Showing posts with label Amanda Knox. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Amanda Knox. Show all posts
Monday, June 27, 2011
Amanda Knox's innocence
Amanda Knox's innocence Madison Paxton: Amanda Knox's best friend can't wait to hear what drifter Rudy Guede, Knox's supposed conspirator, will say in court on June 27.Madison Paxton simply can’t believe the Amanda Knox headlines, even after nearly four years of reading them. Like the ones claiming that Knox’s freedom now hangs on the word of convicted child killer Mario Alessi or the upcoming
Amanda Knox's innocence
Amanda Knox's innocence Madison Paxton: Amanda Knox's best friend can't wait to hear what drifter Rudy Guede, Knox's supposed conspirator, will say in court on June 27.
Madison Paxton simply can’t believe the Amanda Knox headlines, even after nearly four years of reading them. Like the ones claiming that Knox’s freedom now hangs on the word of convicted child killer Mario Alessi or the upcoming testimony of drifter Rudy Guede, a man of many alibis who originally said Amanda wasn’t even at the crime scene and he’d never met Raffaele Sollecito, supposedly a co-conspirator. Rudy will have to answer questions in court for the first time on June 27, an earthshaking development that’s barely registered in the press.
“The trial is about the evidence,” says Madison, often described in the Italian media as Amanda’s amica della cuore (friend of the heart). ”When the reporters say Amanda has to prove her innocence, this implies a huge flaw in the system. She’s not supposed to have to prove her innocence. You can see what she’s up against because people really do have that mentality. If you’re in that defendant chair, then you’re guilty until you can prove you’re innocent.”
Madison moved to Italy in November and hasn’t missed a single hearing in the ongoing trial of Knox and Raffaele Sollecito. The former lovers are appealing their conviction for the murder of Knox’s British roommate, Meredith Kercher. Rudy Guede, who left “grave evidence” at the murder scene, saw his sentence diminish from 30 to 16 years after he fingered them during his appeal in November 2009. He spoke in open court sans proof or cross-examination. Now, Amanda and Raffaele will finally get to face their accuser, a right granted all defendants in the U.S. and United Kingdom.
Madison had a front-row seat last weekend when five prison inmates testified for the defense, creating major fireworks. The notorious Alessi, jailed in the same prison, testified that Rudy told him the two college students “had nothing to do with the murder of Meredith Kercher and things went in a very different way than what you read in the papers or see on TV. ”
Although Rudy has denied that conversation, other prisoners testified they’d overheard him talking to Alessi or learned the story from someone else. Former mobster Luciano Aviello claimed his brother was the real killer.
“It felt so bourgeois to have all the journalists tweeting about these criminals, because they weren’t all murderers. The reporters had no problem with Curatolo,” says Madison, meaning super witness Antonio Curatolo, a homeless man who admitted during the appeal that he was using heroin on the night of the murder (Nov 1, 2007) and changed the day he claimed to see Amanda and Raffaele near the crime scene–finally settling on Halloween. A disaster for the prosecution.
“You know you’re in a bad place when your prosecutor relies on a homeless drug addict who’s in jail,” says Madison. “What’s missing in the coverage is the hypocrisy of the prosecution, their willingness to use inmates who don’t have anybody to back them up, while simultaneously critcizing us for using inmates who do have witnesses to back them up. They’re willing to use inmates and people found in newspapers, but they criticize us.”
When she’s in court, Madison tries to see the events as if she were a defendant. “If I were in their place, I would just desperately want people to use the slightest bit of common sense and rationality. People say these things, but they don’t actually think of what it takes to kill another human being. They just say, oh, there was a brutal rape or murder. I don’t think they visualize in their heads the actual brutality. I don’t think they imagine the horror of it.”
As for the prosecution’s sex game crime theory, which paints Amanda as the instigator and the two young men as mere pawns, Madison points out: ”Rudy doesn’t speak English, Amanda didn’t speak much Italian, and Raffaele spoke minimal English. How did Amanda orchestrate this and convince them to do it? Was this the most macabre charade ever? How did she pull that off? Because she could not.
“I’ve been here seven months. I can order food. I can get around. I could never express my deeper feelings in Italian. I couldn’t possibly convince somebody I’ve known only six days (ndr. as Amanda knew Raffaele) to rape and murder somebody, but that’s the prosecution theory.”
Whatever happens, Madison will stay in Italy until the appeal ends, in September or October. She’s impressed that the judge has allowed independent DNA testing for the first time and that he started the proceedings by saying, ”The only thing we know for certain is Meredith Kercher is dead.”
The defense is feeling more upbeat, since the experts found that the DNA samples were either too scanty to test or had deteriorated in police custody.
Madison says Amanda has changed since the first trial, that she’s older, more self-confident, more willing to speak up and defend herself.
“I am feeling much more hopeful than last time, certainly,” Madison says. “There is a still a very chaotic feel to the trial. That hasn’t gone away. Sometimes it’s like a movie set with the characters coming in and out, shuffling. But it feels more genuine this time. Based on the questions that you hear the judges asking, you feel like they’re actually trying to find the truth and not just find guilty verdicts. The assistant judge asks just as many questions as the main judge. I haven’t seen any jury members sleeping.”
What would she ask Rudy Guede if she could?
“Obviously I would make a desperate plea to his conscience. I know, based on what other people tell me, that he’s claimed that he was there and somebody else did the murder.
“As for Amanda, I know she’d like to say, ‘You say you’re not a killer, but if you’re keeping Amanda and Raffaele in jail, then you are a killer, then you are taking their lives away. Whether Rudy took Meredith’s life or not, I don’t know. If so, then he’s taken three people’s lives.’”
As for the famous prosecutor Giuliano Mignini, Madison says he speaks up less during this trial. The proceedings don’t revolve around Amanda’s sex life or Mignini’s orgy gone wrong crime theory. So far, nobody has suggested that the crime occurred during a satanic ritual or under the spell of Manga comic books. Nobody has portrayed Amanda, a University of Washington honor student, as a girl gone wild.
“I’m still waiting for the name-calling,” says Madison. “It does seem more professional in the courtroom, less sensational, even the media coverage. There’s a much more sympathetic tone toward Amanda and Raffaele than in the past. It was much more whore and she devil before. It was amazing what people could get away with.
“The prosecutors still have not been affectionate toward Amanda, but they haven’t stood up and called her Luciferina or anything. Maybe they will in closing arguments.”
Here’s an ABC News wrapup on the Amanda Knox case.
By: Candace Dempsey
Madison moved to Italy in November and hasn’t missed a single hearing in the ongoing trial of Knox and Raffaele Sollecito. The former lovers are appealing their conviction for the murder of Knox’s British roommate, Meredith Kercher. Rudy Guede, who left “grave evidence” at the murder scene, saw his sentence diminish from 30 to 16 years after he fingered them during his appeal in November 2009. He spoke in open court sans proof or cross-examination. Now, Amanda and Raffaele will finally get to face their accuser, a right granted all defendants in the U.S. and United Kingdom.
Madison had a front-row seat last weekend when five prison inmates testified for the defense, creating major fireworks. The notorious Alessi, jailed in the same prison, testified that Rudy told him the two college students “had nothing to do with the murder of Meredith Kercher and things went in a very different way than what you read in the papers or see on TV. ”
Although Rudy has denied that conversation, other prisoners testified they’d overheard him talking to Alessi or learned the story from someone else. Former mobster Luciano Aviello claimed his brother was the real killer.
“It felt so bourgeois to have all the journalists tweeting about these criminals, because they weren’t all murderers. The reporters had no problem with Curatolo,” says Madison, meaning super witness Antonio Curatolo, a homeless man who admitted during the appeal that he was using heroin on the night of the murder (Nov 1, 2007) and changed the day he claimed to see Amanda and Raffaele near the crime scene–finally settling on Halloween. A disaster for the prosecution.
“You know you’re in a bad place when your prosecutor relies on a homeless drug addict who’s in jail,” says Madison. “What’s missing in the coverage is the hypocrisy of the prosecution, their willingness to use inmates who don’t have anybody to back them up, while simultaneously critcizing us for using inmates who do have witnesses to back them up. They’re willing to use inmates and people found in newspapers, but they criticize us.”
When she’s in court, Madison tries to see the events as if she were a defendant. “If I were in their place, I would just desperately want people to use the slightest bit of common sense and rationality. People say these things, but they don’t actually think of what it takes to kill another human being. They just say, oh, there was a brutal rape or murder. I don’t think they visualize in their heads the actual brutality. I don’t think they imagine the horror of it.”
As for the prosecution’s sex game crime theory, which paints Amanda as the instigator and the two young men as mere pawns, Madison points out: ”Rudy doesn’t speak English, Amanda didn’t speak much Italian, and Raffaele spoke minimal English. How did Amanda orchestrate this and convince them to do it? Was this the most macabre charade ever? How did she pull that off? Because she could not.
“I’ve been here seven months. I can order food. I can get around. I could never express my deeper feelings in Italian. I couldn’t possibly convince somebody I’ve known only six days (ndr. as Amanda knew Raffaele) to rape and murder somebody, but that’s the prosecution theory.”
Whatever happens, Madison will stay in Italy until the appeal ends, in September or October. She’s impressed that the judge has allowed independent DNA testing for the first time and that he started the proceedings by saying, ”The only thing we know for certain is Meredith Kercher is dead.”
The defense is feeling more upbeat, since the experts found that the DNA samples were either too scanty to test or had deteriorated in police custody.
Madison says Amanda has changed since the first trial, that she’s older, more self-confident, more willing to speak up and defend herself.
“I am feeling much more hopeful than last time, certainly,” Madison says. “There is a still a very chaotic feel to the trial. That hasn’t gone away. Sometimes it’s like a movie set with the characters coming in and out, shuffling. But it feels more genuine this time. Based on the questions that you hear the judges asking, you feel like they’re actually trying to find the truth and not just find guilty verdicts. The assistant judge asks just as many questions as the main judge. I haven’t seen any jury members sleeping.”
What would she ask Rudy Guede if she could?
“Obviously I would make a desperate plea to his conscience. I know, based on what other people tell me, that he’s claimed that he was there and somebody else did the murder.
“As for Amanda, I know she’d like to say, ‘You say you’re not a killer, but if you’re keeping Amanda and Raffaele in jail, then you are a killer, then you are taking their lives away. Whether Rudy took Meredith’s life or not, I don’t know. If so, then he’s taken three people’s lives.’”
As for the famous prosecutor Giuliano Mignini, Madison says he speaks up less during this trial. The proceedings don’t revolve around Amanda’s sex life or Mignini’s orgy gone wrong crime theory. So far, nobody has suggested that the crime occurred during a satanic ritual or under the spell of Manga comic books. Nobody has portrayed Amanda, a University of Washington honor student, as a girl gone wild.
“I’m still waiting for the name-calling,” says Madison. “It does seem more professional in the courtroom, less sensational, even the media coverage. There’s a much more sympathetic tone toward Amanda and Raffaele than in the past. It was much more whore and she devil before. It was amazing what people could get away with.
“The prosecutors still have not been affectionate toward Amanda, but they haven’t stood up and called her Luciferina or anything. Maybe they will in closing arguments.”
Here’s an ABC News wrapup on the Amanda Knox case.
By: Candace Dempsey
True Story of Amanda Knox
True Story of Amanda Knox author of MURDER IN ITALY, . Best True Crime Book 2010 Editor’s, Reader’s Choice awards. In comments with journalists, Girlanda expressed satisfaction with this reply and took a swipe at the case’s three-ring- circus coverage. As the lawmaker told Umbria24:“President Napolitano speaks clearly to me and to the Fondazione Italia USA, as far as my commitment to Amanda,
True Story of Amanda Knox
True Story of Amanda Knox author of MURDER IN ITALY, . Best True Crime Book 2010 Editor’s, Reader’s Choice awards.
In comments with journalists, Girlanda expressed satisfaction with this reply and took a swipe at the case’s three-ring- circus coverage. As the lawmaker told Umbria24:
“President Napolitano speaks clearly to me and to the Fondazione Italia USA, as far as my commitment to Amanda, which comforts and motivates me to greater effort because we are coming closer to the the truth, as seems to be happening during the appeal process. I take comfort that even the President of the Republic, with his moral and political authority representing the whole nation, personally follows the case of Amanda Knox and will assess the ‘complexity’ beyond the easy and superficial conclusions that so often emerge in the media.”
MURDER IN ITALY, my book on the spell-binding Amanda Knox case, is a Library Journal Bestseller. Winner of Best True Crime 2010 Editor’s Choice and Reader’s Choice awards. Called “a real-life murder mystery as terrifying and compelling as fiction,” it’s built on diary excerpts, wiretaps, court scenes, trial transcripts, first-hand experience and interviews with key players for all sides.
MURDER IN ITALY is online at Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble, Indiebound and bookstores. It’s also a Kindle & ebook. I’ll blog about the Knox case until the final appeal.
Library: Candace Dempsey|Journal Bestseller
MURDER IN ITALY, my book on the spell-binding Amanda Knox case, is a Library Journal Bestseller. Winner of Best True Crime 2010 Editor’s Choice and Reader’s Choice awards. Called “a real-life murder mystery as terrifying and compelling as fiction,” it’s built on diary excerpts, wiretaps, court scenes, trial transcripts, first-hand experience and interviews with key players for all sides.
MURDER IN ITALY is online at Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble, Indiebound and bookstores. It’s also a Kindle & ebook. I’ll blog about the Knox case until the final appeal.
Library: Candace Dempsey|Journal Bestseller
Amanda Knox case
Italian president tracks “complex” Amanda Knox case. Parliamentarian Rocco Girlanda, who's written a book in support of Amanda Knox, meets Italian President Giorgio Napolitano. A law graduate from Naples, Napolitano responded to a letter from Girlanda, saying he's following the controversial made-for-the paparrazzi murder trial. The sensational murder trial of Amanda Knox, the American honor
Amanda Knox case
Italian president tracks “complex” Amanda Knox case. Parliamentarian Rocco Girlanda, who's written a book in support of Amanda Knox, meets Italian President Giorgio Napolitano. A law graduate from Naples, Napolitano responded to a letter from Girlanda, saying he's following the controversial made-for-the paparrazzi murder trial.
The sensational murder trial of Amanda Knox, the American honor student accused of slashing her British roommate, has captured the attention of Italian President Giorgio Napolitano, the Italian press reported today.
“I am keeping track of developments in this complex story,” President Napolitano said through a diplomatic advisor. He was responding to an open letter from Italian lawmaker Rocco Girlanda. Head of the Fondazione Italia USA and author of an Amanda Knox book, Girlanda had complained of unfair treatment of Knox and co-defendant Raffaele Sollecito. They’ll return to court on June 18, Saturday, to appeal their murder convictions.
Girlanda warned the president that the trial could worsen relations between Italy and the U.S., if the unfairness was not addressed. Napolitano’s reply stresses that he can’t interfere in an ongoing legal trial, but will keep up-to-date on the appeal. He thanked Girlanda for his work in strengthening relations between Italy and the U.S., sayinkg his efforts “will certainly help avoid confusion and misunderstandings that could lead to negative consequences, which have so far been avoided"
Girlanda warned the president that the trial could worsen relations between Italy and the U.S., if the unfairness was not addressed. Napolitano’s reply stresses that he can’t interfere in an ongoing legal trial, but will keep up-to-date on the appeal. He thanked Girlanda for his work in strengthening relations between Italy and the U.S., sayinkg his efforts “will certainly help avoid confusion and misunderstandings that could lead to negative consequences, which have so far been avoided"
By Candace Dempsey
Pictures Amanda Knox Case timeline
Pictures Amanda Knox Case timeline Pictures: Verdict in Italy. Today's testimonies are the latest twist in Knox's lengthy and ongoing appeal process. The 24-year-old Seattle student and her former boyfriend were convicted 18 months ago for the fatal stabbing of 21-year-old Kercher in the bedroom of the house they shared in the Italian mountain village of Perugia. She's serving a 26-year jail
Pictures Amanda Knox Case timeline
Pictures Amanda Knox Case timeline Pictures: Verdict in Italy. Today's testimonies are the latest twist in Knox's lengthy and ongoing appeal process. The 24-year-old Seattle student and her former boyfriend were convicted 18 months ago for the fatal stabbing of 21-year-old Kercher in the bedroom of the house they shared in the Italian mountain village of Perugia. She's serving a 26-year jail sentence, but in recent months, there have been growing doubts over the strength of her conviction.
A final decision in Knox's appeal is expected in the fall, but key to the case is the strength of the DNA. Lawyers say in terms of the murder weapon there was so little of Knox's DNA on it, it should never have been used as evidence in the first place. Amanda Knox's parents, Edda Mellas and Kurt Knox, appeared on "The Early Show" with more on the case.
Kurt Knox said the new witnesses aren't that important to his daughter's case. "It's more wrapped around, really, the DNA evidence that's going to be brought to the trial on the 30th of June," he said. "But you know, it's interesting that these inmates are coming forward at the risk of additional jail time, if they're, you know, slandering somebody per se, so that's kind of key."
"Early Show" co-anchor Rebecca Jarvis asked Kurt Knox about what he expects from the independent review of the DNA evidence involved in the case.
He replied, "My belief is that the accuracy of the first DNA set of tests that were done by the forensic police are going to come back as not being reliable by these independent experts and that's what we're really looking forward to." Edda Mellas said lawyers are making progress in her daughter's case "little by little."
"They've been chipping away," Mellas said. "But I mean we really felt like in the first trial, even in the first trial, that there was no evidence, you know, that was brought forth to convict her. So you know, that surprised us, that they just don't give up, they keep going at it, because they believe in her and they know she's innocent."
Jarvis pointed out there have been reports that the Italian president himself is following his daughter's case.
Kurt Knox said, "It puts another eye on this particular case, and the fact it's so high-profile and so, you know, really wrong, and you know, having somebody keep an eye on it, I think, is just that much more beneficial to the result." Mellas added, "It's not just the president. There have been lawmakers or you know, legislators in Italy who have all come out and said, 'Something's not right there. This needs to be looked at.' The president said, 'Yes' he's watching, it can only help." As for Knox herself, her mother said she's doing everything she needs to survive behind bars. "We tell her to stay strong," she said. "She gets huge messages of support from all over the world and she's really grateful for all of those, as are we, and we believe the truth will come out and that she'll be freed."
By: http://www.cbsnews.com
Amanda Knox appeal hears witness was
Amanda Knox appeal hears witness was offered sex change cash for evidence. Hectic scenes in Italian appeal by two of Meredith Kercher's convicted killers as lawyers swap claims of corrupt evidenceAmanda Knox sits in Perugia's court of appeal during her appeal with Raffaele Sollecit against their convictions for murdering British flatmate Meredith Kercher in 2007. Photograph: Franco Origlia/Getty
Amanda Knox appeal hears witness was
Amanda Knox appeal hears witness was offered sex change cash for evidence. Hectic scenes in Italian appeal by two of Meredith Kercher's convicted killers as lawyers swap claims of corrupt evidence
Amanda Knox sits in Perugia's court of appeal during her appeal with Raffaele Sollecit against their convictions for murdering British flatmate Meredith Kercher in 2007. Photograph: Franco Origlia/Getty Images
The appeal by Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito against their convictions for killing British student Meredith Kercher has taken a surreal turn with two prosecution witnesses accusing a defence lawyer of offering to pay for a witness's sex change.
In a hectic session, Rudy Guede – the Ivorian already convicted for his role in the 2007 killing – started proceedings by accusing Knox and Sollecito for the first time in court of killing Kercher, prompting Knox to rise and tell the court she was "shocked and anguished" by his accusation. "He knows we were not there and were not involved," she said.
Guede was called from Viterbo jail, where he is serving 16 years, to respond to claims by a fellow inmate that he had confided that Knox and Sollecito had played no role in the murder of Kercher, whose throat was cut in the flat she shared with Knox in Perugia.
After entering the court in handcuffs and sitting 4.5 metres (15ft) from Knox, Guede read out a letter he had written to his lawyers in which he called those claims "stinking rubbish".
As well as Guede's fellow inmate, the court has previously heard from a jailed Neapolitan mafioso, Luciano Aviello, who claimed that Kercher was killed not by the Ivorian national, Knox or Sollecito but by his own brother during a burglary gone wrong.
A fellow inmate of Aviello's called by the prosecution on Monday said mafia member had told him he had been offered €70,000 (62,400) by Giulia Bongiorno, an Italian MP and lawyer defending Sollecito, to invent the story. Cosimo Zaccari – who is in jail for fraud, libel, criminal conspiracy and receiving stolen goods – said Aviello had confided that he was "contacted to create confusion in the trial".
Zaccari – who described himself as a former police informer and restaurant owner – was followed on to the stand by Alexander Ilicet, a Montenegrin who shared a cell with Aviello and claimed his cell-mate had boasted of being offered €158,000 by Bongiorno that he had planned to use for a sex change.
Francesco Maresca, a lawyer representing the Kercher family, called the statements "extremely credible" but Bongiorno said: "We are beyond the realms of the reasonable," adding: "Not even the prosecutors appear to believe this story and I will be reporting this libel."
Madison Paxton, a childhood friend of Knox's who was in court, accused the prosecution of resorting to unreliable witnesses. "Every time we are doing well in the trial they try something desperate, like caged animals," she said.
By: Tom Kington in Perugia
Monday 27 June 2011 14.49 BST
Article history
In a hectic session, Rudy Guede – the Ivorian already convicted for his role in the 2007 killing – started proceedings by accusing Knox and Sollecito for the first time in court of killing Kercher, prompting Knox to rise and tell the court she was "shocked and anguished" by his accusation. "He knows we were not there and were not involved," she said.
Guede was called from Viterbo jail, where he is serving 16 years, to respond to claims by a fellow inmate that he had confided that Knox and Sollecito had played no role in the murder of Kercher, whose throat was cut in the flat she shared with Knox in Perugia.
After entering the court in handcuffs and sitting 4.5 metres (15ft) from Knox, Guede read out a letter he had written to his lawyers in which he called those claims "stinking rubbish".
As well as Guede's fellow inmate, the court has previously heard from a jailed Neapolitan mafioso, Luciano Aviello, who claimed that Kercher was killed not by the Ivorian national, Knox or Sollecito but by his own brother during a burglary gone wrong.
A fellow inmate of Aviello's called by the prosecution on Monday said mafia member had told him he had been offered €70,000 (62,400) by Giulia Bongiorno, an Italian MP and lawyer defending Sollecito, to invent the story. Cosimo Zaccari – who is in jail for fraud, libel, criminal conspiracy and receiving stolen goods – said Aviello had confided that he was "contacted to create confusion in the trial".
Zaccari – who described himself as a former police informer and restaurant owner – was followed on to the stand by Alexander Ilicet, a Montenegrin who shared a cell with Aviello and claimed his cell-mate had boasted of being offered €158,000 by Bongiorno that he had planned to use for a sex change.
Francesco Maresca, a lawyer representing the Kercher family, called the statements "extremely credible" but Bongiorno said: "We are beyond the realms of the reasonable," adding: "Not even the prosecutors appear to believe this story and I will be reporting this libel."
Madison Paxton, a childhood friend of Knox's who was in court, accused the prosecution of resorting to unreliable witnesses. "Every time we are doing well in the trial they try something desperate, like caged animals," she said.
By: Tom Kington in Perugia
Monday 27 June 2011 14.49 BST
Article history
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