Will Knox's Boyfriend Sacrifice Himself?

Stefano Medici / AP Photo His father took the stand, but alleged co-ed killer Amanda Knox's one-time beau may not testify in his own defense to avoid undermining her alibi.

On most Fridays and Saturdays in Perugia, Raffaele Sollecito walks into the courtroom wearing a pastel shirt and a sheepish grin. The enigmatic “former boyfriend” of superstar murder suspect Amanda Knox always glances shyly at the cameras and hugs his lawyers. He looks young and studious, like the boy next door.

The two defendants ride in separate compartments of the same police wagon from nearby Capanne prison but enter the courtroom separately, flanked by armed guards. Sollecito watches Knox intently, trying to catch her gaze like a schoolboy with a crush before settling down quickly in a puffy chair directly in front of the judge. She smiles back coyly before the lawyers step between them. In a letter to Sollecito last February, Knox wrote "we got to exchange a few more glances than usual, though I have to admit I’m not good at reading the subtle messages that one passes through the features of the face."

During his original taped deposition, which he has not retracted, Sollecito said he did not know if Knox spent the night of November 1 with him.

In stark contrast to his co-defendant, Sollecito clearly does not revel in his notoriety. He acts nervous and uncomfortable in the spotlight of this epic trial. While Knox spends her days in court with the confidence of an Oscar winner, Sollecito instead sulks with the humility of a murder suspect.

The two are accused of sexually assaulting and murdering Knox’s British roommate, Meredith Kercher, in November 2007. Under the prosecution’s scenario, Sollecito held back Kercher’s arms while Ivory Coast native Rudy Guede, already convicted for his part in the murder, sexually assaulted her and Knox slit her throat with a knife. Sollecito’s DNA has been identified on the tiny metal clasp of the bra that was cut from Kercher’s body after she was murdered. The jury has heard that a knife with Knox’s DNA on the handle and Kercher’s on the blade was found in his kitchen. Expert witnesses for the prosecution have also testified that a bare footprint in Kercher’s blood found on a blue bathmat next to the crime scene matches Sollecito's.

“I have nothing to do with this situation. I am not a violent person and it has never entered my mind to kill anyone,” he told the court last February, near tears. “Anyone who knows me will tell you I wouldn't hurt a fly.”

The 25 year-old information-technology graduate, who finished his degree during his 19 months of incarceration, spends his time in court taking notes, studying his lawyers’ dossier and eyeing Knox. Last month, he helped co-prosecutor Manuela Comodi fix her computer so she could play the crime-scene footage she was using to make the case against him. When he has chosen to address the court—as defendants are allowed to do in Italy—he reads softly from a handwritten script. "I don't know why I'm in this situation,” he said the last time he made a statement. “I regard myself as the victim of a judicial error."

But if he is convicted, it might be because of an error of judgment. He is not scheduled to testify in the trial, although he faces the same possible life sentence as Knox. His lawyers have not explicitly ruled it out, but they say there is little chance he will take the stand. For one thing, his testimony would be the most damning to Knox so far because he cannot corroborate her alibi for the night of the murder. During his original taped deposition, which he has not retracted, he said he did not know if Knox spent the night of November 1 with him, as she claims.

On Friday, Sollecito's father Francesco, a well-connected doctor in Puglia, testified that he was his son's "confidant" and that they spoke daily, with Raffaele sharing the most intimate details of his life. Sollecito had told his father about the budding relationship with Knox, and the doctor testified that they were at the beginning of a "beautiful love story" when Kercher was killed. He also told the court that he had once received a letter from the local police in Bari about his son's drug habit, and that his son collected knives and almost always carried one in his pocket. "It was a habit he had since he was very young," the elder Sollecito said. "I had told him not to carry a knife around."

Dr. Sollecito added that he believed the police had bungled the investigation. "Some very big mistakes have been made," he said. "My son is innocent." Earlier, in an interview on Italian TV, he said of Knox, “She has ruined my son's life. I damn the day he met her."