How can anyone vouch for an acquaintance like that?!

Heavey doesn't even know how HIS OWN DAUGHTER might act if she were to start abusing illicit narcotics to the point of memory loss! Hell, he doesn't even know how HE would act if he was doping like Amanda was doping!

This man should not be a judge.

He is a judge, he is judging people and punishing those who break the law.

Someone, who is a judge should comply with the law.

A judge should be an example to other citizens and not demonstrate that the law applies to most people except those in positions of power.

Heavey did abuse his position he should have enough pride to realize his mistake and do the right thing and tender his termination notice.

Do what is right Heavey!

Do the people of Seattle approve of Senator Cantwell's efforts to have a murderer freed?

I did'nt know that Italy is part of Seattle.

Well you learn something new everyday.

Do the Italians know that they are part of Seattle?

The latest con is that Meredith Kercher was killed by the brother of an ex-mafioso.

It is a pity about the forensic evidence.

Not just that also the money it would have cost to produce such a statement.

Ex-Mafiosos do not work for free.

Would it not be better to invest in legal defense than in ex-mafioso's?

The defamation trial should be interesting.

The way I see it, there is someone not telling the truth.

I would like the court to find out who this person is.

How did the brother of the ex-mafioso manage not to leave any DNA behind?

Was his testimony purchased?

If so was it purchased on a contingency basis so that he would only get the money if the defendants were released from prison?

I say throw the book at Heavey.

Judge Heavey in untenable, he needs to go!

If Heavey wants to proclaim his opinion than he can do so as Michael Heavey.

When he makes proclamations, such as the ones in the Amanda Knox case, as Judge Heavey, which he did, then he is clearly misusing his Office.

It is time for him to retire.

Amanda and her supporters won the intellectual and factual battle long ago. Of course she is innocent. Anyone with a brain knows it. In a few years her innocence will be widely conceded and the real question will be how people could be so blind as to not see it.

God forbid that a sitting judge and a decent man should be ardent in the pursuit of justice. We need more public officials like Judge Heavey.

P

It amazes me that the even the CJC is part of the mass conspiracy against Amanda Knox. They must hate her for her beauty, too. Oh and they lust after her. That's why they want her in jail.

I think Amanda and Joran would make a cute couple. Imagine the fun they could have!

Judge Heavey was speaking out against injustice. I have nothing but admiration for this man. He believes, as I and many others do that Amanda is innocent of this horrific crime.
How can it be wrong to speak out about INJUSTICE. He is a good man and was only trying to help Amanda Knox. I am in full support of Judge Heavey.

I should be getting used to the vitriolic hate mail that profligates around this case. There is no end to the attack, no person immune to the small minds that continue to hold judgments that are far beyond reason. What is stunning is the shear number of them. Judge Heavey ought to be lauded, not censured, for having the courage of conviction to speak against injustice. For those of you spouting your lynch mob mantras, have the decency to crawl back in the corners from whence you have come and let reason and justice prevail.

Or, if you can muster an open mind for a moment, entertain the inquiry "What if Amanda Knox is innocent and I've been wrong?"

Judge Heavey is a prime example as to what should be happening in America. As the justice Department has sat idly by as a foreign nation has taken a young college student captive and imprisoned her falsely declaring a crime was committed as the validity of their actions. All evidence in the case in Italy has been proven to be hearsay and has not stood up to cross examination. Pertinent evidence such as the kitchen knife has not been allowed out of the hands of the authorities for examination and collaboration by the third convicted assailant Rudy Guede has not surfaced. Quite the opposite he has repeatedly said she was not there! Amanda Knox is a citizen of the USA and NEVER surrendered her rights as a citizen. She was a guest in Italy and has been treated as a slave. She was a guest and treated as a sub human. No Italians knew her and no Italians stood by her side as testimony how could they, they don't know her. None!! So if a judge who does know this individual arrises and yells at those who falsely prosecuted her and the people in the justice system who's job is to defend the American way of life quietly sit by not doing their jobs, then the judge is in the right. If your angry charge the justice department to get busy making Italy's life VERY uncomfortable. Arriving in Italy 5 weeks later arrested for murder?? Though Judge Heavey's actions can be questioned as misconduct THE ENTIRE ITALIAN JUDAICAL SYSTEM CAN BE LISTED AS THE SAME. As such Judge Heavey is in the right. Hooray for Judge Heavey get on board!!!! Equal human rights for Amand Knox! Demand answers from Italy!

Thank you Judge Heavey for being a man of courage, integrity, righteousness and compassion. If only all judges could be just like you. God bless you and give you strength.

I believe the Honorable Judge is well within his rights and has not violated the principals of the (CJC) Code of Judicial Conduct. Under Canon 4 it states that "Judges May Engage in Activities To Improve the Law, the Legal System and the Administration of Justice."

According to Canon 2 "A judge shall avoid the impropriety and the appearance of impropriety in all of the Judges activities." However an exception is made to Canon 2 when the appearance concerns the law, the legal system, the administration of justice, or the judge or the judge's interests.

Also according to Canon 1 "A judge shall uphold the integrity and independence of the judiciary." By using his courts letterhead he is disclosing who he is which establishes, maintains, and enforces a high standard of conduct which is exactly what is requested of the Judge under the (CJC).

The (CRJ) does not have the right to usurp the Judges God Given inalienable rights to give opinion on what he deems an atrocious miscarriage of justice. Canon 3 states "A Judge shall perform the duties of judicial office impartially and diligently." A Judge can not perform his duties of judicial office impartially and diligently by turning a blind eye to gross miscarriages of justices.

Thank God for men like Mike Heavey who stand up to tyrants and despots. I agree with the previous poster that Judge Heavey is a prime example as to what should be happening in America.

At least Judge Heavey signed his letters, unlike most of the crtics in this comment string. At best Judge Heavey fulfilled the canons of judicial ethics by diligently seeking justice for a US citizen being tried in a foreign court. He should stay on the bench for as long as the people re-elect him. He has stood for election three times and the people spoke. At worst he spent his own time and his staff's time preparing the three letters. If he is wrong he should be fined a days pay for himself, three hours pay of his clerk and three bucks for the letterhead and envelopes.
Thom Tuttle, Tacoma, WA

Those who continue the disgusting witch hunt persecution against Amanda Knox should get in a time machine to go back to the Salem Witch trials. I'm sure these despicable people would have a fun time being cheerleaders at that event.

Where do these worthless scumbags come from?

Marijuana is not a narcotic. There were no "illicit narcotics" involved.

Having practiced law for many years I can tell you that many judges are a great disappointment in terms of their sense of justice and fairness. I am awe struck by the moral courage of Judge Michael Heavey. He has my utmost respect. I feel humbled in the face of a man of such character and integrity. His is the type of fierce moral courage that we need in this country's judiciary. I would love to see this man in a higher judgeship.

Your comment you made you are the idiot Judge Heavy was 100% right what he did Amanda did NOT get a fair trial she is INNOCENT!

There is no question that this girl and her boyfriend are not guilty of this terrible crime.

There is a pile of evidence pointing to the confessed killer and no legit evidence pointing to this innocent pair.

Amanda Knox made no valid confession to anything. Former FBI agent Steve Moore has published a series of articles in which he sharply criticizes Italian investigators. He is particularly harsh on the interrogation that police claim resulted in a confession by Amanda Knox. Here are the words of Steve Moore:

"In my cases in the FBI, I have seen agents conduct masterful interviews, and I have had to deal with intelligence operatives of other countries torturing suspects. I know my way around good and bad interrogations. The Inquisition Amanda Knox experienced in Perugia was no more legally or morally defensible than the Salem Witch Trials. No rational person should believe that the results of what she went through are reliable evidence."

Rudy Guede has never admitted to killing Meredith Kercher. He admits he was there; he claims that his sexual contact with the victim was consensual and that someone else came in and killed her while he sat on the toilet. Hi sentence is cut in half because he apologizes for not doing enough to save the victim.

In the weeks leading up to the killing Rudy Guede had participated in at least three separate breaking and entering incidents in which he was armed with a knife and he had no accomplices. He had motives of theft and sexual desire. He had no visible means of support yet was able to pay rent and go to bars regularly. Amanda worked in a bar and had seen him around, nothing more. By all accounts Raffaele and Meredith did not even know who he was.

According to Rudy's story the defensive wounds on his hands are from his heroic attempts to fight off the real attacker. By his own account he does not call police or an ambulance and leaves Meredith to bleed to death. Later that night he is seen dancing at a discotheque. The next day he flees to Germany.

Those who actually read the so-called motivation document should look at page 381. Here Italian authorities go into some detail about why there is no need to test a semen stain found underneath the victim. They make claims in the case that they can't find any physical evidence of Amanda Knox because she cleaned it all up with bleach but they aren't interested in seeing who left a large semen stain at the scene of a sexually motivated homicide. This speaks volumes about whether they were actually going where the evidence took them. The semen stain scandal is just the tip of the iceberg.

The big picture in this case is that given the clear evidence of sexual contact between Guede and the victim there is simply no viable scenario that includes AK and RS. There is no crime in history that would parallel what the Italian prosecutor alleges. The extremely weak forensic evidence must be seen in that light.

Harry, you need to stick to your cutting and pasting and leave the intelligent discussion to others.

You say that Rudy did not confess! How wrong can you be? He confessed to being in the bed room with Mez. He confessed to making sexual advances on her. He confessed to leaving her to die in her own blood when he could have called for help. That's cold and that's MURDER.

I have read large portions of the judges report and I saw that Rudy was rewarded for naming names, even though it was a lie. He was also rewarded for apologizing to the Kercher family for his participation in the crime.

The motivation report was thick with faulty logic and failed police work.. For example, The judge needed to identify the person(s) responsible for changes to the crime scene. He went down the list of roommates and their lovers. Unable to identify anyone, he defaulted to Knox. FROM THE REPORT: Judge Micheli stated that, in his opinion, “this just left Knox who would seem to have an interest in arranging the scene the police would find”.

In a system where the presumption of innocence is important, Judge Micheli used “guilty because I can't find any one else to blame” as the basis of his decision making. Moreover, based on this faulty logic, two people have spent over 1,000 days in a harsh, painful prison.

May there be a special place in God's hell for this type of abuse of power.

Another example is accounting for the keys to the flat. The judges accounted for the our keys that the girls had. Based sole on questioning of the girls,the police did not check with any lock shops to see if that key had been duplicated. They also completely ignored the possibility of keys in the hands of prior residents of the flat. They simply counted to four and left.

Further, other then Mez, three other girls lived in the flat. Two spent the Halloween holiday in Perugia, with boy friends and yet only one had her shoes examined (for blood and none was found.)

Read Candace Dempsey's book. It is honest, a very interesting read, fair and does not preach a conclusion.