Italian Appeals Court Reduces Sentences for Americans in 2019 Police Killing: Elder Gets 15 Years, Natale-Hjorth 11 Years
Italian Appeals Court Upholds Convictions, Reduces Sentences for Elder and Natale-Hjorth in Officer’s Death
An Italian appeals court on Wednesday upheld the convictions of two American men Finnegan Lee Elder and Gabriele Natale-Hjorth in the fatal stabbing of Italian plainclothes police officer Carabinieri Vice Brigadier Mario Cerciello Rega during a botched sting operation in July 2019, according to the published article of CBS NEWS. While maintaining their guilt the court reduced their sentences to 15 years and 2 months for Elder and 11 years for Natale-Hjorth following a mandate from Italy’s highest court to reassess the original verdicts. The decision was a result of the Cassation Court’s directive which argued that it hadn’t been proven beyond a reasonable doubt that the two with limited Italian language skills had understood they were dealing with police officers when the incident occurred.
The fatal confrontation transpired when the teenagers from the San Francisco Bay Area who were in Rome for a vacation arranged to meet a small-time drug dealer to recover money lost in a bad deal. The dealer turned out to be a police informant leading to an unexpected encounter with undercover officers. During the altercation Cerciello Rega was stabbed 11 times with a knife that Elder had brought from their hotel. Prosecutors had initially sought much harsher penalties—23 years and nine months for Elder and 23 years for Natale-Hjorth—but the court’s re-evaluation led to the reduced sentences considering the defense’s argument that the Americans were unaware they were attacking law enforcement officials.
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2019 Carabinieri Killing: Italian Appeals Court Cuts Sentences for Americans Elder and Natale-Hjorth
The killing of Cerciello Rega a respected 35-year-old officer in the esteemed Carabinieri paramilitary police corps sent shockwaves through Italy where he was mourned as a national hero. The case drew significant attention not only for its brutal nature but also for the international dynamics involved. Prosecutors contended that Elder had premeditated the attack by carrying the knife and that Natale-Hjorth was complicit by hiding the weapon afterward. Under Italian law an accomplice to a murder can be charged similarly to the perpetrator emphasizing the severity of the young Americans’ actions and the complex legal interpretations that ensued.