I disagree, I suspect Raffaele and Amanda will be found not guilty by this court. I think perhaps it should be taken into account that this sort of thing isn't unusual in Italy, that mistakes are made by the trial of the first instance which are then rectified by the appeals court, and this is one case where that is more likely than most. Whereas in the United States many like to assume our justice system is the best in the world for the defendant, and if mistakes are made it is due to criminals getting off, the Italians
know that's not the case with their system. There's less reason for them to balk at the idea a mistake was made, in fact those jurors--by law better educated than the first trial--know that's why they're
there.
The prosecution has to take that case through court again, this time likely missing the most damning pieces of evidence. As I recall Curatolo was one of the last to testify in the previous trial, at a time when jurors' minds had probably been made up, when he might have come across as eccentric and lovable. The report listed in Candace Dempsey's blog suggested it didn't go that way this time, they weren't laughing with him, they were laughing at him. The DNA evidence has to come in, I don't think that's going to be in his favor either, another embarrassment at the outset of the trial, and he has little to make it up with. The defense knows what's coming this time around, there's little that could be possibly be added, and some more that might yet be subtracted--and they didn't start with all that much to begin with.
I suspect some of what worked against Amanda and Raffaele in the first trial will work for them in this one. I recall asking Charlie Wilkes months back before he left 'who owns all those TV stations and could use a scandal in the judiciary right about now?' I am unsurprised that Rocco and others are calling into an investigation into what happened in the backroom of that police station in Perugia. Whereas last trial it was Amanda's 'accusation' which leaked into the trial, this time it might well be 'what happened to those poor kids in that police station?' What are the demographics of Oggi and just what is the composition of that jury? Since Amanda has been in jail, at least two books have been published in Italian about her experiences there which reports indicated to me were overwhelmingly positive, however I did not risk my sanity by attempting to read them through Google translate!
Put yourself in Mignini's shoes, this is man who sees enemies all around him, perfectly justified as he's pissed a lot of people off. He has a judge who just isn't giving him what he wants, a Supreme Court which didn't 'respect' the Massei court like he'd told all and sundry they would, and a lead prosecutor who seems to me to be hiding behind him. He has a top MoJ parliamentarian defending one of his victims, and another one from an opposing party writing that book and letter wanting an investigation into what was 'investigated' by himself--almost like they don't trust him. He's facing his own charges as well, that has to go to the SC too soon, doesn't it? He had a dreadful English language interview which might preclude future attempts, and yet again lashed out at a journalistic critic--which did no good whatsoever except focus the eye of a respected defender of journalists. (thank you!
) This is a wonderful way to draw the ire of English-speaking journalists, whose reports might well leak into the Italian press as well.
I suspect that one of the things that contributed to this travesty of justice was a confluence of events that cannot be repeated. That prosecutor who appears to me to be hiding behind Mignini is supposedly up for the Supreme Court according to Broken_English, do you suppose he
really wants to send this case to them? Do you suppose he'll go beyond the bounds of propriety like Mignini and Comodi did, in the last trial, or let them do so in this one? Which reminds me, one thing I recall both Broken_English and Machiavelli agreeing on is that Massei might receive a poor evaluation for his report on that trial, which apparently didn't impress Judge Hellmann much either according to reports. Do you suppose he wants to write a motivations report condemning Amanda and Raffaele again with even less evidence? That might encourage him not to allow the prosecution nearly as much leeway as Massei did in the last trial.
My view is Italy is not North Korea--nor is it the United States. I know well you've spent more time and assets on this case than I, and I may well be wrong, but I just wanted to add my opinion as I'd been thinking about it since Pilot brought up that old post of Charlie Wilkes.
