Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Okay The Whole World Gets To Hear Who’s On The Jury

Posted by Peter Quennell



[click for larger image]

The need for security must be minimal.

And Judge Massei’s desire for transparency perhaps maximal - he has already taken pains to emphasize that the conclusions of the six Peoples’ Judges get equal wight with the conclusions of the two Court of Assizes judges when they all huddle together to decide guilt or innocence. 

La Nazione has published the names - so far, the only Italian paper to do so - and a couple of biographical details.

  • Anna Maria Artegiani (51): her profession is listed as secretary of a primary school and she lives in Marsciano. There is a prominent Perugian artist. with the same name.
  • Angelico Evangelisti (38): no details of him as yet
  • Maria Ludovica Morelli (37): no details of her as yet
  • Angela Irene Ceccarini (43): she now lives in Perugia and is originally from Todi
  • Andrea Valentini Valentini (35): he is a criminal lawyer in Perugia, and is originally from Umbertide
  • Paolo Rapetti (57): no details of him as yet; there is a Perugian footballer of that name.


Several of them have apparently not been following the case, and were uneasy at the wall of reporters’ notebooks confronting them and the coming publicity.

Judge Massei remarked that the role of Peoples’ Judge in this case is a civic duty, and with a dry smile urged enthusiasm for something that does not happen often in most peoples’ lifetimes. 

Too much publicity? Perhaps. The Italian papers have new stories several times a week. Periodically some of them do seem to go ape over what look like defendants’ stunts aimed at sympathy.

Yesterday Nicki kindly posted negative comments from Corriere della Sera on Rudy Guede’s shot at fame as a poet. The backlash could lead to more secluded digs for the perps if found guilty.

But frequent commenter DS was left wondering if the perps - one perp, anyway - could still come out way ahead of the game. 

Discussing the case on a dedicated blog is one thing, but the tabloid press have gone to town on this story… Even I’m getting sick of seeing Amanda in the press and I’m following this story like a bloodhound!!

If Amanda is found innocent, she’ll be in Italian Hello magazine showing off her fab new kitchen & her amazing figure by the end of her first week of freedom. If she is found guilty, she will be notorious and have TV movies made of her life. 

Considering that she will be out of prison even with a guilty verdict by the time she is 50, she will have a nice media-paid-for nest egg to come out to and slip into obscurity.

[Australian prisoner in Indonesia] Schapelle Corby (according to the Sydney Morning Herald libel fans!) is making piles of money by handing all her biography copyrights to her sister’s Balinese husband but then people are more assured of her innocence and she hasn’t changed her story. 

Regardless, Amanda will no doubt find a way to profit from this media interest whatever happens.  In a sick hideous way, this case is possibly the best thing that has even happened to Amanda thanks to the papers. 

They need to starve her of the publicity oxygen that her and her parents so clearly crave by their continuing to feed the media beast.

Posted by Peter Quennell on 12/23/08 at 02:00 PM in Trials 2008 & 2009

Comments

Under our system a life sentence can be longer than 30 years but also prisoners can have some temporary release much earlier so Amanda Knox could keep appearing and disappearing!

Posted by Raphael on 12/23/08 at 06:19 PM | #

Is this the norm in Italian law?
It is disturbing the jurors identities being revealed in this way.
The Knox camp could approach these people.

Posted by Deathfish2000 on 12/24/08 at 03:49 AM | #

It is not the norm to print the names of jurors on newspapers. But those names cannot be kept secret by the authorities so everybody can look them up if they wish to do so. Once again, the difference is made by the media jumping on every bit of information and amplifying it in order to sell more.

However, the jurors are not supposed to speak to anybody about the trial. There are severe penalities for jurors who do, therefore I wouldn’t be concerned about the defense lawyers or anybody else approaching them. It’s too risky, and they should know better than that.

Posted by Nicki on 12/25/08 at 04:15 AM | #

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