Italy’s highest court has granted a retrial for two Bay Area men who were convicted for killing an Italian police officer back in 2019.
Finnegan Elder and Gabriel Natale-Hjorth were both given life sentences but an appeals court later reduced Elder’s sentence to 24 years and Natale-Hjorth’s to 22 years.
The decision was made after seven hours of arguments from both defense teams who claimed that a key witness had lied and that the police and plainclothes officers had not identified themselves or shown badges.
Elder and Natale-Hjorth claimed that they thought the men were thugs sent by a drug dealer who had taken their money.
The officer who was killed, Mario Cerciello Rega, had just returned to work from his honeymoon.
The families of the two men are relieved by the decision but are waiting for the written ruling to determine the timing of the new trial and whether their sons will be released from prison.
