Murder in Perugia

1. Murder in Perugia “Mignini’s Notebook”

2. The objective of this presentation is to review questions which may be of use to ask Amanda Knox in her courtroom appearance on 12 June 2009, the first time she will respond to questions since abruptly aborting the questioning session of 18 December 2007 (a year and a half ago), when, with her lawyer by her side, she decided to invoke her right to not reply. For other presentations on this case, timelines, multi-opinioned debate, transcripts, images, and articles and much more content, I highly recommend the following two sites which have resulted from Steve Huff’s True Crime Weblog on this tragedy: Perugia Murder File True Justice For Meredith Kercher (While you’re at it, visit Steve’s current blog, published by Village Voice Media: http://www.truecrimereport.com/) Also take a moment to check out the excellent analysis on this case on Miss Represented’s blog. Any irony or sarcasm which may be encountered in the presentation or our discussions is not meant by any means to trivialise the pain and suffering, and brutal senseless murder that Meredith experienced, nor to reduce her memory. As we go through the scenarios of what may have happened in the crime, the only moment which is truly important is the day when all the evidence is presented in court, like in any other serious crime case. I can only hope that there will be one single ending, that justice is served to those responsible for each of the crimes which have been determined by the Italian judiciary. I am buoyed by the fact that the victim’s family has continued to express confidence in the Italian justice system. - Kermit (11 June 2009) email: krmt123@gmail.com

3. 1. “Highway to Hell" • Amanda: on Nov. 2, we went straight from cottage to Raffaele’s (paraphrase of Matteini report)Raffaele: on Nov. 2, we went for a walk downtown before going to my apartment (paraphrase of police statement) • Questions: • Please describe to the court your movements on the afternoon of 1 Nov. 2007. • Describe the last time you saw Meredith, what you did and where you went when you left the cottage (with Raffaele?). • When and where did you smoke marijuana? How much? • Did you take any other mind-altering substances (alcohol, other drugs?). • Have you tried other drugs? Which ones? • How did you obtain the drugs you used in Perugia? (you purchased them, you used what Raffaele supplied to you ...). • When did the strongest effect of the drugs you used start on 1 November 2007 (that is, when did your memory get fuzzy) - already at your place? before the Polish student? later on in the evening at Raffaele's? • When did the effects wear off? In RS's modified declaration to investigators, he said that at 18:00, he and AK leave the girls' house and go downtown, passing through Piazza Grimana, Piazza Morlacchi, the main fountain and Corso Vannucci. Raffaele's early declaration. In AK's first declaration to police, she said she and RS left at 17:00 h, going to RS's place, where they spent the rest of the night together. Matteini's report.

4. 2. "Evening Plans" • Amanda: “me and raffael went to his house ... spend the evening and night indoors. we didnt go out. the next morning i woke up around 1030” • Amanda: ”I was there and I can’t lie about this” • Raffaele: “to 2100.Knox left him, saying ... that she would go to the pub Le Chic to meet friends ... ,the girl returned around 1am“ • Amanda: a possibility: “Raffaele went to Meredith’s house, raped her and killed her and then ... pressed my fingerprints ... onto the knife” • Questions: • Please describe your activities at Raffaele's place. Is your memory still affected? • When your memory was affected, do you think it was due to the drugs, or due to the stress following the crime, or to some other factor? • Try - together with the court - to make a sum of the times dedicated to each activity in the evening and night of 1 November 2007 (for example: from about 9 p.m., an hour and a half for the movie, 20 minutes for reading Harry Potter, 45 minutes for the long discussion on Raffaele's bed - with talk about his mother and that there is no right or wrong, 25 minutes to cook fish - Raffaele's bloody hands, 20 minutes for dining supper, 15 minutes for shower together and for Raffaele to clean your ears, 10 minutes to suffer the broken drain and basic cleanup or removal of items which could suffer dampness, etc.). • By the way, are you aware of Raffaele ever cooking with Meredith, either at his place or the cottage? • Including the afternoon of 1 November 2007, how many times did Raffaele visit the cottage, for how long, what in general were his activities (for example, he took some sun on the terrace for a half hour, he helped me hang the wash, he helped me search for my underwear which got mixed up with Meredith's ...). • When did you turn off your mobile phone? Why, if normally you always left if on at night? • What music did you and RS listen to?  Together or on your own iPods? • Do you recall what phase the moon was in; based upon the light outside how easy was it to see?

5. 3. "Wash Away the Sins of the Earth" • Amanda (about night, Nov.1): we had a shower and we washed ourselves for a long time. He cleaned my ears, he dried and combed my hair • Amanda (about morning, Nov. 2): “ a quick shower ... it was after i stepped out of the shower and onto the mat that i noticed the blood in the bathroom • Raffaele: No, it was a different day (Pending confirmation and link) • Questions: • Why would you shower on the morning of 2 November 2007, if you had showered just hours before at Raffaele's flat the night before? • During the week or so that you went out with Raffaele before the crime, with what frequency did you shower at his place? • Please take a look at a photo of yourself with your (self-claimed) washed and blow dried hair on the morning of 2 November 2007 and compare that with photos of you before the crime or even here in court: is there any easy way to explain the apparent difference? (e.g., you didn't have hair conditioner in the cottage, your combs were up at Raffaele's ...). • Did you lose a stud or earring on the night of 1 November 2007? • Can you explain the apparent marks on your ear lobes and neck which can be seen in photos of you on 2 November 2007, the latter of which other witnesses have commented on in court? • Have infected ear piercings ever caused you bleeding like the amount of your blood found on the sink faucet and cotten baston (Qtip) box? • What treatment did you use for your infected piercings, assuming that they were infected already before the crime? Where did you store it (at the cottage? at Raffaele's?) • Did you consult a doctor for your ears or the apparent wound on your neck?  How about for any other concerns? 

6. 4. "True Confessions" • Amanda: I “consoled Sollecito when he blamed himself for not having been at his depressed mother’s side before she committed suicide” • Raffaele: “my mother died of cardiac arrest” • Questions: • When did Raffaele first tell you of his mother's suicide? (as you understood to be the case) • How do you think it affected him? What other drugs or destructive behaviour did Raffaele tell you he had participated in? • Did your parents divorce affect your own emotional state? • Please explain your statement that there is no right or wrong, just better or worse choices. • Do you feel that the act of murder (on the part of any theoretical perpetrator) can be termed as right or wrong? Or is the possibility just a choice, and the correctness of the decision which one makes depends on the moment? • Has Raffaele ever scared you? Did he ever do anything you considered very odd? • Could you tell us the worst experience you had with Raffaele?  And the best?

7. 5. "Who's Your Daddy?" • Raffaele: told police his father had called him at home around 11 p.m • Dr. Sollecito (father): Goodnight short text message • Questions: • What contact are you aware of Raffaele having with his father between 1-2 November 2007? (for example, fixed line calls, mobile phone calls, exchange of short messages, email ...). • Did the fixed line phone or Raffaele's mobile phone ring at any time on the night of 1-2 November 2007. • Please describe your own communications that night. • When did you and Raffaele turn off your phones? • Talk about Raffaele's computer use that night: movie? navigating? school work? catching up on email?

8. 6. "The Red Herring" • Amanda (to police): “I am really scared of Patrick, the African guy” • Amanda (a month later, after Patrick’s release and not having contributed to his release): and not as a contributing factor to): "I am sorry for Patrick and for the whole situation” • Question: • Please respond to the unanswered question from questioning session of 18 December 2007: Why did you falsely accuse Patrick Lumumba on Nov. 5? • If it was because of stress, why did you never ever over the course of three weeks retract the accusation, and you only recognised having made a "mistake" a few days after his release from prison? (ie. you didn't contribute at all to helping to free Patrick, once you - supposedly - recovered from the supposed stress of Nov. 5). • What about your statements concerning how you observed Meredith's body, what did you know and when concerning Meredith's death, her position, the possible cause of death? Detour Wild goose chase Caccia all’oca selvatica Waste of time

9. 7. "Barefoot and Pregnant Thoughts in the Kitchen" • Amanda: “Raffaele and I went into another room and then I heard screams. Patrick and Meredith were in Meredith's bedroom” • “I stayed in the kitchen... I remember hearing Meredith's screams and I covered my ears” • Amanda: “I used the bathmat, on which there was blood, because I’d left the towels in the bedroom. I saw the blood on the bathmat and I dragged it into the bedroom to get the towels, then, I took it back to the bathroom and put my earrings in” Possibly she stepped off the bathmat in the end. • Questions: • When you had your vision of you and Raffaele fooling around in your room, and of Patrick retiring with Meredith to the English girl's room, had you taken off your socks and shoes in the vision? • In the vision, when you heard Meredith's screams and feared the worse, were you still without shoes? • In your vision, what did Raffaele do when he heard Meredith's screams? What did you do? • Do you believe that the size 37 Luminol barefoot footprints are yours? • Please describe to the court the bathmat shuffle routine. Date: 1 Nov 2007 Time: approx. 10.30 p.m. Date: 2 Nov 2007 Time: approx. 10.30 a.m. “Bathmat shuffle”: can I have a show of hands … how many people would shake their tail feathers on a bloody mat?

10. 8. "I am the Wolfman" • Giulia Bongiorno: (paraphrase) “it's obviously a lone-wolf crime” (Pending link)Footprints: (yes, footprints can speak a thousand words): Luminol prints, visible prints, barefoot prints, shoeprints, Sra. Nara’s testimony, etc. • Questions: • Can you remember the brand of tennis shoes you wore in November 2007, or did you only possess the hiking books that Raffaele refers to on morning of Nov.2? • Show Amanda a photo of the Albanian witness: Amanda, do you recognise this person? • You're a (self-proclaimed) rock climber, would you be able to enter the cottage through Filomena's window? • Would you prefer anyother access route, for example the kitchen window via the terrace? • Did you ever describe to anybody that you saw Meredith's body in the mirror of her room? • Do you think that Meredith would have been capable of fighting off a single assailant? Would you?  How about 3 assailants? • Were you ever in the park? Did you see any tramps? Any breakdowns?

11. 9. "Rise and Shine" • Amanda: (paraphrase from diary) “got up around 10:30” (pending link)Shopkeeper: The suspect was waiting for the store to open (pending link) • Questions: • Please tell the court at what time you woke up on 2 November 2007. • How did you wake up (natural light? alarm clock? alarm on your or Raffaele's mobile phones?). • Were you still partially under the influence of the drugs you took the night before? • Did you shower at Raffaele's before leaving (that's a sneaky question ...!)? • Have you ever shopped at the variety store down Raffaele’s street (Corso Garibaldi)? • Do you recognise the owner by sight? • Did you ever buy bleach there? • Have you ever bought bleach or other cleaning products in Perugia? • Are you aware of Raffaele stirring in the night (for example, to turn on his mobile phone around 6 a.m.)? • Were you hungry when you got up? What did you have for breakfast?

12. 10. "Whitewashing“ • Amanda (frank's interview): I took wash home to do it at the laundromat (pending confirmation and link) • (why take it home then?) • Questions: • Did you turn on the washing machine in the cottage? • With whose clothes inside? • If not, after the washing machine got fixed, why would you go to a laundromat? • If you preferred to wash your clothes in a laundromat, was it one of the laundromats very near to Raffaele's door? • If so, then why take your wash all the way to the cottage, only to have to take it back to Raffaele's place to use one of the laundromats? • Please tell the court a detailed list of the items you took to the cottage: was the Harry Potter book part of your load? • Why, if you hadn't finished it, and you were starting to spend most of your free time and nights at Raffaele's flat? • Where in the cottage did you leave your bag of wash? • What clothes were you going to wash? Did you ever wash any of Raffaele’s clothes, before or after the crime? Raffaele’s flat Laundromat Corso Garibaldi Laundromat Via Fabretti

13. 11. "Itinerary: Morning at leisure" • Amanda: I called Raffaele from the cottage(pending confirmation and link) • Amanda: We had breakfast at his apartment, we cleaned up the broken pipe, then I told him(pending link) • Amanda: I told him once we had left his place and as we were walking down the street(pending confirmation and link) • Amanda (from email): had a shower, got nervous, took the mop and walked • (pending link) • Question: • For once and for all, when did you notify Raffaele of the situation at the cottage? • If it was after doing other activities (haul up mop and bucket to Raffaele's, then breakfast, then clean up broken pipe ..) you must not have been very nervous, in spite of the state of nerves which you describe in your email

14. 12. "I've Written a Letter to Daddy ..." • Amanda's email to family: “filomenas room was closed, but when i opned the door her room and a mess and her window was open and completely broken, but her computer was still sitting on her desk like it always was and this confused me. (pending link) • Filomena’s testimony (as per The Guardian): Her clothes were on the floor and …. her laptop was among the clothes. She said there was glass on top of the pile of clothes: "I remember that in lifting the computer … I was picking up bits of glass because there were bits of glass on top“ • Questions: • You say explicitly that seeing Filomena's computer on her desk on the morning of 2 November caused you confusion, given that a burglary had apparently occurred and you were surprised that they had not taken the computer from its desk location. Are you aware of anybody (you, Raffaele, the Postal Police, Filomena's male friends) taking the computer from the desk, putting it on the floor, and covering it with broken glass and clothes, before Filomena's arrival? • Do you know why the reading lamp from your room was found on Meredith's floor? • Your bedroom window faced west, did you have any lighting problems when you were in your room (for example, looking for clothes in the closet) on the morning of 2 November 2007? • Did you loan your reading lamp to Meredith? • There were two reading lamps on Meredith's floor, do you know if she used them in this manner prior to the crime?

15. 13. "Telephone Marketing Skills" Edda (Amanda’s mother): has stated on several of the TV and magazine interviews that she told Amanda to call the police (pending links) Raffaele: I had already called 112 when the Postal and Telecommunications Police arrived (pending link) BUT the Postal and Telecommunications Police were in fact already there even before Amanda called to Edda at 12:47!!!!!! (pending link) Questions: When you called your mother, where were you exactly, and who was with you? What phone calls - if any - had you already made? Had any contact with any sort of Italian law enforcement agency been made? (for example: Carabinieri, Postal Police, Custom agents, Endangered wildlife protection officers ... ). Did you immediately follow up your mother's suggestion to call the police? Or did you wait for a while? How long after your first call to your mother did you make your second call? Did your mother ask you if you had been involved in any questionable actives?   Did you tell her you were in trouble or did you offer any such information to her?  What action did your mother say she would take to help you?  What type of help did you ask her for?  

16. 14. "You say tomayto and I say tomahto" • Amanda: “Meredith would often lock the door, even when she went for a shower”Filomena: Meredith “only locked her door when she left the house” • Questions: • Did Meredith always / alot of the time / sometimes / never lock her bedroom door? • Did Luca or Filomena misunderstand you if they believed you to say that Meredith always locked her door, even to have a shower? • By the way, when you spoke with them on 2 November 2007, was it in English or Italian? • Do you know why Meredith locked her door on occasion - if she did? • If you felt that it was normal for Meredith's door to be locked, then why did Raffaele (as per his initial declarations) attempt to break down her door, before the arrival of the Postal Police and Filomena and her friends? • Did you have any reason to prefer to not break down the door, (for example, thinking that Meredith had gone out all night and would probably return in a few minutes?) Editor’s note: okay, this vignette doesn’t have alot to do with the door, but it is funny

17. 15. "Lock Me Up Before You Go-go" • Father Curt Knox: ”physical and mental abuse for 14 hours ... No food, no water, no official interpreter."But, in realtiy, after just 2 and a half hours, “at 1:45 a.m., she pointed the finger at the bar owner Patrick Lumumba, who had criticized her work habits” • Questions: • Please state the exact phases and moments of your questioning on the night of 5 November 2007. • At what approximate time did your questioning start? • What activities were you doing before your session started: did you speak on the telephone with Filomena? what did you talk about? did you do cartwheels? Why? Did someone make you do the cartwheels? Who? • Is it true that around 1:45 you stated that you had been in the cottage on the night of the crime? • Even if you now reject that declaration, please repeat its overall elements. Why did you make that statement? • What were the circumstances of your questioning until 1:45 a.m.? • Were you refused requests to go to the bathroom? “ Synchronise watches ” • Did you request food? If so, were you refused? • What happened after 1:45? Did female police officers accompany you to the police station cafeteria and invite you to a snack, or did you have to pay? • What happened around 5 a.m. which gave rise to your next statement? Was that coerced in any way? • When you were arrested you had approximately 250€ in your pocket. When did you withdraw that money from the ATM. When did you pay your November rent?

18. In one corner, Amanda and her stepfather … • 16. "Je t'adore, Ich liebe dich, Hit me! Hit me! Hit me!" • Chris Mellas:"It was coercion" he said. "They did what they needed to do to get her to say what they wanted her to say." He claimed that one of the policewomen, who allegedly hit her on the head ... • Amanda: (paraphrase) “I received hits on the head” • Ghirga: “There were pressures from the police but we never said she was hit.” • Questions: • Pleeeaaasse, Amanda, on Friday 12/06/09, explain to us exactly what physical aggression you were subjected to, and who did it. • Was C.Mellas correct in his identification of the Perpetrator? • How did this modify your declaration, if at all? • Exactly at what point did you suffer this aggression, if it occurred? • If it occurred, why haven't you filed a formal complaint? • Why have you waited so long to talk about it? • Have you discussed this aggression with your step-father? • Have you discussed this aggression with your lawyer? • Did you indicate to your step-father which police officer was responsible for the alleged aggression, or do you think he was just guessing when he made a post on an Internet discussion board saying it was one of the two female police officers who escorted you out of the police station on the day of your arrest? … and in the other, her lawyer Luciano Ghirga • Have you ever been struck like this before?   • Have you ever been the victim of aggression?  By who?  • Do you feel this has effected your responses to any of the questioning in this trial? 

19. 17. "Flintstones, Meet the Flintstones" • Amanda (to her parents): ”I was there and I can’t lie about this” • Curt Knox: ___________  • Questions: • Please explain the circumstances of the first conversations with your family in Capanne Prison. • How has your family influenced your relation with the investigators and the prosecution in this case? • At any time has there been either a family member or friend who has influenced your statements? Ixnay, Barney, ixnay * * “Ixnay”: pig latin for “shut up”

20. 18. "The Politician vs. The Career Jurist" • Heavey: has accused Italian judicial officials of incurring in illegalities in this investigation (pending quote of Heavey and link) • Mignini: a career civil servant • Questions: • Has the prosecutor himself, Mr. Mignini ever treated you badly in his direct dealings with you? • Do you know of Judge Michael Heavey of the Washington State Supreme Court? Have you ever met him? • Have you ever sent, or are you aware if your Italian legal team has ever sent any missive or information concerning your arrest and imprisonment to Judge Heavey? • Are you aware of any formal investigation or judicial process (including requesting interviews and documentation of the parts concerned) which Judge Heavey has initiated from America concerning alleged illegalities committed by the Italian judiciary in your case? • Can we confirm that: Heavey has never spoken to your Italian lawyer Ghirga? Has he interviewed Mignini? Has he interviewed Claudia Matteini? • Are you aware when he sent his official (on Washington State Supreme Court letterhead) letter to the Italian judicial authorities, if he remembered to attach any documents or evidence justifying his accusations? Which of these two persons is better prepared to intervene in this case in a formal, methodical, documented manner?

21. 19. "The Exorcist" Capanne Prison Chaplain Don Saulo Scarabottoli(Dec. 2007): “Amanda is going to tell her truth” (pending confirmation and link) Questioning on 18 Dec 2007: Amanda invokes her right to not respond to questions, after 2 questions from Prosecutor Mignini which provoked an emotional response from her (violent shaking and crying as I recall). She looked at her lawyer and then at Mignini and stated: I want to avail myself of my right to not declare Questions: There's a famous Spanish professor of the University of Salamanca, Fray Luis de León, who was arrested in the 1500's and spent 5 years in prison. On his release he returned to the University, and started his first class following his imprisonment with the sentence  "As I was saying yesterday ..." . Please! Mr. Mignini, ask the same questions as you had in your notebook on 18 December 2007! And ask the rest of the questions from that same list too! ??!!??

22. 20. "Contamíname, Mézclate Conmigo“ • Pending links • Questions: • What did you see or hear when the door was broken down? • In the days prior to the crime, was Raffaele any more present then other men in the girls part of the cottage (for example, Giacomo or Marco) ?.... or maybe you're not able to answer that question if you yourself weren't that much in the cottage in the prior days. • On the morning of discovery of the crime, did Raffaele at any point enter further into Meredith's room than either Luca or the Postal Police agent? • Are you aware of Raffaele suffering a cold, dandruff, excema or any other health or physical condition which could have made him leave bodily tissues or fluids on Meredith's doorstep? • Are you aware of Raffaele ever touching purposefully or accidentally Meredith's undergarments? • With what products did Raffaele usually clean his knife collection? Which of these two methods of bra handling is more likely to cause DNA contamination?

23. 21. "The Fall-Guy" • Amanda of Rudy: “I had only just met him three or four times and hardly knew him” • Raffaele: I don't know Rudy. I’m afraid about the things he will invent (pending quote and link) • Judge Micheli concerning Rudy: Guilty of murder (pending link) • Questions: • Tell us about your relation with Rudy. Did you see him on one or more occasions in the boys flat below you (as the boys who lived there have declared)?. • Did he ever enter the upper flat of the cottage? • Did you ever (how many times) see him alone or in the company of others (eg. the boys from downstairs) in Perugia? • What did you think of Rudy as a person? Did he ever sell you drugs? Did you find him attractive? • On the basis of what you know of Rudy, would you think him capable of murder? • Thank you for deciding to testify today after a year and a half of silence; would you be willing to continue to help in clarifying this crime, by participating in a face-to-face session with either Raffaele or Rudy?

24. 22. And, finally, "The Great Divide" • The images we have of the players in this case say a lot: • Compare Meredith in her “Some Say” (Kristian Leontiou) video, to Amanda in her drinking video, to Rudy in his vampire video, to Raffaele and his violent manga comics. • Questions: • Please describe, taking all the time you need, what you thought of Meredith. Also your relationship (both good and - if any - bad aspects). • Describe how her death affected you. How did you manage to get over your grief? • Why didn't you go to the memorial service in the main plaza? • Tell us about a fun or funny incident with Meredith from before her death. • Tell us about a moment of disagreement. • Were you angry that Meredith was going to start working part time for Patrick? • If so, were you angry at Meredith, or at Patrick or at both of them? • Were you attracted to Giacomo? Were you angry that Meredith had become close to him? • What are Raffaele's characteristics which attracted you to him (apart from his Harry Potter glasses!)? • If your sister was brutally murdered what action might you take to secure the truth so your mother would be comforted in knowing about her final hour? • Presently you must be aware you are the centre of the universe for many people who care a great deal about you and for Meredith Kercher. • As much as you have expressed your passion for Italy would you say it is your desire to stay here in Perugia?