Italy to Rule on Knox Conviction
PEREIRA: Italy's supreme court is expected to hand down a final ruling today in the case against Amanda Knox. If her murder conviction is upheld, Italy could ask for her back. What happens then? Let's bring in retired supervisory special FBI agent Steve Moore. He's in Los Angeles. Good morning to you. Nina Burleigh is national politics correspondent from "Newsweek" and author of "The Fatal Gift of Beauty." So there's so many pieces and parts to this. Chris is here with me. I think we sort of have to talk with the legality, we have to start with that, do we not?</s>CUOMO: Yes, it is a legal situation. I mean, Steve, you've been following the case very carefully. Confirmation by the highest court of this now conviction two times over would be very usual, right? It's unusual for, at this stage, there to be a departure of the most recent decision. So what do you think happens today?</s>STEVE MOORE, RETIRED SUPERVISORY SPECIAL AGENT, FBI: Well, I -- unfortunately, I'm afraid that what they're going to do is just go ahead and convict her again. I mean the fix is in. The juror has already said from the last case that she was pretty much told beforehand what the verdict was going to be. So I'd fall off my chair if they didn't convict her. But right now they need -- Amanda actually needs a conviction from this court to go ahead and go to the European high court of human rights and get this thing thrown out.</s>PEREIRA: Nina, I'm really curious what you think this is about. Is it more about the evidence or is this more about a case of serious national pride?</s>MOORE: This hasn't been --</s>NINA BURLEIGH, NATIONAL POLITICS CORRESPONDENT, "NEWSWEEK": I would say that it's more of a case of the magistrate's pride. The judiciary system in Italy is protecting itself as prosecutors and judges tend to do when they make mistakes in any country, but it's definitely what's happening here.</s>PEREIRA: So cover up to that point or more just --</s>BURLEIGH: Well, I -- you know, Italy has laws that affect journalists who criticize judges. And there have been lawsuits filed against the family, there have been lawsuits filed against journalists and that's why people don't -- journalists would not use words like "cover up." But certainly there was bias, there was -- there was national bias, there's legal bias here, there's gender bias going on. And there, yes, there are problems with the police work as well. Absolutely.</s>CUOMO: Well, but the problem is, and you know both Steve and Nina will disagree with this supposition, but there was also a lot of proof that was pointing right at Amanda Knox and her boyfriend from the beginning and neither of them helped their cause with anything that they did. And at the end of the day, every legal system, even Italy's, yes, which is certainly flawed compared to the U.S. system, is about people. And, Steve, I know you're shaking your head. I know you don't like that supposition. But, the way they acted, the story they told definitely had holes in it that led to suspicion that led them down this road with prosecutors. Everybody's shaking their head, but, Steve, is that fair criticism or not?</s>MOORE: No, I don't think it's fair criticism. I don't think it's educated criticism. If you look directly at this case and every detail, you will understand what I did. I went to try and prove Amanda guilty. And what I got out of this is there's no way she's guilty. You can say -- not you but the courts can say anything they want about Amanda, and if everything they said is true then, yes, she's guilty. But nothing they've said about her is true. So based on what you've heard from the Italians, yes, I understand your statement. But what they're saying is a lie. And, by the way, I'm not a journalist. I'll use the word cover up.</s>PEREIRA: And, Nina, you agree with Steve?</s>BURLEIGH: Absolutely 100 percent, Chris. We --</s>CUOMO: You know the critics basic is large</s>BURLEIGH: I watched -- I watched the trial. We went through -- with a team we went through all of the documents. We looked at the interviews with witnesses before the arrest, after the arrest. The way that things changed after the arrest. Look, it was a pagan scapegoating ritual. That's what it looked like to me. I, like Steve, I went over there thinking I was going to write a book about an American girl who looked like a J. Crew model, who turned into Charlie Manson. After a month looking into it, all of those things that you're talking about, the so-called evidence is not in the record. The blood -- the bleached --</s>CUOMO: Right.</s>BURLEIGH: The Googling the bleach, the students standing outside the door with a mop and a bucket, none of that is in the record. And the prosecutor, who I interviewed repeatedly, wouldn't even confirm it, OK? So these things, these -- all of this circumstantial evidence has to do with this strange girl being seen on the scene the day of the murder. First person on the scene. That's who the police looked at.</s>CUOMO: How she was seen, this story, the actions, I mean it became very much about her.</s>BURLEIGH: It's all bias.</s>CUOMO: And, look, to Steve's point, criticism or not, certainly not uneducated. I followed that case. I covered that case. I would argue I put Amanda to the test over information the way nobody else has. And interestingly, we did ask her about what she would do in this. And this -- she is facing the biggest fear of her life because if she gets pushed here, Steve's right, she could go to the international court and get this thrown out. But if it doesn't happen, these two countries have an agreement for extradition and then her life will be more up in the air than it ever has been before.</s>PEREIRA: Well, and then --</s>CUOMO: So we're going to have to see what happens today.</s>PEREIRA: Absolutely. We'll be watching that. Count on CNN to continue covering that. Nina, Steve, our appreciation to both of you. Thanks. Alisyn. [08:45:12:]</s>ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: OK, guys. Controversy continues to surround SeaWorld. After the release of that documentary and CNN film "BLACKFISH," now a former orca trainer is speaking out in a new book with explosive new claims. Were whales deprived of food to make them perform? There's much more. Stick around.