded and the grounds for that conviction seemed very strong. On the other hand if they don’t appeal they feed the perception that AK is guilt on the main issues and they leave her a convicted felon for life. On the third hand, they could accidentally nudge the castle of cards that is the Hellman report and send it crashing down…

A cliffhanger, to say the least. More cliffhangers for AK: If a second appeal trial is ordered, does she and her entourage come back to help fight it, or sit on the sidelines in Seattle? If she comes back, does she get on the stand under oath? And if she doesn’t come back, would she improve or hurt her chances ? And if re-convicted, would she face extradition or a worldwide Interpol warrant?

And if there is no appeal filed and she blurts out something incriminating any time in the next 50 plus years….?  Or at any time seeks mental treatment which we believe she increasingly needs? No wonder her smile seemed very forced in those Daily Mail and London Mirror shots.

Posted by Peter Quennell on 12/23/11 at 03:12 PM | #

@Peter,

actually for one single crime there were two independent trials.  However, I think there were some “understanding” within the alleged killers (either before, highly unlikely or evolved during trial, very likely mediated by the lawyers and perhaps with some package deals) on who will admit how much. So in reality these two trials are not really independent.  I think Guede can appeal that I am responsible for 30% share of the crime and not for the rest 50% and 20%. If I have to take 100% share, I need a new package!

RS can certainly say while in prison, I was closer to AK at least! I am the greatest loser!

AK can just say, they have beaten the hell out of me and they have got to go to hell.  I am in heaven (trial marriage) and I have now forgiven and forgotten (after smoking a couple of ...) everything!

SERIOUSLY, prosecution must question, the only question, is the competence of the experts and their testimony and their published opinions.

The fried hard disks of the two computers just appear to be scandalous. Yes, hard disks used to crash like that two decades ago. The computers must have been given to a friendly agent for analysis.  I am just trying to be polite…

Posted by chami on 12/23/11 at 04:54 PM | #

The Hellmann report is starting to unravel. For much as the observers of this case try to give Hellmann the required respect due an appeals court judge, there seem to be some very questionable judgments in his sentencing report, including pure speculation on his part as to how Rudy could have climbed in Filomena’s window and perpetrated the crime as a sole killer.

This just does not fit in with the evidence, nor with his role as the appeals judge of Knox and Sollecito.

As the contents of his report gets further digested, it will become more and more difficult for it to be given any validity.

The Kercher family will continue to have to suffer, but they should know that justice will be served.

Posted by Kermit on 12/24/11 at 04:21 PM | #

Dear Peter and friends, don’t you understand that the law has very little to do, in this story? It’s politics and just politics. International political pressures from the U.S. to Italy.

This is the point. Without those political pressures Amanda would have been convicted even in the appeal trial. That “Judge” Hellman was put there by “someone” to save Amanda. Hellman never did criminal trial,how come he “got” an appeal trial of a such media importance? Does it tell you anything?

Kermit says that the Kerchers will continue to suffer, but justice is going to be served, in the end.  Let’s hope. But hope is not enough, my friends; we have to do something. I thinking about it. And you?

Posted by Matteo_65 on 12/24/11 at 11:35 PM | #

Hi Matteo. We are quite genuinely very bullish for five very good reasons.

First (assuming politics played some role as none of us can prove but but some of us believe) the political situation in Italy is already radically different and 2012 is the year of the US election and nobody here will be putting Knox front and center.

Second Knox right now is a poor emblem. She is frozen like a deer in the headlights, stunned to find how many dislike and mistrust her, and unable to say even one word live on TV because of the extreme danger that she blurts out something that crashes everything down. Her people now are REALLY scared that this is what happens. 

Third you do see what is emerging day by day over on PMF? We can hardly believe our eyes, Hellman’s report is so amateurish and so obviously biased. He invents new evidence, ignores much of that existing, and arrives at a whole series of absurd conclusions. The report also seems nastily racially biased.

Fourth the firm and unbending Cassation and possibly the president will be having the final say and they have no history of endorsing outcomes obviously bent. In this case that have in effect already ruled once strongly against Hellman.

And finally, there is you and many like you in Italy keeping interest alive who respect Meredith and Italian justice and think that a foul stench hangs over the second round and that it has demeaned and diminished Italy in the eyes of the world.

How to help? Translate what posts we have coming! This will be the most thorough dismemberment of the key claims of Hellman’s report and they will probably fit exactly with the prosecution’s grounds for appeal to Cassation due now in about one month.

Happy Christmas.

Posted by Peter Quennell on 12/25/11 at 03:03 PM | #

What can we do to help?

Keep this case alive.

Rebut the out right falsehoods propagated by the Hellmann Court.

Support the Kerchers in their fight for justice. Their very able lawyer Francesco Maresca will be working on an appeal that will be attached to the prosecutor general’s. I expect he will do a masterful job, as always. And while I agree there very likely was political interference in the case, the presence of the Kerchers will be a very powerful reminder to the Supreme Court that it is in their hands to right this very obvious miscarriage of justice.

May the joy of this day touch you all.

Posted by Ergon on 12/25/11 at 08:52 PM | #

I fully agree. I am saddened by this case and the injustice to the Kerchers.

I see what has been done here in the name of “justice” and it is just plain wrong. I can only hope that you are right and the 2nd appeal will right this wrong.

RIP Meredith.

Posted by tfyfe_uk on 12/25/11 at 11:02 PM | #

@MK,

I know there are no post office or internet and you are now beyond our petty values and judgements. I think though that good wishes and prayers reach every soul.  Happy birthday!

@All,

Let us do a small gesture of kindness (whatever is your favourite) in the name of Meredith on her birthday tomorrow (28-Dec).

Posted by chami on 12/27/11 at 04:31 PM | #

Hi.  I’ve been overseas and out of range of internet signals so am trying to catch up.

I have a - probably ridiculous - thought:

Is it possible that Hellmann (good name for him I’ve often thought 😊 ) deliberately wrote an amateurish reasoning report to weaken the ‘verdict’ because he was not happy being put under pressure political or otherwise?

Also, I had a quick glance at PMF when I was in transit at Bangkok earlier (PMF moves so fast it is very easy to lose track if you don’t keep up) and it would appear that RS has done a second TV interview.  Is that correct or have I got that one wrong??

Posted by thundering on 12/27/11 at 07:02 PM | #

@thundering,

Your thought is not at all ridiculous: I quote from wikipedia.

Hanlon’s Razor is an eponymous adage that reads:

Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity.

Posted by chami on 12/27/11 at 08:39 PM | #

Hi, chami.

Ha ha.  Well, it could be either.  I sure hope it is the latter and that it gets sorted in the way of actual justice.  But I won’t hold my breath.

Posted by thundering on 12/28/11 at 10:09 AM | #

So, has RS done a second TV interview?

Love that quote Chami.

Posted by TruthWillOut on 12/29/11 at 12:16 AM | #

Dear Peter, you have to understand that Italy is not a country,but an American colony.As an Italian,this make me sick.Maybe one day I will begin a political career,because I am angry to see my country to be the yes-man of the U.S.

I am sure that the so called “judge” Hellman was put there by “unknown” forces. Does it tell you anything that Amanda left the Capanne prison in a black Mercedes with one of the leedars of the Italian-American Foundation?

Just yesterday I read an almost incredible article.The article was saying that on the days of the appeal’s verdict there were a lot of “strange” and “scary” people in Perugia.That many felt scared to talk. Where were they to treat the jury?

C.I.A. and S.I.S.M.I.(the italian secret service)agents was talked about. Fiction? I think there is something credible. Here in Italy many think, even before this article, that jurors were threatened.

I believe one day one or two of the jurors will talk and that day we will know they weren’t free to vote what they wanted.

Posted by Matteo_65 on 01/13/12 at 10:42 PM | #

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