Saturday, April 21, 2012
In Daily Mail, John Kercher Explains The Context of His Book “Meredith” Available From Next Friday
Posted by Our Main Posters
This article below from the Daily Mail is only John Kercher’s fourth in over four years. His others are reposted in this series here.
In light of one of David Marriott’s negative campaigns already begun, it seems useful for us to frame it here.
In the UK, Meredith’s family have very rarely granted any interviews, and then only to book-writers they felt could be fair. In Italy, they have spoken up only in conjunction with key court milestones, and in one interview with John and Arline on national TV.
They have discouraged others who knew Meredith from speaking up because they felt Italian justice would unaided produce an outcome that was universally seen to be legitimate and fair, and an eventual book remembering the Meredith they knew would be their last word.
This book was not exactly rushed out for tactical reasons, as some of the misled media have implied.
The book was one of two John Kercher wrote three years ago, and he resisted book-agent and publisher requests to make much or most of the book on Meredith about the events in Perugia.
Even now, there is little mention of those events. The book is about what the title says it is about - about the high-achieving daughter and sister that was Meredith - and it is said to be superb.
Meredith’s family welcomed the trial verdict from Judge Massei in December 2009 and commiserated with the families of those found guilty.
They then experienced the periodic harsh quirkiness of the Italian system in seeing cursorily overturned late in 2011 what had seemed to just about every competent lawyer a legally extremely sound result back in late 2009.
Italy is perhaps the only country in the world that automatically makes available two appeal levels, the first of which can involve another jury.
Those second juries too often seem anxious to flaunt their chops, and many in Italy want them abolished. Often strikingly unfamiliar with the details of the evidence and most of the key witnesses, they too often advance a body of tortured reasoning as to why the first jury got it so wrong.
The Italian Supreme Court is known to greatly dislike this “jury wars” tendency, and for the illegal assuming of excessive scope (the scope of appeals is set out in Italian judicial code) a long series of appeal verdicts have been partially or fully thrown out and the cases referred back down to the lower court.
The formidable chief prosecutor for Umbria, Dr Galati, was previously a highly effective deputy chief prosecutor with the Supreme Court of Cassation in Rome.
His criminal-case experience is almost the exact opposite of Judge Hellman’s. While Judge Hellman is one of the least experienced in criminal cases (his normal beat is business and civil law) Dr Galati is one of the most experienced. He really does know how to do effective Supreme Court appeals, in sharp contrast to the present Sollecito-Mellas-Knox teams.
Dr Galati has filed a prosecution appeal with that same Supreme Court (translation due here soon) which targeted various ways in which he considers the first-appeal court to have got the evidence and the witnesses seriously wrong. Even more formidably:
- He specifically appeals against what he considers the illegal very broad scope adopted by Judge Hellman against judicial code on the precise lines the Supreme Court doesn’t like.
- And he specifically appeals against what he considers to be the illegal appointment by Judge Hellman of Conti and Vecchiotti as independent consultants at the first appeal stage.
If such a review was really needed, he reasons, the place for it was at trial - where the defenses, by then very seriously floundering, asked for it only very late in 2009. But they had already had months of opportunity to bring in even more DNA experts of their own - having already failed to show up to observe any of the key forensic tests in the police labs.
Dr Galati will probably like John Kerchers book on Meredith as much as anyone if and when he ever gets to read it. But in this coming third phase there has almost never been any sign that the Italian police, prosecution and judiciary here are doing anything except what the law requires and meeting their usual impressive norm.
Since the Hellman verdict, there’s been much more tracking of the squalid and offensive Knox PR campaign in Perugia and Rome. The idea being falaciously put around in the US and UK, that John Kercher or the family lawyer Francesco Maresca are somehow driving the bus, is considered by Italian lawyers to be ludicrous, and offensive to the Italian courts and Dr Galati in the extreme.
Meredith and her family are very greatly liked and admired in Italy - and it is because of an ABSENCE of manipulation and PR that the legal system is going the extra mile.
On “Meredith” by John Kercher in the Daily Mail.
My daughter Meredith, aged 21, was murdered on November 1, 2007 in her bedroom in Perugia, Italy, where she was studying at the city’s University For Foreigners.
In the days that followed, one of her housemates, an American girl named Amanda Knox, a young Italian man named Raffaele Sollecito, and Rudy Guede, a Perugia resident originally from the Ivory Coast, were arrested on suspicion of her murder.
While Guede remains imprisoned for taking my daughter’s life, last October Knox and Sollecito had their convictions quashed on appeal.
My family and I now find ourselves in a limbo that, I suspect, might never end, wondering exactly what happened in those last moments of Meredith’s life, and how convictions that seemed to offer all the terrible answers two years ago have been so emphatically overturned.
With Knox and Sollecito now free, we find that we are still waiting for justice for our daughter and sister, and have to face up to the possibility that we might never have a satisfactory picture of what unfolded in Perugia on that terrible November night.
Despite everything that has happened since, it still seems as though nobody knows anything about the real Meredith.
The media’s glare throughout the trial and appeal process has been fixed almost entirely on Amanda Knox. Books have been written about her and there has even been a television film focusing on her. It has seemed as if Meredith has been all but forgotten.
In writing this book, I hope to go some way towards redressing the balance, for Meredith was a beautiful, intelligent and caring girl whom everyone loved, and her story deserves to be told.
My hope is that I can share with the world something of the wonderful girl who was our daughter and sister. I hope our telling the world about the enchanting, generous, kind person that Meredith was can help those whose lives she touched.
I also hope this book might help to keep Meredith’s case in the spotlight, and, in some small way, to keep alive the hope that we might yet know the truth about her death.
November 1, 2007, and I am in my local bank in Croydon, South London, when Meredith telephones from Perugia. It is 2.15pm, an unusual time for Meredith to call as we usually speak in the evenings.
But today she does not have to go to university, where she is studying European politics and Italian, as it is a public holiday in Italy.
The call is costing her money, so we don’t have a chance to say much.
I tell her I’ll call her when I get home, but she is going out for dinner with some English friends, so instead we arrange to speak tomorrow.
The next day comes and I find myself at home when Meredith’s mother, Arline, rings. It is 5pm and she has seen on the news that a female British student has been found murdered in Perugia.
I have been divorced from Arline for ten years, and she is living in Old Coulsdon, Surrey. I am worried, but I tell myself that there are many British students studying in Perugia.
Immediately, I call Meredith but all I hear is an automated message. For the next half-an-hour I try her number at least a dozen times, but every time the call goes through to the message.
Then suddenly, after what feels like an age of trying, her mobile starts to ring. I feel some relief and, for the first time, I am confident that my daughter is fine.
Yet, the phone rings on and on, and still there is no answer.
I have to get some information, so I call the foreign desk of a national newspaper. Having worked as a freelance journalist for Fleet Street newspapers and national magazines, it seems the logical thing to do. A man tells me that they have only sketchy details, but if I call back in an hour they might know more.
When I do, I am told by one of the foreign desk editors that Italian police have found the British girl’s mobile phone, and that they have been in touch with people in London.
Again, my hopes rise because this must mean that, whoever this unfortunate girl is, her family and the British police must have been notified.
I have not yet contacted our other children ““ Meredith’s older sister Stephanie, and brothers Lyle and John ““ because I do not want to worry them unduly.
For the next 30 minutes I sit by the phone, trying not to feel so apprehensive. Then the phone rings.
The call is from a young woman on the newspaper’s foreign desk. Hesitantly, she tells me they have a name for the victim. Though I ask for it, she is reluctant to tell me. She seems nervous herself and I have to persuade her to release the name. I shall never forget her words.
“˜The name going round Italy,’ she says, “˜is Meredith.’
I drop the phone. I do not believe it. There has to be a mistake. I refuse to let the facts sink in.
I repeat it over and over to myself: “˜Not beautiful Meredith .”‰.”‰. Not beautiful Meredith .”‰.”‰.’
Numb with shock, I cannot even cry.
I arrive at Arline’s house within an hour. Stephanie, John and Lyle are there already. By now Arline has spoken to the Foreign Office. Officials have confirmed the worst. The dead girl is Meredith.
Everyone is crying. At 9pm, my daughter’s picture is on the news. I stare at it, registering its familiarity but unable to react.
It is as though my feelings have been folded up and removed from me, leaving my mind free to have pointlessly logical thoughts. I can’t say how I passed the night, except I don’t think I slept.
Nothing can prepare you for what it is like to have to travel to a foreign country to identify the body of your daughter. Meredith had told me how beautiful Perugia was.
Now, a little more than two months since she had first moved to the city, we were approaching it for the first time, and she was never coming home.
We met the Italian police at a roundabout, and they gave us an escort to the morgue. They did not speak English but consulate staff acted as our translators.
As we climbed up the steep roads, however, our talk petered out and we all felt the incongruity of the beautiful scenery and our purpose for being there.
There was a large number of officials inside the morgue, including the Chief of Police and the head of the homicide squad. Many of them were close to tears.
It was time to see my daughter. But I could not face going in. The brutal reality of having to see what had been done to Meredith had not really hit home. A small man from the mortuary approached Arline and Stephanie and, leaving me behind, they went through the doors. I could go no further.
For me, it would have put a full stop to my memories. I had seen her only a couple of weeks before when she had flown back to London to buy some winter clothes.
We had met for a coffee at a small Italian restaurant in Croydon, a place where we met often.
We would talk about books and music; the Italian film she had been to see to improve her language; the occasional dance she had been to with her new English friends and the wonderful pizzas she was eating.
On this occasion, Meredith was almost an hour late (this wasn’t unusual).
When she arrived, she talked eagerly about Perugia.
She said she was trying to buy a duvet for her bed, but nobody seemed to know where she could find one. I remember her saying she was determined to track one down. That this should be the duvet beneath which her body would be found is something that will always haunt me.
She had been laughing and was happy. It was the last time I had seen her and I wanted that to be the memory that I held in my mind for ever.
In the morgue, standing over her body, Arline had said: “˜Your father’s come all this way out here to see you, but doesn’t feel he can.’
Then she had smiled, for the last time, at our daughter.
“˜But,’ she had whispered, “˜you know what your father’s like .”‰.”‰.”‰
Caption: Water babies: Meredith, left, aged ten, and her older sister Stephanie enjoying a day at the beachThe news that Amanda Knox was being held for the murder sent shockwaves through our family.
Arline could not comprehend that Meredith’s own housemate might have been involved in this terrible crime.
“˜Amanda? Amanda?’ she kept repeating, in a state of utter disbelief.
We knew Meredith had not got on with Knox. Meredith had expressed irritation to us and to her friends in Perugia at Knox’s personal habits, because she frequently failed to flush the lavatory and Meredith had concerns over how Knox would “˜bring strange men back to the house’, but the idea that this irritation could lead to murder seemed preposterous.
We knew so little of the American girl and absolutely nothing of her boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, whom Meredith had never mentioned.
The alibis of Knox and Sollecito kept changing.
At first, Knox claimed to have been at Sollecito’s flat all evening on the night of the murder.
Then Sollecito claimed that she had left his place at about 9pm and had not returned until 1am, during which time he had been on the internet.
Knox then changed her story to say that she had been at the cottage at the time that Meredith was killed.
It was during these first days of questioning that Knox claimed that Diya “˜Patrick’ Lumumba, the owner of a local bar called Le Chic, was the murderer.
Lumumba, of Congolese origin, had been living legally in Italy since 1988, running the bar where Knox had a part-time job.
Back in England, this was the first big piece of news we had heard. Pictures of Lumumba were shown on television, but I spoke to Arline on the telephone and neither of us could believe that we were looking at the killer.
Two weeks later, the chief prosecutor, Giuliano Mignini, asked for Lumumba’s release, saying: “˜There are no longer any serious indications linking him to the crime.’
Lumumba was later quoted as saying: “˜I think that Amanda wanted to derail the investigation…
‘Amanda hated Meredith because people loved her more than Amanda. She was insanely jealous that Meredith was taking over her position as Queen Bee.’
Things became even more distressing. Although we knew Meredith had been killed by a knife wound to her throat, we had not realised it had been preceded by a sexual assault.
The post-mortem had revealed bruising on her lips and gums consistent with her face being crushed on the ground to hold her still. How could anyone do this to her, we asked ourselves? Why had she been singled out for this kind of treatment?
We tried to get our bearings by finding out more about Amanda Knox. I read that she was aged 20 and had been born in Seattle, the daughter of a retail executive and a primary-school teacher.
After only a few years, her parents divorced and Amanda went to Seattle Preparatory School, described as a strict Jesuit institution. Later, she attended Washington University.
Raffaele Sollecito remained a somewhat quiet, bespectacled figure. At the time of his arrest, he was aged 23. The son of a prominent urologist from Giovinazzo in southern Italy, he had led a privileged life. He described himself on a social networking site as being “˜sweet, but sometimes absolutely crazy’.
Sollecito appeared in pictures posted on the internet wielding a meat cleaver. It emerged that he was passionate about collecting knives.
After the murder, police searched his flat and discovered a collection of Japanese manga comics, some of which depicted acts of extreme violence.
One which attracted particular attention was concerned with the killing of female vampires at Halloween. It was not lost on police that Meredith had been dressed as a vampire to celebrate Halloween only one night before she was murdered.
Police later went on to say that the scene they discovered at the cottage was reminiscent of the scenes depicted in Sollecito’s comics.
A short while before Patrick Lumumba was released, the investigation took another decisive turn.
The police identified a bloodied fingerprint on Meredith’s pillow that belonged to one Rudy Hermann Guede, an immigrant from the Ivory Coast who had already been arrested for petty theft and drug dealing.
DNA taken from his toothbrush matched DNA found on and inside Meredith’s body.
This seemed to tie Guede to the scene of Meredith’s murder. Witnesses had already described a man of African origin fleeing the cottage on the night of the murder, later to be seen washing clothes in a launderette.
Guede had arrived in Italy from the Ivory Coast in 1992, aged five, with his father. When Guede was 15 his father had returned to Africa.
Extradited from Germany where he had been lying low, Guede was now concerned that Knox and Sollecito might attempt to pin the blame solely on him, so his defence team requested that he be tried on his own by a single presiding judge.
This “˜fast-track trial’ would take place during pre-trial hearings.
The request was granted. Armed with 10,000 pages of documentation, the judge, Paulo Micheli, heard evidence from forensics experts regarding the various DNA findings, Sollecito’s DNA having been discovered on Meredith’s bra clasp, and a bloodied footprint having been revealed as belonging to the young Italian man.
There was also the presentation of evidence that Knox’s bloodied footprints had been found in the cottage’s hallway and bathroom; that her DNA had been found in blood mixed with Meredith’s in the bathroom; and that her DNA had been shown to be on a knife handle, with Meredith’s on the blade ““ a knife that police had found at Sollecito’s apartment and which, the prosecution claimed, had been removed from the scene of the crime.
Judge Micheli also heard Knox’s and Sollecito’s defence teams attempting to refute much of the evidence, specifically the DNA evidence, which they blamed on contamination and poor forensics procedures.
This was to be a major contention in this pre-trial, the main trial and, later, the first appeal.
Regrettably, a key piece of evidence ““ the bra clasp ““ was not retrieved from the crime scene until 47 days after the murder because it had been hidden from view.
On October 28, 2008, Arline, Stephanie, Lyle and I returned to Perugia to hear the verdict on Guede.
After a nerve-racking wait, we were called to the court at 9pm. Photographers jostled at the entrance and we were guided in, individually, by police escorts.
I felt almost light-headed with lack of sleep; looking at Arline, Stephanie and Lyle, I saw the same strain on their faces. There was a tense silence.
Amanda Knox sat with her lawyers, as did Raffaele Sollecito and Rudy Guede with theirs. They had been brought in under armed guard. Judge Micheli entered and everyone rose to their feet.
The chief of homicide, Monica Napoleoni, stood at my side, ready to convey the verdict.
As the judge began his statement, Ms Napoleoni looked at me, squeezing my hand, then concentrated on what the judge was saying. It was in Italian, so we had no idea what was being said.
The judge had been deliberating for 12 hours about his decision. This was the moment.
Suddenly, Ms Napoleoni turned to look at me and squeezed my hand again, nodding emphatically.
Rudy Guede had been found guilty of complicity in Meredith’s murder and sentenced to 30 years in prison. Knox and Sollecito had been indicted on charges of murder and sexual violence and would stand trial.
I did not know what to feel. It was certainly not relief because I knew that this was only the beginning.
After this, we would have to go through the main trial. I can only say that we were not elated ““ but we were satisfied that justice was progressing in the right direction.
It was not a moment any of us could relish. In our hearts, all we wanted to know was what had happened to Meredith and why she had to be taken so cruelly away.
As her sister Stephanie said at Meredith’s memorial service: “˜Anyone who was fortunate enough to have known her would testify that she was one of the most caring people you could ever meet.
‘Nothing was too much for her. She was a loyal daughter, sister and friend.’
It is not only our family and her friends who have lost her. So has the world.
I Will Always Love You, she sang in her haunting voice
During those days following Meredith’s death, I would immerse myself in photographs and lose myself in memories of her jokes, her wicked one-liners and her laughter.
Then recently while cleaning my home, I came across a shoebox containing roll after roll of undeveloped film. They have since been developed and I have seen that wonderful smile once again. In one picture I particularly love, Meredith is opening her Christmas presents by the fireplace.
On Christmas Eve I would pull some ash into the fireplace and draw small footprints to show that Father Christmas’s boots had landed there.
Meredith was due on December 25, 1985. But, as was to be the pattern of her life, she was late, and it was on December 28 that Arline was taken to Guy’s Hospital in London.
I set out in the car with John, Lyle and Stephanie to drive the 18 miles to the hospital. The weather was freezing and after about ten minutes, there was a rattling sound coming from under the car bonnet. I discovered the water in the radiator had turned to ice. We abandoned the car and dashed to the nearest station, Purley, to continue our journey by train.
I like to think that it was because of the season she was born in that Meredith loved winter, especially when it snowed and she could get out her plastic sledge.
In October 1987, when Meredith was nearly two, a 120mph hurricane came through Old Coulsdon. Arline and I huddled on the upstairs landing with the four children. That night, an 80ft tree slammed across the back of the house, a long branch smashing through the girls’ bedroom window. It was a fortunate escape.
Meredith liked going to the coast and we visited Brighton regularly. Sometimes we had a picnic on the beach. Then there were the Lanes, a maze of narrow streets filled with cafes, bistros and antiques shops. She was fascinated by this place and I often picture her there.
In 1997, Arline and I agreed to divorce, and I moved into a flat in Croydon.
During that first week of living apart, I came home to find Meredith had left a message on my answering machine, singing Whitney Houston’s I Will Always Love You.
Her voice was beautiful and haunting, and I think I cried on hearing it. I kept it there, playing it several times every day until the telephone service provider deleted it.
Meredith would come for dinner every Friday after school. I would cook and then we would watch videos of the hit comedy series Friends.
She also loved clothes, so one day I took her to Selfridges in Oxford Street. I thought she might like to spend half an hour there. How stupid of me! I should have taken a packed lunch. A more fruitful shopping spree was when Meredith, then 14, Stephanie and I travelled on Eurostar to Lille.
We had a wonderful lunch and then the girls discovered some clothes shops. I had to visit a cash machine a couple of times to pay for all their purchases.
Some memories, however, brought me back to Meredith’s final night. I could not help thinking of the hours Meredith had spent practising karate, and how she must have fought back on the night she was murdered.
Against one person, we were all certain, Meredith could have held her own.
Did stress cause my stroke?
During the summer of 2009, I suffered a stroke. I’d had bouts of dizziness, which my doctor thought might be attributable to an ear condition, but then in July, I was hit with the stroke.
I was in hospital for several days and had double vision for weeks afterwards.
I will never know whether the stress of Meredith’s death and the subsequent trial affected my health, but it made me question how many more times I could make the trip to Perugia, and how much more of the chaos I was able to bear.
How the Foreign Office let us down
We were surprised at the lack of financial help available from the British Government as we dealt with the aftermath of Meredith’s death.
We had received tremendous support from the British Consulate in Florence, which arranged translation facilities and made transport arrangements, but despite our pleas, we did not receive any financial support from the Foreign Office.
A number of MPs campaigned on our behalf for some contribution towards our flights, but their efforts were to no avail.
Indeed, it seemed this was a policy decision, one that did not affect just us, but anybody who had suffered an ordeal such as ours. This lack of help was despite the fact that we were obliged to provide testimonies in court.
Nor could we expect any help from the Italian government. Before Meredith was murdered, EU states had said they would sign an agreement to compensate the families of foreign nationals who were victims of a violent crime committed in their country.
However, of all the states, Italy failed to sign the agreement in time.
Financially we were alone and it made the business of attending the trial, and seeking justice for Meredith, all the more problematic.
Posted by Our Main Posters on 04/21/12 at 01:22 PM in Concerning Meredith, The officially involved, Victims family
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That was very difficult to read.
Feeling the pain from the family in John’s own words, stated simply, not dwelt upon nor elaborated, is probably one of the hardest things I’ve read in my life.
May the truth of this awful crime finally come out to give Meredith’s family the peace they crave to come to terms with their loss.
Posted by TruthWillOut on 04/21/12 at 05:43 PM | #
Hard to read all of that to be honest. Makes me so angry to think that not only did they lose their daughter, but those responsible are walking free.
Such a decent hard working family. I hope one day some good will come of it all. A foundation or charity set up to help others.
Whoever is responsible for this site, I must say you do an incredible job. Good on you.
Posted by kcisboy on 04/21/12 at 07:49 PM | #
Thanks from the team here kcisboy.
Yes Matteo it seems she was very Italianate, and many Italians simply presumed she was one of them.
Unlike Knox, who was a real plodder not exactly inclined to hard work, Meredith was already very fluent in Italian on her arrival, and she could therefore take on a much larger study load.
Knox was being left behind in the dust. Had the School for Foreigners not simply taken in all comers, unlike a regular university school, Knox would have been required to observe standards and structure.
And the ensuing years for the Kerchers could have simply been ones of pride and joy.
Posted by Peter Quennell on 04/21/12 at 11:04 PM | #
The Daily Mail has published another very moving extract from John Kercher’s book:
Posted by The Machine on 04/22/12 at 12:23 AM | #
It is lovely to see another happy, vibrant picture of Meredith - and reminds us what a pretty girl she was.
And good to hear the voice of the Kerchers via the book - a voice which has remained dignified since their daughter was taken away from them.
This case still resonates deeply and it is terrible to think of what must have happened on that night - probably fuelled by jealousy on the part of Knox, as it is the only motive that makes sense in anyone that night wanting to harm Meredith.
Thanks to all on this excellent site - who have given a great insight into this case that we may not have got elsewhere.
Posted by gabster1971 on 04/22/12 at 08:16 PM | #
Something John Kercher says is that Amanda Knox was insanely jealous of his daughter. This i believe is absolutely correct the crux of the whole matter.
Am appalled that absolutely no financial assistance has been offered to this grieving family. It is a very poor reflection on the British especially The Queen of England.
She must read the papers and she could do so much if she wanted to. For that matter so could Prince Charles both of whom are fabulously wealthy. I know the argument would be that there are so many needy people but the question is WELL ARE
NOT THESE PEOPLE THEIR SUBJECTS. They dont care less about their people and their struggles.
And what about other wealthy Britons who obviously dont give a damn about other British families. They are a disgrace all of them.
Posted by mason2 on 04/23/12 at 02:36 PM | #
From Italian media La Nazione reporting on John Kercher’s book “Meredith”,
Posted by True North on 04/23/12 at 05:22 PM | #
Did anyone see Michelle Moores comments on one of the articles, she says the people yelling Shame were the police. I call BS, what kind of person would make up such a lie on an article by a man talking about his daughter’s murder.
Posted by Severino518 on 04/23/12 at 06:01 PM | #
Hi Severino,
Michelle Moore is unbelievably naive and thick. She became convinced of Knox’s and Sollecito’s innocence after watching the CBS documentary that was riddled with factual errors. I’ll give one example of one of these factually incorrect claims. Paul Ciolino stated the following:
“Amanda and Raffaele never laid eyes on Rudy, never met with him and never hung out with him… didn’t know him.â€
Compare Paul Ciolino’s claim above with Amanda Knox’s own testimony in court:
Carlo Pacelli (CP), Patrick Lumumba’s lawyer: In what circumstances did you meet him (Rudy)?
Amanda Knox (AK): I was in the center, near the church. It was during an evening when I met the guys that lived underneath in the apartment underneath us, and while I was mingling with them, they introduced me to Rudy.
CP: So it was on the occasion of a party at the house of the neighbors downstairs?
AK: Yes. What we did is, they introduced me to him downtown just to say “This is Rudy, this is Amandaâ€, and then I spent most of my time with Meredith, but we all went back to the house together.
CP: Did you also know him, or at least see him, in the pub “Le Chicâ€, Rudy?
AK: I think I saw him there once.
CP: Listen, this party at the neighbors, it took place in the second half of October? What period, end of October? 2007?
AK: I think it was more in the middle of October.
It clearly hasn’t crossed Michelle Moore’s mind for a nanosecond that the claims made in this documentary might not be true and to check them against official court testimony or court documents. She’s like a simple-minded child who believes everything she is told. She told me a few days ago that the knife didn’t match the large wound on Meredith’s neck. This is a key FOA myth that has been widely propagated in the media. You only have to read the Massei report to know this is complete and utter nonsense. Even defence expert Carlo Torre admitted that the knife was compatible with the large wound. Michelle Moore is not interested in the truth. She is the kind of person who thinks the truth is whatever she wants it to be and refuses to believe anything that she doesn’t like.
Posted by The Machine on 04/23/12 at 08:37 PM | #
Isn’t saying such things about the police considered slander anyways.
Posted by Severino518 on 04/24/12 at 12:10 AM | #
As much as I despise the slander and the hate that Michelle Moore spews out of her sorry excuse for a mouth she does serve a purpose. Just as Ted Nugent is the hate-face of the GOP, so too Michelle Moore is the hate-face of the Amanda cult. The only people who believe her drivel are the unwashed anyway. Slack mouthed they may be also but thankfully (and in spite of their screams) they are in an ever decreasing minority. If the US news media had produced all of the evidence instead of the anesthetized version then people like Michelle Moore would be even Moore redundant. After all an empty vessel makes the most noise.
Posted by Grahame Rhodes on 04/24/12 at 03:35 PM | #
I forgot to add that the reason we uphold Meredith so very far above Knox is because we value intelligence far more than stupidity and slack morals. In fact between the two there is no comparison whatever. Knox is a bottom feeder just as her family is. There can be no discussion about that comparatively speaking because between the two there is no comparison. The murder rape and torture of Meredith has its seat in anger. This is due to jealousy. If it had been a simple murder then torture would have been ruled out. If it had been a rape then torture would also be unnecessary. No! it was a jealous rage pure and simple and Knox and Sollecito are guilty. Guide, on the other hand, was most certainly street smart enough to run away. That’s what petty criminals do because they do not need the publicity and thereby the law looking for them.
Posted by Grahame Rhodes on 04/24/12 at 03:46 PM | #
I always remember seeing Curt Knox shoving the Cameraman outside of the first trial,(not to mention his outright anti-italianism all over the US media) shows allot about that family.
Posted by Severino518 on 04/25/12 at 01:48 AM | #
I find it indicative of the phrase “The dumbing down of America” When I see absolute stupidity in such a person as Michelle Moore. It’s really very sad. When we were kids were obliged to learn the 12 multiple tables by heart. We were also obliged to learn manners. Not so now I’m afraid because texting has taken over the means to communicate for example. However on a more jovial note and out of curiosity I went on the web to see if I could track down Michelle Moore and find out who she really is. No surprise I’m afraid. She is divorced and living alone with her cats so she has nothing else to do except vent at the world. If it wasn’t for Knox then no doubt she would find something else to occupy her very small mind. Anyway so glad she has become the poster person for ‘The Dumbing Down of America.’
Posted by Grahame Rhodes on 04/25/12 at 02:26 AM | #
Hi Grahame,
Michelle Moore really exists and she really is that stupid. However, as far as I’m aware, she’s still married to Steve Moore - the man who claimed in the media that he wasn’t going to write a book and then did exactly that.
Posted by The Machine on 04/26/12 at 02:00 AM | #
The article in the Daily Mail by John Kercher was just heartbreaking, especially the description of going to the morgue to identify poor Meredith. What struck me too is that he seems convinced of the guilt of AK and RS (plus RG). When the Kercher family was interviewed after the appeal they were so subdued that I wasn’t sure how they felt.
With the advances in DNA testing, surely the Supreme Court will insist on a retrial, and the prosecutors will possibly be able to introduce more DNA evidence this time? One hears of so many cases where they find the DNA evidence even years after the event, so what is the problem with the bra clasp being found 47 days after the murder.
Posted by believing on 04/26/12 at 06:14 AM | #
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