Knox trial: Witness testifies he saw defendants at time Briton was slain

A prosecution witness testified Saturday that he saw two suspects accused of killing a British woman in Italy on a basketball court near the site of the slaying at the time the victim is believed to have died.

Homeless Antonio Curatolo said Saturday that former University of Washington student Amanda Knox, of Seattle, and her former Italian boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito were "chatting, at times animatedly," from about 9:30 p.m. to "shortly before midnight."

The witness told the court in Perugia that the basketball court is a few dozen meters (yards) away from the apartment where Meredith Kercher was killed in 2007.

The 21-year-old Kercher is believed to have died between 9 p.m. and 11 p.m. on Nov. 1, 2007, based on the autopsy and the accounts of friends with whom she had eaten dinner that night, court documents say.

Knox and Sollecito are being tried on charges of murder and sexual violence. They deny wrongdoing.

Prosecutors allege that Kercher was killed during what began as a sex game, with Sollecito holding her by the shoulders from behind while Knox touched her with the point of a knife. They say a third man, Ivory Coast national Rudy Hermann Guede, tried to sexually assault Kercher and then Knox fatally stabbed her in the throat.

Guede was convicted of murder in a separate trial last year and sentenced to 30 years in prison.

Sollecito, 25, has maintained he was at his own apartment the night of the murder, watching a movie on his computer, though one witness testified earlier in the trial there was no sign he used it during the hours Kercher was killed. The American has insisted she was not in her apartment during the slaying.

A second witness testified Saturday he saw Knox, Sollecito, Guede and Kercher walk out of the apartment that the Briton was sharing with Knox on Oct. 30, 2007, two days before the killing.

Fabio Gioffredi said he was "99 percent sure" he saw Guede. "They were all dressed in dark clothes, except for Amanda, who was wearing a red coat, with big buttons, 60s-style," Gioffredi said.

Later Saturday, Sollecito denied ever meeting Guede and told the court his defense will show evidence he was not with them that night.