PERUGIA, Italy, Sept. 7 (UPI) -- A U.S. woman and her ex-boyfriend, accused of killing British student Meredith Kercher, have plotted to blame a third suspect, a lawyer alleges.
Amanda Knox, 21, of Seattle and her Italian ex-boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, 24, are working through their attorneys to blame the slaying on Rudy Guede, 21, a part-time gardener from the Ivory Coast, Guede's attorney, Walter Biscotti, said.
"There is a clear desire to make Rudy the guilty party, and it's clear they will try anything," Biscotti said.
Biscotti threatened to demand a separate trial for Guede so the other legal teams could not prejudice Guede's case, The Observer of London reported. The three suspects say they are innocent.
Pathologists say Kercher was raped and murdered Nov. 1 in Perugia, near Rome. Police found her body the following morning lying beneath a duvet in her room "soaked in blood," her throat slit.
Knox, a University of Washington student, had been living with Kercher while enrolled in the European Union's ERASMUS program. She and Sollecito claim they were at his apartment when Kercher was killed.
Guede, who temporarily fled to Germany, admits being with Kercher that night. He maintains he was using the bathroom when she was killed, claiming Knox and Sollecito rushed past him as he emerged.
