Two American men convicted of stabbing an undercover police officer in Rome during a botched drug deal have returned to court for a new trial after their murder convictions were overturned.
Finnegan Lee Elder, 24, and Gabriel Natale-Hjort, 23, from California, were initially convicted of the 2019 murder of Carabinieri Vice Brigadier Mario Cerciello Rega and sentenced to life in prison.
However, Italy’s highest Court of Cassation ordered a new trial last year, saying it had not been proven beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendants, with limited knowledge of the Italian language, had understood they were dealing with agents of Italian police
The two friends had arranged to meet a small-time drug dealer, who turned out to be a police informant, to recover money lost in a bad deal and return a backpack that had been taken from them in retaliation, when they were confronted by police officers in July. . 26, 2019.
Prosecutors alleged that Elder stabbed Cerciello Rega 11 times with a knife he brought with him on his trip to Europe, and that Natale-Hjorth, then 18, helped him hide the knife in his hotel room.
Gabriel Natale-Hjorth, right, and Finnegan Lee Elder, attend the appeal trial for the murder of Italian police officer Mario Cerciello Rega, in Rome on Friday.
Prosecutors alleged that Finnegan Lee Elder stabbed Cerciello Rega 11 times with a knife.
Gabriel Natale-Hjorth is accused of helping his friend hide the knife in his hotel room
Natale-Hjorth testified that he struggled with Cerciello Rega’s partner and did not notice the stabbing when he ran back to the hotel.
The two sat side by side in a Rome courtroom as an appeals court judge made opening statements in the retrial on Friday.
Lawyers for the defendants argued that the Cassation decision changed the assessment of the incident.
“Our strategy remains the same,” Elder’s lawyer, Roberto Capra, told The Associated Press.
‘We always said Elder didn’t know he was confronting a police officer.
“This changes the entire reconstruction of the incident and we believe it will have an impact on the punishment.”
“What matters to us is that the responsibilities (of the accused) are clarified,” the Cerciello Rega family’s lawyer, Franco Coppi, told the AP.
“We said from the beginning that there are no vindictive intentions and no desire to punish at all costs.”
Vice Brigadier Mario Cerciello Rega, 35 (pictured with his wife), an Italian police officer, was stabbed to death in a drug deal gone bad.
The murder sparked a national outcry and Rega’s funeral was held in the same church where she had been married just a few months earlier.
Rosa María Esilio, Rega’s widow, attends the appeal trial for his murder this Friday in Rome
Elder (left) and Gabriel Natale-Hjorth (right) were accused of stabbing Brigadier Rega to death in Rome. The couple appears here in a photograph published by the Italian Carabinieri.
Prosecutors allege the police officer was stabbed 11 times with a knife whose blade is seven inches long.
Both men have maintained their innocence, claiming that the undercover police officer and his colleague attacked them from behind.
They claim they thought the officers were thugs sent to attack them by a drug dealer who had sold them fake cocaine.
The murder of newlywed Cerciello Rega, 35, sparked widespread outrage in Italy, where he was mourned as a national hero.
His funeral was held in the same church where Rega had married Rosa María Esilio just a few months before.
Elder and Natale-Hjorth, who became friends while attending Tamalpais High School in Mill Valley, California, were initially found guilty of all charges: murder, attempted extortion, assault, resisting a public official and carrying a knife style attack without just cause.
The jury in Rome deliberated for just over 12 hours before delivering its verdict in 2021.
The next hearing is set for April 10, when the attorney general will present his indictment.
The next hearings will take place in May and the trial is expected to conclude before the summer.