Amanda Knox & Raffaele Sollecito have been FREED

by dm6 29 Replies latest social current

  • dm6
    dm6

    I'm not sure how many of you are interested in this or how many of you have been following it, but i have been right from when i first heard about it a few years ago.

    They were each sentenced 25 years and 26 years for the murder of British student Meredith Mercher, but after a dramatic appeal, today, they have had their sentences overturned and have been given an immediate release, because the evidence suggesting that they were guilty was not strong enough to support that verdict.

    I Always thought them both to be innocent, and this is true justice for the poor girl and guy after being locked up for 4 years for somehting they did not commit, however, it does still leave an unsolved riddle.... Who killed Meredith Mercher if not these two?

    The strange thing is, Amanda knox apparently originally claimed she heard screams from Meredith and hid in a different room in the house whilst it happened, but that stroy had changed to "I was never there" which is what i think too, given the facts.

    http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/3850483/Amanda-Knox-is-not-guilty-of-killing-Meredith-Kercher.html

    What are your thoughts?

  • sizemik
    sizemik

    Anyone who changes their story is lying at least once . . . I think they're far from 100% innocent. Not enough evidence and innocent aren't the same thing.

  • Broken Promises
    Broken Promises

    Wasn't an African dude jailed as well?

    Good to see you, D. Any word yet on your application?

  • Pams girl
    Pams girl

    Just listen to some excerps from the case on Radio 2......Knox is on her way to the UK before flying out to Seattle.

    Apparently, Amada Knox was doing cartwheels and the splits before she was due for her final appeal (witnessed by several people).....strange behaviour.

    The whole Knox family whooped and screamed with joy at the verdict. I think this was totally insensative to Merediths family.

    Merediths family sat there stunned and tearful......and Knox was seen winking at her solicitor.

    If Knox is innocent, shes right to be free. I think shes a lying manipulative witch personally. Shes gonna be very rich. The Americans will have already cast the lead actress in the starring role, there will no doubt be a book.

    Meanwhile, Merediths family are "back to square one" and have to once again live through the horror and accept the possibility their daughters killer could still be at large.

    A very disturbing and thought provoking story to be sure. How does one ever get over the murder of a child? never I suspect.

  • Justitia Themis
    Justitia Themis

    Apparently, Amada Knox was doing cartwheels and the splits before she was due for her final appeal (witnessed by several people).....strange behaviour.

    I suspect this goes back to an earlier "story" about her supposedly performing cartwheels at the police station after the murder. A police officer walked in and saw her doing the what he thought was the "splits," but she was performing yoga to calm herself. The splits seemed too tame, so it became exagerrated in the media into the "splits. Or it could be blending with the story that she went back to the jail and played guitar in the prison churcher's chapel, something she did on a regular basis to calm herself.

    The whole Knox family whooped and screamed with joy at the verdict. I think this was totally insensative to Merediths family.

    I watched the verdict being read on T.V. They did not scream with joy; they started crying. The courtroom is in a very small, Medieval building, and because of close proximity, you could hear them crying. I don't think their reaction was out of proportion considering the circumstances.

    Meanwhile, Merediths family are "back to square one" and have to once again live through the horror and accept the possibility their daughters killer could still be at large.

    I think this is the oddest comment, and I was equally puzzled by hearing the Kircher family state the same sentiment. Meredith's killer has been in jail for quite some time. It is Rudy, and his semen and DNA was all over Meredith, and his DNA was all over Meredith's room.

    Knox was seen winking at her solicitor.

    WHAT THE HELL?! She dropped her head into her hands, almost fainted, then she burst into tears, and the police had to drag her from the courtroom because she could barely walk.

    CONVERSELY, they found virtually none of Amanda's DNA in Meredith's room. People's confusion seems to stem from not undestanding DNA. A person can't walk into a room without leaving DNA, let alone commit a gruesome murder. Have you ever picked-up someone's cell phone? Their DNA transferred to you at that time. When they picked up the phone after you, your DNA transferred to them. But somehow, according to Italian police, Amanda was able to hold Meredith down while Rudy sexually assaulted her WITHOUT leaving any of her DNA.

    I also thought it odd the family doesn't understand why the two courts came to different conclusions. Have they even bothered to pay attention to the case? You would think they would want their daughter's memory honored by making sure that only guilty people are convicted. The lower court would not allow Amanda's legal team to attack the DNA evidence. Can you imagine having to defend yourself, but you are restricted from attacking the government's evidence? How CAN you defend yourself? The higher court allowed her team to actually mount a defense, and that's when the DNA evidence crumbled. With no DNA, there is nothing to link Amanda to the murder, and it supported her contention that she was with her boyfriend and not at the scene.

    Did she give conflicting statements? Yep. She was interrogated all day/all night, and by the end of such an experience, people will say anything to make it stop. That's why her statements would have automatically been thrown-out as evidence in a U.S. court; statements made under such duress are inherently suspect.

  • Yan Bibiyan
    Yan Bibiyan

    JT, excellent post!

  • JeffT
    JeffT

    To add to what Justia said, the prosecutor in the case would not even be practicing law in the US.

    http://www.nowpublic.com/world/prosecutor-amanda-knox-case-giuliano-mignini-found-guilty

    MIGNINI CONVICTED, SENTENCED TO 16 MONTHS PRISON ; Will give ammunition to Amanda Knox appeal

    Prosecutor in Amanda Knox case, Giuliano Mignini, found guilty

    Mignini said that he was astonished by the sentence. “My conscience is clear, I know I did nothing wrong” he told reporters. He continues his duties while awaiting the result of an appeal.

    Times Online Source: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article6999196.ece

    The head Prosecutor who convicted 22 year old American student Amanda Knoxand sentenced her to 26 years in an Italian prison for the sexual assault and murder of her British college room mate, Giuliano Mignini , has been convicted in Italy's high court. The sentence was handed down Friday in Florence .

    Mignini was found guilty of illegal phone tapping, abuse of high office, and dereliction of duty in connection with "The Monster of Florence " case in Italy. Mignin has been sentenced to one year, 4 months jail time.

    The British novelist Douglass Preston had spoken out during the trial of Amanda Knox, of his own experience with Mignini, who had interrogated him while he was in Florence, Italy, working on a true crime novel. Preston had described how Mignini's demeanor went from polite, civil, respectful, to suddenly manic, frightening, and accusatory. Preston said he knew first hand what the then 21 year old Amanda Knox had been up against. Mignini, he said, had a way of making one doubt one's own memory.

    In addition, Mignini consulted a priest who believed in oracles, spirits, and occult sex orgies , and Mignini had come to believe Italy was full of them, and that this not only motivated his actions relating to the "Monster" of Florence (a suspected sexual serial killer in the hills of Florence, never caught0 but also in the case against Amanda Knox, one night after Halloween, in the sexual slaying of British college student Meredith Kercher. Mignini made much of the fact that it was the Halloween weekend, with regard to the supposed sexual game which ended in murder.

    Directly below is an excerpt of Preston's story about his interrogation at the hands of Mignini:

    Mignini’s face flushed as his frustration mounted. He frequently instructed the stenographer to read back my earlier answers. “You said that, and now you say this. Which is true, Dottor Preston? Which is true?

    I began to stumble over my words (as I’ve noted, I am not fluent in Italian, especially legal and criminological terms). With a growing sense of dismay, I could hear from my own stammering, hesitant voice that I was sounding like a liar.

    “Listen to this,” Mignini said. He nodded to the stenographer, who pressed a button on her computer. There was the ringing of a phone, and then my voice:

    Pronto.”

    Ciao, sono Mario.”

    Spezi and I chatted for a moment while I listened in amazement to my own voice, clearer on the intercept than in the original call on my lousy cell phone. Mignini played it once, then again. He stopped at the point where Spezi said, “We did it all,” and fixed his eyes on me: “What exactly did you do, Dottor Preston?”

    I explained that Spezi was referring to his decision to report to the police what he had heard about possible evidence hidden at the villa.

    “No, Dottor Preston.” He played the recording again and again, asking repeatedly, “What is this thing you did? What did you do?” He seized on Spezi’s comment that the telephone was bad. What did he mean by that?

    I explained that he thought the phone was tapped.

    And why, Mignini wanted to know, were we concerned about the phones being tapped if we weren’t engaged in illegal activity?

    “Because it isn’t nice to have your phone tapped,” I answered feebly.

    “That is not an answer, Dottor Preston.”

    Continue reading at NowPublic.com: Prosecutor in Amanda Knox case, Giuliano Mignini, found guilty | NowPublic News Coveragehttp://www.nowpublic.com/world/prosecutor-amanda-knox-case-giuliano-mignini-found-guilty#ixzz1Zp8ebPXa

  • yourmomma
    yourmomma

    If they would have convicted them on that DNA evidence, that would have been a joke. There was clearly not enough evidence to put 2 people away for 20 years.

  • Justitia Themis
    Justitia Themis

    That's interesting JeffT. I always wondered where/how the whole "satanic ritual" thing ever entered the case since they didn't find, nor did the prosecution present, any evidence of Satanism.

    And you are right; he would never be a prosecutor in the U.S. or even an attorney.

    Here is an excerpt from the Model Rules of Profession Conduct regarding prosecutors. Most states have adopted the rule as written or with little modification.

    http://www.americanbar.org/groups/professional_responsibility/publications/model_rules_of_professional_conduct/rule_3_8_special_responsibilities_of_a_prosecutor.html

    except for statements that are necessary to inform the public of the nature and extent of the prosecutor's action and that serve a legitimate law enforcement purpose, refrain from making extrajudicial comments that have a substantial likelihood of heightening public condemnation of the accused and exercise reasonable care to prevent investigators, law enforcement personnel, employees or other persons assisting or associated with the prosecutor in a criminal case from making an extrajudicial statement that the prosecutor would be prohibited from making under Rule 3.6 or this Rule.

    (g) When a prosecutor knows of new, credible and material evidence creating a reasonable likelihood that a convicted defendant did not commit an offense of which the defendant was convicted, the prosecutor shall:

    (1) promptly disclose that evidence to an appropriate court or authority, and

    (2) if the conviction was obtained in the prosecutor’s jurisdiction,

    (i) promptly disclose that evidence to the defendant unless a court authorizes delay, and

    (ii) undertake further investigation, or make reasonable efforts to cause an investigation, to determine whether the defendant was convicted of an offense that the defendant did not commit.

    (h) When a prosecutor knows of clear and convincing evidence establishing that a defendant in the prosecutor’s jurisdiction was convicted of an offense that the defendant did not commit, the prosecutor shall seek to remedy the conviction.

  • Wasanelder Once
    Wasanelder Once

    The damned Italians can't even build a tower that stays straight, how do you expect them to get a fair trial? C'mon, I'm kidding about the tower.

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