The Meredith Kercher case, 2007–2015
On the night of 1 November 2007, Meredith Kercher, a 21-year-old British student, was murdered in Perugia, Italy. I was 23, a computer-science student in the same city, and had been dating Amanda Knox for a week. Five days later we were both arrested. I spent almost four years in prison for a crime I had nothing to do with. On 27 March 2015, Italy's Supreme Court of Cassation definitively acquitted us both.
Meredith's family lost a daughter and a sister. Nothing on this page is meant to diminish that, and I have never treated my acquittal as anything other than a return to the truth.
Timeline
Arrested in Perugia together with Amanda Knox, five days after the murder. Held in pre-trial detention at Terni prison.
Convicted at first instance by the Perugia Court of Assizes (Massei court) and sentenced to 25 years.
Acquitted on appeal by the Perugia Court of Assizes of Appeal (Hellmann court) after independent experts found the DNA evidence unreliable. Released after 1,427 days in prison.
The Supreme Court of Cassation annuls the appeal acquittal and orders a new appeal trial in Florence.
Re-convicted by the Florence Court of Assizes of Appeal (Nencini court) and sentenced to 25 years.
The Supreme Court of Cassation (Fifth Criminal Section) definitively acquits both defendants. The written reasoning, published in September 2015, cites serious investigative failures and the absence of any biological trace of either defendant in the room where the crime took place. Under Italian law the ruling is final.
Frequently asked questions
Was Raffaele Sollecito acquitted?
Yes. On 27 March 2015 Italy's Supreme Court of Cassation definitively acquitted Raffaele Sollecito and Amanda Knox of the murder of Meredith Kercher. A Cassation acquittal is final under Italian law: there is no further appeal and no retrial.
How long was he in prison?
Almost four years — 1,427 days of pre-trial detention at Terni prison, from 6 November 2007 to 3 October 2011, when he was acquitted on appeal and released. The 2014 re-conviction never led to a return to prison and was annulled in 2015.
Who was convicted of the murder?
Rudy Guede was convicted of the murder of Meredith Kercher in separate, fast-track proceedings. His conviction became final in December 2010 with a 16-year sentence.
What did the Supreme Court say in 2015?
The Court's written reasoning, published in September 2015, described the investigation as marked by serious failures and noted that no biological trace of Sollecito or Knox was found in the room where the crime occurred, whereas Guede's traces were. It closed the case with a full acquittal rather than an acquittal for insufficient evidence.
Was he compensated for the wrongful detention?
No. In 2017 the Florence Court of Appeal rejected his claim for compensation for the years spent in pre-trial detention. He has continued to campaign for reform of the Italian justice system.
Does the case affect his professional work?
No. He completed his MSc in Software Engineering at the University of Verona in 2014, while the proceedings were still open, and has worked continuously in software and cloud engineering since — today as a Principal Cloud Solutions Architect with six AWS certifications. Clients and employers have always had access to these facts.
Where can I read the court documents?
The rulings, appeal decisions and expert reports are published on this site's Documents page, mostly in the original Italian.
Has he written about it?
Yes — two memoirs: Honor Bound (Simon & Schuster, 2012, written with Andrew Gumbel) and Un passo fuori dalla notte (Longanesi, 2015).
Court documents
All court decisions, expert reports and legal documents are available in the archive.
Open the documents archive →