Two American students have been found guilty of murdering an Italian police officer following an alleged drug deal gone wrong.
A jury in Rome found Finnegan Lee Elder, 21 and Gabriel Natale-Hjorth, 20 guilty of stabbing Vice Brigadier Mario Cerciello Rega to death in July 2019. They were both given life sentences in prison.
Elder’s lawyer Renato Borzone described the outcome as “a shame for Italy” and told journalists outside the court that he planned to appeal.
“This sentence represents a shame for Italy, with a jury that does not want to see what came out during the investigation and in the trial. I’ve never seen such an indignant thing. We will appeal. We are talking about a 19-year-old boy who was assaulted.”
According to a police statement at the time, the Italian police officer, Mario Cerciello Rega, 35, was stabbed eight times at 2 a.m. on July 26, 2019, in the Prati neighborhood of Rome, near the hotel where the two men were staying.
Rosa Maria Esilio, Rega’s widow, expressed gratitude after the verdict. “We can only thank the judges for their difficult work, our talented lawyers, and all the people who truly stood by Mario because they knew him, because he was everyone’s son, because he was everyone’s carabiniere,” she said after the verdict was announced.
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