Italy Appeals Court Upholds Conviction of 2 Americans in Death of Policeman but Reduces Sentences

Published on July 3, 2024

ROME—An Italian appeals court on Wednesday upheld the convictions of two American men in the slaying of an Italian plainclothes police officer during a botched sting operation but reduced their sentences. The new trial was ordered after Italy’s highest court threw out their convictions. The court convicted Lee Elder Finnegan and sentenced him to 15 years and 2 months in prison and gave a sentence of 11 years and four months, along with a 800 euro ($863) fine to Gabriele Natale-Hjorth. They were found guilty in the July 2019 slaying of Carabinieri Vice Brigadier Mario Cerciello Rega and after the first trial, both were sentenced to life in prison, Italy’s harshest penalty. Those sentences were reduced on appeal, and last year, Italy’s highest Cassation Court ordered a retrial....

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