American convicted over cop's homicide to get new appeal

(ANSA) - ROME, MAR 13 - 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". (ANSA).