Defense Questions Homeless Man's Role In Wis. Student's Death

ROME (AP) — The lawyer for a homeless man accused of pushing an American student into the Tiber River in Rome said Thursday his client wasn't the only one on the riverbank at the time, suggesting that he would try to shift blame to someone else.

Attorney Michele Vincelli said that based on surveillance footage of the scene, the dynamic of how 19-year-old Beau Solomon ended up in the water was clear. But Vincelli said it remained unclear who was responsible.

"I confirm there were other people on the riverbank in front of the American at the moment he fell in the water," Vincelli said as he arrived Thursday at Rome's prison for prosecutors' interrogation of his client, Massimo Galioto. "As a result, I'll try to clarify some things with my client to decide on a defense strategy."

Galioto was detained Tuesday on suspicion of aggravated homicide, a day after Solomon's body was pulled from the river downstream. Solmon had last been seen at a bar early Friday, just hours after arriving in Rome for a summer study program at John Cabot University.

An autopsy showed he was alive when he fell in the water, news reports said.

Galioto's companion, Alessia Pennachioli, who lives with him in a makeshift encampment under one of the Tiber's bridges, said Solomon "accidentally fell into the river" after he and Galioto scuffled. She said Solomon was drunk, and had been accompanied down the stairs to the riverbank by two North Africans who had robbed him.

In addition to the dynamics of the death, investigators are looking into Solomon's credit card, which was used at a Milan store a day after he died.

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