Open Letter To Everyone Remotely Involved In Lifetime’s Crass Enterprise “Murder on Trial in Italy”

Comments

Why ?

“.... E io: “Maestro, che è tanto greve
a lor che lamentar li fa sì forte?”.
Rispuose: “Dicerolti molto breve.

Questi non hanno speranza di morte,
e la lor cieca vita è tanto bassa,
che ’nvidïosi son d’ogne altra sorte.

Fama di loro il mondo esser non lassa;
misericordia e giustizia li sdegna:
non ragioniam di lor, ma guarda e passa”. ….”

(Inferno – Canto III)

Here is a TJMK post which provides a full description of the Lifetime ownership and the hierarchy and NEW street address - they moved there a few months ago (cheaper digs) from one block west of Times Square.

http://truejustice.org/ee/index.php?/tjmk/comments/the_controversy_over_the_lifetime_movie_seems_to_be_stirring_some_need/

Abbe Raven is over at A&E HQ which is on 44th Street between 2nd and 3rd about one block away from the UN.

I have sent some paper printouts of the post to those named as media people tell me they usually work better than emailed complaints.

What everybody could do which would be HUGE is to drop the link for the post at 1000 other blogs.

Also several people have asked that TJMK have a Twitter presence. If we fast-forward this, that could sure help to multiply.

Thank you, Peggy and Peter.

What a gorgeous photo of Meredith.

Do feel free anyone to add your name to this letter via an email.  Sorry we didnt make this clear earlier, and several readers have already asked to be associated with this public demonstration of support for Meredith’s family.

Is there REALLY any way to stop this film?

Hi Doug. “Is there REALLY any way to stop this film?”

Lifetime may fight hard because this movie will have a very short shelf life. After the end of the present appeal it will be essentially worthless unless it can be re-edited to reflect just one reality.

But it could be stopped by any of the defenses and Maresca if they can get Mignini involved and the Italian government on their side. That might in turn involve the State Department, an odd turn of events for them as from Hillary Clinton down they seem to believe Amanda Knox was in it up to her neck.

It could also be stopped by any of the parties making sufficient legal threat here in the US. A somewhat obscure part of the law as such demonization or angelization in the MIDDLE of a legal process is not exactly common here. Even Nancy Grace has been known to observe some limits. 

The surly pro-Knox media here is not reporting this very extensively so far although ABC news (employer of Ann Wise) did do an okay report.

Amanda Knox’s Family Wanted Hayden Panettiere to Meet Knox in Prison

If this letter of Peggy’s inspires a meme as we spread it around nest week that could help to raise more heat under Lifetime’s feet.

Well said and done to Peggy and others.  Just contemptous what Lifetime are doing.  As Peggy says, serves no useful purpose other than money and publicity for channel.  Lack of morality, decency and compassion for all involved.

Thank you, Peggy and others, for this heartfelt and beautifully-written plea for some humanity and caring in this world.

I’d just like to do a “thought experiment”:

Imagine a BBC movie in England that actually portrays the vile murder of Joanna Yeates.

Imagine an HBO movie in America that portrays the psychopathic rage killing of Laci Peterson and her unborn son.

Would either of these be allowed to air? Hardly.

Then why this one?

Once again, as said in the letter, this betrays a cruel callousness and lack of all humanity.

Another thing that bothers me about the movie is, apparently it presents several “alternative scenarios,” as if each were equally valid: I.e., perhaps they did it, perhaps they didn’t. The justice system of Italy is still working, but so far, it would appear that ONLY ONE scenario is valid, and that is that Amanda, Raffaele and Rudy all participated in the murder. And we certainly don’t need to see it Hollywood-ized in this callous, vile, and disgusting fashion.

What about the advertisers on this movie? I sure wouldn’t want my product associated with this production.

Thanks again for the letter. And BucketofTea, I agree, that is a beautiful picture of Meredith, one I don’t think we’ve seen before.

RIP Meredith, the ONLY victim on November 1, 2007.

2/5/11

For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. This torrent of falsehood taking liberties with Meredith’s dignity will find equal powers pushing back against it. What form the opposite force can take may surpise us pleasantly.

and now apparently knox’s lawyers are trying to stop the film

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110205/ap_on_en_tv/eu_italy_student_slain

only because it makes their client look bad. i suppose human decency would be too much to ask.

Hi mojo. Yes also follow the link in my comment above for a similar report. This almost certainly explains what is really going on.

The Knox Movie: Sollecito Reported Angry - Real Risk That His Defense Could Break Away From Knox’s

And also Knox lawyers’ extreme distaste for the Marriott campaign going back three years, which is sliming colleagues they like and respect.

I’m convinced we are seeing a new defense cropping up.  This movie is staging it.  Defenses of Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito may be setting the stage to say that it was some type of party “gone bad” and that panic ensued.  They’ve been denying presence in the house despite multiple false alibis, indeed Raffaele still won’t give Amanda an alibi.  They are desperate now and their lies have put them were they belong. I think they are testing the waters.

These people are just sick.

Hi Jumpy. Note that Judge Massei’s court already allowed mitigating circumstances in this direction - that the attack on Meredith was not preplanned, that Rudy Guede first made a move against Meredith, and that there were signs at the crime scene of some remorse, such as the covering of Meredith with a duvet.

I doubt the defenses can push this any further.

1) There have been no real signs of repentance throughout.

2) Judge Micheli and Guede’s first appeal court and the Supreme Court of Cassation in his second appeal ALL ruled in a more hard-line direction.

3) The Supreme Court of Cassation has ALREADY accepted that all three were parties to the attack on Meredith.

4) And the prosecution has filed an appeal for increased sentences for Knox and Sollecito on the basis that the mitigating circumstances of Judge Massei were based on no proof.

So what Knox and Sollecito are looking at aint pretty. The wife of the baby killer Mario Alessi was not even present when he bludgeoned the baby to death - and she got handed 30 years.

I agree, Peter, that this type of defense won’t fly.  I don’t expect anything except that the sentences are upheld.  On PMF Michael was talking about the family and when are they going to stop the madness (if I understand correctly) and I agree.  Lawyers and PR need to be paid and when one story runs out maybe it’s time to go to Plan B. It has taken over their lives and anything to save face even if it involves failing their offspring a second or third time.  They can’t stop themselves.

Hi Jumpy. Agreed. Your reference to a Plan B made me smile. That was in the title of one of our very first posts about 30 months ago.

It pointed out that running a dishonest public relations campaign to blow smoke is very unusual in a criminal case and very different from running a smart legal defense with the lawyers as the frontmen on TV.

Lawyers would have kept Curt Knox and Chris and Edda Mellas way in the background except for very occasional appearances to try to shade the truth and bid for sympathy.

Instead David Marriott, who has zero known competentence in running PR campaigns for charged and convicted murderers, pushed them out at every opportunity, and NEVER saw to it that their increasingly threadbare claims were restrained.

Moral? To not paint Knox into a corner - to not be left without any Plan B - appoint good lawyers to do the fronting and keep the relatives way out of sight.

Worth noting that KNOX is the lawyers’ client here, not the parents, even if they are paying the bills, and for this total fiasco she certainly owes them no thanks.

After all the lies and false promises offered to her - which probably is why she disastrously took the stand in mid 2009 - loss of this current appeal may jolt some much needed reality into her.

Hi Jumpy,

I believe that this time with the prosecution’s appeal and unlike the previous jury, this new jury will give considerable consideration to the aggravating circumstances.

Both Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito should be dealt increased life sentences - life sentences that were sought by the prosecutors in the first trial.

Let’s not forget that while awaiting that first trial, both Knox and Sollecito were denied house arrest because the Italian authorities believed they both could kill again.

It should also be noted that Knox’s and Sollecito’s prison psychological tests have never been released to the public.

So while Chris Mellas has been busy having conversations with Hayden Panettiere and Knox’s and Sollecito’s defense lawyers are evidently preoccupied with other matters, the Italian jury in Perugia will simply continue to remain focused on the facts of this case.

They will ensure that true justice will be served to Meredith Kercher.

Some updates on the revulsion against the concept and content of Lifetime’s movie.

1) On the Sollecito defense:

Sollecito’s legal team is reported in Italy as indeed being very angry and absolutely intent on taking legal measures.

http://tinyurl.com/5vupj3n
http://tinyurl.com/6floypc

It is safe to say that increasing majority opinion in Italy is that this movie is a callous and meddling piece of work.

2) On the Knox defense

Knox’s attorney Della Vedova said Saturday he had sent a warning Thursday to Lifetime to cancel the film and trailer, which on Saturday was not loading on the Lifetime website.

http://tinyurl.com/4djqaxx

3) On Edda Mellas and Curt knox

We STILL hear no outcry from Edda Mellas or Curt knox. They may be very scared that someone has proof of contacts with the Lifetime producers and that this could explode in the ir faces.

4) On the script and the Massei Report:

Director Dornholm has said he doesnt really follow or understand the legal details of the case but the cast have said (very flippantly) that they all read Massei and debated it for days and were left unclear as to knox’s guilt. If true they must be among the 1% or so of the readership in capabale of getting it.

Catnip one of our main posters posted this on the PMF forum:

“If Dornhelm did indeed work from “a 400-page report written by the judge in the case”, then he must have ignored it, methodology and conclusion combined, to come up with his “balanced” treatment. In effect, he has to have “unbalanced” the court reasoning to get to his “balanced” viewpoint. Perhaps that is what is meant when it is said that the film does not go up to murder, meaning, the murder trial verdict?”

I have always been a long time watcher of Lifetime Television, In the past their movies were more focused on the real victim/victims,

When I read that they planned to make this movie I banned all Lifetime channels from my TV. If they air this I will no longer watch anything they put on.

I wrote them a letter asking them to not do this movie but if they were intent on making a movie then to focus it on Meredith Kercher growing up and becoming a young woman who had her life ended in such a way.

I never heard back from them, So I am guessing one person not watching their channel is not no big deal.
If there is a petition that we all can sign please make us aware of it somehow and where we can sign it.

Thanks

While I do find it very difficult to have any sympathy for Knox, I think this sordid episode gives us a greater understanding of just how self-obsessed her family are, and how they will stop at nothing - including hurting their already messed-up daughter - to further their own ends.

It’s not very surprising that Knox ended up the messed up person she is.

It’s a terrible shame that her parents have let things get to this stage. I really believe they instigated this movie. I think they WANT to hurt the Kerchers, and they want to slander Italy as well. This really is a disgusting move, one that shows a total lack of empathy for the victim - Meredith Kercher - her grieving family, her friends.

This movie is obviously a publicity stunt to revive a dying network. I hope it never gets shown.

This movie also makes Americans look real bad

On the news last night, my local ABC station announced something about legal action initiated by Knox’s lawyers to stop the film from airing.  That in itself seemed like good news. 

But it was disappointing that the newscast simply went on to say that Knox and Sollecito have always protested their innocence.  It did not even make an allusion to the overwhelming amount of evidence against them that could have resulted only in a guilty verdict. 

As an American who cares about justice, I am deeply ashamed at the obviously crass motives underlying the making of this film and shocked that an actress of Marcia Gay Harden’s status would have become involved with it. 

But I am also offended that the media continue to act as if Amanda Knox is innocent.  Needless to say, I won’t be watching the film if it does air, but hope for the Kerchers’ sake that it doesn’t.

Tullia

I know actresses (with some notable exceptions) are not the brightest bunch, but can anyone make ANY sense of this pile of garbled nothingness from Ms Panettiere?

  http://www.monstersandcritics.com/people/news/article_1617491.php/Guilty-or-innocent-Amanda-Knox-had-a-spirit-says-Hayden-Panettiere

“I believe in the person that she deep down was. And I think that no matter, regardless of innocent or guilty, I believe ... she has a spirit ... and I don’t think that guilty or innocent takes away from that. My job was to play a girl who, regardless of what happened, was innocent in who she was. She’s not a malicious girl. She didn’t have any intention to do this. This wasn’t an angry or dark girl. She really tried to be as stoic and as brave as she could against all odds and I do commend her for it.”

Of course, the evidence suggests that Amanda Knox may very well have been a VERY “angry and dark” girl indeed.

I also wonder if Ms. Panettiere believes that accusing a totally innocent man, one who was kind enough to give Knox a job and tolerate her lack of professionalism for so long, is the act of a “stoic and..brave” person. Or even someone who “tried to be”.

I also wonder if Ms. Panettiere believes that accusing a totally innocent man, one who was kind enough to give Knox a job and tolerate her lack of professionalism for so long, is the act of a “stoic and..brave” person. Or even someone who “tried to be”.

Janus - I totally agree with you. Nothing in what you’ve quoted makes any kind of sense at all. Besides that, she didn’t look stoic and brave in the courtroom, she walked in like it was her coming out party.

I would like to add my name to the open letter.  As an American living in Italy at the time of the murder, I have followed the case from the beginning.  The American media’s embarrassing coverage up until this point has been terrible, but this movie is despicable. 

The legal documents set forth and translated in this website are strong.  I trust that the legal process in Italy will march on honorably.  My heart goes out to Meredith’s friends and family.  To all of you putting time and energy into this website, Thank you for getting the truth out there! 
Lindsy Johnson, Portland, Oregon

I would much rather this film was not aired. If we are right as to it’s content then it is ill judged and parts of it will be both offensive and, factually, just plain wrong.

I am certain that Amanda and Raffaelle will lose their appeal against conviction. The final appeal will then be a mere formality.

Hopefully that will then be the end of the matter and of this film.

However if the film is not pulled and it is shown (with the shocking scenes as shown in the trailer) then there may be - depending on context - one favourable outcome. It could leave an indelible and horrific image in the mind’s eye of the torture and slaying of an innocent young girl by those whom we will know from real life have not just been convicted for the offence but whose conviction has been upheld by due process.

Whilst for many of us this is unnecessary (as we have sufficient imagination and we have examined the evidence) there are those, particularly in the media, for whom the linkage would be most salutary.

When the dust has settled this may be the final nail in the PR coffin.

No, James Raper, the final appeal won’t be a mere formality. Credimi.

@Lindsy Johnson

We live in the same area, and I would like to talk to you about your experience in Italy.

Repeat of this propagation guideline post near the top. :

Here is a TJMK post which provides a full description of the Lifetime ownership and the hierarchy and NEW street address - they moved there a few months ago (cheaper digs) from one block west of Times Square.

http://truejustice.org/ee/index.php?/tjmk/comments/the_controversy_over_the_lifetime_movie_seems_to_be_stirring_some_need/

Abbe Raven is over at A&E HQ which is on 44th Street between 2nd and 3rd about one block away from the UN.

I have sent some paper printouts of the post to those named as media people tell me they usually work better than emailed complaints.

What everybody could do which would be HUGE is to drop the link for the post at 1000 other blogs.

Also several people have asked that TJMK have a Twitter presence. If we fast-forward this, that sure could help to multiply.

Lifetime seem to have yanked the Knox movie trailer from their website:
http://www.mylifetime.com/movies/amanda-knox-murder-on-trial-in-italy/video/previews/extended-preview

There was a blank screen for a couple of hours and now (9:00 pm NYC time) the message reads thus:

“Sorry! The page you are looking for doesn’t exist.”

I always find it amusing when people accuse websites or certain named people as ‘vile’.
I think the person making the threats and using this word (along with more favourites of his vocabulary; ‘retard’ and ‘tard’ - is of course Chris Mellas in all probability.

To threaten people who believe Amanda Knox and Raffaelle Sollecito to be guilty based on the evidence at hand is just beyond the pale and suggests a vindictive and nasty streak some would say can been seen in Amanda Knox.

Threats of legal action and “we are watching” and “we know who you are” are just plain creepy.
Me? I will post my name, address and phone number if you want Chris, but I doubt you would get your horse and cart down my street.
Good day.

If Lifetime lawyers and staffers ARE reading TJMK as we suppose then their 3-scenario screenplay is going to look absolutely untenable in light of these posts among others still right there on the front page.

http://tinyurl.com/4bwtvl8
http://tinyurl.com/4mu7243
http://tinyurl.com/4jyb5lb
http://tinyurl.com/4fwweqd

Comments below Monday’s yahoonews article (on objections to the movie—including way too much footage of Cmellas’s humptydumpty-like mug) show just how much ignorance remains out there. 

One individual (well-meaning, I’m sure)  had knox “making a white supremacist video”, the victim as “jewish”, and the “real murderer(knox’s employer) as a drug dealer ...using his bar and grill as a front”.  The only “affront” is people’s willingness to be spoonfed unto obesity the rumour and drivel they pick up in the tabloids.

After delving into this case (I have said it before and will say it again, I was duped initially by the US media into thinking AK was innocent) and from the intelligent knowledge I have gained, not just from the all too logical Massie Report, but from of pool of some most intelligent contributors to this site, I feel I have a good sense of what really happened.

As much as a part of me wants to watch it just out of curiosity, I honestly don’t think I will be able to watch a second of this Lifetime trash. To me, it almost constitutes a second crime being committed and I don’t want to be an accessory by adding to the ratings.

Hayden Panettiere’s increasingly bizarre comments have to be part of Lifetime’s problem.

Here is the prominent crime author Stacy Dittrich on the website Women in Crime Ink

**************

The Lifetime movie about Amanda Knox (pictured left) appears to portray her as a vicious, knife-wielding psychopath, from the looks of the trailer. Regardless, actress Hayden Panettiere—who plays Knox in the movie—gives us her idiotic expertise. In a contradictory statement, Panettiere seems to think that butchering an innocent girl isn’t malicious and no intent was involved.

She said: “This is such a vulnerable story, and, specifically, Amanda was so needy. My job was to play a girl who, regardless of what happened, was innocent in who she was. She’s not a malicious girl. She didn’t have any intention to do this. This wasn’t an angry or dark girl. Whatever it was that happened that night, people’s lives were ruined. But it was my job to stay pretty true to form in who she seemed to be as a person in court and otherwise.”

“Regardless of what happened, was innocent in who she was…” Eh, I’m pretty sure Ted Bundy, Diane Downs, and Jeffrey Dahmer all felt they were “innocent in who they were” too. Panettiere should probably just shut her trap and do what she does best: act. (Although, that statement seems questionable as well after I viewed the trailer.)

After delving into this case (I have said it before and will say it again, I was duped initially by the US media into thinking AK was innocent) and from the intelligent knowledge I have gained, not just from the all too logical Massie Report, but from of pool of some most intelligent contributors to this site, I feel I have a good sense of what really happened.
As much as a part of me wants to watch it just out of curiosity, I honestly don’t think I will be able to watch a second of this Lifetime trash. To me, it almost constitutes a second crime being committed and I don’t want to be an accessory by adding to the ratings.

Where next:

Or to next entry On The Effects On Amanda Knox Of Her Movie Alter Ego Hayden Panettiere

Or to previous entry Lifetime TV Appear To Have Lied And Invented False Facts For Their Horrific Knox TV Movie