The Court of Cassation yesterday annulled the convictions against Lee Elder Finnegan e Gabriel Natale Hjorth for the murder of the carabiniere Mario Cerciello Rega. According to the judges of the Palazzaccio it will be necessary to redo the appeal process. Which had sentenced Finnegan to 24 years of imprisonment and Hjorth a 22. The reasons point to two very specific circumstances. Which can have a deflagrating effect on the indictment and the related penalties. For Finnegan, who stabbed the carabiniere, the Cassation disputes the aggravating circumstances and the existence of the crime of resisting a public official. For Hjorth the charge of conspiracy to murder is contested. This means that the Cut considers the defense thesis credible. According to which the two Americans did not know they were facing two carabinieri.
The story
The murder of Deputy Brigadier Cerciello Rega dates back to July 26, 2019. With him was his colleague Andrea Varriale, who was injured. Lee Elder Finnegan and Gabriel Natale Hjorth they were in Rome for a holiday and wanted to buy drugs in Trastevere. They meet Sergio Brugiatelli who in Piazza Mastai shows them a pusher from which to get supplies. When they discover that there is no drug, they steal Brugiatelli’s backpack and make demands 100 euro and cocaine to return it. Brugiatelli calls the 112. The two carabinieri arrive. They show up for the appointment instead of the drug dealer. I’m not in uniform. When they try to block the two young Finnegan hits Cerciello with 11 stab wounds, wounds Varriale and runs away with his friend. Returning to the room 109 of the hotel The Meridian that housed them. The two are taken the next day thanks to the images of the surveillance cameras and the testimonies. They were ready to run away and had hidden the knife with a blade in a false ceiling 18cm which Elder had brought with him from America.
The alleviation of sentences
The decision of the Court of Cassation it will therefore lead to a lightening of the sentences. The two were sentenced to life imprisonment in the first degree. The appeal had brought the penalty to 24 e 22 years of imprisonment. The Attorney General Francesca Loy he had asked for the convictions to be confirmed. The pg argued that the two Americans had only been asked to show their documents and stop. Loy admitted that perhaps there was underestimation by the two carabinieri. Because they thought they were carrying out a normal action to recover a backpack stolen by two kids. But even if they didn’t show their identification cards, the two had already seen the carabinieri in Trastevere and Rega was unarmed anyway. While Hjorth had made the contest because he knew Italian and knew that his friend had a knife.
The defenses
The defenders celebrate. «From the first minute in which we examined the trial documents, we understood that Elder had absolutely not understood that he was facing two carabinieri. That surgery was anomalous. In practice there will be a new process. And it is not possible, without reasons, to establish what the penalty may be,” said the lawyer Renato Borzone, defender of Elder together with colleague Roberto Capra. «We express great satisfaction with the outcome, we finally have someone who has heard our reasons. Now a new page is opening in the process», affirms instead the lawyer Fabio Alonzi, defender, together with his colleague Francesco Petrellidi Natale Hjorth.
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