Why I Cannot Believe Amanda Knox

Amanda Knox Source

This article is written with the assumption that the reader has a general understanding of the case. If you are one of the lucky ones who currently know little to nothing about this case, it might behoove you to just continue ignoring it. I will not be held responsible for any reader being sucked into the Knox-vortex. It is time consuming and life-sucking.

With that being said, let us begin... 

Initially this case did not interest me in the slightest. Over the years I've heard the headlines, "Amanda Knox Young American Student Accused of Murdering Her Roommate." I remember seeing, "Amanda Knox Found Guilty!" Later on, "Amanda Knox American Student in Italy Exonerated For the Murder of Meredith Kercher." Yet, as soon as the ink was dry from this headline, we learned that the court had overturned this decision and once again, Amanda Knox was guilty.

I couldn't resist. What was going on here? What happened? Was Amanda Knox really an innocent girl accused of murdering her friend for no reason?

It did not take very long for me to realize this girl was guilty. A look at the court's ruling and direct testimony pretty much solidified Amanda's guilt. In fact the evidence against her and Raffaele Sollecito, her boyfriend at the time, was overwhelming when one adds up the circumstantial evidence with the forensics. Looking through the Amanda supporter websites was definitely eye-opening and only further helped me confirm what I came to know.

Yet, for some reason it seems as though Amanda still has her supporters. I have no choice but to ask, "why?" What is it that possesses people to support someone who has done such a horrific deed and then made great efforts to cover her actions up? How can they possibly not see what is so obvious? I decided to delve in further...

I joined a group on Facebook where members are encouraged to debate the case allowing both sides to express their point of view. For anyone that knows me, my alpha personality is hard to deny and inside the chatter of a group like this my presence became known rather quickly.

First of all this particular group is dominated by Knox-sycophants. They are die-hard and angry. Many also appear to be quite religious. A few of the supporters are rather reasonable, not quite so angry but still passionate. However, ALL of them share similar arguments in support of Amanda and they are firmly embedded securely in pure emotions.

Those few of us that believe Amanda is guilty are referred to as "guiltiers" and are continually badgered, judged as evil, called liars, etc. These are your basic ad hominem attacks. Practically every fallacy is committed during debates.

During my very short time of being in this group I had one male member exhibit a full scale meltdown. This man decided to follow me around, call me a pig, repeated tired insults, and finally demanded that I leave. Not once did this guy even offer a counter-argument. So I did leave; there was no reason to carry on and deal with this guy. Ignoring him was not helping. To my utter shock I was actually asked to come back to the group. I was very surprised. I was told that there had not been a member of the "other side" for a long time with a strong ability to argue the points. I was indeed humbled.

What I learned was that many of them simply cannot accept that a pretty young student would involve herself in murdering her roommate. They cannot understand the motive so, this logic leads them to dismiss any and all evidence against Amanda and Sollecito. Let me say the excuses are copious and ludicrous.

So here are a list of reasons I simply cannot support Amanda. Short of some miracle, I agree with the court and believe in Amanda's guilt.

1) Knox supporters pick what facts they like while dismissing facts they don't like. 

I think many people have a tendency to do this especially when it comes to politics or discussing economic solutions however, Knox supporters are special when it comes to this. This is painstakingly obvious when it comes to Rudy Guede.

Supporters of Knox like to point to the DNA evidence that clearly shows his presence at the cottage and inside the room where Meredith was killed.

Any DNA evidence where Knox or Sollecito was found, they insist that it was merely transferred there through contamination. These include Sollecito's DNA found on the bra-clasp, Knox's DNA mixed with Kercher's in the bathroom, the hallway, and in Filomena's room, and the double-DNA knife where Kercher's DNA was found on the blade while Knox's was on the handle.

2) Knox supporters use contradictory standards when explaining evidence. 

When it comes to the defense, they insist that the break-in was not staged and indeed committed by Rudy in order to gain access inside the cottage. There seem to be conflicting stories on Rudy's past as it pertains to robberies. It seems his record is not as drastic as the defense would like to suggest however, this is another point entirely. I digress...

They emphatically state that Knox could not have murdered Meredith because there is no DNA inside the room where she was killed. They also say this about Sollecito, ignoring the bra clasp.

One cannot help but see the contrast in ideas here. This is nothing more than a false dichotomy. If no DNA means there is no way that person committed the crime then one must also come to the same conclusion concerning Rudy, who could not have entered into Filomena's room and ransacked it, since none of his DNA was found in that room. One thing Knox fans struggle with is understanding that absence of evidence is not evidence of absence.

Though this issue had come up in group discussion, nobody offered a plausible explanation. In fact, the responses turned into ad hominem attacks and repeated claims of a corrupt justice system.

3) Only Amanda and Sollecito are entitled to presumed innocence - even when their guilt has already been proven. 

Knox supporters LOVE  Hellmann. This is the appeals court decision that overturned the original conviction. They ignore Nencini which is the court decision that threw out Hellmann for being incomplete, and ignoring exculpatory evidence. The experts from Hellmann even went so far as to deceive the court by trying to claim that the original testing done lacked controls yet, these same experts acknowledged the presence of controls at a prior hearing. For the typical Knox supporter this information is something they are not aware of, refuse to accept, or they ignore. I can't quite figure it out for sure since here is another area where the subject is not acknowledged directly. It all seems to go back to the go-to argument of contamination and corruption by all those who believe in Amanda and Sollecito's innocence.

The supporters have absolutely NO issues when it comes to accusing everyone involved with conspiring or being corrupt. They insist that the prosecutor is evil and wanted to pin the murder on Amanda from day one. They also say this same thing about the police and investigators, the interpreter, the forensics team, and any official in the government that doesn't believe Amanda. Proof of any corruption or conspiracy is not at all required to make these claims. Just making the claim makes it a fact in their minds. None of these officials are entitled to the presumption of innocence. Amanda and Sollecito are innocent regardless of the facts presented.

4) Excuses, excuses, excuses - Amanda Knox's behavior. 

The discussion of Amanda's behavior is entirely irrelevant to any Knox supporter. Everything can be chalked up to her being young, naive, in a foreign country, being questioned too aggressively without a recording, and Amanda is just quirky.

There is always that excuse people make for those who are obviously guilty - "people grieve in different ways." Except for the fact that they don't. Not really. Innocent people do in fact act fairly consistently as do guilty people. Cindy Anthony did everything she could to excuse her daughter's behavior that followed the days her granddaughter went missing (later we found out Casey knew her daughter was dead). Casey was seen dancing in a hot body contest, getting a tattoo, and spending her time with her boyfriend with no concern over her daughter. Yes, grieving in her "own way," I'm sure. Spare me.

Amanda's behavior was immediately noticed as being faulty when the world first caught a glimpse of the young American student embracing and kissing her latest boy-toy Raffaele Sollecito outside her cottage. Instead of being inconsolable over the fact that she just discovered her roommate was brutally murdered in her bedroom, Amanda was stoic and seemed a bit dazed, the look you'd find on someone who had spent the night cleaning up a crime scene. 

She was taken to the police station and it was reported Meredith's friends had expressed concern over Meredith's final moments - hoping beyond reason that she did not suffer long. Amanda responded coldly, "Of course she died slow. Her f**king throat was slit." Later Amanda would state in an interview with Diane Sawyer that she was upset that her behaviors and statements were misconstrued. Yes, because it's always about her and her feelings and how her image is perceived. Never once does she express her concern over Meredith's close friends and family. Never once did she try to contact them immediately to tell them whatever she knew or did not know or express sorrow for them.

It is well known that Amanda tried to parade around after Meredith's death claiming to be her friend yet, she did not attend her memorial service. When you bring this fact up, the excuses once again from Knox sycophants come pouring in. Here's a common one:

Amanda spent most of her waking hours with the police, at college, or trying to sleep in the days following the murder. The vigil was held on the evening of Monday, November 5th. This was the day when Amanda went to college, to try and maintain some kind of normality, was talking to her former flatmates about looking for new accommodation and accompanied Raffaele to the police station again for further questioning and their arrest. They had been told by the authorities to stay away from crowds and not to talk about the case with strangers, so avoiding the vigil was virtually mandated anyway.

Virtually mandated? Did they tell her not to go to the vigil or not? I highly doubt that.

You can pick and choose whichever excuse you like, as long as the excuse makes Amanda not look like a cold-hearted b!tch, it must be correct and all her fans will applaud you for stating it. I can hear them now, "Yes, that's correct. People grieve differently and some people don't like to go to memorial services. Amanda is a wonderful person who would not kill her friend." I suppose it's easier for them to ignore the fact that a "friend killing another friend" has happened many times before throughout the world.

5) Knox supporters rely on a short list to argue and refute each and every point.

This point sort of combines all the previous points but it should be repeated that Knox supporters must rely on just a handful of arguments in order to support Amanda.

It all boils down to these arguments: everyone who worked on this case and believe Amanda to be guilty are liars; everyone who worked on this case are corrupt and have been involved in an on-going conspiracy of some sort where they have all agreed to frame Amanda and Sollecito; the DNA evidence against Amanda and Sollecito are contaminated; Amanda is just quirky and we all need to accept that.

6) Knox supporters argue from pure emotions and feelings; they offer no facts or substance. 

For whatever reason Knox-fans actually become shocked and angry when someone presents them with information that challenges their beliefs. They tailspin out of control. Here is a perfect example of a Knox supporter trying their best to sound knowledgeable about the case:

The crime scene was in no way shape or form cleaned up. It was a mess Rudy left it that way. The break in was NOT staged. There is NO conspiracy. Rudy committed this crime alone and the police screwed up the entire investigation and deliberately framed two innocent people. Jennifer Tuesday Prichard is an ignorant fool who also wishes to frame innocents Denys science and obviously HATE the other two victims in this case especially Amanda. She is a pathetic disgusting loser with no brains or common sense whatsoever! [emphasis mine]

As you can see the brain-power on this one is lacking. I think she meant "denies" but we can't all be perfect like me. ;) First she tried to deny that the break-in was staged. I guess we are supposed to ignore that the room was obviously ransacked first because glass was on top of the clothing? Should we ignore that nothing was taken during this break-in? Should we also ignore that police concluded the break in was staged immediately, long before Amanda was considered a suspect? It truly is amazing the powers that these police and other officials had that they were able to foresee who they were going to frame. Oh but, I don't dare bring this up, after all, it's me who is the "pathetic disgusting loser with no brains or common sense whatsoever."

Even though Meredith's room was locked and required a key to be locked from the outside, Rudy's prints were not present outside the door - there were no hesitation prints showing him stopping and locking the door yet, why would he? How would he know which key to use and more importantly why would he bother to lock that door when according to "innocent" Amanda the front door was wide open? Who locked Meredith's door?

There seems to be a strong disconnect with reality here and why is it these folks have such a short fuse when it comes to this case? Why are they so obsessed with Amanda? Why do they feel the need to lash out in this disgusting manner? Why do so many of them feel threatened when they are being challenged? I wish I could say this was an anomaly but it is not. These attacks are quite common and I am merely one of many who has been on the receiving end of this hatred. Many of them even claim to be religious and Christian and have resorted to calling me evil in the same sentence they declare their ever-loving faith in G-d.

Here's another good Christian man lashing out:

With this, he is comparing me to a Nazi. Does this mean that Knox and Sollecito are now being compared to millions of Jews and Christians who were slaughtered by Nazis? Exactly what have I done to deserve this outrageous comparison? According to this person, he claims I make false claims and insults. Well, I do indeed point out the willful ignorance of him and other Knox-fans but I never called anyone a Nazi, a pig, stupid, and the myriad of other insults that have come from him and other Knox fans. I have not killed anyone or forced my will upon anyone; the only killers (convicted no-less), are the two he is supporting.

There is nothing wrong with passion and certainly nothing wrong with debate. I have no problem with snide remarks but there is certainly a line where the comments can turn into personal attacks. One crosses far beyond a line of sanity to call a poster who disagrees with him a Nazi.

When someone is placing themselves in a position where they believe they are above reproach and simultaneously lashes out in an aggressive manner, there is a need for some serious self-examination of character.

When I see this much emotion void of content, I know I am dealing with a person who is arguing from their feelings and not the facts surrounding the issue. Consequently this is just another reason I know I cannot support Amanda Knox and fully believe in her guilt.

If one cannot argue without resorting to excuses and blaming the world for their woes, this means the facts do not fit the desired reality and the person is guilty.

7) Knox supporters appeal to authority. 

It is difficult to debate with a Knox supporter without them mentioning an authoritative figure to support their conclusions. In most of these cases, the experts or authority figure lack the experience or education that would allow them to offer an opinion of the sort they are making. In other cases, the person may be well experienced and knowledgeable in their area of expertise yet, they seem to have an uncanny habit of getting basic facts about this particular case wrong.

There are thousands of FBI agents and apparently only three of them support Amanda. Furthermore, not one of them were called to testify. There is certainly a reason for that. One of those reasons pertains to the fact that they have all made claims at one time or another that were found to be untrue. They would be destroyed on cross-examination. Another reason is as I have stated, these are people who simply have no experience in putting together a crime scene like this; they weren't there; their opinions are just speculation and nothing more. It is also interesting to note that many of them have not published their findings for free but rather have published books that one must buy. This raises a lot of flags; it should.

The worst part about this type of argument is that supporters do not understand the case themselves. They do not understand scientific method; they do not know how to formulate their own arguments. Rather it boils down to, "See this guy, he agrees with me." This is where they believe they have earned a point in the debate. When you attempt to explain to them why this person is wrong or that they have rudimentary facts of the case wrong, you are instantly met with a response similar to, "I trust his word over yours. He's smarter." Well, a lot of people are smarter than your average Knox-supporter and that's exactly why they are supporters.

Interestingly enough, there seems to be a trend among Knox fans to demand you list for them an expert to prove Amanda is guilty. I guess they forget about the entire trial and how Amanda and Raffaele have already been found guilty?

Tonight I was even accused of making personal attacks against the Moore's for simply stating that they have both make grave mistakes in reporting details of this case. I still have yet to understand how critiquing someone amounts to a personal attack but, this is the sort of mentality that we are dealing with.

8) Knox supporters violate just about every logical fallacy there is in order to bolster their claims. 

There are countless examples of poor debaters on Team Knox. They love to fight but they fight dirty using tactics that only desperate people resort to. I have discussed appealing to authority. Another one is using ad hominem attacks [see above]. The attacks are strong but they themselves simply cannot tolerate any criticism in return. I had several people demand my removal from the group, only because they simply did not like what I had to say; they do not like dissent. They believe they are above reproach.

Another fallacy concerns loaded questions. One concerning question I was asked related the topic of Rudy Guede. One woman piped up (I regret not grabbing a screen cap of this before it disappeared):

The only reason Guede didnt have a record is because he was an informant for the police. He had committed multiple burglaries and even drew a knife on one person. Again, if the Milan police had locked him up for the burglaries he was being questioned about, Meredith would still be alive. [sic]

I tried asking her for proof of this claim. Where on earth would she get this idea he was an informant of any kind? Here I thought I had heard all the conspiracies but, it was clear I had not. Instead this woman asked me, "Can you prove he was not an informant?" The idea of burden of proof seemed to be a foreign concept for this woman. When I continued pressing the issue, which of course I did, she finally claimed it was her opinion and even suggested that she made this clear. I copied that above statement before this woman (who was a moderator), had gone back and erased it. She even had the nerve to erase other posts. There is nothing in that statement to suggest this was merely her opinion.

I did manage to capture her double speak:

See what I mean? If you call them out on their comments, it is considered making personal attacks, and yes supporters do indeed need to lie. It's the only way to believe Amanda is innocent. She absolutely did not ask me to supply her with a reason "why Guede would be protected by police." The very question itself proves she made the assumption that Guede is protected in some way. By making these particular denials she has debunked her own claim.

I would soon come to discover that this same woman had erased my posts. Knox-supporters do night fight clean. They are nasty and will employ any tactic they can to smear you, ridicule you, lie to you, and censor you. No doubt I have gotten my jabs in with a few of these folks but it's truly interesting how easy it is for them to dish it out and when you respond you become the attacker; you are accused of being the instigator.

Mind you not ALL are like this but unfortunately I have found this to be the case more times than not.

9) Knox supporters insist on inferring what is not there; they also LIE. 

This goes along with making excuses but this deserves it's own category since it happens all the time.

I would say whenever someone brings up Amanda's behavior there is an instant attempt to defend her actions. "She didn't know. She was young and scared." This only begs the question, how do they know? They are relying solely on the words of someone who has been convicted of murder and who has been proven to be a liar yet, her words are more important than any fact or circumstance that is relayed through others who were there.

Here's an example of making stuff up:

My understanding of the knife is that AK and RS stated that household items were borrowed and returned from time yo time [sic]

I have no idea where this person got this information from but it is ludicrous on its surface. Knifes used for kitchen utensils are not at all expensive so there would be no reason to borrow them and if this were the case, why not just borrow from the gentleman who were living below them? They all knew the four young men. Are we now to believe that the young men below had no knives for cooking either? Or how about the phrase, "from time to time"? Sollecito had only recently became a fixture in Amanda's life. This statement makes it sound as if they knew each other for years.

Again, there is a desire to infer things or just make up information in order to fit a desired bias that Knox-fans believe.

Here's another example of a ridiculous claim where there is NO proof:

Amanda named Lumumba after hours of hearing, "Who is Patrick? Is Patrick your partner? Say it's Patrick. Say it's Patrick and you can get something to eat."

This statement is absolutely untrue. Anyone who has taken the time to read Amanda's own testimony would know how absurd this claim is. She even confirmed herself that the police did not give her a name. She was the one who said Patrick and that is further confirmed by the detectives and the interpreter who were all with Amanda when she blurted out it was Lumumba who killed Meredith.

 Nobody denied Amanda food or water or sleep or anything. As soon as she named Lumumba, her question session ended since they knew she needed an attorney at that point.

So, basically this boils down to supporters taking bits of information and exaggerating the claims or simply making stuff up as they go along in order to validate their claims of Amanda's innocence.

Here's another example of making stuff up:

This is untrue. Take note that there were 3 likes on this comment. That means a total of four people actually believed this to be true. There was someone who did mention a gap in Amanda's front teeth but his testimony was not at all considered since it was determined the witness was not credible.

The shop keeper was determined to be very credible and did not embellish in any testimony. I confronted this women and once again, she made herself the victim and stated she was going to correct herself. Yeah, riiiiight.

10) Knox supporters are as nutty as all the other conspiracy theorists. 

Amanda Knox supporters are similar to any tin-foil-hat, conspiracy crank that is out there. It is similar to arguing with a 9/11 truther, a person who denies evolution, those chem-trail believers, etc. They rely on pseudo-science, confirmation bias, and slander to promote their beliefs.

Just as I am writing this...seriously I can't make this up, this is posted:

There is an undeniable delusion inside the collective mind of the average Knox-supporter that believes Amanda is of special importance. Again I don't believe all her supporters necessarily fall into the category of tin-foil hat ownership however there is no denying that many, if not the majority of them do.

I have witnessed claims of: corruption,  Satanic killing accusation (which has long been debunked), planted evidence, a witch-hunt (very popular), selective contamination, etc. There is definitely paranoia in many of them as well.

Once again it matters not how much evidence you present them with they will simply deny it or dismiss it. Ironically they make claims of set-ups and conspiracy with the greatest of ease offering up exactly ZERO evidence other than their own inner paranoia.

Many of these supporters simply do not understand deductive reasoning, scientific method, or crime scene investigation. There is no reason to be an expert in order to understand but you do need to have a general education that can help you put information together; you do need to understand how science works. Sure there are holes and yes police made mistakes but it would be more suspicious if police didn't make mistakes. We are all human and mistakes do not necessarily imply something sinister. They do however imply that the people involved are human and we can still arrive at a truthful understanding even with mistakes.

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No no no no I do not believe Amanda and Sollecito are innocent. Thanks to their supporters I am more convinced of my belief than ever before. The lack of understanding very basic things like science, forensics, police investigation, human behavior, etc.is quite evident among supporters. There is NO denying that they have not read from the court reports or testimony. They cherry pick information they like and disregard information they don't like based purely on their personal bias.

Supporters are very cult-like. They have an unhealthy and unrealistic view of Amanda. They claim they do not make her out to be a saint however the reality shows they absolutely do. Any evidence that proves Amanda is a liar or is a cold and calculating person prompts followers to move into attack mode offering up both excuses and personal attacks. When you attempt to respond they then move into victim mode and blame shifts to everyone else. "Personal responsibility" is not found in their lexicon.

Paranoia and thoughts of wild conspiracies run free in the collective mind of Knox-supporters. This naturally is a red flag for any skeptic out there. All evidence is accounted for by ignoring it, dismissing it, or making excuses for it. Never are facts allowed to speak for themselves without biased interpretation.

Crimes are not solved by forensics alone. There seems to be a general ignorance of this fact among the cult of Amanda followers. It is the mountain of circumstantial, indirect, and direct evidence that all points to Amanda and Sollecito being present at the cottage during the time of the murder. The continued racism, xenophobia, and paranoia that underlines all their arguments is noted yet changes nothing as it pertains to their guilt.

More to come...




Links:

https://maundygregory.wordpress.com/2011/08/08/knoxsollecito-how-to-spot-a-fake-burglary/

http://elitedaily.com/news/world/the-media-and-the-amanda-knox-case/764282/

http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/ideas/articles/2010/11/07/the_case_against_evidence/

http://truejustice.org/ee/index.php?/tjmk/comments/the_knox_interrogation_hoax_12_why_prosecution_and_defenses/

http://www.bridgebase.com/forums/topic/67258-is-amanda-knox-guilty/

http://www.perugiamurderfile.org/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=165&sid=57029087176af96f630a074f55ec5756

http://www.truejustice.org/ee/index.php?/tjmk/comments/the_knox_interrogation_hoax_3_ficcara_3/

http://www.truejustice.org/ee/index.php?/tjmk/comments/the_knox_interrogation_hoax_4_ficcara_4/

http://www.outsidethebeltway.com/amanda-knox-and-extradition-more-likely-than-you-might-think/

http://elitedaily.com/news/world/the-media-and-the-amanda-knox-case/764282/

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/italy/6727724/Meredith-Kercher-trial-Amanda-Knox-the-shy-former-Jesuit-school-girl.html

http://themurderofmeredithkercher.com/The_Massei_Report_(English)

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/15966054/?i=4&from=/11512147/related

http://themurderofmeredithkercher.com/Patrizia_Stefanoni%27s_Testimony_%28English%29

http://projects.nfstc.org/bsw/presentations/02_BioScreening_Blood_012010_CBS_JMS.pdf


http://themurderofmeredithkercher.com/Patrizia_Stefanoni%27s_Testimony_%28English%29

http://themurderofmeredithkercher.com/Luminol_Traces#cite_note-27

http://www.crime-scene-investigator.net/SimplifiedGuideDNA.pdf

http://justice4ever.com/2014/04/08/amanda-knox-case-questions-answers-harryrag/

http://conservativepapers.com/news/2014/01/31/amanda-Knox-probably-guilty-as-sin/#.VMo7CtLF-m9

http://www.nbcnews.com/id/22332240/ns/dateline_nbc-crime_reports/t/deadly-exchange/#.VMm6FNLF-m8

http://www.crimelibrary.com/notorious_murders/young/amanda_knox/7.html