Slow down everyone...
I live in Italy and visited the neighborhood where the murder took place numerous times (Perugia, 40 minutes from my home).
To start, this is ITALY, not the UNITED STATES. Ask anyone who lives in this country why our judicial system gets constantly fined every single year from the European Courts for endless violations of human rights. Another great stat: 1 out of 2 Italians will deal with a court case at least once during their lifetime.
FACTS:
- After this murder, the town of Perugia lost 1/3 of its University students (20,000 students). That’s a lot of local economy gone! The town had to find a guilty party and convict them as fast as possible before more students left Italy. By the way, Perugia at night can become quite dangerous and I’ve lived in NY city for 29 years.
- The average penal case in Italy lasts 8-10 years (civil 10-14 years, sometimes longer). It’s amazing she was convicted & thrown in jail in record time.
- Amanda was interrogated for 14 hours straight w/o an interpret and lawyer present. The court threw out her interrogations BUT the prosecution built their case on what she was TRYING to explain what happened that night. You go to a foreign country, learn the language for a month or two, and explain to the police for 14 hours straight where you were when a murder took place at your home.
- Friends who happen to be police officers in the town of Perugia claim she never did cartwheels in the station house. She was doing stretching exercises after sitting and talking for 14 hours.
- Amanda pointed the finger at her ex boss Patrick Lumbabe (pub owner) because she was coerced by the cops during that 14 hour marathon. The truth is the cops COULDN’T STAND Lumbabe and tried many times in the past to shut down his pub.
- The same police officers agree the CSI-type work that is regularly done in Italy can be compared to the comedy of the 3 Stooges! There are videos going around on the web of the police work down at the villa where the murder took place. That’s right, most of the cops didn’t wear gloves and there was more traffic in that villa than Grand Central Station!
- The murder knife found and tested did not match the wounds on the body. DNA evidence released showed that after 183 ATTEMPTS to match the material on the knife to Meredith’s DNA, there was only a 1 percent chance that it was hers. Yes, the court went with the 1 percent!
- Rudy Guede TOOK OFF for Germany early the next morning while Amanda and Raffaello remained in town & called police.
- The prosecutor in the case, Mignini, (who by the way was sentenced to 5-6 months jail time for illegally wiretapping cops and journalists in a prior case) has a reputation of being a bit of a lunatic.
- The motives for the conviction were released this week. The judges claimed the murder happened just for the hell of it. It was a drunken sex game that turned into murder and that they were found guilty based mainly on circumstantial evidence...not on any strong DNA evidence.
A drunken sex game turns into a bloody murder and NO ONE (OTHER THAN GUEDE) LEAVES DNA, PRINTS, OR BLOOD?
WOW! Not even the most professional Mafia hit men in Italy (yes, they sure do exist) could have pulled this off better than a dizzy American college student and her befuddled boyfriend who, by the way, has a sister who is a high ranking police officer.
Think whatever you want of the case. Contrary to what the papers claim, most Italians believe Guede pulled this off with a friend.
I don’t Amanda personally but I can’t stand hypocrisy. Italy screwed up the case big time and we’re NEVER going to admit it. We’re infamous all over the world for passing the buck (ask our Berlusconi).
But I’ve lived in Italy for 14 years and know perfectly well how the “system” works here. You either learn it or leave. By the way, the Mafia does exist and it grosses 175 billion US Dollars a year