SEATTLE -- A man held in the slaying in Italy of a British exchange student has been cleared in the case, his lawyer said.

A University of Washington student, Amanda Knox of Seattle, is in jail in Italy, under investigation in last November's killing of Meredith Kercher.

The lawyer for Diya "Patrick" Lumumba said he is no longer a suspect.

Lumumba was arrested and quickly released because of lack of evidence, but remained a suspect in the Nov. 1 stabbing death of 21-year-old Meredith Kercher

Kercher was found dead from a stab wound to the neck in the apartment she shared with Knox in Perugia, a university town about 110 miles north of Rome. Prosecutors have said she was killed resisting a sexual assault.

Knox and two men have been jailed for months in the case, although no formal charges have been filed. All three deny wrongdoing.

The men are Knox's former Italian boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, and an Ivory Coast national, Rudy Hermann Guede.