Amanda Knox's Family Prepares Her Appeal, Report: No Malice Found

Report: Knox Jurors Found No Planning, Malice In Kercher's Slaying


Jurors believed American Amanda Knox played a role in the slaying of her British roommate, Meredith Kercher, but thought the death came about without any premeditation or animosity, according to a report released Thursday.

The 427-page report, written by Judge Giancarlo Massei and Assistant Judge Beatrice Cristiani, explains the reasons behind jurors' determination in December that Knox was guilty in the November 2007 stabbing death of exchange student Kercher while the two roomed together in Perugia, Italy.

The report blames "random contingencies" and "the combination of various factors" for Kercher's death.

"It is a crime that happened ... without any planning, without any animosity or rancorous feeling against the victim that in some way could be seen [as] a preparation and predisposition to the crime," it said.

Knox, 22, of Seattle, Washington, was sentenced to 26 years in prison for Kercher's death. Knox's ex-boyfriend, Italian Raffaele Sollecito, was sentenced to 25 years. A third man, Ivory Coast native Rudy Guede, was tried separately and was initially sentenced to 30 years, but an appeals court later reduced that to 16 years.

Knox's family issued a statement, saying they had "asked Amanda's lawyers to immediately begin the process of appeal."

"We know she is innocent as there is no forensic evidence that puts her in Meredith's room, no evidence of her at the scene of this horrible crime," the statement said. "Meredith was Amanda's friend. They liked each other and spent time together when not in school. Amanda would not hurt Meredith."

The family said the appeal would detail what they said was "a lot of conjecture in these motivations, a number of discrepancies as well as a number of inconsistencies and contradictions; as well as conclusions not supported by evidence."

Sollecito is also expected to appeal; both have denied involvement in Kercher's death.

During the 11-month trial of Knox and Sollecito, prosecutors argued Knox was a resentful American so angry with her British roommate that she exacted revenge during a twisted sex misadventure game at the students' home. They said Knox directed Sollecito and Guede to hold Kercher down as Knox played with a knife before killing her.

Defense attorneys for Knox and Sollecito said Guede acted alone. Knox testified in court that she was not home at the time of the slaying. She told jurors during her trial that she is not a "killer."

However, jurors rejected both of those theories, according to Thursday's report. They found Guede the main instigator -- not Knox, as prosecutors hypothesized.

The jurors believed that Guede went into Kercher's room and attempted to have sexual contact with her, but Kercher pushed him away. Knox and Sollecito then came into the room and attempted to help Guede have "his way" with Kercher, the report said. Sollecito held Kercher while Guede fondled her, the report said, but things spiraled out of control.

Sollecito poked Kercher with a knife, inflicting one wound measured at 4 cm (1.5 inches), and Knox poked her with a bigger knife after she screamed, inflicting a larger 8-cm (3-inch) wound, jurors found.

"The most plausible hypothesis is that Rudy decided by himself to enter Meredith's room," the report said. "The reaction and refusal of the girl must have been heard by Amanda and Raffaele, who actually were probably disturbed and intervened, given the unfolding of events. They backed Rudy, whom they allowed to enter the house" and ultimately became Kercher's killers because of events that followed, according to the judges.

All three, the jurors believed, were under the influence of drugs. "The motive is therefore of erotic sexual violent nature, which originating from Rudy's choice of evil, found its active collaboration from Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito."

While both Knox and Sollecito denied being at the crime scene, jurors noted that Knox's blood was found in the bathroom and Sollecito's DNA was found on Kercher's bra. The two cannot prove they were at Sollecito's home until the following day, as no evidence puts them there, according to the report.

A knife found in Sollecito's house, with Knox's DNA on the handle and Kercher's DNA on the blade, was the murder weapon, jurors believed, according to the report.

Both Knox and Sollecito must have felt remorse, the judges wrote, because they covered Kercher's body and closed the door of the room where she lay. Police had to force it open the next morning. The judges said that was "significant behavior."


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Aiesha Steward-Baker: Beaten 15-Yr-Old, Police Ignored Pleas Too...Racism

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Aiesha Steward-Baker Says Bus-Tunnel Attack Could Have Been Prevented


Aiesha Steward-Baker, whose brutal beating sparked a review of Metro Transit security and prompted the posting of armed sheriff's deputies in Seattle's transit tunnel, said police and security guards could have prevented the attack.

Steward-Baker, 15, broke into tears twice during a news conference Friday as she recounted what happened Jan. 28 when she was punched, stomped and kicked by another 15-year-old girl in the Downtown Seattle Transit Tunnel while unarmed security guards watched.

It was the first time the Ingraham High School student has spoken publicly since the attack.

"I'm angry about what they did to me," Steward-Baker said about the group of young people charged with attacking and robbing her. "And the police officers [who] could have prevented it and the security guards could have prevented it."

She said she approached Seattle police and asked for help several times in the hour before the attack after she encountered the group in Westlake Center and Macy's. While she was in the department store, she said, one of the boys in the other group moved in close to her with his fist balled, she said.

Police witnessed that, she said, but simply told the other group to leave the store. Steward-Baker said police ignored her when she tried to explain that the group would be waiting for her outside if she tried to leave the store.

"I was trying to explain that the kids were following and threatening me, which both officers witnessed, but the police officer just wasn't listening," said Steward-Baker.

The officers also told her to leave the area, she said, but refused her request for an escort into the tunnel.

Seattle police have said they did everything they could to separate the girl from the other group, but that officers did not witness unlawful behavior before the attack.

Police spokesman Sgt. Sean Whitcomb on Thursday characterized the situation between the girl and the other group of young people as "a roving, verbal dispute."

"If there were any threats, we were not told of them," he said.

But Steward-Baker insisted Friday that she told the two officers she had been threatened.

Steward-Baker said that once she was inside Westlake Station, she approached the security guards for help, but was ignored by them as well.

"They never said anything to me. They never replied," she said.

It was immediately after she approached the unarmed security guards that she was attacked by another girl.

The images of that attack were captured by surveillance video, including the reaction of the guards, who are ordered to "observe and report" and not intervene in assaults.

On Friday afternoon, the Seattle Police Department announced it was conducting an internal review of the officers' actions that evening to determine whether they handled the situation properly.

According to a news release, interim Police Chief John Diaz initiated a review that will also address the "larger issue of how the King County Sheriff's Office and the Seattle Police Department can jointly address public-safety priorities for citizens who use public transportation within the City of Seattle."

James Bible, the girl's attorney and head of the local chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, said during the news conference at Seattle's First AME Church that he expects to file suit in connection with the incident, and is reviewing potential defendants, including King County, Seattle police, King County Metro and the private security firm that contracts with Metro.

Four people were arrested in the attack: the 15-year-old alleged assailant (who is not being named because she has been charged in juvenile court); Latroy Hayman, 20; Tyrone Watson, 18; and Dominique Whitaker, 18.

All four have been charged with first-degree robbery, a charge that could bring sentences of between two to four years, prosecutors said.

Friends and relatives of the four suspects have said the incident has been blown out of proportion. They said the two girls have fought each other often over the past two years, and that Steward-Baker has usually won.

"The only reason this is different is because it was caught on video," said Whitaker's sister, 16-year-old Nicole Calvin. Bible confirmed that Steward-Baker knew her attackers, but said it was only because they had harassed and bullied her before.

He declined to discuss specifics of the previous encounters, saying the incident in the tunnel was the focus of the news conference.

Bible said the police internal investigation was not enough.

He said what happened — and what didn't happen — illustrates how people of color in the Seattle area are often "overpoliced and underserved."

Minorities are often approached aggressively when they've done nothing, but dismissed when they ask for help, he said.

"If this young lady had blond hair and blue eyes and went to police and said that a group of African Americans are harassing me," he said, "do you think the response would be different?"

The girl's mother, Letta Steward-Baker, spoke about the shock she felt when she first viewed the video.

"I was just outraged that grown people would stand there and allow that to happen," she said. "These are children."

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Seattle Security Guards Observe Attack, But Don't Aid Brutally Beaten Girl


The brutal beating and robbery of a girl in a Seattle bus tunnel has been caught on tape -- along with the inaction of three security guards from whom she sought protection.

A teen girl and three young men face first-degree robbery charges stemming from the attack, during which they allegedly stole the 15-year-old's purse, phone, and iPod.

The 15-year-old victim, who is black, told cops the altercation began at a nearby Macy's, where some in the group taunted her saying she had "nice things" and acts "white," according to court papers filed Wednesday. One of the defendants claims the victim pepper-sprayed a person in the group.

Two Seattle police officers noticed the escalating situation and kicked the group out of the store, then brought the girl and her friend to another exit, the victim said. She reported that she asked the officers for an escort to the bus tunnel, just below the department store, but the officers refused.

She said she then deliberately stood next to the security guards in hopes of warding off further confrontation.

"I went to the security and told them that these kids were trying to jump me," the girl said. "I know that I am about to get jumped and I am hanging around the guards to try and get protection. ... I thought the security guards would defend me."

The guards didn't intervene, though. They have standing orders to "observe and report," so they called police but did nothing else as another 15-year-old girl punched and repeatedly kicked the victim in the head.

King County Sheriff's Sgt. John Urquhart said the guards were right to follow their training.

"If you're a bank teller and you do something other than give them the money, you're going to get fired," Urquhart said. "We don't expect civilians to take police action. In this case, it was a violent fight, and they were outnumbered by this pack of people 3-to-1."

Other Kings County officials disagree.

"We are very disappointed in what people see in that video," a transit official, Kevin Desomond, said. "It was absolutely unacceptable."

Government officials as well as executives at Olympic Security Services Inc., which employs the guards, are reviewing protocol in the wake of the incident.


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Security Guards Who Observed Attack On 15-Yr-Old Girl Were Afraid (Video)

The Washington state Security Guards who observed a recent attack on a 15-year-old girl, called for help however they didn't personally assist her.

Why?

I don't believe it was because they were cold-hearted or stupid. No, they were probably just afraid of being terminated or in fear for their own Safety.

Those Guards cared about feeding their families and not being shot or stabbed.

After all the youth involved may have had a gun or a knife.

So despite the criticism those Security Guards followed protocol correctly because they are NOT Police Officers.

And what about parents of those hoodlums who attacked the girl?

Don't they bare some Blame and Liability for their child's behavior?

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Seattle Security Guards Observe Attack, But Don't Aid Brutally Beaten Girl


The brutal beating and robbery of a girl in a Seattle bus tunnel has been caught on tape -- along with the inaction of three security guards from whom she sought protection.

A teen girl and three young men face first-degree robbery charges stemming from the attack, during which they allegedly stole the 15-year-old's purse, phone, and iPod.

The 15-year-old victim, who is black, told cops the altercation began at a nearby Macy's, where some in the group taunted her saying she had "nice things" and acts "white," according to court papers filed Wednesday. One of the defendants claims the victim pepper-sprayed a person in the group.

Two Seattle police officers noticed the escalating situation and kicked the group out of the store, then brought the girl and her friend to another exit, the victim said. She reported that she asked the officers for an escort to the bus tunnel, just below the department store, but the officers refused.

She said she then deliberately stood next to the security guards in hopes of warding off further confrontation.

"I went to the security and told them that these kids were trying to jump me," the girl said. "I know that I am about to get jumped and I am hanging around the guards to try and get protection. ... I thought the security guards would defend me."

The guards didn't intervene, though. They have standing orders to "observe and report," so they called police but did nothing else as another 15-year-old girl punched and repeatedly kicked the victim in the head.

King County Sheriff's Sgt. John Urquhart said the guards were right to follow their training.

"If you're a bank teller and you do something other than give them the money, you're going to get fired," Urquhart said. "We don't expect civilians to take police action. In this case, it was a violent fight, and they were outnumbered by this pack of people 3-to-1."

Other Kings County officials disagree.

"We are very disappointed in what people see in that video," a transit official, Kevin Desomond, said. "It was absolutely unacceptable."

Government officials as well as executives at Olympic Security Services Inc., which employs the guards, are reviewing protocol in the wake of the incident.


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Hillary Clinton Drawn Into Amanda Knox Case...U.S. Backlash

U.S. backlash grows as Hillary Clinton is called in over the jailing of "Foxy Knoxy"


U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has been drawn into the battle to overturn Amanda Knox's conviction.

Amid a growing U.S. backlash against the verdict, the American Secretary of State has agreed to meet a senator from 22-year-old Knox's home state of Washington.

On Friday night, Knox was found guilty of the drug-fuelled sex murder of British student Meredith Kercher and jailed for 26 years.

Her conviction, alongside her Italian former boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito, came in tense late-night scenes in the Italian town of Perugia at the end of a year-long trial. Sollecito, 25, was jailed for 25 years.

Last night, Miss Kercher's family told of their anguish for the first time since her killer was jailed.

Her mother Arline, 64, said the entire family had been given a 'life sentence' and were 'living in a nightmare' for the two years since she was slain.

She also revealed how they keep the 21-year-old's bedroom exactly as it was when she left in the vain hope she will one day come home.

Miss Kercher's semi-naked body was found in November 2007 in a pool of blood in the bedroom of the home she and Knox shared in Perugia.

The court heard that Miss Kercher, from Coulsdon, Surrey, was subjected to a terrifying ordeal when she returned to her Italian home after an evening with friends.

Knox, Sollecito and another man, drifter Rudy Guede, attempted to involve the Leeds University student in a sex game, cutting her throat when she refused and leaving her to die in 'slow agony'. Guede, 22, was convicted of murder and sexual assault last year and jailed for 30 years.

After the verdicts, Knox's furious father Curt Knox vowed to fight to clear his daughter's name and spoke of his 'anger and disbelief' at the Italian justice system.

His campaign seems to be gaining support on Capitol Hill. Senator Maria Cantwell, from Washington state, declared there were 'serious questions about the Italian justice system'.

She said she was concerned there had been an 'anti-American' feeling at the trial and said she would be raising her concerns with Mrs Clinton.

'The prosecution did not present enough evidence for an impartial jury to conclude beyond a reasonable doubt that Miss Knox was guilty,' she said. 'Italian jurors were allowed to view highly negative news coverage about Miss Knox.'

She said Knox, who called herself Foxy Knoxy on a web page, had been a victim of 'harsh treatment' and branded handling of evidence 'negligent'.

Mrs Clinton was asked about the trial in an appearance on a U.S. news programme.

She said: 'Of course I'll meet with Senator Cantwell or anyone who has a concern but I can't offer any opinion about that at this time.'

She said she had not expressed any concerns to the Italian government. Last night, Knox's Italian lawyer distanced himself from the senator's claims. Luciano Ghirga said: 'That's all we need, Hillary Clinton involved. I have the same political sympathies as Hillary but this sort of thing does not help us in any way.'

Prosecutor Giuliano Mignini said: 'This senator should not interfere in something she has no idea about. I am happy with how the trial went.'

Knox plans to appeal against her conviction, but if it is unsuccessful she is likely to have to serve the bulk of her 26-year sentence inside an Italian jail. As in Britain, prisoners can be released on licence, but Knox is unlikely to be eligible for even day release for at least 20 years.

She could make an application to serve her sentence in the U.S.

On Saturday, Knox's father, mother Edda Mellas, her sister and half-sisters visited her at Capanne prison, just outside Perugia.



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Amanda Knox's Family Immediately Plans To Appeal Her Conviction

(Video from Europe) Amanda Knox found guilty. An Italian court convicted American student Amanda Knox, 22, of murdering her British roommate in a drunken sex game two years ago. NBC's Keith Miller reports from Perugia.

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An American Defense Attorney explains the Italian Criminal Justice System.

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Victim’s family satisfied with Knox conviction


The family of a slain British woman said Saturday they were pleased with the murder conviction of American student Amanda Knox but said there was no sense of celebration.

Meredith Kercher's relatives made their first comments since a jury in Perugia, Italy, announced early Saturday that they had convicted Knox and sentenced her to 26 years in prison for the 2007 murder.

The court also convicted Knox's co-defendant and former boyfriend, Italian Raffaele Sollecito, and gave him a 25-year jail term.

"Ultimately we are pleased with the decision, pleased that we've got a decision, but it's not a time for celebration," Lyle Kercher, the victim's brother, said.

Kercher's sister, Stephanie, said the verdict "does bring a a little bit of justice, for us and for her."

"Life will never be the same without Mez," she said.

Kercher, 21, was Knox's roommate while they studied in Perugia.

Her body was found in a pool of blood with her throat slit on Nov. 2, 2007 at the apartment they shared. Prosecutors said the Leeds University student was murdered the previous night.

Knox, family react to verdict

As soon as the judge read the verdict just after midnight following some 13 hours of deliberations, Knox began weeping and murmured, “No, no,” then hugged one of her lawyers.

Minutes later, the 22-year-old Knox, who is from Seattle and the 25-year-old Sollecito, were put in police vans with sirens blaring and driven back to jail.

Prosecutors had sought life imprisonment, Italy’s stiffest sentence. Courts often give less severe punishment than what prosecutors demand.

The American’s father, Curt Knox, asked if he would fight on for his daughter, replied, with tears in his eyes: “Hell, yes.”

“This is just wrong,” her stepmother, Cassandra Knox, said, turning around immediately after hearing the verdict. Her family had insisted she was innocent and a victim of character assassination.

One of Knox’s lawyers, Luciano Ghirga, was asked if she was desperate.

“Yes, I challenge anyone not to be,” he replied.

A group of local youths who gathered outside the courthouse shouted insults and “assassin” at the Knox entourage as they walked in to hear the verdict.

The family said Knox will appeal the verdict.

In a statement, U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., blasted the Italian legal system.

"I am saddened by the verdict and I have serious questions about the Italian justice system and whether anti-Americanism tainted this trial," Cantwell said. "The prosecution did not present enough evidence for an impartial jury to conclude beyond a reasonable doubt that Ms. Knox was guilty."

"Italian jurors were not sequestered and were allowed to view highly negative news coverage about Ms. Knox," Cantwell said. The senator also cited the "harsh" treatment of Knox after her arrest and "the negligent handling of evidence by investigators."

Seattle friends, relatives react

Relatives and friends in Seattle clasped hands as they watched TV and waited for the verdict. Her uncle, Mick Huff, cried, "Oh God, no" when it was announced.

Other friends buried their faces in their hands and shook their heads.

"They didn't listen to the facts of the case," said Elisabeth Huff, Knox's grandmother. "All they did was listen to the media's lies."

Madison Paxton, a friend of Knox's, said: "They're convicting a made-up person. They they're convicting 'foxy Knoxy.' That's not Amanda."

In a statement, the family said: "We are extremely disappointed in the verdict rendered today against our daughter. ... It appears clear to us that the attacks on Amanda's character in much of the media and by the prosecution had a significant impact on the judges and jurors and apparently overshadowed the lack of evidence in the prosecution's case against her."

Fumes of drugs

The prosecutors contend on the night of the murder, Knox and Sollecito met at the apartment where Kercher and Knox lived. They say a fourth person was there, Rudy Hermann Guede, an Ivory Coast citizen who has been convicted in the murder and sentenced to 30 years in prison. Guede, who is appealing his conviction, says he was in the house the night of the murder but did not kill Kercher.

The prosecution says Knox and Kercher started arguing, and that Knox joined the two men in brutally attacking and sexually assaulting the Briton under "the fumes of drugs and possibly alcohol."

Throughout the trial, prosecutors depicted Knox as a promiscuous and manipulative she-devil whose personality clashed with her roommate's. They say Knox had grown to hate Kercher.

During the trial, the most intimate details of Knox's life were examined, from her lax hygiene — allegedly a point of contention with Kercher — to her sex life, even including a sex toy.

Knox said Kercher was a friend whose slaying shocked and saddened her.

Defense lawyers have described the American, who made the dean's list at the University of Washington, as a smart and cheerful woman, at one point even comparing her to film character Amelie, the innocent and dreamy girl in the 2001 French movie of the same title.

That is the film Knox and Sollecito say they were watching at his home on the night of the murder, where they say they smoked marijuana and had sex. Knox said she went home the next morning to find the door to the house open and Kercher dead.

The prosecution maintains that a 6 1/2-inch knife authorities found at Sollecito's house could be the murder weapon; they say Kercher's DNA was found on the blade and Knox's on the handle. However, defense lawyers argue the knife was too big to match Kercher's wounds and the amount of DNA collected was too small to determine with certainty whose it was.

Violence is purposeless

The defense maintained there was not enough evidence for a conviction and no clear motive.

However, prosecutor Manuela Comodi said violent crimes can lack a motive. "We live at a time where violence is purposeless," she told the jury.

Knox gave contradictory versions of the night of the slaying, saying at one point she was home and had to cover her ears to block out Kercher's screams and accusing a Congolese man of the killing. The man, Patrick Diya Lumumba, owns a pub in Perugia where Knox worked. He was jailed briefly but was later cleared and is seeking defamation damages from Knox.

Knox later contended that police pressure led her to initially accuse an innocent man.



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Mike Huckabee Under Fire For Maurice Clemmons' Early Release

Conservatives hammer Mike Huckabee over shooting



The conservative blogosphere unleashed a torrent of criticism against Mike Huckabee Monday after a man whose sentence he commuted as Arkansas governor was suspected of gunning down four police officers in Washington state over the weekend.

Maurice Clemmons, whom Huckabee granted clemency to nine years ago, remained at large after local police in Lakewood, Wash. mistakenly thought they had him trapped in a house early Monday. Clemmons is reported to have shot the officers as they were sitting at a table in a local coffee shop.

While many details of the murders were still unclear Monday, leading online conservative voices were quick to pass judgment on Huckabee, whose 2008 presidential campaign was forced to respond to accusations that he was too lenient with violent criminals during his years as governor.

“The man being sought by police was granted clemency by former GOP Arkansas Mike Huckabee despite his violent history and vehement protestations from prosecutors and victims’ family members,” wrote conservative Michelle Malkin on her widely read blog. “This disaster is just one of Huckabee’s ill-considered clemency legacies.”

“This isn’t Huckabee’s first Horton moment,” Malkin continued, referring to the convicted murderer who raped a woman during a weekend furlough program supported by then-Massachusetts governor and later Democratic presidential nominee Michael Dukakis. Willie Horton was featured prominently in damaging ads from George H.W. Bush’s presidential campaign painting the Massachusetts Democrat as soft on crime.

On his conservative RedState blog, Erick Erickson wrote that the shooting “is going to be extremely problematic for Governor Huckabee.”

“Of course, a lot of folks said the last guy was Mike Huckabee’s ‘Willie Horton,’ Erickson continued. “How many Willie Hortons can one man have?”

Huckabee sought to distance himself from Clemmons in a statement posted on his political action committee’s website late Sunday, blaming “failures in the criminal justice system in both Arkansas and Washington State.”

“This is a horrible and tragic event and if found and convicted the offender should be held accountable to the fullest extent of the law,” Huckabee said. “Our thoughts and prayers are and should be with the families of those honorable, brave, and heroic police officers.”

At the age of 18, Clemmons was sentenced to 60 years in prison for burglary and theft – a sentence which he was slated to serve in addition to the 48 years he was already serving on five felony counts, including bringing a handgun on school grounds.

Citing Clemmons young age at the time he committed the crimes, Huckabee commuted Clemmons’ sentence after the convicted felon had served 11 years. Since getting released on parole, Clemmons has faced additional criminal charges—including at least eight felony charges in Washington, where he moved in 2004, according to local press accounts.

Few of Huckabee’s allies—including candidates he has endorsed for the 2010 campaign and his former campaign manager—responded to requests to speak to POLITICO about the fallout from the shooting. But on conservative blogs, Huckabee came under sustained attack.

Numerous bloggers used the incident to remind readers that the former Arkansas governor faced criticism during the 2008 presidential primary for granting a pardon to convicted rapist Wayne DuMond. Like Clemmons, DuMond returned to a life of crime, earning a second conviction before dying in prison in 2005.

Michael Goldfarb, a former aide to Sen. John McCain’s (R-Ariz.) presidential campaign and currently a blogger for the Weekly Standard, said Huckabee has suffered through a “brutal 24 hours” since the shooting, which came on the heels of his remarks to Fox News Sunday that he is “less likely,” rather than “more likely,” to run for president in 2012.

Goldfarb picked up Malkin’s criticism, telling POLITICO that the incident is Huckabee’s “second Willie Horton.”

“It was the worst week Huck’s had since he lost South Carolina in ’08,” Goldfarb said.

“Of course Huckabee couldn’t predict that the convict would shoot police officers, but the exercise of executive clemency goes right to judgment in a way that is very clearly understood by voters,” Ed Morrissey, a widely-read blogger on the conservative site Hot Air, wrote in an email. “His primary opponents will use it against him, and I'd guess that such an attack would be particularly effective with social conservatives.”

Former Huckabee press aide Joe Carter wrote on the blog for the Institute on Religion and Public Life that the story undercuts the former governor’s strengths as a candidate.

“Ironically, what makes Huckabee such an appealing Presidential candidate—his empathy for all people and genuine belief in the individual—is also the trait that will prevent him from ever reaching the White House,” Carter wrote. “His experiences and intuitions that served him well as a minister of the gospel were not always applicable in of governor of a state. The unfortunate reality is that for politicians, unlike pastors, there are limits to compassion.”

Conservative blogs were not the only corner of the Internet where Huckabee took a pounding. The popular Drudge Report website provided a prominent link to a Seattle Times story on Clemmons’s disturbing criminal history accompanied by the headline, “Huckabee granted clemency to man wanted for questioning.”

The former governor’s Wikipedia entry was altered midday to identify Huckabee in all caps as “THE IDIOT” who “RELEASED THE COP KILLER MAURICE CLEMMONS.”

Republican operatives and politicians contacted by POLITICO said the incident is already proving to be damaging.

One well-known GOP strategist with presidential campaign experience said the shooting is “pretty devastating” to Huckabee’s political future.

Mark Corallo, a veteran Republican communications consultant, added that since Republicans “are supposed to be the law and order, tough on crime party – it hurts [Huckabee] plenty.”

While former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney used the DuMond story to attack Huckabee during the bitterly fought presidential primary, none of Huckabee’s prospective 2012 opponents have singled out the former governor in the wake of the murders.

Spokesmen for Romney, Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich did not respond to requests for comment on Clemmons.

Former Alaska GOP Gov. Sarah Palin, meanwhile, posted a brief message about the shooting on her Twitter feed while stopped in Richland, Wash. as part of her ongoing book tour, but made no mention of the clemency granted to the suspected shooter.

“While in Washington state today my heart goes out to the WA police officers gunned down so tragically & senselessly,” Palin wrote. “God comfort the families.”



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Maurice Clemmons Shot Dead This Morning By WA. Police...4 Others Arrested

Cop-killer suspect shot dead by officer

A lone officer on patrol in the middle of the night Tuesday spotted a car reported stolen, its hood up and engine running, and pulled over to check it out. As the patrolman sat in his cruiser, a burly man with a large mole on his cheek came up from behind.

The officer turned and instantly recognized the most wanted man in the Pacific Northwest — the ex-con accused of gunning down four cops at a coffee shop.

Moments later, Maurice Clemmons, 37, lay dead in the street, shot by the patrolman after Clemmons made a move for a gun he had taken from one of the slain officers, police said.

Clemmons' death brought to an end two days of fear across the Seattle-Tacoma area and one of the biggest manhunts the region has ever seen. Dozens of police officers milled around at the scene afterward, some solemnly shaking hands and patting each other on the back.

"Good thing he wasn't able to get the gun out here or we might have had a different ending to this whole thing," Pierce County sheriff's spokesman Ed Troyer said. "The officer in Seattle did a good job of making sure he went home safe tonight."

Clemmons eluded capture thanks to family and friends who provided him with shelter, cell phones, cash and first aid for the severe belly wound he suffered when one of the dying officers in Sunday's coffee-shop rampage got off a shot, police said. Six to seven of those associates were being arrested Tuesday.

Among them were an accomplice who drove the getaway truck after the rampage and Clemmons' sister, who bandaged him and gave him a lift to a house in Seattle, police said.

"Some are friends, some are acquaintances, some are partners in crime, some are relatives. Now they're all partners in crime," Troyer said.

Frantic search

It was not clear exactly where Clemmons was while on the run. Police rushed from place to place, following tips that often came up empty or yielded only accomplices. They searched homes and apartments around the city and cordoned off a park after a report of blood in a restroom.

On Sunday, Clemmons briefly took refuge at a house in the city's well-to-do Leschi neighborhood, slipping away before police surrounded the home in an all-night siege that ended when SWAT officers stormed the place and realized he wasn't there.

Clemmons has a violent, erratic past, and authorities in Washington state and Arkansas — where then-Gov. Mike Huckabee in 2000 commuted his 108-year prison sentence for armed robbery and other offenses — are facing tough questions about why an apparently violent and deranged man was out on the street.

On Sunday, six days after posting bail in Washington on charges of raping a child, Clemmons walked into the coffee shop in Parkland, Wash., a suburb a few miles south of Tacoma, and killed four uniformed Lakewood police officers as they caught up on paperwork on their laptops, police said.

"The only motive that we have is he decided he was going to go kill police officers," Troyer said. Investigators also reported that Clemmons told others the night before the shooting that he was going to kill police and they should watch the news, but they wrote it off as "crazy-talk."

In a statement posted on the conservative Newsmax.com Web site, Huckabee said: "I take full responsibility for my actions of nine years ago. I acted on the facts presented to me in 2000. If I could have possibly known what Clemmons would do nine years later, I obviously would have made a different decision. But if the same file was presented to me today, I would have likely made the same decision."

Familiar face

The Seattle patrol officer who killed Clemmons, Benjamin L. Kelly, 39, a seven-year law enforcement veteran, will be placed on leave, which is standard procedure after a shooting.

The officer was driving in a working-class neighborhood of south Seattle at about 2:45 a.m. when he came across a stolen car, its engine running, Assistant Seattle Police Chief Jim Pugel said.

As he sat in his cruiser, beginning paperwork on the car, he sensed movement, turned and saw someone approaching, Pugel said. The officer stepped out and immediately recognized the man, whose face had been all over TV and mugshot fliers memorized by every officer in the region.

The patrolman ordered Clemmons to freeze and show his hands, but he kept moving, and the officer fired several rounds, hitting the man at least twice, Pugel said.

Police said Clemmons would have died eventually of the gunshot wound he suffered in the coffee-shop rampage.

At the time of his arrest in Washington state earlier this year, investigators said Clemmons had visions that he was Jesus Christ and that the world was on the verge of the apocalypse. He also "told the officer President Obama and Lebron James are his brothers, Oprah (Winfrey) is his sister and referred to himself as 'the beast,"' according to court papers obtained by The News Tribune of Tacoma.

A psychological evaluation in October found he was a risk to public safety, but not enough of one to justify committing him, the newspaper reported.

The slain officers Kwere Sgt. Mark Renninger, 39, and Officers Ronald Owens, 37, Tina Griswold, 40, and Greg Richards, 42.

A memorial to honor them will be held next Tuesday in the Tacoma Dome. More than 20,000 members of the law enforcement community, emergency response agencies and the public are expected to attend.



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Manhunt For WA. Police Serial Killer (Maurice Clemmons) Continues...Family Aiding Suspect

Manhunt for alleged cop killer continues. Police are still in pursuit of Maurice Clemmons, a former inmate suspected of gunning down four Washington state police officers Sunday. NBC's George Lewis reports.

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WA. Police Chief: "We will all miss them very much". Lakewood Police Chief Bret Farrar, flanked by city officials and numerous police officers, is emotional as he speaks to reporters about the shooting deaths of four of his officers.

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Washington State Police: Family helping cop-killings Suspect



Authorities believe the man sought in the slaying of four police officers is still alive and has been aided by a network of friends and family, a police spokesman said Monday night. Officers believe Maurice Clemmons was shot in the abdomen during the attack on the officers at a Parkland coffee shop, and had speculated he might have died.

But Ed Troyer, a spokesman for the Pierce County Sheriff, said investigators have questioned several people who had provided assistance to Clemmons since the Sunday morning shootings.

"We think his network of people helping him is running out." Troyer said. "He's probably on his own."

Police are also certain Clemmons, 37, was in a Seattle house on Sunday night, but was able to flee before police could contain the area. Police staked out the house overnight before SWAT team members determined early Monday that Clemmons wasn't there.

Clemmons has had access to handguns, rifles and shotguns, Troyer said.

"It's unfortunate he's been a step or two ahead of us."


Large Reward Offered

Monday morning's realization that the suspect had not been cornered after all prompted police to fan out across the city, looking for any sign of Clemmons. Authorities posted a $125,000 reward for information leading to his arrest in the Sunday morning shooting rampage.

The manhunt came as authorities in two states took heat for the fact that Clemmons was allowed to walk the streets despite a teenage crime spree in Arkansas that landed him an 108-year prison sentence. He was released early after then-Gov. Mike Huckabee commuted his sentence.

"This guy should have never been on the street," said Brian D. Wurts, president of the police union in Lakewood, where all four slain officers worked. "Our elected officials need to find out why these people are out."

Police said they are not sure what prompted Clemmons to assassinate the officers as they worked on their laptop computers at the beginning of their shifts. He was described as increasingly erratic in the past few months and had been arrested earlier this year on charges that he punched a sheriff's deputy in the face.

Sheriff's spokesman Ed Troyer told the Tacoma News-Tribune that Clemmons indicated the night before the shooting "that he was going to shoot police and watch the news."

Authorities said the gunman singled out the officers and spared employees and other customers at the coffee shop in a suburb about 35 miles south of Seattle. He then fled, but not before he was apparently shot in the torso by one of the dying officers.

Police later learned he may have been holed up at the house in Seattle. After an all-night siege in which they tried to get him out using loudspeakers, explosions and a robot sent into the house, a SWAT team stormed the place and discovered he was not there.

Police spent the rest of the day frantically chasing leads, visiting hundreds of locations as they followed up on tips, at one point cordoning off a park where people thought they saw Clemmons. They also alerted hospitals to be on the lookout for a man seeking treatment for gunshot wounds.

University of Washington officials alerted students by e-mail and text messages to an unconfirmed report that Clemmons might have gotten off a bus on or near the campus.

Investigators also examined the coffee shop for clues. Sheriff's spokesman Lt. Dave McDonald said that authorities found a handgun carried by the killer, along with a pickup truck belonging to the suspect with blood stains inside.

Killed were Sgt. Mark Renninger, 39, and Officers Ronald Owens, 37, Tina Griswold, 40, and Greg Richards, 42.

Clemmons has an extensive violent criminal history from Arkansas.

On Sunday, Huckabee issued this statement on his Web site: "Should he be found to be responsible for this horrible tragedy, it will be the result of a series of failures in the criminal justice system in both Arkansas and Washington state."

In seeking leniency from Huckabee, Clemmons wrote the parole board that he was a "misguided fool" when he committed the crimes and "learned through the school of hard knocks to appreciate and respect the rights of others."

Huckabee cited Clemmons' youth in granting the request. But Clemmons quickly reverted to his criminal past, violated his parole and was returned to prison. He was released again in 2004.

Clemmons was charged in Washington state earlier this year with assaulting a police officer and raping a child, and investigators in the sex case said he was motivated by visions that he was Jesus Christ and that the world was on the verge of the apocalypse. But he was released from jail after posting bail with the assistance of Jail Sucks Bail Bonds.


The world is going to end soon

Documents related to those charges indicate a volatile personality. In one instance, he is accused of punching a sheriff's deputy in the face. In another, he is accused of gathering his wife and young relatives and forcing them to undress.

"The whole time Clemmons kept saying things like trust him, the world is going to end soon, and that he was Jesus," a Pierce County sheriff's report said.

Neighbors said Clemmons had surveillance cameras installed along the bushes in front of his house, and had mostly kept his blinds shut since he was accused of throwing rocks through the windows of his neighbors' cars and houses earlier this year.

Neighbor Ken Dietiker said he initially thought Clemmons' cameras were there to prevent crime. "But now I'm starting to think he's just paranoid," he said.

Dietiker said he was frustrated to learn about Clemmons' record and releases from custody.

"There were all these indicators. Who didn't see them?" he asked. "That's what I want to know."

There was no indication of any connection between Sunday's killings and the Halloween night shooting of a Seattle Police Officer as he sat in his patrol car.

Authorities say the man charged with that shooting also firebombed four police vehicles in October as part of a "one-man war" against law enforcement. Christopher Monfort, 41, was arrested after being wounded in a firefight with police days after the Seattle shooting.



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Amanda Knox Trial: Prosecution Rests...Life Sentence Sought

Prosecution makes final push in Knox trial. Closing arguments are underway in the Italian murder trial of American college student Amanda Knox. NBC’s Michelle Kosinski reports from Perugia with the latest.

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Life sentences sought in Amanda Knox case


Prosecutors on Saturday requested life in prison for Amanda Knox and her ex-boyfriend, who are accused in the fatal stabbing of her British roommate during a drug-fueled sex game — charges the U.S. woman dismissed as "pure fantasy."

In their closing arguments, the prosecutors said Amanda Knox and Italian Raffaele Sollecito should be convicted on charges of murder and sexual violence for the 2007 slaying of Meredith Kercher.

They deny wrongdoing.

Knox, who is from Seattle, took a deep breath when Prosecutor Giuliano Mignini requested life imprisonment — Italy's stiffest punishment. She then addressed the court, saying that the accusations against her were "pure fantasy."

"Meredith was my friend, I didn't hate her," she said in Italian, fighting back tears.

The Briton's body, her throat slit, was found in a pool of blood on Nov. 2, 2007, in the apartment she shared with Knox in the central Italian town of Perugia.

Prosecutors argued that Knox resented her British roommate and killed her, together with Sollecito and Rudy Hermann Guede, of Ivory Coast, under "the fumes of drugs and possibly alcohol."

They said Knox hit Kercher's head against a wall, then tried to strangle her, as Sollecito held her and Guede sexually assaulted her.

Guede was sentenced to 30 years in prison last year for the killing after a fast-track trial he had requested. He also denies wrongdoing and is appealing his conviction.

"The murder and the sexual violence were carried out for futile reasons," Mignini said. "Meredith will never come back."


Verdict expected in early December

He requested nine months of daytime solitary confinement for Knox and two months for Sollecito. A verdict by the eight-member jury is expected in early December.

Knox, 22, and Sollecito, 25, have been jailed for more than two years since being arrested shortly after the slaying.

According to prosecutors, a knife with a 6 1/2-inch blade, with Kercher's DNA on the blade and Knox's on the handle, was found at Sollecito's house.

Defense lawyers argue that the knife is too big to match Kercher's wounds and that the amount of what prosecutors say is Kercher's DNA is too low to be attributed with certainty.

Prosecutors also maintain Sollecito's DNA was found on the clasp of Kercher's bra, although his defense team contends that the evidence might have been inadvertently contaminated during the investigation.

During Saturday's hearing, prosecutors showed an animated video reconstructing what they say were the different phases of the murder, with cartoon characters representing the defendants and the victim.

Photos showing Kercher's wounds and bruises also were shown in the video. Knox kept her head down during the presentation, while Sollecito watched it intently.

In their closing arguments, prosecutors also reviewed technical data on the use of Sollecito's computer the night Kercher was slain.

According to Knox, who took the stand last June, she spent the night of Nov. 1 with Sollecito at his home, watching a movie on his computer and smoking pot. Witnesses for the prosecution have argued that there was no sign of the defendant using his computer during the hours 21-year-old Kercher was stabbed to death.

Mignini also asked the court to convict the defendants on lesser charges, including staging a break-in and the theft of cash and Kercher's cell phones. He said Knox and Sollecito staged a burglary in the apartment by breaking a window in a bedroom in an attempt to sidetrack the investigation.

Knox also is being tried on charges of defamation for allegedly accusing Diya "Patrick" Lumumba — a Congolese man who owns a pub in Perugia where she worked — of being the killer. Because of her accusation, Lumumba was briefly jailed. He was later cleared and is seeking damages from Knox.

Defense lawyers will make their own closing arguments beginning late next week.



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Amanda Knox Testifies: Sex-Crazed, Framed Victim Or Cold-Blooded Murderess?....She Claims Police Brutality

(Amanda Knox testifies in an Italian court. She claims to have been a victim of Police Brutality.)



Newsweek-----

Murder suspect Amanda Knox has a lot of explaining to do. But what she says may not be as important as how she says it.

For five months, the 21-year-old Seattle honor student has spent Fridays and Saturdays in a Perugia, Italy, courtroom under harsh lights and watchful eyes, standing trial for the murder of her British roommate Meredith Kercher. She has heard witnesses describe her hygiene, sexual habits and inappropriate gymnastic displays. She has watched bloody crime-scene footage of the house she shared with Kercher, who was violently tortured and killed in November 2007. She has also seen explicit video of Kercher's battered body in a pool of blood on her bedroom floor, eyes open, with multiple knife wounds to her neck. Knox has listened while the jury has heard from forensic experts who identified her and Kercher's mixed DNA and blood in five areas in the house, including a footprint outside the crime scene.

On Friday, Knox will finally get her day in court, taking the stand as a "communal" witness for the prosecution, civil plaintiffs and her own defense. Her testimony is expected to last at least one day. "She's ready," says her Roman lawyer Carlo Dalla Vedova. "She wants to talk."

Witness-jury interaction is one of the most critical aspects of a criminal trial, especially for the prime suspects. Not talking often implies the suspect has something to hide. But taking the stand can be far riskier. "The biggest risk is that she doesn't follow the advice of her lawyers," says Alessandra Batassa, a criminal-defense lawyer in Rome who has served on defense teams in similar crimes. "The court will be absolutely influenced by nonjudicial factors like her demeanor. Her image has been painted in a very bad light in the trial so far, so she has to portray that she has normal sexual relationships and that she is just a normal girl. She has to be very convincing."

In the past, Knox has not always proved herself a competent speaker—especially under pressure. As heard in audiotapes obtained by NEWSWEEK from a January 2008 prosecutorial interrogation, she speaks in a steady, low voice that is calm and confident, but she makes basic mistakes. When asked about specifics of the morning after the murder, she clearly stammers and stutters, undoubtedly damaging her case in the eyes of the prosecutor. At times she is indignant, answering questions with her own questions. On the tape she is either serious or arrogant, even laughing at the prosecutor's line of questioning. When she has addressed the court in spontaneous declarations, she has waffled between confidence and calamity. She has spoken about her vibrator and about being interrogated by police and about being disappointed by what Kercher's friends have said about her. She will almost surely be less cavalier this time, as her lawyers prepare her for what will be a grueling day. The jury will be listening attentively, but more important, they will be watching her every move.

Knox's actions already overshadow anything she has said in court. On Valentine's Day, she wore a T shirt with the Beatles’ mantra “All You Need Is Love," and she and her codefendant, Rafaelle Sollecito, frequently exchange flirtations in full view of the jury. This is a young woman who was accused of performing cartwheels in the police station while waiting to be questioned for the murder of her roommate. And who, on her first chance to speak, chose the delicate topic of her sex toy rather than focusing on her involvement in the murder. "It exists," she told the court last February after proclaiming her innocence. "It was a joke. It's a little pink rabbit and it was given to me by a friend."

This time Knox will have to address much more than circumstantial evidence. She will be questioned by the prosecutor about specific elements of the case, including why her DNA and Kercher's blood were found around the house, especially in a back bedroom where police believe she and Sollecito staged a break-in. Other questions will include why her DNA was discovered on the handle of a knife that had Kercher's DNA on the blade. She will likely have to provide a believable alibi for the night of the murder, something that she and Sollecito have yet to do. And she has to be careful not to accidentally blame Sollecito, who is waiving his right to testify. "The biggest mistake she can make is to accuse or unload the responsibility on the other suspect," says Batassa. "And she should not accuse or blame the court or those deciding this case."

She will also be questioned by civil attorneys for Patrick Lumumba, her former boss at a nightclub where she worked as a barmaid. In the days after the crime, Knox accused Lumumba of murdering Kercher, which led to his arrest and incarceration. He was released when another man, Rudy Guede, confessed to being at the crime scene. Guede was convicted of his part in Kercher's murder last October and is serving a 30-year sentence. His appeal will begin Nov. 18. "Accusing an innocent person is always a big defensive error and one that has put her in a bad light," says Batassa. "But explaining and apologizing, even this late, will be seen as a favorable element for her."

How Knox physically interacts with the jury could play an even bigger role in how they perceive her. Body-language experts agree that nonverbal communication affects a listener even more than words. Very erect and even stiff posture or the sudden crossing of the arms or legs often indicates that a person is uncomfortable with what he is saying. When people lie, gesticulation will also slow down—those covering something up tend to overcompensate by trying not to draw attention to themselves. Some go to the extreme, even putting their hands in their pockets, sitting on them or trying to keep them from moving. Experts agree that touching the mouth or face—especially scratching the nose, touching the ear or the chin—is the most obvious body-language lie detector.

Finally, none of what Knox says may really matter. In Italy, defendants in criminal trials do not have to take an oath before testifying. "The suspect is the only one in a criminal trial who can tell 'their truth' without being accused of false testimony," says Batassa. Those judging the case will have to decide if hers is the real truth.


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