Gabriele Natale Hjorth, one of two
young Americans convicted of the homicide of Carabinieri police
officer Mario Cerciello Rega in the Italian capital in July
2019, is to have a new appeals-level trial to see whether his
jail term of 11 years, four months should be reduced, the
supreme Court of Cassation ruled on Wednesday.
The other young American convicted of the killing, Finnegan Lee
Elder, is serving a definitive term of 15 years, two months.
Elder was found guilty of killing Cerciello Rega with 11 stab
wounds inflicted by a combat knife he had brought over from the
US while Natale Hjorth assaulted the slain officer's partner at
the end of a chain of events sparked by a drugs deal that went
wrong.
Last year a court granted a request from Natale Hjorth to be
released from jail to serve his sentence under house arrest at
his grandmothers home in Fregene, a town on the coast near Rome.
Natale Hjorth and Elder were both given life-prison terms in the
trial of first instance but those sentences have gradually been
knocked down during the appeals process.
Cerciello's widow, Rosa Maria Esilio, on Thursday criticised the
supreme court's ruling.
"As the widow of a brave servant of the State, I respect
verdicts," Esilio said.
"But everything that happened after the first instance trial is
not worthy of my comments.
"As far as I am concerned, my husband's trial was the first
instance one.
"After 50 very long hearings I understood how events had
actually unfolded that damned July night.
"That sentence gave honour and justice to my husband, along with
the gold medal for civil valour that was awarded to him by
President Mattarella".
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