As we reported yesterday (see below) the British press is now reporting the Michelle Moore incident:
http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-23991641-pro-knox-woman-…
UPDATE 5: Tuesday, 7:30 a.m.
Sollecito's other lawyer, Luca Maori, began after lunch about 15 minutes ago. He just told the court that it was amusing to believe the theory that Sollecito and and Knox cleaned all of their DNA and left Rudy Guede's DNA, referring to the prosecution maintaining Sollecito and Knox used soap and water to remove their DNA while leaving Guede's DNA just after the murder. Maori called this "magic soap".
Maori then showed a picture of the hydra monster in Greek mythology, and said the prosecution's approach to the case was like the hydra monster. Cut one head off and three more grow back.
He questioned why the alleged murder weapon, the knife, was taken from Sollecito's kitchen drawer to test and not all the knives. He said the bloody outline of the knife on the bed did not match the size of the prosecution's knife.
We will update
UPDATE 4:Tuesday, 12:50 a.m.
It is being reported that American media is pouring into Perugia, Italy, for the conclusion of Amanda Knox's appeal trial. The verdict is expected as early as this Saturday, but probably will come Monday. Perugia time is nine hours ahead of Seattle time.
First, however, the defense team of Raffaele Sollecito gives closing arguments today, which started at about 9:30 a.m. their time, or about 25 minutes ago. Thursday it is Knox's defense team.
Tuesday, 1:40 a.m.
Giulia Bongiorno, the lead lawyer on Raffaele Sollecito's defence team, has been speaking for about an hour now, focusing on the evidence, or lack of it, in Meredith Kercher's room where she was murdered. This lawyer must try to clear Knox in order to clear her client, as Knox and Sollecito are tied so closely together in the case. Therefore, she is dividing her time between defending both, according to reports inside the court we are receiving.
We will continue to update.
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UPDATE 3: Monday, Sept. 26:
According to our sources inside the courtroom in Perugia, attorneys for Patrick Lumumba, the bar owner initially arrested and jailed for two weeks for Meredith Kercher's murder, spent this morning calling Amanda Knox a "witch" and a "satanist" in her appeal trail.
This stems from Lumumba, Knox's boss, being named in Knox's confession during her 2007 interrogation as someone she speculated who killed her British roommate, Meredith Kercher, after the police and prosecutor interrogating her said they found a hair follicle on the murder scene belonging to a black male. They asked who in her life was black, and she named him. The prosecution has maintained that she named Lumumba to get them off her trail, while she and her defense team say she reported she was struck in the head and bullied into naming Lumamba under threat of her safety. No videotape has surfaced during this specific period of her interrogation.
Lumumba had nearly 15 acquaintances backing up his alibi that he was elsewhere the night of the murder, yet he remained in prison for two weeks. Knox's supporters and family have told the West Seattle Herald they speculate the prosecution kept Lumamba in jail so long to embarrass Knox and weaken her case, rather than question, then release him after supplying the alibis.
Also high drama in court today as Michelle Moore, the wife of Steve Moore, retired FBI expert and outspoken critic of the prosecution, (both in the courtroom as observers), decided it would be a good idea to let Mignini know she though he was "an evil person". She is now being detained. She may receive a costly fine for insulting (libeling) him. At this time she is not allowed to leave the building.
Update: She was held for an hour and has been released.
COURT SCHEDULE UNTIL VERDICT
Raffale Sollecito's defense team goes tomorrow, Tuesday, and Amanda Knox's defense team is up Thursday. Friday and Saturday is scheduled for rebuttals.
Then verdict should come Saturday or Monday.
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UPDATE 2: Saturday 9:00 a.m.
The prosecution just finished their closing arguments.
Prosecutor Manuela Comodi insisted that the original DNA findings on the knife and bra clasp are valid, despite the court-appointed experts' findings that this evidence is unreliable. She said the scientific police followed all the laws according to processing evidence and that the judge cannot completely rely on the independent experts. Head prosecutor Giuliano Mignini was sleeping during these statements, according to West Seattle Herald sources inside the courtroom.
Said Amanda Knox's stepfather, Chris Mellas, "Simply put, they have not made the case."
UPDATE Saturday 1:00 a.m.
Retired FBI agent Steve Moore has become a public figure by stating his views that Amanda Knox is innocent and that the prosecution mishandled the murder investigation and misguided the public in its presentation in court during the (first) murder trial. He was in the Italian courtroom yesterday during the prosecution's closing arguments in the appeal, and now shares his observations, as he saw them, with the West Seattle Herald.
"Court today was obviously difficult for Amanda as it involved two prosecutors orating for over seven solid hours on her 'guilt' using previously disproved and soundly discredited allegations.
"It was difficult for the family also to hear falsehoods and rumors repeated one more time. But they showed the dignity and resilience for which they are becoming known. It was also obviously difficult for the spectators and especially the jurors as the droning speech was almost completely uninterrupted by the use of visual aids or other other media which would have helped ease the boredom. Jurors were fighting, mostly successfully, to stay awake. Several members of the audience were unable to stay awake through the entire ordeal.
"It was stupid. (Prosecutor) Mignini accused Amanda's defense team of 'Nazi propaganda' (...) His rambling, self-defending diatribe was likely a great victory for Amanda's defense team in that it portrayed him in his true light. I almost felt like I was watching the final court scene in 'The Caine Mutiny'. The defense never objected once: Not because what he was saying wasn't easily disprovable (that will be handled in the defense closing) but because they didn't want his craziness to be derailed. He was doing a masterful job of making himself look self-absorbed and out of touch with reality."
Late Correction: Prosecution's closing arguments were heard today, Saturday, and just concluded. Court continues Monday and Tuesday, off Wednesday.
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The prosecution's closing arguments against West Settle raised Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito, her also-accused former boyfriend, began just after 10:00 a.m. this morning (Friday) in Perugia, Italy, nine hours ahead of Seattle time (1:00 a.m. Thursday night/Friday morning.) Prosecutors have been utilizing different strategies today to condemn Knox an Sollecito for the Nov. 1, 2007 murder of Knox's college roommate, Meredith Kercher.
According to Italian legal protocol, judges allow the prosecution a lot of latitude to explain their arguments to the jury during closing arguments.
Prosecutor Giancarlo Costagliola began, and then head prosecutor Giuliano Mignini took over. Both accused the media of "making a circus" of the case in favor of Knox and Sollecito, and Mignini said the case should be heard in the courtroom, not in the media. Costagliola said that the judge-appointed forensics experts have drawn inaccurate conclusions and that the original evidence, the DNA on the alleged murder weapon, the kitchen knife, and the bra clasp must stand.
According to West Seattle Herald sources reporting from inside the courtroom, some jurors dozed off.
Mignini complained of "Nazi-like tactics" used by the defense to discredit police experts. He showed projected graphic images of Ms. Kercher's autopsy while saying that she has been forgotten in the trial and that his heart goes out to her family. Mignini said that the international media has forgotten the pain of Ms. Kercher and her family. He sticks to his original theory, that the break-in to Knox's apartment was staged. He also went over testimony from the prosecution's key witness, Antonio Toto Curatolo, who was in court March 26. The 53-year-old homeless man and self-described lifelong drug addict had then been excused from the courtroom after appearing confused about seeing Knox and Sollecito on a bus the night of the murder.
During Mignini's four hours, which he is still using, he also reminded the court that Amanda had a vibrator and condom in her room the time of the murder, and downplayed Rudy Guede's role in the murder, and said he is getting blamed unfairly because he is black. (Guede is from the Ivory Coast.) His blood was found on the crime scene. He fled to Germany following the murder and police picked him up and returned him to Italy. He has also been charged with the murder and is serving 16 years. He could be out in six to nine years with good behavior.
The verdict is expected to come Oct. 3.
We will continue to update.
