" Rudy Guede guilty of Meredith Kercher murder, Amanda Knox faces trial - Times Online

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From The Times
October 28, 2008

Rudy Guede guilty of Meredith Kercher murder, Amanda Knox faces trial

Richard Owen in Perugia

Kercher murder: the three versions

An immigrant who turned his back on his adoptive family and drifted into a life of petty crime was tonight found guilty and sentenced tonight to 30 years' jail for the murder and sexual assault of the British student Meredith Kercher, who was killed in Perugia one year ago.

In a separate ruling, Amanda Knox, Ms Kercher's American flatmate, and Ms Knox's former Italian boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito, who have been in custody ever since the crime, were ordered to stand trial on 4 December for Ms Kercher's death.

The pair are also accused of murder, sexual assault and the theft of Ms Kercher's cash. Rudy Guede was cleared of theft.

Guede, 21, who was arrested after fleeing to Germany and extradited to Italy, had opted for a fast-track trial in the hope of a reduced sentence if found guilty. The prosecution had asked for a life term. However in Italy a life term often means thirty years in practice. Walter Biscotti, Guede's lawyer, told The Times he would lodge an immediate appeal.

Ms Kercher's parents, John and Arlene, her sister Stephanie and brother Lyle were in court in Perugia to hear the ruling by the judge, Paolo Micheli. The family had also attended the opening of the pre-trial hearings for Ms Knox and Mr Sollecito in September, when they said they hoped for justice for the daughter and announced they would seek 25 million euros in compensation.

Commenting on Guede's conviction, Francesco Maresca, the Kercher family's lawyer said: ""We are very satisfied, even though it means this young man now faces a very heavy sentence.""

Judge Micheli, who delivered his ruling after eleven hours of deliberation, said he would decide today whether to grant a request by the defence for the pair to be released from prison and placed under house arrest while awaiting trial.

In the closing stages of the pre-trial hearings Giuliano Mignini, the prosecutor, rejected claims police had contaminated DNA evidence placing all three suspects at the scene of the crime.

The prosecution alleged that the three took part in a drug-fuelled Hallowe’en sex party in which Ms Kercher, from Coulsdon, Surrey, was an unwilling participant and which ended with her death. She was found on November 2 last year half naked and with her throat cut under a duvet in the bedroom of the cottage she shared with Ms Knox. The pathologist said she had died a “slow and agonising death”.

According to a prosecution reconstruction Guede and Mr Sollecito held Ms Kercher down after she had been forced to her knees, while Ms Knox stabbed her in the throat. Much of the pre-trial process has centred on the DNA evidence, which forms the crux of the prosecution case.

Mr Guede admitted he was at the cottage on the evening of the crime, but claimed he was innocent and that Ms Knox and Mr Sollecito had sought to frame him for the murder. His lawyers had argued there was nothing to link him to the presumed murder weapon, a kitchen knife that had traces of the DNA of Ms Knox and Ms Kercher but not of Guede.

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