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Continuation - Discussion of the Amanda Knox case

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It's under the same rule which asserts that people such as you or I are completely unqualified to discuss the time of death in relation to the stomach/intestine contents* - apparently the ability to acquire and interpret knowledge outside of one's own immediate areas of expertise is regarded as either impossible or totally untrustworthy (or, as Pilot Padron is very fond of saying: "Google-de-gook"). The rule asserts that such medical knowledge is apparently only accessible and understandable by a few select super-beings, in the same way as the alchemists jealously guarded the secrets to making gold....

Yes, these super-beings are called doctors, and I don't think you're one of them. Of course you can discuss whatever you please, but your opinions are unqualfied and your conclusions are based only on what you have read online. There is a reason why courts of law rely on what professionals say rather then some guy on the Internet.
 
Ah, but what did he tie it off with? Camembert, perhaps? Play-dough? A wisp of cobweb? Can we rule these possibilities out? Treehorn will no doubt keep asking the tough questions on this important issue.

Ligatures...

Displacement of alimentary matter during autopsy...

Any of this ring a bell, Lowe?

It's been almost 2 full months!

Shall we now keep a running tally of how many posts you make without addressing your abject failure to support your assertions in respect of the ligature issue?

That fact that you keep (childishly) proclaiming "victory" on the matter while ignoring your lapse is not very becoming.

Or have you completely dropped your insistence on "evidence-based argument" ?
 
Yes, these super-beings are called doctors, and I don't think you're one of them. Of course you can discuss whatever you please, but your opinions are unqualfied and your conclusions are based only on what you have read online. There is a reason why courts of law rely on what professionals say rather then some guy on the Internet.

You seem unable to make the distinction between being an expert in something, and having sufficient knowledge about that same thing to be able to express an informed opinion. And I have sufficient knowledge about the workings of the gastrointestinal system to be able to express an informed opinion about it that has some value. Incidentally, my conclusions in this area are based on a good deal more than I've read online - although the medical literature that's available online is more than sufficient to form an informed opinion. If you read the various medical papers (plus the published opinions of well-known forensic pathologists) and assimilated them, I think you'd understand.
 
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Ligatures...

Displacement of alimentary matter during autopsy...

Any of this ring a bell, Lowe?

It's been almost 2 full months!

Shall we now keep a running tally of how many posts you make without addressing your abject failure to support your assertions in respect of the ligature issue?

That fact that you keep (childishly) proclaiming "victory" on the matter while ignoring your lapse is not very becoming.

Or have you completely dropped your insistence on "evidence-based argument" ?

This is pathetic. I don't think Kevin is a medical doctor, and I don't care. What I care about is that he's correct about the elastic properties of the human small intestine, and he doesn't need to be a doctor to understand that. I am not an astronomer, yet I know with as much certainty as an astronomer that the Sun is around 150m km from the Earth (although that distance varies over the year), and comprises about 75% hydrogen and 23% helium. It all stems from an ability to ingest and interpret information. No human is born with the innate knowledge of anything other than survival instincts. Everything else is the result of acquired knowledge, or new knowledge extrapolated from existing knowledge.

But, just to try to put this one to bed, here are some references:

The first one deals with the circumferential elasticity property of the human small intestine (it's the fourth abstract in the list):

http://www.imbm.bas.bg/tm/jtam/vol36-4.htm

The next link discusses the mechanism of peristalsis through the small intestine, again making reference to elastic distending and contraction of the intestine wall:

http://www.vivo.colostate.edu/hbooks/pathphys/digestion/basics/slowwaves.html

Some general information about the small intestine, including reference to its length:

http://www.gesa.org.au/digestive-system/small_intestine.cfm

And finally, for those who have the stomach for it (no pun intended), a couple of videos showing the small intestine. The first shows a dissection of a removed small intestine, and the second shows a post-mortem examination of the small intestine in situ:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MEfcrxQ9aZE&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R6mnsT43I_k&feature=related

In summary:

The human small intestine is a 5-7m long tube with an elastic circumference.
 
No, but no less insane for him to have done it.
I don't think there is any higher (not to mention international-level) "political will" to resolve this case outside of the normal judicial process.

Depending on your theory of the crime, Knox and Sollecito were only convicted out of personal and political convenience.

I think the mechanism was more complex. There are multitude of people involved in the investigation and conviction, and we can't ascribe a singular motive or the same level of knowledge to all of them. Actually I think it was a mix of cognitive errors, incompetence, mistakes in evidence assessment, vindictiveness, group conformity, Perugian judiciary inner loyalty and local politics, general inertia, mass media and public pressure and some genuine belief in their guilt ( compatible with the CT mindset that also took over the MoF case ).
 
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Dr Nick - put it down, thats a spoon !

http://www.injusticeinperugia.org/Raffaele_Sollecito_Appeal.pdf

Page 162.

Sollecito's appeal document argues that the ToD was "21.30-22.00", based on a proper correlation of the stomach/intestinal contents with the known time of Meredith's last pizza meal. I think that they've deliberately erred on the side of caution in going for 10pm as the upper time frame, but I don't see why they haven't gone back as early as 9.15 or so.
Either way, they argue that Meredith was dead by 10pm at the latest.

By the way, Sollecito's appeal also explicitly argues that the "intestinal slippage" hypothesis is rubbish, since the autopsy video clearly shows Lalli correctly tying off the duodenum.

Seems like Sollecito's defence team, at least, appears to subscribe to the same hypothesis put forward by me and Kevin (among others). I'm not surprised by this, since it's a medically-accurate hypothesis, so far as I'm able to tell. We shall see whether the appeal court accepts the hypothesis.


Nonsense.

The defence appeal experts appear to be trying to use the 'standard' parameters* on gastric emptying etc and simply pushing the time back to the earlier part of the range (much as they did in the 1st trial) - To come up with a 9.30 - 10.00 ToD window.

* Using the 6.30 Mealtime start as opposed to the possible 7.00 & using the 3 from the 3-4 hr range [or the 2-3] ?? its not clear from the docs. Or saying mealtime is 6.30 - 7.00 and just adding 3.
If we get a properly human translated doc we may be able to tell exactly what and if it even differs from the arguments put forward in the 1st trial.


Your and Kevin Lowe's theories on the other hand are based on some 'truther' type science that exists only in your own imagination and has given us among other results

- A ToD range with, at one stage, a midpoint at 8.00 [IIRC MK's English friends were in the fame as a result]

- A precise ToD from Kevin Lowe, in several posts, of 9.05 (sometimes 9.15 - when you are just making it up, pick any time you like)

- Your own recent p= 0.95 claim for a ToD before 9.20

And you wonder why they don't agree with your earlier times ?

It's Simple - what you have produced is nonsense as any layman can tell.

In a nutshell there's no certainty or precision, merely a range, on ToD from gastric analysis as was made clear by the experts in the trial.
Note also that of 6-7 pages in the machine doc posted above much of it is spent on Weight & Temp issues which also have broad ranges and wont settle the matter either given the available data.


It's under the same rule which asserts that people such as you or I are completely unqualified to discuss the time of death in relation to the stomach/intestine contents* - apparently the ability to acquire and interpret knowledge outside of one's own immediate areas of expertise is regarded as either impossible or totally untrustworthy (or, as Pilot Padron is very fond of saying: "Google-de-gook").


Not at all - Some probably can but not you guys based on what we have seen so far.
Its not that surprising given the difficulties you encounter in much simpler areas :)

.
 
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Daniel's statement in Italian and in rough translation

Why don't you take THIS one: Post# 18266 ? [http://www.internationalskeptics.com/forums/showthread.php?postid=6618330#post6618330]

You've been dodging me for almost 2 full months despite the fact your work schedule appears to be such that you are able to post on an almost daily basis.

You needn't feel threatened by my question - I'm merely trying to assess whether your claims are worth any serious consideration.

treehorn,

Daniel said, "Da quel girono non ho piu' *rivisto ne' sentito Amanda, della quale peraltro non posseggo neanche il numero del cellulare, ne le altre ragazze. Ne ho avuto occasione di ritornare a Perugia a trovare**i miei amici"

Roughly translated, this means "From that day, I neither saw nor spoke to Amanda, whose cell phone number I didn't have, nor that of the other girls. I had no other opportunity to return to Perugia to visit my friends".

I have also documented one of Newsweek's questionable editorial judgements and some of Ms. Nadeau's errors. Are you now willing to concede that you were wrong in these matters?
 
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personal attacks on the parents

halides1

Can you point out to me what's erroneous in mine.

I ask you in the hope of an honest answer, as I recently found [by following a link that you provided to me] that you are not just an anonymous internet poster [unlike me, or indeed others here - one of whom seems, IMO, to indulge in (dead victim) rape fantasy, hehehe] but one whose identity is known and thus mindful of the (self imposed) 'responsibilities' that come with that.

Obviously you are no obligation to respond candidly, if at all.

platonov,

I am not sure to which issue you are referring, and it is not obvious to me why I should spend the time figuring it out.

I do not wish to judge Mr. Kercher, but I do not condemn those who do, some of whom criticized him for writing what he did. However, I see little reason to exempt him from derision and not do the same for Edda Mellas, etc. Mrs. Mellas has been the subject of much unfair scorn and (at least recently) the subject of vulgar name-calling on a moderated discussion forum elsewhere. Name calling goes well beyond anything justifiable, as far as I am concerned.
 
Nonsense.

The defence appeal experts appear to be trying to use the 'standard' parameters* on gastric emptying etc and simply pushing the time back to the earlier part of the range (much as they did in the 1st trial) - To come up with a 9.30 - 10.00 ToD window.

* Using the 6.30 Mealtime start as opposed to the possible 7.00 & using the 3 from the 3-4 hr range [or the 2-3] ?? its not clear from the docs. Or saying mealtime is 6.30 - 7.00 and just adding 3.
If we get a properly human translated doc we may be able to tell exactly what and if it even differs from the arguments put forward in the 1st trial.


Your and Kevin Lowe's theories on the other hand are based on some 'truther' type science that exists only in your own imagination and has given us among other results

- A ToD range with, at one stage, a midpoint at 8.00 [IIRC MK's English friends were in the fame as a result]

- A ToD from Kevin Lowe of [in several posts] of 9.05 (sometimes 9.15 - when you are just making it up, pick any time you like)

- Your own recent p= 0.95 claim for a ToD before 9.20

And you wonder why they don't agree with your earlier times ?

It's Simple - what you have produced is nonsense as any layman can tell.

In a nutshell there's no certainty or precision, merely a range on ToD from gastric analysis as was made clear by the experts in the trial.
Note also that of 6-7 pages in the machine doc posted above much of it is spent on Weight & Temp issues which also have broad ranges and wont settle the matter either.





Not at all - Some probably can but not you guys based on what we have seen so far.
Its not that surprising given the difficulties you encounter in much simpler areas :)

.

Ah we're back to the strange superfluous full stop, I see. Just as an aside, can I ask why you feel it important to do that?

As you'll have seen, various pathologists gave varying times for food leaving the stomach, some of which contradicted each other. Dr Lalli - the police pathologist - stated pretty unequivocally that death occurred within no more than 2-3 hours of Meredith eating her last meal. This is clearly contradictory to other testimony given by Umani Ronchi and Bacci, which extended the time window out to 4 hours after eating. These two sets of forensic pathologists can't both be correct - one of them (at least) has to be wrong. By definition. And these are the "experts".

I believe that none of the experts in the first trial was properly versed in the determination of ToD from the condition of the stomach/duodenum contents. And I think that's because pathologists rarely (if ever) in their entire career are called upon to use this method to determine ToD. I stand 100% behind my assertion that all the medical literature shows that a t(lag) of over 3 hours is massively unusual. And my gastro consultant endorses that view explicitly. And every research study that is available online (which is to say virtually every one that's been conducted) is entirely in line with that view.

I see that you've fallen back to what you (and stilicho) think is a fundamental flaw in the argument - that since the ToD range has a midpoint of 8pm, this invalidates the whole argument. I can only assume that you have extremely low critical reasoning faculties. The midpoint in the range is indeed 8pm - just like the average adult male height in the UK might be 5ft10. But that doesn't mean all males in the UK are 5ft10 tall, any more than it means that Meredith must have died at 8pm. To extend this analogy, since we know that Meredith must have died later than 9pm, this is roughly analogous to knowing that a particular adult male is 6ft8 or taller. This is because 9pm (ie t(lag)=2.5 hours=150min) is at about the 98% level on the probability distribution curve, according to all the research. In other words, only 2% of people have a t(lag) of 150min or longer. Meredith by definition must be one of this very small minority of people. Just as somebody who's 6ft8 or taller is in a very small minority of adult males.

The question now is this: given that Meredith's t(lag) is greater than 150min, what's the probability that it's between 150min and 170mins. And the research data suggest that this is a 95% probability (I've done the maths elsewhere on previous posts, and my maths is correct, but feel free to check). Back to the analogy: given that a man is over 6ft8 tall, what's the probability that he's between 6ft8 and 7ft2 (as opposed to over 7ft2). Again, the probability is around 95%, because although it's already unusual to be over 6ft8 tall, it's extraordinarily unusual to be over 7ft2 tall.

Do you understand this reasoning? Don't insult me by comparing my arguments to those of truthers. Your comment on the 8pm median point shows that you're either ignorant of statistics or willfully trying to distort/obfuscate the argument - which is it?

Lastly, here's just one of the research papers which has charted t(lag) times in a statistically significant study:

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1440-1746.2006.04449.x/abstract

Perhaps you can use this paper to point out to me, using all your powers of scientific reasoning, how likely it is (according to this paper) that t(lag) for a solid meal is greater than the following times:

a) 81.5 minutes (1 hour 21.5 minutes)
b) 102 minutes (1 hour 42 minutes)
c) 150 minutes (2 hours 30 minutes)
d) 170 minutes (2 hours 50 minutes)
e) 210 minutes (3 hours 30 minutes)

Hint: the answers to a and b are given in the abstract. But in order to compute c, d and e you'll have to map the information given in the abstract onto a standard gaussian curve with a percentile scale, correlating the 50% and 75% points.

Enjoy, and please let me know the results you come back with.
 
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...

Lastly, here's just one of the research papers which has charted t(lag) times in a statistically significant study:

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1440-1746.2006.04449.x/abstract

Perhaps you can use this paper to point out to me, using all your powers of scientific reasoning, how likely it is (according to this paper) that t(lag) for a solid meal is greater than the following times:

a) 81.5 minutes (1 hour 21.5 minutes)
b) 102 minutes (1 hour 42 minutes)
c) 150 minutes (2 hours 30 minutes)
d) 170 minutes (2 hours 50 minutes)
e) 210 minutes (3 hours 30 minutes)

Hint: the answers to a and b are given in the abstract. But in order to compute c, d and e you'll have to map the information given in the abstract onto a standard gaussian curve with a percentile scale, correlating the 50% and 75% points.

Enjoy, and please let me know the results you come back with.

You have not shown how that paper any way relates to the meal that Meredith Kercher had ate before her death. The various studies I have seen record the quantity of food, the amount of carbohydrates, starch, sugar in the food, and calories, so that the study can be tested and reproduced if need be. Your calculations are nothing but guess work.
 
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You have not shown how that paper any way relates to the meal that Meredith Kercher had ate before her death. The various studies I have seen record the quantity of food, the amount of carbohydrates, starch, sugar in the food, and calories, so that the study can be tested and reproduced if need be. Your calculations are nothing but guess work.

My calculations are not guesswork. However I'm guessing (haha) that you're not very familiar with scientific research or statistical analysis. Would I be correct?

Of course, the composition and size of meals in these tests are measured and recorded. That's part of the experimental procedure. It ensures complete replicability of the study - a fundamental tenet of proper scientific research. But other research studies have shown that solid meals in such studies can vary somewhat in size and composition, with virtually no impact on t(lag) and only a small impact on t(1/2). The other studies that I've cited support this.

In addition to all that, it so happens that Meredith's last meal was almost an ideal proxy for a research meal. We know from her friends' testimony that she ate only a small amount of pizza, followed by a small amount of apple crumble. This meal comprises an almost ideal mixture of carbohydrates, proteins and fats, with small amounts of dairy produce, bread, vegetables and fruit. Furthermore, we know for a fact that Meredith only ate a small amount of a balanced meal, since it was all discovered and identified in her stomach during the autopsy.

So this paper relates pretty closely to the situation with Meredith, in fact. Had Meredith eaten a 700g steak, with a large baked potato and a huge pile of creamed spinach, all washed down with half a bottle of red wine, I'd agree with your assertion. But she didn't, and I don't.
 
You have not shown how that paper any way relates to the meal that Meredith Kercher had ate before her death. The various studies I have seen record the quantity of food, the amount of carbohydrates, starch, sugar in the food, and calories, so that the study can be tested and reproduced if need be. Your calculations are nothing but guess work.

Nonsense. He's suggesting a range of estimates based on medical science.

Somebody (I think it was LJ) posted an analogy a few weeks back - the stature of an adult human varies considerably, but if you postulate a 9-foot-tall person, it's not plausible. It is the same with Meredith's stomach being completely full 5 hours after a meal, which is what Massei accepts by placing the time of death after 11:30 pm.
 
The destruction of electronic items is - my educated guess - the consequence of lack of means due to the catastrophic budget cuts which had drawn the most egergious protests by the Police who have been even demonstrating in the streets in Perugia for years.

You have got to be kidding.
 
This is pathetic. I don't think Kevin is a medical doctor, and I don't care.[/B]

Fine. Feel free to move along.

However, I do care.

Unless one is familiar with the use of ligatures/ the handling of human intestines in the course of an autopsy, I don't believe they can speak intelligently (or with any legitimate authority) on the matter in question.

Further, your links do NOTHING to DIRECTLY support Lowe's claims, nor do they explain why Lowe has - in direct violation of his own insistence upon "evidence-based argument"/ citations to "peer-reviewed scientific journals" -failed (utterly) to cite a single journal article or authoritative text in support of his claims about the displacement (or lack thereof) of alimentary matter during autopsy.

Lowe's initial insistence upon "evidence-based argument" caught my eye, back in October. I think it's what we should all be striving for here. Accordingly, I'm disappointed to see that he appears to have abandoned the principle altogether.

PS I agree with your thought on Lowe's education - it is exceedingly unlikely that he has set foot in medical school, much less advanced to the point of becoming certified as a forensic pathologist.

You might be comfortable relying on, say, a Google-powered milk man or a Wiki-enabled school teacher for their take on medical procedures/ knowledge, but that doesn't work for me. Not by a Loooooooooooooooooooooooooog shot, John.
 
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My calculations are not guesswork. However I'm guessing (haha) that you're not very familiar with scientific research or statistical analysis. Would I be correct?

I am fully aware with scientific research and statistics, but it seems that you are not.
Of course, the composition and size of meals in these tests are measured and recorded. That's part of the experimental procedure. It ensures complete replicability of the study - a fundamental tenet of proper scientific research. But other research studies have shown that solid meals in such studies can vary somewhat in size and composition, with virtually no impact on t(lag) and only a small impact on t(1/2). The other studies that I've cited support this.

Which other studies, and what was the t(lag)?

In addition to all that, it so happens that Meredith's last meal was almost an ideal proxy for a research meal. We know from her friends' testimony that she ate only a small amount of pizza, followed by a small amount of apple crumble. This meal comprises an almost ideal mixture of carbohydrates, proteins and fats, with small amounts of dairy produce, bread, vegetables and fruit. Furthermore, we know for a fact that Meredith only ate a small amount of a balanced meal, since it was all discovered and identified in her stomach during the autopsy.

So this paper relates pretty closely to the situation with Meredith, in fact. Had Meredith eaten a 700g steak, with a large baked potato and a huge pile of creamed spinach, all washed down with half a bottle of red wine, I'd agree with your assertion. But she didn't, and I don't.

What weight is "small"?
How much carbohydrates exactly?
How much fats exactly?
How much protein exactly?
etc,etc,etc

The fact is you can not show how the paper has any relation to what Meredith kercher ate, there is no way you could test and reproduce your theory with such vague terms as "small" and "balanced meal".
 
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So this paper relates pretty closely to the situation with Meredith, in fact. Had Meredith eaten a 700g steak, with a large baked potato and a huge pile of creamed spinach, all washed down with half a bottle of red wine, I'd agree with your assertion. But she didn't, and I don't.

I can only read the abstract so could you tell us what the "fluid test meal" and the "solid test meal" consisted of? How does this paper relate closely to Meredith, when her stomach contents were determined by autopsy and with the test subjects it was determined by a breath test.

Why do you think this paper is "statistically significant" when it only involved 90 people?
 
we await the findings with feverish anticipation

treehorn,

What has your research into the small intestine shown? Have you confirmed what I told you some time ago, that the protein elastin is a major component? I hope your research into this matter has been less error-prone that your research into Amanda's private life, which even you must by now admit was flawed.
 
Yes, these super-beings are called doctors, and I don't think you're one of them. Of course you can discuss whatever you please, but your opinions are unqualfied and your conclusions are based only on what you have read online. There is a reason why courts of law rely on what professionals say rather then some guy on the Internet.

Don't forget that I did ask a GI physician who actually consulted with a pathologist:

http://www.internationalskeptics.com/forums/showpost.php?p=6477163&postcount=12363

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Well LJ, you are going to love this. I just hung up with my favorite GI doc after a long discussion about t(lag) and t(1/2) etc. He said he finds it extrememly difficult to believe the entire meal was still in the stomach after even 3 hours. He said "No way."

He was telling me about the transit studies they do for gastroparesis and he said they feed the patient a small amount of pudding-like substance and the average time to t(1/2) is 90 minutes. He said he even checked with a pathologist after he received my email. He said "Obviously if someone ate big chunks of steak or lots of fiber it would take longer but still not 3 or 4 hours."

I asked if he thought the entire meal could have been at the end of the small intestine after, perhaps, 5 hours and he said yes but then there wouldn't have been 500cc in the stomach. So unless Meredith ate substantially an hour before dying at 11:30PM then he just doesn't see how the ToD could have even been 9:30 without having something in her small intestine.

I work with dozens of GI docs and anesthesiologists, etc. so I will keep asking around. I have mostly professional relationships with the physicians with whom I work so I will have to find the opportune time to ask as they are all so busy. Most of the time I barely have time to answer whatever questions they are asking before they "have to go". But plenty of them call me at home (just like tonight) so I will certainly ask when that happens. After all, home is MY time so I should be able to ask an OT question

One thing he did say was GI docs are more interested in t(1/2) than t(lag) because t(1/2) is specifically studied for GI malfunction. He thinks forensic pathologists would be better versed in the area of stomach contents as they relate to ToD.
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While I firmly do not believe anyone can state as a matter of fact Meredith died at 9:05 or 9:15 I do believe we can surely state it was not 11PM, not 10:30PM, and most likely not even as early as 10:00PM.
 
Scroll up a few. Justianian2 thinks the Knoxs should have pulled a "Rambo" on the Kerchers. Suggesting violence goes way beyond "misplaced emotion", it borders on mental illness. Of course, no one that believes in Amanda's innocence will condem this fool, because he thinks they are innocent too.

Yes, the folks over at PMF can be quite mean but stop with the hypocrisy.

Thanks for the defense of my statement made while I was high up in the mountains of Machu Picchu (I was unable to defend myself and just trying to keep from falling off the place!)

The statement that "Justianian2 thinks the Knoxs should have pulled a "Rambo" on the Kerchers" is such a perversion of my original post, that I know how the Knox family feels when their statements are discussed...
 
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The statement that "Justianian2 thinks the Knoxs should have pulled a "Rambo" on the Kerchers" is such a perversion of my original post, that I know how the Knox family feels when their statements are discussed...

Yeah, you know how it feels to be the parent of a person doing 26 years in prison for murder. :rolleyes:
 
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