Peek inside Murder in Italy, the new major book on the Amanda Knox case. Author Candace Dempsey will read Monday, June 7, 7 p.m. at Third Place Books in Lake Forest Park, Seattle. A Microsoft-alumni event!
Update: Mafiosi claimed his brother killed Meredith Kercher

When international media star Amanda Knox testified that Italian police had abused her during an all-night interrogation, even smacking her a few times, she wore her hair in a pony tail, like a college student trying to make a good impression. That was back in June 2009, before she was convicted of murder. Now defending herself against a police slander charge, she created worldwide headlines this week simply by showing up for court with cropped hair. Gone was the French braid and the Rapunzel locks that sparked her cover girl coverage in Italy (See videos below, including a spirited defense of Knox by CNN's Jane Velez-Mitchell.).

Dressed in white slacks and a yellow blouse familiar to court watchers, "the young Seattleite showed a new face before the judge, her hair in a bob" said Il Giornale. "She smiled at her lawyer as she arrived in court, where she remained only for about ten minutes."

Chris Mellas, Amanda's stepfather, told reporters in Perugia that Amanda would reaffirm that Italian police mistreated her at an all-night interrogation on November 5/6 2007. He pointed out that she's told that story from the start, complaining of the hitting in two handwritten statements before and after her arrest. She got into hot water for repeating that tale in court, both in spontaneous statements (March 12, 13 2009) and in her June 2009 testimony.

By bringing this slander action, the prosecution has confirmed that the lawyer-free interrogation that led to Knox's arrest involved at least 12 officers (from Perugia's Flying Squad and Rome's SCO) leading to what Knox has described correctly or incorrectly as a "crescendo" of police pressure. She's said that as many as ten officers crowded into her interrogation room, shouting and making "suggestions" about what she might have heard or seen on the night that her British roommate was murdered. Prosecutor Manuela Comodi had confirmed earlier that 36 members of the Flying Squad watched Amanda cuffed and carted off to jail on November 6, 2007, but Comodi said, "It does not mean there was physical aggression or or mobbing."

This week's preliminary hearing was a ten-minute wonder because Amanda's lawyers want to deep-six Judge Claudia Matteini. A Dr. No who's never said a good word about Amanda Knox, she's freely characterized the UW honor student as uncontrolled and uncontrollable. In fact, Matteini has always ruled to keep Amanda behind bars, since their first encounter on November 8, 2007. Calling the American a flight risk, Matteini has twice denied her house arrest, a right commonly given defendants in Italy, even for serious crimes. In fact, the upper-class Italian murder defendant Alberto Stasi was arrested only a month before Knox for allegedly killing his Italian girlfriend. Often photographed in posh ski resorts with his friends, he continues to enjoy a rich kid lifestyle while his court proceedings play out. He also got an independent review of the forensic evidence, a request that Judge Giancarlo Massei refused to grant Knox, who has only a sliver of highly disputed DNA evidence against her.

The Court of Appeals (Corte d'Appello) will decide whether to remove Matteini on June 17. Either way, Amanda must return on October 10, when a judge will decide whether the slander charge will go to trial, meaning that Knox may have to defend herself against slander at the same time she is appealing her 26-year conviction for the murder and sexual assault of British roommate Meredith Kercher. Knox's Italian ex-boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, is also appealing. So is their alleged co-conspirator drifter Rudy Guede. Look for Knox's parents to appear in court in July to defend themselves against slander charges as well.

Some interesting details spilled out from the 10-minute proceeding:
*A big surprise: Florentine lawyer Francesco Maresca is representing the 12 police officers who claim that Knox slandered them. He was the attorney for the Kercher family throughout the "trial of the century," during which the same officers were witnesses.

*We still don't know if police will have to provide audio or video of the all-night interrogation to prove the slander charge. Will they at least have to tell us whether they lost the tapes or never made them? Would be nice to clear that up at last.

*Prosecutor Mignini is able to go forward with this slander charge, despite his own conviction for abuse of office this year. In fact, the whole cast of characters is numbingly familiar, from Judge Matteini to co-prosecutor Manuela Comodi.

*The officers bringing the charges include a police interpreter who is complaining that Amanda spoke unkindly of her work, accusing her of making "suggestions" during the interrogation, like about maybe she heard Meredith scream. Amanda, meanwhile, contends that she was never trying to accuse anyone, merely trying to explain why she (Amanda) falsely accused her former boss, Patrick Lumumba, of being a murderer during the infamous interrogation.

*What specific words is Amanda in trouble for? From Nazione: "During her deposition Knox had also accused the same interpreter and various other agents of not faithfully recording her declarations and having 'struck her on the head to induce her to commit the crime of slander to the great harm of Lumumba' and having 'forced her with violence to affirm that Meredith had been violated and to accuse Lumumba of rape and murder.'"