Manslaughter sentences for Marin's former classmates reduced in Italy

By PAOLO SANTALUCIA, COLLEEN BARRY and NICOLE WINFIELD

ROME — An Italian appeals court on Wednesday upheld the convictions of two Americans for the killing of an undercover Italian police officer during a botched sting operation five years ago, but significantly reduced their sentences.

The new verdict, issued after Italy's top court overturned the original convictions, drew acceptance from the men's families and disappointment from the officer's widow.

Finnegan Lee Elder and Gabriel Natale-Hjorth, former classmates at Tamalpais High School in Mill Valley, were convicted in the July 2019 murder of Carabinieri Vice Brigadier Mario Cerciello Rega and, after the first trial, were both sentenced to life in prison, the harshest penalty in Italy.

Those sentences were reduced on appeal before the Court of Cassation, Italy's highest court, ordered a retrial last year. On Wednesday, the appeals court sentenced Finnegan to 15 years and two months in prison. Natale-Hjorth was sentenced to 11 years and four months in prison, as well as an 800 euro fine.

“I don't think we can ask for a reasonable, better decision today,” said Ethan Elder, Finnegan Lee Elder's father.

While they were teenagers at the time of the murder, Elder and Natale-Hjorth had met in Rome for a short holiday. The deadly confrontation occurred after they had agreed to meet a small-time drug dealer, who turned out to be a police informant, to recoup money lost in a bad drug deal. Instead, they were confronted by two police officers.

Cerciello Riga was stabbed 11 times with a knife brought from the hotel room.

In ordering a retrial, the Court of Cassation said it had not been proven beyond reasonable doubt that the defendants, who have limited skills in Italian, understood they were dealing with Italian police officers when they went to meet the alleged drug trafficker.

The defense had argued that the defendants were unaware they were dealing with law enforcement at the time of the attack, an argument repeated at the retrial.

Prosecutor Bruno Giangiacomo said his office would wait to read the court's written reasons before deciding whether to appeal. In Italy, both defendants and prosecutors can appeal at all levels of trial.

“The two aggravating factors that would have increased the sentence have been removed,” Giangiacomo said after the verdict. “That could be a sensitive point on which we could consider an appeal.” Prosecutors had sought a sentence of 23 years and nine months for Finnegan and 23 years for Natale-Hjorth.

Rosa Maria Esilio, Cerciello Rega's widow, was “devastated” by the verdict, according to her lawyer Massimo Ferrandino.

“For five years, she has been carrying immense pain. She was the one who closed her husband's eyes in the morgue. You can imagine her pain today too,” he said.

The killing of the officer from the famous Carabinieri paramilitary police force shocked Italy, and Cerciello Rega, 35, was mourned as a national hero.

Prosecutors say Elder stabbed Cerciello Rega with a knife he had taken with him on his trip to Europe and that Natale-Hjorth helped him hide in their hotel room. Under Italian law, an accomplice to an alleged murder can also be charged with murder without committing the killing.

But lawyer Francesco Petrelli, who represented Natale-Hjorth, said the appeals court clearly recognised there was a different level of involvement by his client.

“There has been a reduction, mainly in liability,” he said, adding that “there has been a shift from intentional malice to negligence.”

Prosecutors say the young Americans hatched a plot involving a stolen purse and cellphone after they unsuccessfully tried to buy cocaine for 80 euros ($96) in Rome's Trastevere nightlife district. Natale-Hjorth and Elder testified that they paid for the cocaine but did not receive it.

In a statement released by lawyers after the new verdicts, Finnegan Elder's mother Leah Elder insisted her son was ready to take responsibility for his actions and move on.

“This trial is unfortunately linked to the tragedy of the death of a person, a serious event that has marked and will forever mark the lives of all the families involved,” she said. “Releasing the truth about the facts would help Finnegan to fully accept the pain he has caused by his tragic reaction. I hope that, even if he pays for his mistake, he will also be able to open himself to hope for the future.”