Aa9511- As I stated in one of my first posts, I am not convinced that AK and RS are definitely innocent but I do think the evidence against them does not prove beyond a reasonable doubt that they are guilty even if the evidence is taken osmotically. I really view the Italian justice system, at least in this case, as carrying out a kind of vendetta against the 2 defendants. I came to this conclusion after reading the ISC's arguments for throwing out the first acquittal. What infuriated me most was in essence their asking AK and RS to PROVE their innocence by proving contamination after the fact (which is next to impossible) when the prosecution and their experts could have proven there was no contamination if the initial studies were done correctly and thoroughly to begin with. I might add here that I too have no direct or indirect involvement with anyone involvement with anyone involved in the case.
You ask about my intense dislike of Steffanoni. I tend to hold those who hold the lives of others in their hands to a higher standard than the average person. That includes doctors, nurses, lawyers, policemen and forensic scientists. Everyone is entitled to make a mistake or two, even the people I would hold to a higher standard. Heck, I know I've misread the occasional x-ray or MRI. However, these are what I like to call honest mistakes. They don't happen often and there is no malicious pattern to these mistakes.
Steffanoni's work in this case shows just not one mistake but several as I've alluded to before. All of these mistakes seem to be in the prosecution's favor. Not one mistake wound up favoring the defense. Additionally, I look at her testimony in court. I would say she bent over backwards (and that, in my opinion, is being charitable) to portray the evidence in the best prosecutorial light possible. Now I understand why both defense and prosecution lawyers portray their evidence to support their case. That's their job. But, a scientist has the responsibility to intellectual honesty and MUST let the data, ALL the data, speak for itself. Taken osmotically, like the ISC likes to do, I view Steffanoni's work as being intellectually dishonest and that is one of the worst things one can say about a scientist. In some ways, it's the equivalent of the scientist who forges data. When caught, that scientist is ostracized and shunned by the rest of the scientific community. I hope that explains why I feel so strongly about Steffanoni.
Steffanoni's work, taken together with that of the police, prosecutors and their computer experts, IMO, demonstrates, at best supreme incompetence and at worst a disregard for the law and a willingness to do whatever it takes to achieve a guilty verdict using the motto, the ends justify the means as their banner. I point to the lack of videotaping of AK's interrogation and the frying of personal computers as just 2 examples. I view the case, rightly or wrongly, as an attempt by the Italian justice system to railroad 2 young people who up until the night of the murder and thereafter never exhibited violent tendencies. Like I said above, I don't know for sure whether they are innocent or guilty of complicity in the murder but I do know that the evidence does NOT prove their guilt and the Italian justice system should be ashamed of themselves for how they have treated this case.
