Meredith Kercher.Photo: AP
Rudy Guede, who was convicted of murdering British exchange student Meredith Kercher in Italy, has been released from prison.
Kercher’s 2007 murder was the subject of intense media attention after her roommate,Amanda Knox, and her boyfriend were infamously convicted and then acquitted of the crime.
Guede, 34, was convicted in October 2008. He was granted an early release from prison on Tuesday for good behavior, his lawyer said,The New York Times,theBBC,and theAssociated Pressreport.
Initially sentenced to 30 years in prison, Guede’s prison time was reduced to 16 years on appeal. He served 13 years of the sentence.
Amanda Knox.
In 2017, after being given a partial release which allowed him to leave prison during the day and work, he devoted his time to community service and volunteering for a charity, the AP reports.
He was supposed to be released on January 4, but a judge in Viterbo, Italy, where he had been living, granted him the early leave 45 days prior to that date, the BBC reports.
Rudy Guede.Franco Origlia/Getty
On November 2, 2007, Kercher, 21, was found dead inside the flat she shared with Knox while they were exchange students in Perugia.
Found lying in a pool of blood on her bedroom floor, Kercher had been stabbed 47 times and had been sexually assaulted, authorities said.
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In what became one of the most sensational — and controversial — murder cases in recent memory, Knox, then 20, was arrested in connection with Kercher’s death along with her boyfriend at the time, Raffaele Sollecito. In 2009, they were convicted of murder and sexual assault.
Knox, who has steadfastly maintained her innocence, spent four years in an Italian prison before an appeals courtoverturned her initial murder conviction. She and Sollecitowere retried and again found guiltybut were ultimately set free when Italy’s highest court threw out their convictions in 2015.
Guede, who was born in the Ivory Coast but lived most of his life in Italy, was found guilty after his DNA and his bloody fingerprints were found at the scene.
He still maintains his innocence, saying he did not kill Kercher.
Now 34, Knox returned to the U.S. in 2011.
source: people.com
