Lawyer: Knox co-suspect in Italy slaying is innocent
ROME (AP) - Lawyers for an Italian suspect in the stabbing death of a British student blamed the slaying on a burglar, insisting Friday their client should not be put on trial.
Lawyers representing Raffaele Sollecito made their case before a judge who has to decide whether the 24-year-old Italian should be indicted on murder charges in the slaying of Meredith Kercher.
Two other suspects - American student Amanda Knox and Ivorian citizen Rudy Hermann Guede - have also been accused in the November 2007 slaying in Perugia, central Italy. All three deny wrongdoing.
During the eight-hour court session Friday, Sollecito's attorneys used a multimedia presentation and a dummy to counter the evidence presented last week by the prosecutor in the case, said lawyer Marco Brusco. They insisted that Kercher, 21, was killed when she caught a burglar in the apartment.
"We believe it was an attempted burglary that ended badly," Brusco said.
The attorneys did not identify the alleged burglar during their arguments in court Friday, Brusco said. Later, he suggested that evidence pointed to Guede.
Kercher, a student from Leeds University in England, was found dead in her bedroom Nov. 2 from a stab wound to the neck.
A ruling on indictment requests for Knox and Sollecito is expected next week, while Guede is undergoing a fast-track trial at his request. Prosecutors have asked the court to sentence him to life in prison.
Sollecito has said he was at his own apartment in Perugia, working at his computer. He has said he does not remember if Knox - his former girlfriend and Kercher's roommate- spent the whole night with him.
Brusco said Sollecito's defense team proved Friday that "there was no party going on that night" at the apartment of Kercher and Knox.
Prosecutors allege that Kercher died during an erotic game, with Knox first touching Kercher with the point of a knife, then slitting her throat, while Sollecito held her by the shoulders from behind and Guede tried to sexually assault her.
Lawyers for Knox, a 21-year-old from Seattle, said earlier this week that evidence against the woman was insufficient and contradictory.
Guede, 21, has acknowledged being in Kercher's room but has denied killing her. His lawyer, Nicodemo Gentile, said the argument presented by Sollecito's defense was "fiction" not supported by evidence, according to the ANSA news agency.
Guede's lawyers were scheduled to make their arguments Saturday.
Lawyers representing Raffaele Sollecito made their case before a judge who has to decide whether the 24-year-old Italian should be indicted on murder charges in the slaying of Meredith Kercher.
Two other suspects - American student Amanda Knox and Ivorian citizen Rudy Hermann Guede - have also been accused in the November 2007 slaying in Perugia, central Italy. All three deny wrongdoing.
During the eight-hour court session Friday, Sollecito's attorneys used a multimedia presentation and a dummy to counter the evidence presented last week by the prosecutor in the case, said lawyer Marco Brusco. They insisted that Kercher, 21, was killed when she caught a burglar in the apartment.
"We believe it was an attempted burglary that ended badly," Brusco said.
The attorneys did not identify the alleged burglar during their arguments in court Friday, Brusco said. Later, he suggested that evidence pointed to Guede.
Kercher, a student from Leeds University in England, was found dead in her bedroom Nov. 2 from a stab wound to the neck.
A ruling on indictment requests for Knox and Sollecito is expected next week, while Guede is undergoing a fast-track trial at his request. Prosecutors have asked the court to sentence him to life in prison.
Sollecito has said he was at his own apartment in Perugia, working at his computer. He has said he does not remember if Knox - his former girlfriend and Kercher's roommate- spent the whole night with him.
Brusco said Sollecito's defense team proved Friday that "there was no party going on that night" at the apartment of Kercher and Knox.
Prosecutors allege that Kercher died during an erotic game, with Knox first touching Kercher with the point of a knife, then slitting her throat, while Sollecito held her by the shoulders from behind and Guede tried to sexually assault her.
Lawyers for Knox, a 21-year-old from Seattle, said earlier this week that evidence against the woman was insufficient and contradictory.
Guede, 21, has acknowledged being in Kercher's room but has denied killing her. His lawyer, Nicodemo Gentile, said the argument presented by Sollecito's defense was "fiction" not supported by evidence, according to the ANSA news agency.
Guede's lawyers were scheduled to make their arguments Saturday.