Category: Various scenarios
Monday, March 25, 2013
After Bizarre Hellmann Outcome Hard Questions That Meredith’s Family Now Face
Posted by Peter Quennell
[Above: Stepahnie Kercher at end of first appeal in late 2011 with Meredith’s second brother Lyle]
Judge Massei came out with a clear scenario for Meredith’s death after trial in 2009.
Judge Hellmann attempted to pick it apart but left no sensible scenario in its place. That is the toughest and legally most crucial argument of today’s prosecution appeal: that the 2011 appeal judges attempted to run a whole new trial - but essentially only listened to the defense.
In this context as Tom Kington reports the Kercher family lawyer in Perugia Dr Francesco Maresca has made this series of comments:
Francesco Maresca, a lawyer representing the Kerchers, claimed the acquittals of Miss Knox and Mr Sollecito were “defective” and “lacked transparency”, adding he was pushing for a retrial.
The appeal court rejected key evidence against Miss Knox and Mr Sollecito after ordering new expert analysis of traces of DNA found on a knife belonging to Mr Sollecito, and on Miss Kercher’s bra strap.
“There are many parts of the judge’s ruling that are defective,” said Mr Maresca. “For example, why did they only review those two bits of evidence? What about the blood in Miss Kercher’s bathroom and traces in the rest of the house?”
Mr Maresca also suggested the appeal court judge had buckled under pressure from supporters of Miss Knox in the US.
“There was a lot of external pressure and the judge showed a will from the start to acquit,” he said.
Dr Maresca also passes on a statement from Meredith’s sister Stephanie:
“We all still miss Meredith terribly… Unfortunately nothing will bring her back.” Miss Kercher said her family continued to receive support from around the world and had set up a Meredith Kercher Fund to help pay their legal fees, adding the fund could be turned into a charity foundation when the case concludes in Italy.
“A beautiful young girl, my little sister, was taken from us far too soon in such a brutal way with too many unexplained factors,” she said.
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Archived in Various hypotheses, Various scenarios, The officially involved, Victims family, Appeals 2009-2015, Hellmann critiques, Hoaxes against Italy, 4 No firm DNA hoax •
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Friday, December 19, 2008
Meredith Dateline Documentary: New Standard For All Others?
Posted by Peter Quennell
[click for larger images]
We think so. We think other TV networks would be foolhardy to now step back from NBC’s very high standard.
This is the Dateline documentary reviewed here by Skeptical Bystander on Monday. Now we have been through it almost frame by frame, and we continue to be impressed.
NBC clearly gave this one a big budget. It filled the entire hour. Meredith was very much respected in the script and the images of her. NBC flew camera teams to Seattle and Perugia, along with the precise, well-informed reporter, Dennis Murphy. The photography and the production values were excellent. There were a number of new images, and new tape-recordings of Amanda Knox. And the three consultants - Richard Owen, Clint van Zandt, and Theodore Simon - were all really on top of the case.
Now for our take on what it all means.
Richard Owen is the Rome correspondent for the London Times, with many Perugia stories to his name. Clint van Zandt is a much-in-demand crime analyst, formerly with the FBI. And Theodore Simon is a Philadelphia defense lawyer, who has defended Americans in foreign trouble and commented before on the case.
These are what they regard as the strengths of the prosecution’s case. Meredith was known to have not liked Knox bringing strange men to the house, and to have had other differences. The several defendant alibis do not coincide. The Knox murder accusation against Lumumba not only did not help, it hurt. The break-in theory is very dubious. Knox and Sollecito kissing outside, the underwear purchase, and other post-crime behavior, all look very fishy.
The DNA on the hidden knife is very compelling. As Clint Van Zandt put it, the knife, the DNA, and its hiding make a nice prosecution package. The bleaching of the house and the footprints showing up under luminol, if linked to anyone, could almost be conclusive by themselves. As could the blood drops on the bathroom drain. The witchcraft angle as a motive, van Zandt remarked, was almost a bridge too far, but the prosecutor does have to attempt to offer a theory of how these otherwise normal kids could commit the murder. Theodore Simon thinks the prosecutors evidence made public so far is daunting. The defense could argue a faked robbery, and a moved body, and contamination, but eventually it could become like whack-a-mole, and all of their arguments could lose force.
Only old and very familiar arguments were advanced for the defense case. Dennis Murphy noted that for a year now, Europeans have been sold a sexy heartless icon. Knox’s father said her first alibi/confession was “all but water-boarded out of a terrified young woman” and the prosecutors had been heartless, feeding one juicy morsel after another to a voracious tabloid press. He claimed the knife was found in the knives draw in Sollecito’s kitchen (not our understanding) and the DNA on the blade could be that of half the people in Italy (nor is that). And all the evidence at the crime scene had been contaminated by careless police work. The hostility of the Knox-Mellas couple for the prosecutor shone through. And an old clip showed Anne Bremner remarking (of the wrong apartment) “thou shalt not destroy evidence at a crime scene, and this appears to be the case here”.
Recordings are heard, some in Amanda Knox’s voice, and some in others, of her claims about her arrest and interrogation. Also of her dreams and denials as recorded in her diary in her first weeks in jail, when she was clearly feeling betrayed by Sollecito - this is the diary she later handed to prosecutors.
Criticisms? We have some. An image of the duvet with Meredith’s foot showing is used repeatedly. The NBC take on the case was not up-to-the-minute, and some of the clips and claims seemed old. No psychological angles were explored. The documentary did not mention the independent expert verification of the forensic evidence, or the caution of the Italian legal system, or the dozen judges who have verified the impact of the evidence. And it did not mention that most of the 10,000 pages of evidence have still only been seen by a very few.
But it finished well. Dennis Murphy remarked that we should remember the prosecutor has already convicted Guede with his sex-game argument. And that the Guede judge said the other two are implicated, which does not bode well for them at trial. And that courthouse observers, including Theodore Simon, are predicting an uphill fight for the defense.
If you click on them, all of these screen-captures open up larger in Acrobat.
Below: Dateline’s reporter Dennis Murphy in Perugia
Below: The two nice images of Meredith used repeatedly
Below: Reporter Dennis Murphy in the early-on Seattle segment
Below: Two shots of World Cup, now out of business, where Knox last worked
Below: One of the entrance gates of the University of Washington
Below: Seemingly resigned friends of Knox, giving personal testimonials
Below: Reporter Dennis Murphy at the gate of Meredith’s house
Below: Two fresh images of Perugia, representative of the many used
Below: Richard Owen, the London Times Rome correspondent
Below: Clint van Zandt, the former FBI profiler and evidence analyst
Below: Theodore Simon, the defence lawyer for Americans in foreign trouble
Below: Patrick Lumumba, looking happy and relaxed, with Dennis Murphy
Below: Zack Nowack, an American, who felt Amanda Knox was too impulsive
Below: Three new shots of Rudy Guede, Raffaele Sollecito, and Amanda Knox
Below: The biological parents of Knox trudging along, seemingly resignedly
Below: A computer image of the bedroom - even here, Meredith’s foot shows
Below: Filomena’s broken window; not considered a feasible break-in route
Below: Murphy and Van Zandt discussing the possible murder weapon
Below: The Perugia police chief demonstrates the fatal stab with a knife
Below: Meredith’s and Knox’s unexplained blood on the bidet drain
Below: Murphy and van Zandt discuss the seemingly damning footprints
Below: The Knox rape short story, perhaps indicative of an attraction to violence
Below: Knox and Sollecito happily buying lingerie together in Bubbles
Below: One claimed inflammatory European headline (it seems true)
Below: Transcript of a Knox recording complaining about interrogation
Below: Murphy describing the Knox-Mellas hostility toward the prosecutor
Below: Murphy and van Zandt look at disputed police break-in downstairs
Below: The Japanese manga comic that might have influenced Sollecito
Below: A woman’s voice reading from Knox’s early 2008 prison diary
Below: Fresh image of Capanne jail, with the Perugia heights in background
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Archived in Various hypotheses, Various scenarios, News media & movies, Excellent reporting •
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