Tuesday, September 08, 2009

The Vilification Of Prosecutor Mignini Clearly Continues To Misfire

Posted by Peter Quennell


In this recent post we included an amazing statement from Mr Mignini.

A number of sources then confirmed that he and we had it exactly right in that post and that the claims of the American writer of the lurid “Monster Of Florence” are nasty, mischievous, and simply don’t check out.

Sources tell us Mr Mignini may have sharp elbows - but he is also very fair and careful, rarely leaks or does anything just for the publicity, does a great job for Perugia (where he is rather popular), and really respects the victims of crimes and and their families - in this case, Meredith and her family who repeatedly sound like they respect him.

Now La Nazione is reporting that Mr Mignini is again aggressively fighting back against the so-far-fruitless campaign to vilify him. 

He is planning to sue a Joe Cottonwood, seemingly a publicity-hungry carpenter and occasional journalist in California whose knowledge of the case would apparently not even cover a postage stamp. And who seems to feel he has a license to shoot his mouth off slanderously in Italy, regardless of who actually gets hurt.

The publisher of his uninformed take on the case in Il Giornale will apparently also be sued,

From La Nazione:

According to the American writer [Cottonwood] among other things, “perhaps in Italy there is a hatred of American college students who give joy to madness. Amanda will pay not for her guilt or innocence, but because of popular resentment towards rich and superficial Americans. The murder of Meredith Kercher is one of those mirrors that reflect the prejudices of the investigators.”

The last time that the prosecutor had moved for legal action was in January, when the West Seattle Herald described him as “inadequate” and “mentally unstable”. In that case, in a move that many had regarded as completely understandable as well as justified, the prosecutor saw fit to start concrete legal action.

And now the same judge [Mr Mignini] is preparing for a new legal battle after suffering yet another attack from the disparaging “‘stars and stripes”. Mr Mignini and his colleague Manuela Comodi are preparing an indictment for after the conclusion of the trial, which resumes in mid-month this month.

Nice going by the fatuous Joe Cottonwood. For those of a less xenophobic frame of mind here actually is the evidence. A series still far from complete.

Comments

Unless you believe in the theory of the ‘flying DNA’ that only accumulates from visitors and not residents of the house, you cannot possibly agree with Mr. Cottonwood.

I am wondering about Edda and Chris Mellas, both insisting that there is no physical evidence of Amanda Knox, placing her in Meredith’s room at the time of the murder (which is plain wrong as there is at least one bloody footprint belonging to Amanda).

I believe that a girl who is already restrained by two young men, is not able to fight with a third person (Knox) which explains that no skin of Amanda Knox was found under Meredith’s nails. As far as I read they found DNA belonging to Rafaelle Sollecito under Meredith’s nails.

I personally believe there is a line between ‘supporting’ your daughter while on trial for murder and ‘manipulating’ the public with false statements. I watched an interview with Edda Mellas on youtube where she repeatedly confirmed that there was absolutely no physical evidence placing her daughter at the crime scene and that it is an incredible injustice to question her daughter.

If there wouldn’t be any evidence I wonder why her daughter invented the story of dipping her fingers into the blood drops (while thinking it was menstrual blood obviously not from her), in an intent to explain why her DNA is mixed up with the blood of the victim found at the crime scene. The Mellas family is shameless and bold - and so are many professionals ‘reporting’ about this horrific crime.

Posted by Nell on 09/08/09 at 04:57 PM | #

To all: Anyone else heard about Sollecito’s dna under Meredith’s nails or Knox dipping fingers in blood. All new to me.

Posted by pensky on 09/09/09 at 03:45 PM | #

Nell, thanks for the comment, but we’d like to make note of the fact that you could not have read here on TJMK the two claims that Pensky is querying.

Posted by Peter Quennell on 09/10/09 at 06:52 AM | #

@Peter, @pensky

I read that DNA of Rafaelle Sollecito was found under Merediths nails (and DNA from Rudy Guede on the cuff of Meredith’s pullover/top) at perugiamurderfile.org. I was trying to find that post this morning without success, I thought it was written by Skeptical Bystander therefore I took it as a fact (but Peter’s comment makes me now doubt that.

The same goes for “touching the blood drops” - I understood that Amanda made that claim - maybe I was wrong (I surely am if not even Peter knows anything about it). I understood the discussion at the forum about the blood drops (see the main discussion thread at perugiamurderfile.org) was because of her claims she touched it.

Anyhow, it does not matter how you look at it, I think the whole Knox clan should have concentrated more on the trial itself than on posting at forums and blogs. It seems to me that they are too occupied with keeping up with interviews and blog posts to even notice how serious the situation of her daughter actually is.

Even if the found DNA on the blade of the murder weapon is disputed by the defence - as far as I read the prosecution admitted from day one that the sample was too tiny to run another test. The point is that Rafaelle Sollecito obviously knew it could be found there. For that reason he invented the story of “having pricked Meredith accidentally with that knife when they were cooking together”. In relation to the bucket and the mop, I remember that there were two different versions about the need of the mop and bucket. The first I read about was that they had spilt water in RS apartment when they were cooking pasta the night before and the second was about a pipe burst. (@Peter: Can you confirm that?) Let alone the bloody footprints and Meredith’s blood mixed up with DNA from Amanda, eye witnesses contradicting their story and timeline etc. The best the defence has come up with so far is the ‘flying DNA’ theory. Well, I am not a scientist, but even I can tell you that if DNA would fly with dust and pile up in one and the same spot - from only one occasional visitor and not any of the occupants of a house - then DNA tests simply would not be allowed in courtrooms. I believe that Amanda thought that with her accusation of the police she would have the best chances of getting off the hook (maybe she was badly recommended by someone). All her troubles with not matching stories would have gone away.

The fact that Amanda and Rafaelle do not have an alibi does not bother me - I am sure lots of people who live alone don’t have one, that does not make them murderers. But they do not necessarily change their story significantly and accuse innocent people of committing the crime. That’s what makes the difference.

Posted by Nell on 09/10/09 at 10:37 AM | #

Nell wrote:

“I read that DNA of Rafaelle Sollecito was found under Merediths nails (and DNA from Rudy Guede on the cuff of Meredith’s pullover/top) at perugiamurderfile.org. I was trying to find that post this morning without success, I thought it was written by Skeptical Bystander therefore I took it as a fact (but Peter’s comment makes me now doubt that.”

I have never written a statement to this effect and do not believe it has ever been posted on perugia murder file, the message board I co-moderate. If it had been posted, the poster would have been asked for a source. I have never read the statement in question anywhere.

Posted by Skeptical Bystander on 09/10/09 at 06:18 PM | #

Hello Nell,

I have never seen such a statement anywhere on this blog or on PMF. On the contrary, we have quoted Dr Stefanoni words: ” no biological material was found under Meredith’s fingernails”. This could indicate that she was restrained, for had she been fighting just one assailant i.e. Guede, she would have possibly managed at   at least to scratch him. I recall Stephanie Kercher testifying that Meredith was a strong girl, and she had taken karate classes.According to her sister, Meredith was a fighter and she would have surely fought hard for her life.

Posted by Nicki on 09/10/09 at 11:33 PM | #

@Skeptical Bystander, @Nicki
Thanks for clarifying that.

Posted by Nell on 09/11/09 at 12:34 AM | #

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