Sentences reduced for Marin teens who killed Italian police officer
FILE -- In this April 29, 2021 file photo, Gabriel Natale-Hjorth, left, and his co-defendant Finnegan Lee Elder, both from the United States, wear face masks to curb the spread of COVID-19 as they sit during a break of a hearing of their trial in Rom
An Italian appeals court has reduced the prison sentences for two men from Marin County who killed an Italian police officer in 2019 while they were on vacation.
Finnegan Elder, now 22, and Gabriel Natale-Hjorth, now 21, had been sentenced to life for the fatal stabbing of a police officer in Rome, but now that has been reduced to 24 and 22 years respectively.
The two friends had said that they thought the plainclothes officer Mario Cerciello Rega, 35, was trying to retaliate after the teens were involved in a botched deal to buy cocaine earlier in the night. They testified that Cerciello Rega and his partner had not identified themselves as police.
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They were convicted of the slaying in May 2021.
A lawyer for Elder had previously said the convictions were appealed because there were mistakes during the trial, including improperly evaluated evidence.