Amanda Knox Appeal: Prosecution Still Winging-It With No Case

September 24, 2011 - Friday's hearing in Perugia went about as I expected with no hard facts proving guilt, but instead making a good show out of it- relying on drama rather than evidence. It was the prosecution's day to try and convince judges and jury that Knox and Sollecito are guilty of murder and that the convictions should hold, and given even greater sentences. Personally I thought the tactics used on Friday by the prosecution was contemptible- Mignini and company played every card in the deck yet presented no evidence of guilt- just name-calling, and  speculation which they called "clues".

They said they still supported the DNA which was trashed by the judge's appointed experts, yet, just in case no one believed, they said that "..there was a lot of other things..." that pointed to guilt. Most of what Mignini was saying was speculation and they even brought up the supposed break-in, which is a fantasy without proof. The prosecution also said they still believed that the heroin dealing park bum- was a reliable witness- you remember him- he was the guy who couldn't remember the correct day and admitted he was on heroin at the time. That was the star witness for the prosecution.

Interestingly, Mignini started to trash the media who supports Knox's innocence, with Mignini telling the jury to forget all about what the media says and not be pressured by it. That is almost laughable, as it was Mignini who used the media like pawns on a chessboard and filling them with misinformation in an attempt to ruin Knox's reputation before the first trial. The man has no scruples.

And of course they played the sympathy card in order to distract the jury saying- that when you review this case think about the victim and her family. What does that mean? That the jury should think more about the victim of the crime than the facts of the case, and convict two innocent people of murder as though it will somehow make everything alright? There will be more of this type of thing when the Kercher lawyer Maresca gets the spotlight.

The prosecution even accused the defense of being like the Nazi propaganda minister when referring to all the media attention. Actually that seems much more like Mignini than the defense lawyers- Like I said the man has no scruples. Mignini actually referred in court to Rudy Guede as "the poor black guy'. I must say the prosecution has exceeded my expectations on how low they could go in order to try and win this appeal. Yet considering they have no case in which to establish guilt, I guess they feel they are entitled to wing-it as they see fit.

Both Amanda and Raffaele looked a little stressed, particularly Amanda as for a moment she looked like she had clearly had enough of this fiasco and put her hand to her face and then started rubbing her forehead like she was in pain. Who could blame her- she understands every word of Italian these prosecutors were spitting out like nails in her direction.

Will the jury buy all this smoke and mirrors act- hopefully not- most intelligent people know when they are given a tap dance rather than factual evidence and I don't think the judges are buying any of this- They found out what they wanted to know with the DNA and park bum witness- the rest is just drama.

Amanda Knox Appeal: September 5th, 2011 Court Appointed Expert Says, Anyone's DNA Could Be On There

September 5, 2011- The appeal for Amanda Knox kicked up again today in Perugia, picking up where it left off last July with the court appointed experts taking the stand. The big issue was still the DNA which the experts shot full of holes earlier this summer and continued to stand by. Despite the prosecution blowing a lot of smoke, Dr. Carla Vecchiotti came through the cross examination convincingly. As regards to the knife, Vecchiotti stated that the investigators/ Stefanoni, "evaluated a quantity of DNA that no one in the world would try to analyze". In regards to the bra-clasp she stated that small traces of at least 18 people including herself were on the clasp. "Anyone's DNA could be on there" she said, obviously referring to widespread contamination of the clasp.

Dr Stefanoni, who did the original testing for the prosecution, also testified today and defended the original investigation and collection and testing of DNA in direct opposition to the court appointed experts. Well now- who to believe. Actually, most people who know about DNA and what is called Low Copy Number DNA, already know the prosecution is on very thin ice. Personally I think the thing to remember about this clash over DNA is that the court appointed DNA experts have nothing to gain or loose by stating their case- they have nothing to do with the defense or prosecution and therefore their findings can be taken as being unbiased. Can the same be said for Stefanoni who works on the side of the prosecution?

The appeal hearings will continue through the week with the verdict expected by the end of the month.