Murder charge sought in Italy for Knox

ROME — Prosecutors on Friday requested the indictments of University of Washington student Amanda Knox and two other people on the charge of murdering a British college student in Italy.

Prosecutors in Perugia requested that Knox, 21; her former Italian boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito; and Ivory Coast citizen Rudy Hermann Guede be tried in the death of Meredith Kercher. The prosecutors spoke on condition of anonymity.

They also requested charging the three with sexual violence and stealing $475, two credit cards and two cellphones from Kercher.

All three have denied any wrongdoing.

Kercher, a 21-year-old student from Leeds University in England, was found dead in November from a stab wound to the neck in the house she shared with Knox in the university town of Perugia in central Italy.

The slaying in the small town drew attention in Italy for weeks and made headlines worldwide.

Knox's lawyer, Luciano Ghirga, said the requested indictments had been expected. He did not comment further.

A judge must decide whether to grant the prosecutor's request and order the three to stand trial. Defense lawyers said a hearing was expected in mid-September.

"We think our client is innocent, but it would have been a dream to hope the prosecutor would drop the charges," said Sollecito's defense lawyer, Luca Maori.

Knox and Sollecito have been jailed since November. Guede was arrested in Germany and extradited to Italy.

Prosecutors say the three strangled and stabbed Kercher, according to a court document that notified defense lawyers last month that the investigation was closed. The document said Guede engaged in sexual violence against Kercher with the help of Knox and Sollecito.

According to the prosecutors, Knox and Sollecito also tried to make it look like the apartment was burglarized to cover up the crime.

No details have emerged on possible motives.

Knox and Sollecito have given conflicting statements and said they had smoked hashish the night of the slaying, according to other court documents.

Sollecito has said he was at his own apartment in Perugia, working at his computer. He said he does not remember if Knox spent the whole night with him.

Knox has insisted she was not at home during the slaying. Her DNA was found on the handle of a knife that prosecutors said might have been used in the stabbing, while Kercher's DNA was found on the blade.

DNA testing also showed that Guede, whose fingerprint was found in bloodstains on Kercher's pillow, had sex with her the night she died, prosecutors say.

Guede, 21, has acknowledged being in Kercher's room that night, but he denied killing her and accused an unidentified Italian of trying to frame him.