Raffaele Sollecito

Italian accused of homicide, first convicted and jailed and later cleared of charges. He and Amanda Knox, his girlfriend, were convicted of the murder of Meredith Kercher in Perugia, Italy on November 1, 2007. The trial began on January 16, 2009 and he was sentenced to 25 years imprisonment on December 4, 2009. However, an appeals trial jury overturned the convictions in October 2011. Sollectio was a computer science student who met Knox just a short while before the murder occurred. The son of wealthy parents, his father is a urologist in Southern Italy; his defense team painted him as a shy and introverted youth who had become mesmerized by Knox's seductive tactics. Prosecutors at the original trial painted a darker side; their story was that the young man was fascinated from a young age by knives and swords and the macabre. The long appeal began in November 2010 and consisted of many hearings and reviews of the case along with great publicity. On October 3, 2011, he was cleared of murder charges.