“Okay, you could sort of understand a man asking for another girl to join in ”

Yeah, I’m not so sure she would.

Yep, you’re dead right, females are all psys.

What I’m getting at is that I know what the studentesse americane are like when they’re in Rome, they’re not as confident as they are back home. A lot of them have a really culture shock. I don’t think you get how different it is. First time I was arrested was when I was 14 years old. It wasn’t like other people in family hadn’t been nicked before but the first time you’re banged up in a cold police cell sitting on a wooden bench waiting to be interrogated is pretty intimidating. Don’t get me wrong, you learn how to handle it, but the first time ain’t easy, specially if you’re an American girl in Italy on a murder and rape charge.

“I mean, you’ve never been a 20 year old girl, but that doesn’t mean that you don’t have any understanding of how they act.”

I understand what goes on a girl’s mind about as well as a girl understand the offside rule.

I think so too. Okay, you could sort of understand a man asking for another girl to join in but two guys is gay or he has no respect for her.

I think Amanda Knox is lying, murdering puttana and no offence but anyone who don’t like it can go take it in the arse because the court in Perugia already convicted her. I heard in the American press people called her assassina americana, in the Italian press they said assassina. It ain’t got nothing to do with being American. Italians don’t like America too much but don’t mean we don’t like American people.

Nice video and a most excellent blog! I’ve added you to my feeds and definitely plan to keep my eye on you!

http://strikingthoughts.wordpress.com/2009/12/20/martial-arts-news-12-20-09/

-BCP

I said that I think that “most” of the criticism coming from America is jingoism, which is true: as an Italian lawyer, I have been appalled at the level of ignorance and outright xenophobia. Most of the criticisms of the investigative process, trial and verdict coming out of America are founded on blatant falsehoods and misconceptions. A lot of your own criticisms were based on the assumption that Amanda Knox didn’t receive a fair trial, which whether she is guilty or not, is simply not true: she did receive a fair trial under international norms. Whereas Sacco and Vanzetti didn’t and neither are the prisoners currently being held at Guantanamo. Of course you’re entitled to think that she is innocent but anyone arguing that she didn’t receive a fair trial ought to be able to back that claim up.

“I mean, you’ve never been a 20 year old girl, but that doesn’t mean that you don’t have any understanding of how they act.”

Rob’s knowledge of the female psyche… lol

But seriously… I am sure if you were being interrogated by a prosecutor in a foreign country, where you could barely speak the language, you would have asked for a lawyer. Amanda Knox didn’t behave like a girl who was intimidated, which is surprising because she would have seen police walking about brandishing SMGs on her arrival in Italy, and they also look and act like soldiers because most are recruited straight out of the Italian army.

Rob,
I haven’t been a student in Italy, nor have I been arrested… but I don’t think that means I couldn’t possibly understand how Knox would have behaved. I mean, you’ve never been a 20 year old girl, but that doesn’t mean that you don’t have any understanding of how they act.

I’ve been known to come up with a choice put down now and again.

I agree, but wank material is always going to be regarded as relevant.

Thank you. I regularly read your website, you have a lot of interesting information on there.

American lawyers might coach witnesses but in Europe it is considered a highly dubious and counter-productive practice. In Italy, a defence lawyer who primes a witness is open to a charge of deviare il corso della giustizia (perverting the course of justice) and the witness to a charge of falsa testimonianza (perjury).

I agree that the defences challenge on the forensic evidence was weak. One of their major problems was that they had witnesses at the testing, and reported no problems. I would have filmed the tests being conducted. But denying the forensic evidence was a weak strategy anyway. Raffaele Sollecito’s defence could have claimed that he had prior consensual sex with Meredith, and the prosecution wouldn’t be able to disprove it.

The major problem wasn’t trial by media, that had no influence on the probity of the proceedings, it’s that Amanda Knox haas no defence to the charge that she lied repeatedly, falsely accused an innocent man, could be placed at the scene of the shortly before the murder, or to failing to report the murder. In America, people have got the chair on a lot less. I think that most of the criticism coming from America is frankly jingoism, and perhaps on one level because Americans don’t realise that their own criminal justice system is more trial by theatre than fact. It’s easy to criticise the defence lawyers, but this case was never going to be won at trial.

“he produced some evidence to support the fetishistic rape and murder theory.”

Pretty fucking flimsy evidence. Good job they didn’t have a copy of Harry Potter, otherwise he would have had them up on a charge of witchcraft.

Flattered you read my website – yours if far more interesting. Some people don’t regard any of the social sciences as being a real science..that’s another discussion. Science might not have been the proper term for my own point.

My underlying point: ‘if’ Knox is innocent the defense didn’t do a good job demonstrating it. They argued that the evidence against her is weak, they brought in expert witnesses and explained to the jury and judge that the evidence is weak, but they never demonstrated it. They failed to make this vision tangible to the minds of the jury. Authoritative testimony is an advantage when all things are equal but in this case, the prosecution appeared to have strong public and media support from the very beginning, making it and its experts the dominant authority.

The difference between British and American media is amazing. They, from what I can tell, report the same information, but British media give no weight to the doubts about her guilt whereas American media gives considerable. I think part of this is that it spiraled out of her hometown where many believe it’s impossible, and then a few famous American experts began their own examinations. Most notable is Paul J Ciolino who is famous for having proven the innocence of several death roll convicts. Afterwards you have former prosecuting attorneys, various forensic experts, and others jumping on board and then certain politicians jump the line. The result is that Americans presume her innocence and believe she is a scapegoat for botched police-work, which aroused public appetite for the sensational.

So many Americans presuming her innocence blame anti-Americanism – presumably Italians are willing to sacrifice one of their own. They blame the Italian justice system, the media, and the local public. Personally, I would like to believe Amanda Knox is innocent. She’s a young girl who has been regarded an exceptional student, had a lot going for her. If you can imagine her innocence then you also empathize the sadness of her situation. While I wouldn’t stake my soul either way without further investigation, I do sympathize and believe that if she is innocent the defense failed. They failed different levels, not only on a legal level, but with public perspective and media relations.
An example

The British media reported that during Amanda’s first day in court, she appeared unconcerned and they made this out to represent some kind of disrespect or inner-cunning. The next day she acted more concerned and bland and they made her out to be manipulative. I can only imagine her defense telling her the first day, “you got to look confidant”, and the next day coaching her to look concerned. I cannot imagine them not coaching her and if they did coach her, they did a bad job. Consistency is important for people so they would have altered her behaviors slowly. If they had coached her they should have confessed this to the public as an attack on the criticism– and whatever they did or didn’t do they failed to grapple the (their) public.

A gesture with the knife would unsettle me. Have you used the insulto? I bet you would be good at it, huh?

I was reading your website on that subject the other day. I’m not arguing that psychology is without value as an academic discipline, just that it isn’t a science. As well as observation and replication, science needs to be falsifiable, but even then evidence can be grossly overstated or meaningless. Variations on the Asch Paradigm or the Milgram experiment might be used to demonstrate the general susceptibility of witnesses to give evidence that suits the prosecution but they couldn’t offer any insight into whether a particular witness was susceptible to giving evidence that suits the prosecution.

You’re bright enough to realise you would need a lawyer the moment the police started accusing you of lying in a murder investigation. Look I’m not trying to patronising you but you’re really not taking on board that Mignini doesn’t have to prove the unprovable. His speculations are conjecture. He is allowed to do this but you’re also ignoring that he produced some evidence to support the fetishistic rape and murder theory. You also wrong if you think the prosecution need to prove active participation to secure a conviction for sexual violence. Amanda Knox would have needed to run a cut-throat defence to challenge this.

Could a woman be prosecuted for rape in your state, even if she took no active role in the sexual assault itself, but watched a man, whom she knew, force himself on another woman and did nothing to prevent the rape and failed to report it afterwards? I might be wrong but I suspect the answer is yes.

You might be an American college girl but what do you know about being an American student in Italy?

I know what it’s like to be a student in Italy because I was one, I also remember what Steph was like when she was a 20 year-old studentessa in Rome, and Amica is 20-years old now. I’ve also known a few American students studying in Italy. I think that American girls might be a little more naive and selfish than their European counterparts but I don’t think that all American students are rich, spoiled murderers.

Btw have you ever been arrested before?

And it’s not just that Mignini speculated about what might have happened– he failed to provide evidence to support said speculations. Is there one shred of evidence of a sex game, or that Knox might even have been interested in one? Nope. In fact, there’s quite a bit more evidence of her being guilty of murder (her constantly shifting story, the DNA on the knife handle) than being guilty of sexual violence– yet she was convicted of both.

Rob, you may know more about Italian judges than me, but I’m thinking I know more about American college students than you. You may believe we’re all spoiled murderers with loads of cash, but that really isn’t the case.

We do a lot preserve Sicilian traditional arts, including dance, and get cooperate sponsorship to do so. But instructional videos aren’t the best way in my opinion because what money would it bring in? And those imitators could claim an association with us, and what they do could have an adverse impact on our business. At present we have absolute control over who we teach and who teaches on our behalf.