Auto trim may be nice to make flying easy but it doesn't do much to help piots fly when things go amuck. These pilots were not the brightest so let it lead them into a deep stall because they were stupid.
We all know why they crashed. They were incapable of flying an aircraft with unreliable airspeed. All aircraft have charts and pilots should know approximate attitudes and power if airspeed goes bad. Nobody pulls full up on the stick hoping the automation will save them but they did. When they went into alternate law the airbus was no longer idiot proof.