Cont: The Trials of Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito: Part 32

[acbytesla]

Being on the anniversary is at best slightly interesting. Worth maybe a single line in a press release or article about the book. And not much else. They can still write press saying it's close. I wonder how much the larger media will take notice.

 

[Numbers]

Being on the anniversary is at best slightly interesting. Worth maybe a single line in a press release or article about the book. And not much else. They can still write press saying it's close. I wonder how much the larger media will take notice.

I suspect that there will be much less interest from the media than there was for Waiting to be Heard. According to a summary*, the new book will discuss her life in prison and, after her provisional acquittal, how she met the challenges of re-integrating into society as well as her efforts to build a relationship with Mignini. I suspect that these topics will be less sensational than those in her first book and thus less interesting to the media.

* https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/219867662-free

 

[acbytesla]

I suspect that there will be much less interest from the media than there was for Waiting to be Heard. According to a summary*, the new book will discuss her life in prison and, after her provisional acquittal, how she met the challenges of re-integrating into society as well as her efforts to build a relationship with Mignini. I suspect that these topics will be less sensational than those in her first book and thus less interesting to the media.

* https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/219867662-free

Oh how the world has changed. Remember when anything associated with Knox provided instant headlines. Remember when she had to dodge all the news channels when she returned to Seattle?

Do we know if she is doing a book tour?

 

[Stacyhs]

We can expect to see a flurry of colpevolisti spewing their venom on Knox. Certain YT and e-book "writers" (who pump out anti-Knox crap every few weeks) and one website in particular will be all over it. They'll look for anything they can find to criticize no matter how irrelevant. It's what they do.

 

[Stacyhs]

I found your simple observation reminding me and others that the Marasca acquittal anniversary was 27 March and your other comments useful. They lead me to read parts of the sample text of Amanda Knox's new book. Otherwise, I would have waited until the book itself was released.

I've looked for an excerpt from FREE and can't find one. Do you have a link?

 

[Numbers]

I've looked for an excerpt from FREE and can't find one. Do you have a link?

I hesitate to link to the Amazon website because they are a commercial site, and I presume a well-known one.

But if you wish to see a sample text, simply visit the Amazon website and use their search function (filtering for "books" in the pull-down list may be useful) and enter the title, that is, Free: My search for meaning. An image of the book's cover will appear on the left side of the web page specific to that book. Below that image, there's a button (in the shape of a long rectangle with rounded ends) that leads to a sample of the book's text. Not every page of the book is available in the sample.

 

[Stacyhs]

Just reading the prologue I can see what one attack from the colpevolisti will be:
"Instead, they (Marasca-Bruno) exonerated us on the grounds of factual innocence..."

Prepare for the howling of "She wasn't exonerated! Only found not guilty due to BARD!"

They are so predictable.

 

[Numbers]

Just reading the prologue I can see what one attack from the colpevolisti will be:
"Instead, they (Marasca-Bruno) exonerated us on the grounds of factual innocence..."

Prepare for the howling of "She wasn't exonerated! Only found not guilty due to BARD!"

They are so predictable.

I am going to my predictable comment, and draw attention to a recent book discussing the wrongful convictions of 23 innocent persons in the US.

The book is titled Framed: Astonishing True Stories of Wrongful Convictions; the authors are John Grisham and Jim McCloskey.*

One important point the authors make in their Preface is that these wrongful convictions were not the result of "unintentional mistakes by local law enforcement or misidentification by well-meaning eyewitnesses or honest but erroneous forensic analysis". They were the result of "framing" through various kinds of misconduct by the authorities.

And that type of pervasive misconduct by the authorities - police, prosecutor, and judges - is what has happened in the Knox - Sollecito case.

Source:
The Amazon website (books) for this title, paperback edition, sample text, Preface, pages xvii - xviii.

 

[acbytesla]

I am going to my predictable comment, and draw attention to a recent book discussing the wrongful convictions of 23 innocent persons in the US.

The book is titled Framed: Astonishing True Stories of Wrongful Convictions; the authors are John Grisham and Jim McCloskey.*

One important point the authors make in their Preface is that these wrongful convictions were not the result of "unintentional mistakes by local law enforcement or misidentification by well-meaning eyewitnesses or honest but erroneous forensic analysis". They were the result of "framing" through various kinds of misconduct by the authorities.

And that type of pervasive misconduct by the authorities - police, prosecutor, and judges - is what has happened in the Knox - Sollecito case.

Source:
The Amazon website (books) for this title, paperback edition, sample text, Preface, pages xvii - xviii.

It amazes me that this happens. That anyone could be this cruel. And yet history is filled with people being this cruel and worse than this.

 

[Stacyhs]

It amazes me that this happens. That anyone could be this cruel. And yet history is filled with people being this cruel and worse than this.

Politics...which trials can be closely linked to...brings out the worst in people. Ambitious police officers and prosecutors need to be successful to advance their careers. That includes playing politics and pleasing politicians.
They reveal what they are willing to do in order to 'win'.

 

[Numbers]

So readers don't think that police and prosecutorial misconduct in the Knox - Sollecito case is distinct to that case, or only happens in Italy (or not in the US), a legal aid society and the NY Times report that in 2024, New York City paid over $205 million to settle lawsuits over such misconduct.

The Legal Aid Society released an analysis of data showing that the City [of New York] paid $205,631,253 in police misconduct lawsuit settlements in 2024, marking the highest annual payout in years.

Since 2018, taxpayers have shouldered the cost of thousands of alleged misconduct lawsuits, with settlements totaling over $750 million. Total payouts for police misconduct are likely to be substantially higher because this data does not account for matters that were settled with the New York City Comptroller’s office prior to formal litigation.*

Much of the continuing financial burden stems from dubious practices from the 1990s, when the city was ridden with crime and police investigators and prosecutors were under pressure to get convictions at any cost.

The city settled 953 cases in 2024, and the highest payouts included five settlements that cost at least $15 million each. Two were from the wrongful convictions of James Irons and Thomas Malik, who in 1995 were charged with the murder of a subway clerk.

After spending three decades behind bars, Mr. Irons and Mr. Malik were exonerated by a judge who found that the police had elicited false confessions from them. Both were awarded about $16.3 million last year.**

*https://legalaidnyc.org/news/nypd-misconduct-lawsuits-over-205-million-2024/

**https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/18/nyregion/nyc-police-misconduct-settlements.html

 

[Stacyhs]

"After spending three decades behind bars, Mr. Irons and Mr. Malik were exonerated by a judge who found that the police had elicited false confessions from them. "

Over and over again, I read claims of "An innocent person would never confess to something they didn't do unless they were tortured", or "An innocent person would never accuse another innocent person."
But, as we know, both of these have been proven completely wrong.

It's difficult for me to understand why people actually believe these don't happen. Is it a narcissistic belief that they would never succumb to doing so under pressure, therefore no one else could? I think that has a lot to do with it.

 

[Numbers]

Over and over again, I read claims of "An innocent person would never confess to something they didn't do unless they were tortured", or "An innocent person would never accuse another innocent person."
But, as we know, both of these have been proven completely wrong.

It's difficult for me to understand why people actually believe these don't happen. Is it a narcissistic belief that they would never succumb to doing so under pressure, therefore no one else could? I think that has a lot to do with it.

There were 3 suspects, each 17 or 18 years old, interrogated by NY City police in the subway clerk's death (he died when his booth had been set on fire). The suspects, according to a lawyer for one, had been subjected to "threats, lies, sleep deprivation, and physical violence" by the police to obtain their false confessions. Furthermore,

... the lead detectives, Louis Scarcella and Stephen Chmil, failed to divulge the shaky nature of witness identifications and ignored factual inconsistencies in evidence and in the young men’s confessions. .... [Scarcella's] reputation began to crumble in 2013 after one of his most celebrated investigations — into the murder of a Hasidic rabbi in Brooklyn’s Williamsburg neighborhood — unraveled amid defense claims that he had framed a suspect. Despite Mr. Scarcella’s insistence that he had done nothing wrong, the district attorney’s office began a review of about 70 of his cases. The inquiry has so far resulted in more than a dozen exonerations....*

* https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/15/nyregion/subway-murder-false-conviction-exonerated.html

Does any of this sound familiar in the allegations about the Knox - Sollecito case interrogations?

 

[Numbers]

In the Knox case, while the recent annulment and referral for retrial followed by a final re-conviction for calunnia has absorbed much interest, it is important to recall that the Italian authorities have not at all addressed one of the three key violations of the Convention found by the ECHR in Knox v. Italy: that is, the violation of Article 3 (procedural limb).

Perhaps the Italian authorities are hoping that the Committee of Ministers will somehow forget about this violation in the confusion resulting from Italy's audacious wrongful re-conviction of Knox based on ambiguous or contradictory evidence (a violation of Italian law CPP Article 530) and the rather large number (75) of pending ECHR cases against Italy under the supervision of the CoM.

In 2017, Italy passed a law, CP Article 613 bis*, making torture and inhuman or degrading treatment crimes punishable by imprisonment; if the crime is committed by a public official (for example, a police officer), the sentence if convicted is from 5 to 12 years, except if the victim dies as a result of the crime, the sentence is 30 years (unintentional death) or life (intentional death). Since the alleged police mistreatment of Knox occurred in 2007, this law cannot be lawfully applied.

Nevertheless, Italy remains under an international law obligation (under the Council of Europe - ECHR treaty) to conduct an independent and effective investigation of Knox's credible claim of mistreatment by the police. This investigation must be conducted even if the maximum time under the statute of limitation for any Italian law relevant to the type of mistreatment alleged has expired; see the ECHR case P.P. v. Italy 64066/19 paragraphs 54 - 55** and the Guide on Article 3 paragraphs 134 and 138***.

* https://www.altalex.com/documents/codici-altalex/2014/10/30/codice-penale
**https://hudoc.echr.coe.int/eng?i=001-241744
*** https://ks.echr.coe.int/documents/d/echr-ks/guide_art_3_eng

 

[Numbers]

In the Knox case, while the recent annulment and referral for retrial followed by a final re-conviction for calunnia has absorbed much interest, it is important to recall that the Italian authorities have not at all addressed one of the three key violations of the Convention found by the ECHR in Knox v. Italy: that is, the violation of Article 3 (procedural limb).

Perhaps the Italian authorities are hoping that the Committee of Ministers will somehow forget about this violation in the confusion resulting from Italy's audacious wrongful re-conviction of Knox based on ambiguous or contradictory evidence (a violation of Italian law CPP Article 530) and the rather large number (75) of pending ECHR cases against Italy under the supervision of the CoM.

In 2017, Italy passed a law, CP Article 613 bis*, making torture and inhuman or degrading treatment crimes punishable by imprisonment; if the crime is committed by a public official (for example, a police officer), the sentence if convicted is from 5 to 12 years, except if the victim dies as a result of the crime, the sentence is 30 years (unintentional death) or life (intentional death). Since the alleged police mistreatment of Knox occurred in 2007, this law cannot be lawfully applied.

Nevertheless, Italy remains under an international law obligation (under the Council of Europe - ECHR treaty) to conduct an independent and effective investigation of Knox's credible claim of mistreatment by the police. This investigation must be conducted even if the maximum time under the statute of limitation for any Italian law relevant to the type of mistreatment alleged has expired; see the ECHR case P.P. v. Italy 64066/19 paragraphs 54 - 55** and the Guide on Article 3 paragraphs 134 and 138***.

* https://www.altalex.com/documents/codici-altalex/2014/10/30/codice-penale
**https://hudoc.echr.coe.int/eng?i=001-241744
*** https://ks.echr.coe.int/documents/d/echr-ks/guide_art_3_eng

To stress the importance of Italy's violation of Convention Article 3 (procedural limb), here's the Committee of Ministers' summary of the case; note that the "unfair trial" violation is listed after the "ill-treatment" (procedural, lack of investigation) violation:

The case concerns the lack of an investigation into allegations of ill-treatment by the police in 2007, during the questioning of the applicant, a young woman of foreign nationality and language, subsequently convicted for malicious accusation in the context of criminal proceedings concerning the murder and rape of her flat mate (violation of Article 3 in its procedural limb).
The case also concerns the restriction on the applicant’s access to legal assistance during her questioning by the police, which the European Court found to have had irretrievably impaired the overall fairness of the proceedings (violation of Art. 6 §§ 1 and 3 c)) and the inadequate assistance provided to the applicant by an interpreter during the police questioning (violation of Art. 6 §§ 1 and 3 e)).

Source: https://hudoc.exec.coe.int/eng?i=004-52517

 

[TomG]

To stress the importance of Italy's violation of Convention Article 3 (procedural limb), here's the Committee of Ministers' summary of the case; note that the "unfair trial" violation is listed after the "ill-treatment" (procedural, lack of investigation) violation:


Source: https://hudoc.exec.coe.int/eng?i=004-52517

I don't know how the highlighted section would matter now. Italy sees the later 1st memoriale as a complete reiteration of the calunnia unconnected with previous events.

Hoots

 

[Stacyhs]

"There were 3 suspects, each 17 or 18 years old,"

Cue the colpevolisti:
"But Knox was TWENTY so therefore this isn't relevant!"

 

[Numbers]

I don't know how the highlighted section would matter now. Italy sees the later 1st memoriale as a complete reiteration of the calunnia unconnected with previous events.

Hoots

Suppose someone in a police interrogation in a Council of Europe member state is subjected to some form of mistreatment by the police. Suppose, for example, the police hit that person or subject that person to sleep deprivation in an attempt to make that person confess to a crime or to name someone else as having committed that crime.

However, the interrogated person resists the police coercion: does not confess and does not name anyone else as committing the crime.

The interrogated person, after the interrogation, speaks or writes to a police officer or other official (for example, a prosecutor or judge) alleging the mistreatment by police during the interrogation. This statement is documented in, for example, the case file or other credible records.

The official authorities of the state take no (or only inadequate) independent effective measures to investigate the alleged mistreatment.

Whether or not the police or a prosecutor charge that interrogated person with a crime, the interrogated person can lodge an application with the ECHR claiming a violation of her rights under Convention Article 3. It is essentially certain that the ECHR would find a violation of Convention Article 3 (procedural limb) in this hypothetical case. The CoE member state would be obligated, among possibly other actions, to conduct an investigation or otherwise compensate the applicant to redress the violation.

I hope this hypothetical example makes clear that the violation of Convention Article 3 (procedural limb) in the Knox case is, as a violation to be redressed as well as a claim against Italy that was found by the ECHR, independent of the other violations found by the ECHR. This is true even though some of the violations happened within the same or sequential interrogations.

 

[euroneighbour]

Preferments: Paolo Micheli was judge of Corte di Cassazione, today Alessandro Nencini is president of the court in Florence and Claudia Matteini is promoted to president of the court in Spoleto:

Matteini presidente del tribunale di Spoleto: «Slancio con giovani magistrati» - Umbria 24

di C.F. Ha raccontato che «la prima persona incontrata all’ingresso del tribunale mi ha abbracciato» la neo presidente del tribunale di Spoleto, Claudia Matteini, che ha così voluto dare la misura del benvenuto ricevuto mercoledì mattina, quando ha preso possesso dell’ufficio retto nell’ultimo...

www.umbria24.it

(Not only) my prejudice about the sloppiness and dysfunctionality of the Italian administration IMO is also based on faulty recruitment without more meritocratic considerations.

 

[Numbers]

Preferments: Paolo Micheli was judge of Corte di Cassazione, today Alessandro Nencini is president of the court in Florence and Claudia Matteini is promoted to president of the court in Spoleto:

Matteini presidente del tribunale di Spoleto: «Slancio con giovani magistrati» - Umbria 24

di C.F. Ha raccontato che «la prima persona incontrata all’ingresso del tribunale mi ha abbracciato» la neo presidente del tribunale di Spoleto, Claudia Matteini, che ha così voluto dare la misura del benvenuto ricevuto mercoledì mattina, quando ha preso possesso dell’ufficio retto nell’ultimo...

www.umbria24.it

(Not only) my prejudice about the sloppiness and dysfunctionality of the Italian administration IMO is also based on faulty recruitment without more meritocratic considerations.

One concern I have is that the recruitment of Italian prosecutors and judges is supposedly meritocratic - based on an exam given to (self-selecting) graduates of Italian law schools. However, once in office, these magistrates (the general Italian term for prosecutors and judges), at least as evidenced by the Knox - Sollecito case, display striking dysfunctions by unfairly interpreting Italian law or unfairly (arbitrarily) selecting the Italian procedural laws that they use in a trial, while unfairly evaluating evidence.