Hypotheses are not statements of fact, but proposals to be examined. As Vibio almost seems to understand, my hypothesis about Italians generally keeping lawyers on retainer, in contrast to foreigners in Italy, was meant as a satirical comment on the fact that Amanda's Italian flat-mates did hire lawyers after the discovery of Meredith's body. Amanda did not; she was not aware of the apparent danger from authorities in Italy of not doing so in such a serious case.
Thank you for bringing this back to the topic at hand.
It is my opinion, not shared by many, that Filomena Romanelli saved herself a truckload of trouble by lawyering up, even before (I believe) the grisly discovery in Meredith's room.
As in the Russ Faria case in the USA, it was conceivable in some nearby alternate universe that Mignini could have thrown this at Filomena - and what would make it comparable to the Faria case, would be that Mignini would have just had to have implicated everyone who tried to give Filomena an alibi.
Which sounds an awful lot like what happened to Raffaele. Mignini showed a willingness to throw the book at those who supported Amanda as well- charging her parents with defamation, and notoriously failing to similarly charge the author (Follain) or the publisher (The Telegraph) of that alleged defamation.
Added to all this was the way Knox was vilified and sluttified for the slightest thing - whereas no one criticizes (nor should they) Filomena for thinking about where she was going to live and so hired a lawer to deal with future rent/damage-issues at the cottage; rather than stay at home crying about the murder of her friend. Do you think Filomena was "cold" for doing that? I don't.
This case is fraught with double standards - what made it easy to swallow those double standards was the sluttification of Amanda Knox; to the point where in 2014, posters to obscure websites can use the term "Amandaites" or "Knoxians" as if the focus was/should be still on her, rather than the injustice manufactured against both her and Raffaele, as well as Knox's parents (defamation charge).
Just like the Russ Faria case the focus is on one person and the threats are against everyone else. In the Faria case, the four friends he was with on the night of his wife's murder were subtly implicated - in the prosecution's closing statement! One of those friends is in debate with one of the prosecutors on another obscure website, just to add more of a surreal atmosphere to that one! (And another prosecutor was sleeping with the lead detective in the case......)
Italy has not cornered the market on these predatory prosecutions. However, there is an Achilles Heel in Italy; it's the impunity granted to police, prosecutors and Scientific Police by the courts.
"If Stefanoni said it, I believe it, that settles it." Judge Massei could have written a one page motivations report in 2010.
"Cassazione made me do it". Judge Nencini also could have written a one page motivations report.
In that climate, it's no wonder everyone in Perugia within earshot of the murder lawyered up, except for Knox and Sollecito. And Sollecito admits in his book what a 20/20-hindsight dolt/idiot he was in not taking the advice of an anonymous female cop, who told him the day before his interrogation, "You'd better get a lawyer."
He thought as he always thought: "Why? What's this got to do with me?"
Boy did he get a surprise!