Murder/Manslaughter-Amanda Knox acquitted(3-Oct11)

Subject: RE: Murder/Manslaughter-Amanda Knox acquitted(3-10-11)
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 17 Feb 12 - 03:30 PM

The contract is with HarperCollins for US$4 million (you convert to European currencies).
Release expected early 2013

Subject: RE: Murder/Manslaughter-Amanda Knox acquitted(3-10-11)
From: Paul Burke
Date: 17 Feb 12 - 03:13 PM

£2.50? What a ripoff.

Subject: RE: Murder/Manslaughter-Amanda Knox acquitted(3-10-11)
From: Jean(eanjay)
Date: 17 Feb 12 - 08:16 AM

Which shelf will the book be on ........... fiction?

Subject: RE: Murder/Manslaughter-Amanda Knox acquitted(3-10-11)
From: GUEST,Bluesman
Date: 17 Feb 12 - 06:18 AM

Knox just signed a £2.5 book deal. Probably called "Being American helps when the charge is murder"

Subject: RE: Murder/Manslaughter-Amanda Knox acquitted(3-10-11)
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 06 Oct 11 - 09:13 PM

And now media are filling space and airtime with a manslaughter trial against some doctor who is alleged to have killed a pop singer.

Subject: RE: Murder/Manslaughter-Amanda Knox acquitted(3-10-11)
From: Lizzie Cornish 1
Date: 06 Oct 11 - 07:28 PM

"As for the rain forests, public opinion might really be galvanized if pretty girls were being put in jeopardy by the clearing operations."


They are..........
Sheyla Juruna speaking about Belo Monte

Subject: RE: Murder/Manslaughter-Amanda Knox acquitted(3-10-11)
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 06 Oct 11 - 07:27 PM

Here's a link to a page reproducing the prefabricated story - the Daily Mail websites have of course deleted it in embarrassment on their own sites.

To be fair, some other British papers' sites got it wrong too, and flashed up the wrong verdict. But they didn't write up colourful eyewitness reports of something that never happened, complete with made-up quotes.

Subject: RE: Murder/Manslaughter-Amanda Knox acquitted(3-10-11)
From: GUEST,Bluesman
Date: 06 Oct 11 - 06:57 PM

"For those who are feeling betrayed by the verdict, here are extracts from the Daily Mail's version, written in advance and initially published on their website when they mistakenly though the verdict had gone the other way. Embellished with made up details and quotes - that's the Daily Mail for you..."

Kevin, Have you a link for this please.

Subject: RE: Murder/Manslaughter-Amanda Knox acquitted(3-10-11)
From: Lighter
Date: 06 Oct 11 - 06:20 PM

McGrath, I know papers write obituaries way ahead of time, but this is ridiculous!

Of course, there's nothing in there that's improbable. If the appeal had been denied, a few actual details could have been tossed in on the spot, a minor revision here and there. Think of the time the writer would have saved.

And presumably the acquittal version had also been written long ago,and appropriate modifications were made.

The more I think about it, the more sense it makes. So I'm going to stop thinking about it immediately.

Subject: RE: Murder/Manslaughter-Amanda Knox acquitted(3-10-11)
From: Jean(eanjay)
Date: 06 Oct 11 - 06:10 PM

I think you could be right there. :)

Subject: RE: Murder/Manslaughter-Amanda Knox acquitted(3-10-11)
From: BTNG
Date: 06 Oct 11 - 05:47 PM

" I very much doubt that the Knox family would have paid for it when they clearly would have struggled to do so"

perhaps someone(s) who stands to gain exclusive rights to interviews etc. perhaps

Subject: RE: Murder/Manslaughter-Amanda Knox acquitted(3-10-11)
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 06 Oct 11 - 05:35 PM

For those who are feeling betrayed by the verdict, here are extracts from the Daily Mail's version, written in advance and initially published on their website when they mistakenly though the verdict had gone the other way. Embellished with made up details and quotes - that's the Daily Mail for you...

    "As Knox realised the enormity of what judge Hellman was saying she sank into her chair sobbing uncontrollably while her family and friends hugged each other in tears.

    A few feet away Meredith's mother Arline, her sister Stephanie and brother Lyle, who had flown in especially for the verdict remained expressionless, staring straight ahead, glancing over just once at the distraught Knox family.

    Prosecutors were delighted with the verdict and said that 'justice has been done' although they said on a 'human factor it was sad two young people would be spending years in jail'".

    "Following the verdict Knox and [Raphael] Sollecito were taken out of court escorted by prison guards and into a waiting van which took her back to her cell at Capanne jail near Perugia and him to Terni jail, 60 miles away.

    Both will be put on a suicide watch for the next few days as psychological assessments are made on each of them but this is usual practice for long term prisoners."

Subject: RE: Murder/Manslaughter-Amanda Knox acquitted(3-10-11)
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 06 Oct 11 - 05:12 PM

No significant effect on the trial is what I mean. Why would the jury members - technically "lay judges", sitting along with professional judges - have taken any particular notice of that kind of stuff, when they could see the defendants in court every day?

"The six jurors – Angeletti and five women – were selected using more demanding educational criteria than those at Knox's and Sollecito's first trial. The lay judges for the appeal had to have spent 13 years at school and obtained a high school diploma. Angeletti said he had heard appeals in four other murder trials." (from here).

Why would the parents do all they could to get their daughter's side of things presented as favourably as they could? Because they were her parents, and they believed she was innocent, I imagine. Wouldn't anyone do that in that situation? That doesn't mean they were spending the money too sensibly.

Subject: RE: Murder/Manslaughter-Amanda Knox acquitted(3-10-11)
From: Jean(eanjay)
Date: 06 Oct 11 - 04:51 PM

PR had a massive effect. It was partly because of PR that we heard so much about one person and how innocent that person was and not a lot about everyone else. If it wasn't going to be effective I very much doubt that the Knox family would have paid for it when they clearly would have struggled to do so.

Subject: RE: Murder/Manslaughter-Amanda Knox acquitted(3-10-11)
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 06 Oct 11 - 04:38 PM

I rather doubt if PR would have had any significant effect, apart perhaps from encouraging the mobbing, which I imagine wouldn't have been the intention.

Subject: RE: Murder/Manslaughter-Amanda Knox acquitted(3-10-11)
From: BTNG
Date: 06 Oct 11 - 03:04 PM

pushed off the front pages by the death of Steve Jobs, though as is stated, the stories will probably hang on for a bit in the UK

Subject: RE: Murder/Manslaughter-Amanda Knox acquitted(3-10-11)
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 06 Oct 11 - 02:58 PM

The English tabloid and yellow sheet papers may keep the story alive overseas for a while, but it is yesterday's flavor in the U.S. and Canada.

Subject: RE: Murder/Manslaughter-Amanda Knox acquitted(3-10-11)
From: GUEST,Peter Laban
Date: 06 Oct 11 - 02:39 PM

Exactly, this whole thing hasn't been about him or Meredith Kercher or her family ~ it has all been about Amanda Knox and we probably have the Seattle public relations specialist, David Marriot, who was hired by Amanda Knox's family to thank for some of that. It isn't going to fade away; there is no escape from it.


There was a line in an article the other week that said '..the Knox family are not wealthy..' and immediately went on to say the y had so far spent over a million on PR to drive the case toward it's desired conclusion.

Subject: RE: Murder/Manslaughter-Amanda Knox acquitted(3-10-11)
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 06 Oct 11 - 02:35 PM

Old news already. Now that she is safe back in Seattle, coverage is absent.

Nothing in NY Times or Washington Post online, and CNN has dropped it- Steve Jobs, Palin, Obama, Boehner and political posing, China currency sanctions, banks and the Wall Street protestors, and brief note of the European debt problem and Ghadaffi are the main headlines.
Tidbits such as ESPN boots Hank Williams Jr., mountain lions snoozing on a front porch, etc., etc.

Always lots of books which few ever read.

Subject: RE: Murder/Manslaughter-Amanda Knox acquitted(3-10-11)
From: BTNG
Date: 06 Oct 11 - 02:33 PM

Lead by example Wesley S

Subject: RE: Murder/Manslaughter-Amanda Knox acquitted(3-10-11)
From: Wesley S
Date: 06 Oct 11 - 02:19 PM

Anyone who keeps up with this story WANTS to keep up with it. I repeat - unless your TV doesn't have a remote all you'll have to do is hit the mute button or change the channel. And you don't even have to reopen this thread.

It's simple.

Subject: RE: Murder/Manslaughter-Amanda Knox acquitted(3-10-11)
From: Jean(eanjay)
Date: 06 Oct 11 - 02:17 PM

I can't see how Raffaele Sollecito could really have a lower profile than he has had. You'd hardly know he'd been in the case at all

Exactly, this whole thing hasn't been about him or Meredith Kercher or her family ~ it has all been about Amanda Knox and we probably have the Seattle public relations specialist, David Marriot, who was hired by Amanda Knox's family to thank for some of that. It isn't going to fade away; there is no escape from it.

Also, in the back of my mind I seem to remember a report somewhere which stated that Amanda Knox at one point said that Raffaele had done it. I can't find it so I could have got that wrong. I wonder how much of what she says in interviews and the book she is planning to write will be the truth.

Subject: RE: Murder/Manslaughter-Amanda Knox acquitted(3-10-11)
From: GUEST,Bluesman
Date: 06 Oct 11 - 02:17 PM

The media love such stories. Another controversial case is that of Madeleine McCann. Her parents were investigated by Portuguese authorities looking into their daughter's disappearance.


Britain's ambassador to Portugal, Alexander Wykeham Ellis, made headlines with remarks he reportedly made to his American counterpart in Washington, US Ambassador Al Hoffman regarding Portuguese police naming Gerry and Kate McCann as "arguidos", or formal suspects, in the case.

The McCann case remains unsolved. Gerry and Kate McCann admitted leaving their children alone in the apartment while they went out to a party with friends.

Subject: RE: Murder/Manslaughter-Amanda Knox acquitted(3-10-11)
From: BTNG
Date: 06 Oct 11 - 02:04 PM

errr...no thanks

Subject: RE: Murder/Manslaughter-Amanda Knox acquitted(3-10-11)
From: Lighter
Date: 06 Oct 11 - 01:55 PM

Amazon.com lists no fewer than ten books *already published* for your reading enjoyment.

Subject: RE: Murder/Manslaughter-Amanda Knox acquitted(3-10-11)
From: BTNG
Date: 06 Oct 11 - 01:51 PM

I was indeed thinking of North America, Canada, the U.S. and Mexico. Short of living in a log cabin somewhere high in the Rocky Mountains, with no television, no nothing there'd be no way of avoiding exposure to this

Subject: RE: Murder/Manslaughter-Amanda Knox acquitted(3-10-11)
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 06 Oct 11 - 01:36 PM

you'd still not be able to avoid it

I think I will. I suppose it might be harder in the USA.
...........................

I can't see how Raffaele Sollecito could really have a lower profile than he has had. You'd hardly know he'd been in the case at all - and ironically there doesn't really seem to have been any evidence against him, once the dodgy "forensics" has been totally discredited.

Subject: RE: Murder/Manslaughter-Amanda Knox acquitted(3-10-11)
From: BTNG
Date: 06 Oct 11 - 12:48 PM

"When Amanda Knox is rammed down your throat you'll always be able to change the channel, leave the room - or not buy the books or magazines she'll be featured in."



and you'd still not be able to avoid it, not the way the media works these days so eanjay's point is legitimate

Subject: RE: Murder/Manslaughter-Amanda Knox acquitted(3-10-11)
From: Wesley S
Date: 06 Oct 11 - 12:39 PM

When Amanda Knox is rammed down your throat you'll always be able to change the channel, leave the room - or not buy the books or magazines she'll be featured in.

Subject: RE: Murder/Manslaughter-Amanda Knox acquitted(3-10-11)
From: Jean(eanjay)
Date: 06 Oct 11 - 10:59 AM

Louise Woodward has not been allowed to profit from her experiences and as a result we hear very little about her. This is different and I think we will have Amanda Knox rammed down our throats for years to come. Raffaele Sollecito will probably continue to keep a low profile and he may well fade from our memories.

Subject: RE: Murder/Manslaughter-Amanda Knox acquitted(3-10-11)
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 06 Oct 11 - 10:43 AM

It'll drag on a bit, and a few more headlines, but before too long the caravan will have moved on.   

And a few years on there'll be some vaguely similar case and someone will be writing something akin to what Dzabo wrote a few posts back, but it will be - "This all reminds me of that American student (can't remember her name) who was accused of murdering her flatmate in Italy."

Subject: RE: Murder/Manslaughter-Amanda Knox acquitted(3-10-11)
From: BTNG
Date: 06 Oct 11 - 10:25 AM

Case closed...I don't think so, this a case that's not going away in hurry, there are still issues to be dealt, and, of course, there is money to be made, from book and film deals, I'm sure there are a number of those in the works

Subject: RE: Murder/Manslaughter-Amanda Knox acquitted(3-10-11)
From: Jean(eanjay)
Date: 06 Oct 11 - 09:44 AM

Case closed.

Not really! The judge has to give his written report giving reasons for the acquittals in 90 days so I think that what he has to say is very important. The prosecution wants to appeal against the acquittals. Rudy Guede wants a re-trial. Presumably the police are still working on the case.

......... and YES the Amazon rainforest is more important and Meredith Kercher's family have been hugely overlooked by the media and it looks as if they will continue to be hugely overlooked by them. This is particularly disappointing when it is being done by the British media.

In the meantime it isn't going to go away and Max Clifford has things to say. :)

Subject: RE: Murder/Manslaughter-Amanda Knox acquitted(3-10-11)
From: Lighter
Date: 06 Oct 11 - 09:43 AM

I'm not a legal expert, but I'd think that the difference between "not guilty" and "not enough evidence to convict" is mostly semantic.

U.S. juries are not supposed to convict if there is "reasonable doubt." That, of course, is a subjective standard, but the idea is that if anyone on the jury seriously doubts the defendant's guilt there will be a hung jury. That means either a new trial or, if the prosecution reconsiders (as sometimes happens), it means the defendant's release.

"Insufficient evidence to convict," I suppose, could be the equivalent of a hung jury. Both can encourage lingering suspicion regardless of how many jurors had what they considered "reasonable doubt." In some cases, one juror's "reasonable doubt" may be total obtuseness. The same factors can be involved in a verdict of "insufficient evidence."

As we all know, justice is imperfect and the innocent are sometimes convicted and the guilty sometimes go free. But in this case, there really appears to be no compelling evidence that A & R committed murder.

As for the level of coverage, there was a heinous crime involving attractive young women, drugs, sex, and allegations of satan worship. Then there was the possibility that the defendants had been railroaded.

Media executives would have had to be superhuman to resist.

As for the rain forests, public opinion might really be galvanized if pretty girls were being put in jeopardy by the clearing operations.

Subject: RE: Murder/Manslaughter-Amanda Knox acquitted(3-10-11)
From: Lizzie Cornish 1
Date: 06 Oct 11 - 09:35 AM

So do I....

Subject: RE: Murder/Manslaughter-Amanda Knox acquitted(3-10-11)
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 06 Oct 11 - 09:31 AM

an investigation should be launched

And then they could devote masses of time to covering the investigation... I can't see the point.

.........................

The significant things in common between this case and that of Louise Woodward were that there was a media circus, and this fed into a mob mentality on the part of many people. And nobody knows exactly what happened. In these circumstances the actual facts of the case, insofar as they are known, get buried in the mass of comment, prejudice and speculation.

They are planning to allow TV cameras into trials in England. I dread the day.

Subject: RE: Murder/Manslaughter-Amanda Knox acquitted(3-10-11)
From: Lizzie Cornish 1
Date: 06 Oct 11 - 09:12 AM

I think an investigation should be launched into why the BBC gave so much air time to this case. The world is imploding around us, the Amazon Rainforest is about to be decimated by mega dams..and the BBC gave nearly ALL their News time, morning, afternoon and evening, to this story.

It is NOT major world news.

It is only really important to the families concerned..and Meredith's family were hugely overlooked by the BBC.

Whoever it was at the BBC who ordered this immense amount of coverage to happen should be brought out from the shadows and asked to explain the reasons behind it....

Subject: RE: Murder/Manslaughter-Amanda Knox acquitted(3-10-11)
From: Big Mick
Date: 06 Oct 11 - 09:08 AM

Mayet's post is an example of a false predicate. The two cases are not similar, were tried under different judicial systems, and the evidentiary processes were entirely different. The only similarity is the USA-UK connection. Another false predicTe is the contention is that since they were both convicted Knox shouldn't be allowed to profit from writing, etc. Woodward was convicted of the death, Knox was convicted of slander, but was ruled not guilty of the murder. Remember the option was there to rule that there was not enough evidence to convict which is quite different from not guilty.

Subject: RE: Murder/Manslaughter-Amanda Knox acquitted(3-10-11)
From: GUEST,Jon
Date: 06 Oct 11 - 08:47 AM

Lighter, the judge has said means he remains open to the possibility that the pair were in fact involved in the crime.

I don't know whether this is just his personal feeling or whether this was feeling was shared by others on the jury but we now know at least one (and a judge at that) would appear not to be fully satisfied of their complete innocence.

As one of those with a "have some doubts" view point, I agree with him.

Subject: RE: Murder/Manslaughter-Amanda Knox acquitted(3-10-11)
From: Jean(eanjay)
Date: 06 Oct 11 - 08:38 AM

I found Mayet's post very interesting.

As Amanda Knox has been found guilty of "defamation," for falsely accusing her former employer Patrick Lumumba
SHOULD THIS NOT APPLY TO HER ALSO?

Yes, I think it should apply to her. Also, apart from the money that she and those who pay for her interviews will make out of this, there seems little point because I find it hard to believe that everything she will say will be the truth anyway.

Subject: RE: Murder/Manslaughter-Amanda Knox acquitted(3-10-11)
From: Lighter
Date: 06 Oct 11 - 08:26 AM

The link to the Guardian says:

"Speaking just two days after he and his fellow judges handed down a full acquittal on appeal, Judge Claudio Pratillo Hellmann, said the court's verdict 'is the result of the truth that was created in the proceedings. But the real truth may be different. They may be responsible, but the evidence is not there.'"

This may sound like a bombshell to someone who knows nothing about how human courts of justice work. Otherwise, not so much.

"The evidence is not there." Period.

That means real evidence, not speculation about how it *might have* happened, based on the vigilante theory that if they weren't guilty they wouldn't have been accused.

Case closed.

Subject: RE: Murder/Manslaughter-Amanda Knox acquitted(3-10-11)
From: GUEST,Peter Laban
Date: 06 Oct 11 - 08:00 AM

Judge presiding over acquittal says Knox may well be guilty

Subject: RE: Murder/Manslaughter-Amanda Knox acquitted(3-10-11)
From: GUEST,Bluesman
Date: 06 Oct 11 - 06:30 AM

I always felt Louise Woodward was guilty of murder. I still think government intervention occurs quietly in cases of nationals found guilty of crimes in other countries.

In answer to an earlier question, yes I do think miscarriages of justices do occur. One being the conviction of Rubin "Hurricane" Carter and John Artis in America. It was blatantly racist.

Others were the convictions of the Birmingham 6 and the Guilford 4, in Britain. The police officers who beat the confessions out of them should have faced lengthy prison sentences, but got off with early retirement and a nice pension.

Subject: RE: Murder/Manslaughter-Amanda Knox acquitted(3-10-11)
From: Mayet
Date: 06 Oct 11 - 05:43 AM

Yesterday Guest Dazbo wrote
"This all reminds me of that British nanny (can't remember her name) who was accused of murdering her charge in the USA. It seemed to me at the time that in the USA everyone believed her guilty whilst everyone in the UK thought she was innocent. This is just the other way round: "our" pretty young female can't possibly be a murderer but "your" pretty young female is obviously a callous, cold-hearted murderer."

The nanny was a local (to me) girl, Louise Woodward, a rather overweight teenager from a small village not really cast in the 'Foxy Knox' image

It is true that many people in the UK thought her innocent of the second degree murder charge brought against her and, in fact, Judge Hiller B. Zobel at a post-conviction relief hearing reduced the conviction to involuntary manslaughter adding: "I am morally certain that allowing this defendant on this evidence to remain convicted of second-degree murder would be a miscarriage of justice" and her sentence was reduced to exactly the amount of time she had already served in the US.

At the time British newspapers reacted cautiously to her release Although some had campaigned against the original murder charge the Daily Telegraph, for example made it clear in its editorial comment that Woodward's release should not be celebrated and some made strong references to the comments in the appeal judgement that Woodward should not profit from her experiences.

The parents of the victim Matthew Eappen also filed a civil lawsuit to prevent Woodward from earning any profits from selling her story under legislation designed to keep criminals from profiting from the publicity of their crimes, often by selling their stories to publishers.

As Amanda Knox has been found guilty of "defamation," for falsely accusing her former employer Patrick Lumumba
SHOULD THIS NOT APPLY TO HER ALSO?

Throughout Louise has protested her innocence and on her return to the UK said that she would be giving an interview to the BBC Panorama programme for no money
Transcript

However American media remained convinced of her guilt and she was named the most "notorious criminal convicted in Massachusetts" by Boston law magazine Exhibit A 10 years after she was released.!

One interesting footnote to this case was reported in the New York Times
'Just a week after Ms. Woodward was convicted on Oct. 30 of murdering the baby in her care ……a bill to restore the death penalty came up for a crucial vote in the state's House of Representatives.
''One of the long-lasting fallouts from the au pair trial is the defeat of the death penalty in Massachusetts,'' said Richard Dieter, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center, in Washington'

But,to return to the subject of the thread, the search for 'justice' in the murder of Meredith Kercher has not ended here.
Prosecutor Giuliano Mignini is reported to have confirmed he would appeal to Italy's highest criminal court after publication of the reasons for the acquittals, due within 90 days.
"Let's wait and we will see who was right - the first court or the appeal court," Mr Mignini said. "This trial was done under unacceptable media pressure."
The highest court's remit is to rule on whether any procedures were violated and the hearing generally takes one day in Rome. Defendants are not required to attend.
If the highest court overturns the acquittal, prosecutors would be free to request Knox's extradition to Italy to finish whatever remained of her sentence.
It will then be up to the Italian government to decide whether to make a formal extradition request.

Subject: RE: Murder/Manslaughter-Amanda Knox acquitted(3-10-11)
From: BTNG
Date: 05 Oct 11 - 07:08 PM

aye and perhaps she should have mentioned it during the trial, rather like the so-called split personality defense., after the fact

you have to watch it with so called confessions and statements made by the defendant, they can get the said defendant into all sorts of trouble, ask Timothy Evans who was hanged in 1950 for murder. The police investigation in that case was marked by a lack of forensic expertise, with key evidence missed or ignored

Subject: RE: Murder/Manslaughter-Amanda Knox acquitted(3-10-11)
From: Jean(eanjay)
Date: 05 Oct 11 - 06:56 PM

This is an interesting report.

Subject: RE: Murder/Manslaughter-Amanda Knox acquitted(3-10-11)
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 05 Oct 11 - 06:32 PM

Any time anyone confesses to a crime, and subsequently retracts that confession, the possibility arises that they did so because of police pressure. That is reflected in the fact that in many countries there are laid down procedures for ensuring that interrogations are videoed, or independent witnesses present etc.

Italy is one such country. However the laid-down procedures do not appear to have been complied with.

If a retracted confession does not indicate that the person making it knew things about the crime that only a guilty person could have known, it should be given very little weight indeed, especially if it is not accompanied by hard evidence.

Subject: RE: Murder/Manslaughter-Amanda Knox acquitted(3-10-11)
From: BTNG
Date: 05 Oct 11 - 06:00 PM

I simply cut and pasted that paragraph, what the parents did or did not do will be up to the courts to decide, whether anyone here considers it to be "truth" well that's rather up to them isn't it?

Subject: RE: Murder/Manslaughter-Amanda Knox acquitted(3-10-11)
From: Lighter
Date: 05 Oct 11 - 05:55 PM

What's funny is that if a foreigner had made those accusations against an American police force, half of Mudcat would assume they were *obviously* true. No further investigation needed!

If A & R are guilty, then a pair of perfectly normal appearing college kids decided to murder the roommate of one of them, for no particular reason, right there in the house. The fact that a known drug-dealer and drifter has been proved scientifically to be the killer (or at least "a" killer) apparently doesn't matter. A & R then somehow mopped up all their own DNA from the crime scene, carefully leaving the other DNA, blood, etc., intact. Then, instead of dumping the "murder knife" into the river, they placed it in Rafael's kitchen.   

I don't claim to know just what happened, but I'll take the opinion of the independent DNA analysts, the Italian appeals jury, and the two judges who were part of it, over that kind of conjecture any time.

Subject: RE: Murder/Manslaughter-Amanda Knox acquitted(3-10-11)
From: Jean(eanjay)
Date: 05 Oct 11 - 04:53 PM

Amanda Knox's parents unfortunately gave interviews stating what their daughter had told them; this was relayed round the world by the press and has also been quoted as if it is fact in this thread. It would have been better if they had left accusations against the police for the lawyers to deal with especially since their daughter appears to be able to lie at the drop of a hat with or without police interrogation.