ROME – The sole convict in the 2007 murder of British student Meredith Kercher has been freed after serving most of a 16-year prison sentence.
The Italian news agencies LaPresse and ANSA quoted lawyer Fabrizio Ballarini as saying the plan to release Rudy Guede on January 4 had been moved by the judge by several weeks and was released on Tuesday.
Guede was allowed to leave prison for the day to work while serving his sentence for the 2007 murder of 21-year-old Kercher.
The Perugia university city case gained international notoriety after Kercher’s American roommate, Amanda Knox, and Knox’s then-boyfriend were brought under suspicion. Both were initially convicted, but Italy’s supreme court handed down sentences in 2015 after a series of overturning decisions.
Guede was initially convicted in an expedited trial. He has denied killing Kercher.
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