Nineteenth Appeal Session: The Prosecution Seems To Be Looking Confident In Court

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Something’s putting a smile on their faces. Sure is a study in contrasts. Anyway thanks a million Vivianna. Various catchup posts to come for our usual complete record. I loped home last night at the end of my trip to and from the Pacific, the last few in horrendous rain. In NYC, the sun’s out.

just watched matt lauer interviewing amanda’s parents.  it is so frustrating to watch the american media pander to this family.  everything you hear is presented in a favorable light to amanda.  where are the hard questions and why don’t they address the real evidence?  the picture those in the states is getting is that this poor girl is innocent and she and her parents have suffered wrongly.  it really alarms me that she could go free.

Roundup postup soon. The Italian media seem to have had their eyes opened to the very aggressive nature (in the UK and US) and huge cost of the Knox PR campaign.

The headline here reads “Amanda Knox: One Million Dollars To Change Her Image”

http://www.aciclico.com/approfondimenti/amanda-knox-un-milione-di-dollari-per-cambiare-immagine.html

Frankly it is nerve wrecking watching a PR campaign highjack justice.

Personally I have done a full circus since this appeal began, at one stage the media had me fooled and I have followed the case for years - slowly I was reminded of the evidence and now listening (or rather reading) the closing arguments and rebuttals I am right back where I started, guilty. I cannot imagine that they will get off with nothing, a full acquittal is impossible. But I have a strange feeling that RS is reassured somehow that he is going to be better off after this verdict…

@shavournia, I disagree. A PR campaign “attempting” to hijack justice. We don’t know the result yet, and whichever way it goes, there’s plenty to write about the media, and the psychology of the accused’s supporters, afterwards

At last !
The PR campaign mentioned in open court, the existence of which to my mind is damning on its own.
I dont think this will be lost on the jurors.
We dont know what will happen on Monday (apart from a faltering voice from Knox in her final psuedo heartfelt plea)but I am certain the findings of the first court will be upheld - I am more than confident on this. They cannot walk away from this. Eddas shopping trip and spa visit from the first trial will again have to be put on the back burner for a while.
Justice will be done.
R.I.P Meredith Kercher.

A question for the FOA: if the entire Italian Justice system is corrupt and not to be trusted, why put any faith in the defence counsel? Are they less Italian?
Could part of the millions for PR have poured forth from The Donald? He wouldn’t suffer too badly if the family couldn’t repay.
I’m glad to hear the campaign brought up in court. This is not reality t.v. The Knoxes don’t get to vote Meredith off the island!

After skimming through my copy of Darkness Descending, I passed it along to someone who (aware of my stance) had been asking me questions about what she’d seen on the news (the usual omission of most things pertinent). I said, it’s all in here; read it for yourself. With a quick glance at the cover photo she said ,’ wow, look how young she was! (knox).’ Yes, they were ALL young, I pointed out.
‘Well, if she gets off it will probably be because she was so cute (knox).’ So, again, the case of the invisible victim!!! I assured her that if knox got off, it would not be because she was innocent , but more likely because of payoffs and spin, and that if she could make it through this thorough and grisly account of the investigation, she probably would stop thinking SHE was anything resembling “cute”.

@Deathfish - Mr. Mignini has done a stellar job addressing the media involvement.  Good for him for acknowledging its importance.

@Giselle - I also noticed that our dear Raffy was looking positively relaxed these days.  He seemed very mousy before, while Amanda was inappropriately exuberant.  Now she’s all withdrawn, tense, anxious, and he’s all smiles and reassurance.  Pink shirt, cream bomber jacket, contacts instead of Harry Potter glasses, posing - WTF? He can’t possibly expect to get out.

Ah yes, the PR campaign that Knox groupies were trying to deny the existence of just a month or so ago.

I was astonished to see an article (by AP reporter Colleen Barry) in today’s Seattle Times that not only mentions Meredith in the headline, it is actually devoted to her and her family. It is a must-read. You can find it on the Seattle Times website or click on the title of the blog entry I just wrote that addresses the gaudy, garish, PR-fueled media campaign:

http://pganong.blogspot.com/2011/09/seattle-times-leads-with-kerchers.html

Hi Skep,

It’s too bad just like all of the insurmountable prosecution evidence that’s been made public, the Knox PR campaign was unable to prevent these never before seen video images of Amanda Knox dancing in Capanne prison from appearing 3 days before her appeal verdict is expected on Monday.

http://www.tmnews.it/web/sezioni/videonews/20110930_video_17431746.shtml

While the Knox and Mellas clans are determined to use every cent of their “million dollar” PR campaign to free their daughter and while the Italian prosecutors have vowed to give justice to Meredith Kercher and her family Amanda Knox continues to dance and sing.

In my never ending search for underlying motives by the defense it occurred to me that the Jessica Rabbit tag and Knox’s vibrator have the same name. Coincidence perhaps. I know it’s a stretch but then why Jessica Rabbit of all the cartoon characters? Does this mean that Sollecito is Rodger Rabbit or perhaps Steve Moore?  After all they could have picked Saint Joan or perhaps Elmer Fudd.

Hellman has seemed to come down on the side of the defense from time to time. However Mignini is still his boss so therefore, and given the high profile of the trial, it would be wise to give the appearance of a balanced court. The point being that there is no way on Gods Green Earth that Knox is innocent.
I expect Sollecito to drop a couple of bomb shells
therefore.
Tomorrow should be very interesting and given that possibility they must be peeing their pants in Seattle.
I just wonder how long it’s going to take before the general American public realize they have been manipulated. It won’t be very pretty after that because the family will be either vilified or praised but given the cost of praise these days it seems unlikely.

I just watched the clip of Knox dancing in jail. it seems to suit her doesn’t it? Hopefully she will be a happy inmate for many years to come. Oh sorry was that vindictive of me. oh well. Whenever I catch myself being so I just remind myself of all the vitriolic hate on such garbage web sites as ‘Ground Report’ when they have tried to place the blame on the Kerchers somehow.

I find it ironic that most Americans state the Italians are after an American when Sollecito is 100% Italian!  I also watched Matt Lauer interview her parents.

Oops, hit submit too soon. Talking to Matt Lauer, Edda made a strange statement about Amanda’s attorneys.  She asked if they thought Amanda was innocent and then didn’t answer it, just saying they love her!  It was just very weird. Edda & Curt have done a great job of not talking to any news source that brings up any of the other evidence, footprints, bleach receipt, lies about where they were, etc.  It is no wonder so many Americans think she was railroaded.  If the reporters want the interview, they can’t ask any tough questions!

Grahame,

I’m not sure if Massei is Hellmann’s boss. I looked at the court directory and they’re both listed as “Presidente di Sezione”.

But Hellmann seems like a no-nonsense guy who’s not going to be swayed by the PR campaign’s blatant attempts to make an acquittal seem like a foregone conclusion.

Knox does look like she’s having fun in jail. I thought I read she was sweltering in her 105’F cell. Here she’s wearing long sleeves! The pictures don’t support the story of the band member who says of Knox, “she’s struggling”.

9/30/11
Peter, thank God you’re back. What a journey, cross country and back safely.

This appeal has been flamboyant. We’ve come to know these families and courtroom denizens well. Familiar faces, even the media are same people as last year.

Nice for a break till Monday. It seems the Perugia lawyers need a weekend to relax from the hyperbole.

I’m just curious how is the dynamics in the court between prosecutors and defense lawyers. After all they are adversaries not enemies. But it’s always curios and interesting in all cases I’ve followed how they separate the professional with personal “phase”. I am not sure but the photo above is Mignini with a AK lawyer, right?

Tweets:
Pacelli back to how #amandaknox knew that #meredithkercher had sex wiht a man of color.

Pacelli asks why it wasn’t with a chinese or japanese man and judge says “or red skin”

It looks like Judge agree with them. For me it’s a strong hit for the prosecution & Kerchers/Patrick parties.

Speaking of Sollecito, Viviana a scenario has just planted itself in my thoughts.

-Knox said that she came home and found the door open and blood etc - she then took a shower and walked to RS to tell him.
—RS said that Knox was out between 9pm-1am.
—-Knox in her confession cannot remember if RS was there.
——Could it be that this story veils the truth? That AK and RG carried out the murder, Knox washed up and went to get RS at around 1am. He came back and helped her stage the rape and clean up…???
(the only thing is there was no computer interaction at RS’

Giselle, I don’t think so, RS would have talked long time ago. It’s better be a collaborator than a murderer.

Like Misty Crosslin case, when she was accused of drug trafficking facing 25+ years in prision, she still did not talk about Haleigh Cummings whereabouts, it’s better be a drug dealer and not a child killer.

Giselle, same scenario was presented by Believing in the comments to the story above. I’m with Lulu on this one - no one wants to do life for something they didn’t do.  If that were true for Raffaele, he would have been guilty of tampering with a crime scene and lying to the police (not even disposing of a body or anything like that).  I don’t know the laws, but I can’t imagine that gets you a life sentence.  Men’s prison is miserable compared to Capanne - no cuddles or rock concerts, apparently.

Giselle, I thought about this being a possibility a while back but it didn’t add up.  I agree with Vivianna and lulupr, being an accessory after the fact would lead to a lesser sentence.  Raffaele’s family I’m sure would have persuaded him to come clean on this basis, after all he wasn’t there and didn’t kill Meredith.  Unfortunately for him, as one of the main perpetrators he had to find other ways to minimise his involvement i.e the lies etc.

Why does Raphael look so jolly then?  I can’t imagine being that light-hearted looking unless he has some inside knowledge that he is going to be acquitted now. I also can’t understand why the prosecutors are all laughing.  Surely this isn’t a party when so much is at stake. 

My only reason for thinking perhaps the AK plus RG did it, with RS later helping clean-up “only” is that maybe if RS hasn’t talked yet is that he is hoping the bra clasp DNA controversy will allow him to get off scot-free and that if not, he might talk after this appeal and say he was only there for the clean-up.  No computer activity because he was asleep until AK came back in a frenzy at 1am saying something went wrong at the apt and he has to help her or she will go to jail for life?  He then finished helping at 4am or so, came back and logged in to listen to music at 5:30 to calm down and then turned on the mobile again at 6am?  Still doesn’t really make sense that he would protect her that much though unless he were more involved.  Dont’ know why she would leave him at home sleeping either when they had such an active sex life,apparently, unless she was looking for different action with RG?  She seemed to like taking risks with her sex life i.e. the incident on the train with the stranger and I think her comments that the party life in Italy was great, MK saying she had brought strangers home for one-night stands.  Must remember that this was a one WEEK relationship, and they couldn’t have known each other very well in just a week, more of a sexual outlet for both of them which makes me think of the acting out of a fantasy porn idea which got out of hand.  It seems like there could be some element of jealous rage here too, towards Meredith, don’t know how or why, but to humiliate and harm her so severely and finally deal her a death blow, there had to be strong emotions involved.  The men seem way too passive for such a scenario.  And for it all to center around 300 euros seems strange too unless it just erupted into an ugly fight because of the drugs/alcohol.  Wish AK and RS had been tested for drugs in the morning after.

believing,

Raffaele looking jolly is part of the defense/PR stategy to make an acquittal seem like a foregone conclusion.

It’s to the advantage of the lawyers, with the jury out of the room, to mend fences since they will have to work together in the future—most cases are settled by plea agreement rather than full trial.

The AK+RG theory doesn’t resolve any problems and creates a host of new questions. I don’t think any jury would find it credible, and as a practical matter it’s a little late for RS to be raising this now.

Where next:

Or to next entry “Million Dollar Campaign” To Try To Influence The Jury Is Being Widely Reported To A Startled Italy

Or to previous entry Pseudoinnocence: Is This Possibly The Predicament Of Amanda Knox?