halides,
OK, we agree that there is an effective and ineffective way of being a 'Friend of Amanda'?. I would go so far as to say that the FOA has also been dismally poor at being friends of Knox's family ... encouraging them to make statements designed to interfere with the judicial process and to make unfounded statements about the conduct of the police.
They were telling the truth though, and had it right for the most part, and it can be supported.
Here's where I started a list of damaging lies or misinformation the cops presented, both to
courts and to the press that defamed Amanda Knox, at the same time the police were telling everyone Amanda was a 'compulsive liar.' The opposite was true, as tough as it may be to believe, I
myself didn't buy the whole story of police and judicial corruption in this case at first either, as you can see from one of my first posts in this debate.
That's hardly an exhaustive list I put together either, it's just the ones I started with that can be backed by the primary sources, for the most part, the crime scene photographs and videos that prove the police and prosecution were disseminating information that was demonstrably untrue, and that they should have known as such being as it was coming from information that at the time was only available to them. I will be happy to continue the list if that initial offering is not comprehensive enough for you.
The stark contrast between the Knox family/FAO behaviour and that of Meredith's family had no bearing on the outcome of the trial, but has made a bad situation worse for Curt and his family?
Unfortunately that's not quite accurate and never was, and the situation has deteriorated since. They hired a man named Maresca, perhaps at Mignini's suggestion, whose job is to 'represent' the victim in an Italian trial. It's something that
sounds like a good idea until a case like this exposes the potentially disastrous consequences of it. It is not required to do so, and in a case as weak as this it never should have been done, it should have been remembered that an Italian trial of the first instance is often overturned by the appeals, and the defendants are considered innocent all the way through the process.
Maresca's job was not just to attempt to receive a settlement, but to extract vengeance, mainly by contesting every mitigation to the sentence and to demand more aggravations. He, along with Pacelli, Patrick's lawyer, also effectively gave the prosecution more voices in court, and in the press, which unfortunately was a big deal in the trial of the first instance. They participated in the defamation campaign both in court and in the press. There's nothing 'dignified' about being represented by a man like Maresca, who incidentally is representing the police in the absurd slander case brought against Amanda's parents. Thus the Kercher lawyer is working to put Amanda's parents in jail.
John Kercher wrote three articles in the Daily Mail, Mirror and the Times, in part denouncing the support Amanda Knox has received, saying he hopes the appeals fail, and demonstrating he's unaware that what he thinks of as 'evidence' is in fact bogus, and appears to resemble the 'theory' of the crime promoted by General Garafano, notably in an article in the Sun. It is also intimated in the articles and has been said at PMF that he reads either that or the other one. From perusing the articles it appears to me the whole 'PR campaign' conspiracy found traction with him and he may never rest easy now, in part to lies told to him by the prosecution and police at the outset, compounded by an environment that gave credence to them and actively promoted the idea.
I find it the whole thing tragic, however I place the blame for it at the feet of the man who most likely orchestrated it, Mignini, as he's the one who probably suggested they retain a lawyer to extract vengeance and who initiated the whole 'PR conspiracy' theme, which got traction elsewhere as you know, and which appears to be why he's publicly implied those supporting Raffaele and Amanda cause him pain and should desist as he's happy with the verdict in the trial of the first instance. I find that position unpalatable, he and his family are not the only victims in this travesty. He is a victim of Rudy Guede, but also Mignini and Maresca and the corrupt and incompetent police who victimized two innocent college kids and in their desperation have compounded that by attempting to prosecute seven more family members of Raffaele and Amanda, eight journalists as well as lawyers for Raffaele and Amanda.
Calling the FOA a joke is perhaps an understatement?
Only in the sense that Cassandra was, to speak the truth but be cursed that no one would believe them. However as the facts came out they supported their account, especially their characterization of Amanda Knox. Incidentally, I am not a member of FOA, in fact it wasn't until just recently that I figured out how to navigate their website! Color me clueless, but I'd go there and figure I was on the English page already being as the words were in English and all, and couldn't figure out how to find all the rest of the information there. Thus I had to follow a link from someone else who I figured must have 'access' or something!
To save time, could you list the elements which you believe were not adressed correctly in the first trial, that you think will not be addressed in the appeal ... those are the ones we need to be thinking about?
Kevin, the whole case is a house of cards already collapsing. Anything that suggests that Raffaele and Amanda were involved in the murder will be challenged if it goes that far. Why wouldn't they?
I've seen that several posters seem to be concerned that Knox's questioning was not recorded before she made her confession to being present at the murder scene at ... the interview was terminated 01:45, because she then became an offical suspect, and the interview could not continue without her having a lawyer.
That was the PMF theory of the interrogation that was blown out of the water by the police lying about it in court, which wasn't exactly something they advertised.
I would like to say that if recording potential witness interviews was standard procedure in Perugia, or indeed Italy, in November 2007, I share the outrage of my fellow posters.
If this does prove to be the case, then following my trip to Siena on 2nd July, for the Palio Festival, I will travel a little further south to Perugia to register my protest both with the chief of police and the head of the police union .... personally.
Do not get yourself a
calunnia or diffamazione charge! They are
rampant in this case, which might suggest something to you.
We could also make our views know at the annual police conference ... where incidently, in 2007, before the murder was committed, the head of the police union talked about the problem of accusations of misconduct against the police becoming part of the standard defense in all major trials ... the lawyers, criminologists, etc. as well as serving officers, seemed to have decided that the only solution was to test such allegations in court, which of course later happened to the families of AK, RS and others who followed the same strategy.
Perhaps the reason they are so common is because they are so corrupt? The lack of oversight of police in Italy is frightening to behold, especially when they can just file a charge on someone for suggesting it.
Think of it this way, Kevin. If Raffaele and Amanda couldn't have committed the murder due to being at Raffaele's which a scientifically correct time of death and the computer records prove, then what does that suggest about the case that went through court and how it was assembled?
