In a retrial, an appeals court in Italy has upheld the convictions of two American men for the killing of an Italian police officer in 2019 but reduced their sentences. Lee Elder Finnegan and Gabriele Natale-Hjorth were initially convicted but had their sentences overturned in March by Italy's high court.
An appeals court in Italy has upheld the convictions of two American men in the 2019 killing of an Italian police officer during a drug deal gone wrong in Rome, but reduced their sentences.
American Teenagers Sentenced for Killing Italian Police Officer
Lee Elder Finnegan, 21, and Gabriele Natale-Hjorth, 20, were found guilty of killing Carabinieri Vice Brigadier Mario Cerciello Rega on July 26, 2019. The court sentenced Finnegan to 15 years and two months in prison and Natale-Hjorth to 11 years and four months, along with an $863 fine.
This retrial came after Italy's high court threw out the men's previous convictions in March. The court had ruled that it had not been proven beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendants, who had limited Italian language skills, understood they were dealing with police officers when they went to meet the alleged drug dealer.
American Teenagers Sentenced for Killing Italian Police Officer
The defense had argued that the defendants did not know they were facing law enforcement when the attack happened, an argument they repeated during the new trial.
However, the appeals court upheld the convictions, finding that the defendants had acted with intent to kill and that they had not acted in self-defense. The court also found that the defendants had been aware that they were dealing with police officers.
American Teenagers Sentenced for Killing Italian Police Officer
The prosecution had sought life imprisonment for both defendants, but the court ruled that the sentences should be reduced due to the defendants' young age at the time of the crime and their lack of criminal records.
The killing of Cerciello Rega, who had just returned from his honeymoon a few days prior, shocked Italy and led to calls for tougher laws on drug dealing. The case also raised questions about the use of plainclothes police officers in anti-drug operations.
Finnegan and Natale-Hjorth, who are from the San Francisco Bay Area, met up in Rome and arranged to meet a small-time drug dealer to recover money they had paid for cocaine they never received. The drug dealer turned out to be a police informant who called the police.
The fatal confrontation happened after the two teens were confronted by two plainclothes officers. Rega was stabbed 11 times with a knife brought from Finnegan and Natale-Hjorth's hotel room.
The defense had argued that the defendants did not know that the victims were police officers and that they had acted in self-defense. However, the prosecution argued that the defendants had intended to kill the officers and that they had not been acting in self-defense.
The appeals court agreed with the prosecution, finding that the defendants had acted with intent to kill and that they had not acted in self-defense. The court also found that the defendants had been aware that they were dealing with police officers.
