Amanda Knox Family Invites Raffaele Sollecito to Visit
Amanda Knox's family has invited Italian boyfriend Raffele Sollecito to visit their home in Seattle, Washington, according to Sollecito's lawyer, Luca Maori.
Maori said Knox's father invited Sollecito and his family to visit them in the United States, but he will not immediately be taking up the offer, according to AP.
"Raffaele needs to get back on his feet and resume a normal life," Maori told AP in a telephone interview.
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Knox and Sollecito began dating shortly before the murder of Knox's roommate, Meredith Kercher, in 2007, when Knox and Kercher were foreign exchange students studying abroad in Perugia.
Knox and Sollecito were convicted of stabbing the 21-year-old to death in what prosecutors claimed to be a sexual escapade gone awry, and the two were sentenced by an Italian court system to 26 and 25 years behind bars.
However, last Monday both convictions were overturned after growing evidence suggested that the DNA samples taken from the crime scene were improperly handled or contaminated. Knox returned home to Seattle, Washington shortly after the verdict was reached.
Since the announcement of the verdict, Knox and her family have received worldwide support, with many taking to the Web to express their approval of her release.
According to Maori, Sollecito is still shaken over the ordeal and has been afraid to leave the family home, but he is expected to take the Knox family up on their offer sometime toward the end of the year.
Knox, however, has become an instant celebrity with television networks vying for her first interview and publishers constantly knocking on her door for the rights to her story; she stands to make millions from her ordeal.
Although still unclear, it has been suggested by relatives such as Knox's grandmother that some of the proceeds from her future ventures may be donated to the Kercher family, who have spent thousands of dollars traveling to and from Italy to follow the murder trial into their daughter’s brutal killing.
