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Amanda Knox Tells Her Story
Daniele La Monaca, Landov / Reuters
"I'm not like that," the accused murderer told an Italian jury after months of salacious and damning testimony about her. Barbie Latza Nadeau reports from the courthouse.
“I am Amanda Knox” were the first words the 21-year-old Seattle native told the court in Perugia, Italy, where she is standing trial for the murder of her roommate, Meredith Kercher. Knox took the stand for Friday and Saturday as a “communal” witness for the prosecution, civil plaintiffs, and in her own defense. At times she was confident and secure; other times she sounded confused and distracted. She started her testimony in English, but after two hours switched to Italian, relying on the translator for help primarily with slang words like “bummer” and “laid back.”
First, she fielded questions from Carlo Pacelli, attorney for Patrick Lumumba, the Congolese man Knox accused of murdering Kercher during an interrogation shortly after the murder. Lumumba, who spent two weeks in prison because of Knox’s accusation, is a civil plaintiff seeking an undisclosed amount from Knox for defamation of character. In addition, authorities filed criminal charges against Knox for falsely accusing him.
“The declarations were taken against my will. They called me a stupid liar. They said I would go to prison for protecting someone.”
“Did you ever apologize to Patrick?” Pacelli asked. “No,” said Knox, passing up what seemed like a good opportunity to make the apology in front of the court.
“Did you ever offer compensation to Patrick?”asked Pacelli. “Who, me?” she laughed. “No.”
In the five months of this trial, the jury has heard a barrage of damaging testimony about Knox. Witnesses have portrayed her as a strange cartwheel performer with bad hygiene. Jurors learned about her vibrator and her sexual escapades, and her personal emails and handwritten diaries have become part of the prosecution’s dossier of evidence against her.
Knox’s testimony Friday was her first chance to explain both her accusation of Lumumba and her bizarre demeanor after Kercher’s body was discovered. Having suffered a virtual character assassination since she was arrested in November 2007, Knox succeeded in giving the jury a different view of herself as a normal young woman nothing like the shocking things that have been said and implied about her. “They are wrong,” she said. “I’m not like that.”
She has also criticized the police who interrogated her, accusing them of maltreatment and blaming them for making her finger Lumumba. Knox, who originally confessed to being at the scene of the crime and hearing Kercher’s screams, said the police put those ideas in her head. “The declarations were taken against my will. They called me a stupid liar. They said I would go to prison for protecting someone,” she said. “They hit me on the back of the head twice. I was very, very scared.”
When her own defense attorneys questioned her, Knox spoke about her positive relationship with Kercher and the other girls who lived in the house where Kercher was killed. She also described how she had been told that she had tested positive for HIV in the initial weeks of her incarceration. “I cried and cried,” she said after explaining that she had been tested twice for AIDS before being told the results were a mistake. “I kept thinking I was going to die. I was worried I would never have children.”
Knox was evasive when questioned about Sollecito, her co-defendant in the crime. She would not elaborate about their relationship, but she did testify that she relied heavily on him for help understanding Italian and for comfort during the days between the murder and her arrest. For the first time, she explained why she and her then-boyfriend seemed inappropriately affectionate outside the house on the morning Kercher’s body was found. “I was hugging Raffaele because I was cold. I was in shock,” she said. “I didn’t understand what had happened.”
The questions were tough but the day belonged to Knox. Amanda was unflappable on her second day of testimony, first fielding questions from prosecutor Giuliano Mignini and then from the kercher lawyer Francesco Maresca. Again she testified that she was under such pressure the night she accused Lumumba that she became confused and disoriented. It was not lost on those in the courtroom that the same young woman was now under enormous pressure defending herself against life in prison. "I don't know how to deal with difficult situations," she said. "I try to find the normalcy in a bad situation."
Knox will not get another chance to testify in her trial but she will be allowed to make spontaneous declarations as her defense lays out their case. Next week Knox's mother Edda Mellas takes the stand. The trial will break July 18 for a two month break.
Barbie Nadeau has reported from Italy for Newsweek magazine since 1997. She also writes for CNN Traveller, Budget Travel magazine and Frommer's.
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Paul Schrodt is a writer living in New York City. He has contributed to New York magazine, Radar, and Esquire.com.
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As vice chairman of Public Strategies and president of Maverick Media, Mark McKinnon has helped meet strategic challenges for candidates, corporations and causes, including George W. Bush, John McCain, Governor Ann Richards, Charlie Wilson, Lance Armstrong, and Bono. McKinnon is co-chair of Arts & Labs, a collaboration between technology and creative communities that have embraced today's rich Internet environment to deliver innovative and creative digital products to consumers.
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Barbie Latza Nadeau has reported from Italy for Newsweek Magazine since 1997. She also writes for CNN Traveller, Budget Travel Magazine and Frommer's.
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Barbie Latza Nadeau has reported from Italy for Newsweek Magazine since 1997. She also writes for CNN Traveller, Budget Travel Magazine and Frommer's.
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Barbie Latza Nadeau has reported from Italy for Newsweek Magazine since 1997. She also writes for CNN Traveller, Budget Travel Magazine and Frommer's.
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piktor
If you only watch her body language, she is guilty as hell. Her story is an obvious snow job like the California Menendez brothers' who killed their two parents with a shotgun.
Sociopaths have a charm and forthright explanations to explain away anything and anyone pointing guilt towards them. Today she is telling the world her confession is not her confession, or whatever it is she wrote on paper and then signed.
There was a Long Island murder case that involved a 17 year old male that signed a confession admitting to killing his parents. It made no sense to me. He did not look the part, he did not act the part. From the beginning I thought he was innocent. He was kept in prison for 20 years and recently won freedom on appeal. He should have never been found guilty.
Amanda's equivocations sound and look a lot like the Menendez brothers con job. The murderous brothers are still in prison, for life.
aspiecelia
People give false confessions all the time, especially young people being threatened by the police. Remember this is why torturing prisoners for information does not work. People make up stories to get them to stop.
piktor
aspiecelia -- You are so right. The Tankleff "confession" is precise proof of this. Amanda's big problem is she has offered several versions of the event. The prosecution has noted this to point to her guilt. I have no idea how the Italian jury will react to this.
ApresSki
AMEN! I watched her explain those cartwheels and you are sooooooooooo right! She's guilty, guilty, GUILTY! And she's not fooling those Italians either. They are not being swayed by her "charming" explanations even in Italian. Timothy Egan of the NYTimes, wrote a piece on her but you could tell, he thinks she's innocent . . . HA!
And I wonder which one of her parents is secretly saying to themselves, "Honey, we've raised a sociopath in our mist!" Which one sees through her but is trying to justify her behaviour? Sounds like they want her out of jail in Italy, but would they put her in jail in America? If they put her in jail in Italy for life, would there be an exchange for an Italian prisoner, so they could do their life sentence in their respective countries? NOT!
I wonder if now, her parents see that Amanda being *special* at home with her siblings, was her way of hiding her sociopathic behaviour. And that all those differences lead her to this point in time. How sad for them because if they don't recognize this now, they're just lying to themselves.
Females recognize Knox as guilty because we were raised with them or we went to school with them and we usually stayed away from girls like her. They were odd, strange and their reaction to normal behaviour & stuff was just to out there to be friends with girls like Knox.
http://www.lovefraud.com/blog/2007/02/16/when-women-are-sociopathspsycho paths/
But I agree with Piktor on this one. It's just a question of when the 6 jurors and 2 judges vote this fall. GUILTY, GUILTY . . . G-U-I-L-T-Y!!
ApresSki
An innocent person has one story and sticks to it, no matter if they beat you or use a hose. The "truth is bullet proof".
Knox has told a different version so many times, I'm surprise she even remembers her own lies. In the end, those different versions will be her death knell.
Narpak
"An innocent person has one story and sticks to it, no matter if they beat you or use a hose. The "truth is bullet proof"."
No matter how innocent you are if you are tortured sooner or later the large majority of people will start confessing to whatever they think their torturers would like to hear.
I would suggest, that among other things, you could read http://www.fas.org/irp/dni/educing.pdf information about interrogation and the result (possessive and negative) that can be archived through its various forms. The document is created by the National Defense Intelligence College.
piktor
ApresSki -- Talk of keeping to your story, see this video of the Tankleff case. The lying crook here is...THE LEAD DETECTIVE!
Watch how he moves his head and eyes. Hear the cop's lame explanations. Watch Marty's reaction when he is found guilty by the jury. It is an amazing video:
http://tinyurl.com/ml9smc
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n--Y--mblipsnumonk
How the fuck do you know?
Care to ellaborate on what actually happened in that court room?
Care to base you opinion other than the fact that someone is looking frantic when looking at a dangerous penalty?
Whether she did it or not, I am quite willing to bet that if you were put on the stand for murder yourself, you would not be cool and calm. Few are. That is also irrelevant to the actuality of the case.
Funny that in America we put people in for decades on mandatory minimums for personal drug possession. We let our murderers get away with medals, yet the pot dealer gets a decade? Which we pay for?
Yeah, we really know what justice is in the western world...
~Monk
Lisa2009
There is no doubt Amanda Knox is guilty!! I cant believe that Donald Trump and our Senator Maria Cantwell and so many others are sticking their noses in this case! they were not there so they can not say a darn thing! about what happened, if it were their daughter murdered they would sing another tune. I hope the Italian Courts dont bow down to the Americans and stand their grounds and keep her in jail where this murderer belongs. Donald Trump and Senator Maria Cantwell and all the others go on with what is important in your own lives and Maria run the State and stay out of this case and anyone else "All of these Americans who believe she is innocent were not there, so how in the....can they stand up and say she is not guilty they dont give a .... about Meredith Kercher's death they ought to be ashamed! Sit your .....Down!!
piktor
I am thoroughly intrigued by the jury's reaction to the evidence in favor and against Amanda. I have not followed this case closely but one man, Rudy Guede, has already been convicted to a 30 year prison sentence. This man will not offer testimony in the Knox-Sollecito trial. This alone seems to help the prosecution in a big way.
The jury might be wondering why would an innocent man want to keep silent and not help his chances to be freed by giving as much information about his innocence as would be expected.
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n--Y--mblipspiktor
mblips -- The appeal explanation is a convenient cover for Guede. I smell a deal with the prosecution.
BTW, the wrongly convicted Long Island teenager is named Marty Tankleff.
drmarkklein
Amanda should have worn a modest skirt and blouse plus covering up the herpes lip lesion to create an innocent youth image. Came across on the ABC clip of her testimony as quite the hardboiled young babe whose seen and done it all.
hithere3
this is italy, not south carolina.
numonk
Indeed. We are stupid media consumers, no doubt.
~Monk
aBigDeal
Man, she sure is cute for a cold blooded killer! Just kidding. What's on her lip?
sandwiches
does anyone else think it's funny that she gave her testimony with a cold sore?
Utaneus
that's the first thing i noticed.
ObamaLover227
Apologizing in court would be one of the dumbest things a defendant could do, especially when claiming coercion. Why then is this described as "passing up an opportunity"? During witness examination, in the US and Italy, you answer the question asked of you. Other than that, interesting read.
susangalea
Just feel that this girl has had the extraordinary press biased characterisation based on hearsay and Italian and other laymens' prejudices. The evidence seems flimsy; and until it is examined and shown to be damning; I feel this girl is being damned by hearsay and tabloid notions of what constitutes a good story.
Plantagenet
Ms. Knox won't be so "cute" after she is convicted and serves 30 years in prison.
dabronze
asshole ,you obviously have it all figured out . why not do some research!
before ranting and raving Its good to know your shit DIPSTICK!
snapdragon
I think Amanda is telling the truth. There are many cases where people are coerced into signing false confessions. I think the case against Amanda should be based more on the hard evidence like that that implicated Guede, and so far it doesn't seem like a case could really be made against her using physical evidence. How can so many of you be so sure she is guilty? She made a weird face and a photographer happened to capture it? She hugged her boyfriend for comfort in a traumatic time? It would be a double tragedy if she is wrongly convicted.
aDCBeast
I have seen zero evidence that says she committed this crime. Remember this is a court of law. Not the court of public opinion. which is all I have seen prosecutors make arguments for.
Anyone who considers body language as a sign of guilt needs a mental exam.
Stick to the facts. In this case there is only one concrete fact. That a young girl was killed. The facts dry up at that point.
The investigation should have continued before this case was brought to trial.
piktor
aDCBeast -- I hope you are right and she is found not guilty. If the trial were held in the U.S. she would go free because the police has clearly mishandled evidence. Italian rules seem to be a lot looser on that issue.
On the subject of body language, it is a full-blown field of forensic psychology. Body language experts knew right away Bill Clinton was lying when he said "I did not have sex whith that woman..." The giveaway had to do with the use of his hands and the "with that woman" phrase.
In my particular case, I was right about the Menedez case, I was right about the Tankleff case, I knew Hillary would lose to Obama a full year before it happened, etc.
I hope I am 100% wrong about Amanda. I am wrong about 20% of the time. Ms. Knox is very young and it would be a tragedy that she ends up in jail for this. I do think she has equivocated enough to raise justified suspicions. I do know she is trying to cover something up like the Menendez brothers. But maybe she is trying to cover up a foolish lie that has nothing to do with this murder. Maybe she is trying to snow the world and trying to get away with murder.
aDCBeast
No .. there is no such thing a field of forensic psychology devoted to "body language". Your suggestion that there is ... is pure Horse Manure ...
piktor
aDCBeast -- Since you put forth the assertion "body language" is not a subject studied in Forensic Psychology, it is your burden to prove "Body Language" is not studied in Social Psychology and Social Psychology is not studied by forensic psychologists.
shocked
Wow...I usually never post comments, but I just have to say to piktor: You are a fucking idiotic fool. First of all, this case has NOTHING to do with the Menendez brothers so stop trying to make comparisons that make absolutely no sense at all. And oh my god, you knew that Obama was going to beat Hilary?! That must mean you are an expert on foriegn murder trials...Right...Second of all, you contradict yourself repeatedly. For a person who admits that they "have not followed this case closely," meaning you obviously have no idea what the actual evidence/lack of evidence in this case is, you sure are quick to rush to a judgement of "she is guilty as hell." This world would be so much more pleasant if uneducated, ignorant people like yourself would just go away and stop burdening the rest of us with your stupidity. She's innocent. Period. End of story.
piktor
shocked -- So, the use of expletives announces some sort of radiantly omniscient and verbose paragon. From silence to expletive to denounce the idiot ignorant fool.
When I am called an ignorant idiot I say how wise!
When an expletive is used I think of degradation, violence, sadism, fear projection, anger, self-righteous hatred, intellectual laziness, unoriginality, conformity, disrespect, and on and on.
The use of expletives connotes a feeble mind, a sort of decrepit self esteem, finding the easy way out, giving up without even trying. Can conquest be made by self-defeating proxy? Is violent language a concession to the worst demons lurking? Can foul words mitigate the stench?
Does the use of expletives affirm anything other than the low path that boomerangs back to its agency. It is wrong. It is the opposite of good.
I say how truly dumb.
dabronze
well said ! some people mostly assume what they hear is what the facts are . total morons ! kangarro tactics "i" say.!
langtry
I've tried to find the link, and it appears that the Seattle Post-Intelligencer has since deleted the article, but Amanda Knox has a history of violent behavior. A party at her off-campus apartment led to mayhem, and responding police were pelted with debris when they tried to break up the party. If I remember correctly, the local SWAT were called in and Knox and several of her friends were briefly arrested.
That said, Amanda Knox is a sociopath/psycopath, and I don't buy her parents assertions of her demure and innocent nature. Knox lied to the police from the beginning of the investigation into Meredith's death, and it is for that reason that the police treated her with something less smooth than kid gloves (and I don't believe for a moment that the police beat her confession out of her -- so bemusing to see hger trotting out an American-style cliched defense). Amanda Knox and her parents have spent a fortune on PR and marketing to sell the idea that Amanda is an innocent victim in her roommate's murder. I hope the Italian court is not nearly as gullible as are some of the "Amanda's Innocent!" posters here.
langtry
And does anyone here remember the lovely picture of her at a Holocaust Museum in Europe, bent down as if firing the tripod-mounted machine gun, with a huge laughing grin on her face? That very same gun likely mowed people down, and yet she's enjoying a good giggle whilst posing for a snap. Chilling and vile.
lisareik
The whole Ameican thing about proclaiming her innocence based on her friends and famly is ridiculous.
There is so much tying her and that strange boyfriend to the crime that she cannot possibly avoid a gulty sentence.
And yes her parents have a lot of soul searching to do rearding how their young daughter could turn out to be this bloody sociopathic.
lisareik
Thanks for that one.
Yes her casual laughing countenance at the Holocaust Museum in Europe is chilling.
From wanton rabid hate to murder a young innocent rommate---it was quite a slippery slope.
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reader1941
Think witch trials. So here we have a young woman who smokes pot, has sex with her boyfriend(s), and y/day had a cold sore. One of the keys to witch trials is that nubile young women look guilty as hell (of anything) to warped minds. The prosecutor, Giuliano Mignini, has an obsession with "Satanism." This is what he has accused Amanda Knox of -- "Italian prosecutors today accused Amanda Knox of fatally stabbing her British house mate in a Satanic rite" (reported by AP Oct 18 2008). Let's hear more about him and his fantasies. Remember how the the Inquisition got people to "confess." Knox has guts to say in open court that they hit her and called her a stupid liar. And how about terrorizing her with a false-positive on an AIDS test - has any reporter checked to see what the first result actually was? For prosecutor Mignini's decades of involvement with accusations of Satanic ritual murder, and his colleagues' repression and goaling of skeptical reporters, see John Bakers' April 2006 blog entry on "The Monster of Florence":
http://johnbakersblog.co.uk/the-monster-of-florence/ and "The Monster of Florence" in July/August 2006 Atlantic magazine.
robertconte
Hello reader,
I visited Mr Baker's site as you suggested, but was left perplexed, having read Monster of Florence and noted a series of grave errors during my reading sessions, being quite aware of the case myself. In his letter on Mr. Baker's site, Mr. Preston claims many bonafide journalistic credentials, yet his book was based much on information provided by another journalist whose objectivity is questionable. In the author's defence, I thought the book was quite an engaging read, but unfortunatey labeled as a "true" story. In NY they call that false advertising, no? My son is a journalist, therefore I notice these things: the Associated Press report you cited paraphrases one defence counselor's take on the prosecutor's case, not the prosecutor himself. Perhaps you might review your media reports more carefully. I think it does take courage for this young lady to tell openly of her police experience in Italy. But it has nothing to do with the Monster of Florence case and continuing to mention it simply reveals how insensitvely the author is utilizing this tragic murder case for his own gain.
reader1941
Prosecutor Mignini's criminal case theory comes to him from a psychic, Gabriella Carlizzi, who claims to get her information from a charismatic priest, Padre Gabriele, who died in 1984. Carlizzi claims that Amanda Knox in Seattle and Meredith Kercher in Leeds belonged to the same international satanic cult. To do with red roses and Masons. On Carliizi's view The Masonic Order of the Red Rose is to blame not only for the notorious Tuscan serial killings (The Monster of Florence) and the murder of Meredith Kercher but is also to blame for 9/11. For more see the blof "Perugia Shock" (not mine).
tarryh
I sure would not want many of the posters here on a jury, although I do wonder who some of your really are.... friends of the prosecution perhaps? Just a tad to vicious to be believable. The trial is in the early stages yet many of you have already convicted Amanda. Maybe she is guilty but facts should determine the outcome of this trial, not the impressions of observers. Impressions that are based on short news clips or brief print stories. The devil is always in the details. If we imprisoned or executed people on the basis of how they looked or how they sounded, we would truly be barbarians. We in America are have proven time and again that without careful objective consideration we can get it very wrong. The problem with this trial is that some of the evidence is suspect, the prosecution has a prior history of taking short cuts/manipulating evidence/abusing suspects all of which it is accused of doing in this case, and the tabloid press has had a field day.... thus poisoning the air. What Amanda deserve is a fair trial!
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