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Will Knox's Boyfriend Sacrifice Himself?
During the five months of this trial, much has been made of Knox’s sex life and her eccentricities, but what has been said about Sollecito has been just as bizarre. The now 25-year-old has claimed that Knox was only his second sexual encounter. Sollecito’s university residence hall supervisor Francesco Tavernise testified that Rafe was introverted and shy, but that he had once caught him watching a sexually explicit movie focused on bestiality. Sollecito also posted a picture of himself wrapped in surgical bandages brandishing a meat cleaver on his social-networking site, and the prosecution has pointed to his penchant for violent Japanese Magna comics that center on the occult. His only run-in with the law has been for possession of hashish on the beach near his hometown Bari.
Sollecito’s chief lawyer, Giulia Bongiorno, is the most sought-after defense attorney in the country, a Johnny Cochran-style legal star who, at 28, made her name as part of a powerful defense team that got then-Prime Minister Giulio Andreotti cleared of several Mafia-related charges. The fact that his father can afford her services is not lost on anyone following this case. Several of Dr. Sollecito’s patients in Bari have been accused of Mafia ties, and one journalist described him as “urologist to the dons.“ During the trial, local papers and courtroom staff have taken to referring to the various family members who sit in the back the courtroom and scowl at prosecution witnesses as the “the Sollecito clan.“
But even with his powerful family and expert counsel, there are problems within Sollecito’s defense team. Vincenzo Pascali, the chief forensic consultant who was set to give expert testimony about the possible contamination of the bra clasp, walked off the case last month, reportedly leaving a €50,000 bill. Back in September, Pascali, who declined to comment for this story, hinted that the clasp also contained Knox’s DNA. The bra clasp, which was collected some 40 days after the murder, is the most contestable piece of evidence in the entire case against Sollecito.
Bongiorno says her defense will focus on discrediting the evidence of the bra clasp, and on Sollecito’s alibi for the night of the murder. The two defendants are planning a joint defense, but Bongiorno admits her own client’s acquittal is her priority. Still, she often sticks up for Knox, vigorously cross-examining the prosecution's forensic witnesses and emphasizing lack of motive to argue for their innocence. Knox and Sollecito had only dated for six days before Kercher was killed. Last January, Bongiorno described the defendants as “two lovebirds in the first week of their romance,” not some “bored couple looking for excitement“ with group sex.
Early on in the investigation, however, Sollecito’s stepmother was wiretapped telling him to “erase the girl from your mind,” and court observers say the defense teams could split at the first sign of trouble. Legal analysts in Italy predict that Bongiorno will not risk her reputation to save Knox if things start to go bad. But even if she decides to abandon the joint defense strategy and put Sollecito on the stand, where he will be confronted by his sworn statements contradicting Knox’s alibi, Sollecito’s meek demeanor would make him a risky witness. It seems unlikely that he could project the same sort of confidence as Knox did last week.
In a two-page journal entry Knox wrote on November 7, 2007, the day after her arrest, she described a conversation she had had with Rafe about his drug use. “He told me that he drove his friends to a concert and that they were using cocaine, marijuana, he was drinking rum,” and how that experience had caused him to change. Knox also wrote how she counseled him. “I told him that life is full of choices, and those choices aren’t necessarily between good and bad. They are between what is best and what is not.” Sollecito's decision not to take the stand may be the most important choice in his life.
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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Lloyd Grove is editor at large for The Daily Beast. He is also a frequent contributor to New York magazine and was a contributing editor for Condé Nast Portfolio. He wrote a gossip column for the New York Daily News from 2003 to 2006. Prior to that, he wrote the Reliable Source column for the Washington Post, where he spent 23 years covering politics, the media, and other subjects.
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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.
The foot imprint on the crime scene bathroom mat is not slamdunk evidence in itself because it only matches Sollecito's foot size and shape.
"Someone" that matches Sollecito's foot imprint was there, awash in the victim's blood.
This is a photo of the blue bath mat:
http://tinyurl.com/n8c2fu
People will call it a "coincidence". Police call it a "fact".
DNA from both Sollecito, Knox, was found on the deceased's bra strap. Explain that... Both of them were using drugs. Both of them are guilty, like the guy who was already tried... Money won't make this go away...
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Somewhat off thread: If I see Barbie's by-line, I see an exciting story.
Thanks once again for excellent reporting from the courtroom. Your observations on the relationship between the two suspects and their defense teams, and the strategy of the latter, are invaluable.
This is a strange case. The Italian police and prosecution are either inept or caught in their own web of procedural nonsense. For heaven's sake, they have already convicted someone of the murder and surely know exactly what happened. Yet they have raised so many conflicting questions and made a mess of the prosecution.
Any one familiar with Italy's Monster of Florence case and the religiously hysterical misconduct of prosecutor Magnini, who is also under indictment, can easily see through this kangaroo court and its blatant effort to railroad Knox and Sollecito. Everyone, that is, except this idiot reporter who seems content to drink the local Kool-Aid exclusive of any real investigation on her own. This is not a journalist, but an ignorant and uninformed blogger who should be paid little credence.
I just finished reading that book and was going to reference the well documented trials agains the innocent (but scuzzy) fellows who were initially eyed as being the Monster. Not that Karla Homolka and Karl Bernardo haven't proven that the most angelic looking couples can prove to be the most heinous. I wouldn't want to have my life hinging on a bloody footprint and DNA in my own apartment.
At this point in time Mignini could be a Hare Krishna and that wouldn't change any of the evidence gathered by the police investigators. If Mignini were to retire this summer, when the trial reconvenes Raffaele's DNA will still be on the bra clasp, Meredith's and Amanda's DNA will still be on the Double DNA Knife, Raffaele's statement of not being sure of Amanda's whereabouts for 3 or 4 hours on the night of the murder will still be a valid statement, the bathmat footprint will still match Raffaele's foot (in spite of the Friends of Amanda group shrinking an image of Rudy's footprint to schoolgirl size - 23 centimetres - on their site to make a couple of toe characteristics fit).
Really, at this point, Mignini is rather irrelevant to the judicial future of Amanda and Raffaele. The main character is Judge Massei, plus the jurors, and how they evaluate the evidence. It looks like a tough situation to me.
By the way, when pro-Amanda types keep insisting that "Rudy has already been convicted" of murder, they make it sound like Amanda's and Raffaele's indictment is a separate, more recent after-thought of the prosecutor. The truth is that the indications of involvement of all three in the murder of Meredith resulted from the same investigation; the judicial starting point for their trials was the same last fall. The only difference is that Rudy opted for a short format "fast-track" trial.
American investigators have gotten into this finally... and they are horrified at how poorly the investigation was done. The evidence does not even closely match their conclusions.
I really feel badly for this poor girl. (And not just the one that was killed.) Ms. Knox, based on the evidence shown thus far does not appear to be guilty. If knew credible evidence is found that could change... but what they have now is flat out CRAP. These are the lives of TWO girls... not just about one.
knew = new
Hawanz,
;) we knew
To Kahill, is that the family name of the lady [Procuratore Generale] in the fiction Walker Texas Ranger? Get rel baby someone can get hurt because of yor childish parlare...
The story: Drugged, drunk and self-gratifying, this couple indulged in carrying out their sexual, homicidal fantasies on the murder victim. Their stories have inconsistencies, and contradictions? They were both too messed up to remember the train of events of what they did. Case closed. Verdict guilty.
Judging from the statements the two defendants made when arrested, it leaves no doubt in my mind they were in the apartment when the murder was committed. Physical evidence places them there. In my opinion they both are guilty. I haven't heard or read what Rudy Guede said about the murder. I do know that he had a swift trial and a lengthy sentence, however it was determined that he did not actually committ the murder. So, which one of the two defendants killed Kercher????
ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzz. Let's move on, shall we.
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I am leaning more towards innocence after reading Anne Coulter's recent rant on the case. Has she ever been right?
The Coulter rant has this gem:
"Even the accused murderess has a better theory to explain the DNA on the knife.
Knox wrote in her prison diary: "I think it is possible Raffaele went to Meredith's house, raped her, then killed her and then when he got home, while I was sleeping, he pressed my fingerprints on the knife."-SARecord
http://tinyurl.com/kjkwo7
Thank you.
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