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Italy appeals court upholds conviction of 2 Americans in death of policeman but reduces sentences

By Paolo Santalucia, Colleen Barry And Nicole Winfield - Jul 03, 2024, 08:59 PM ET
Last Updated - Jul 03, 2024, 08:59 PM EDT
APTOPIX Italy Slain Officer
Ethan Elder, left, back to camera, father of Finnegan Lee Elder, hugs his son before the reading of the judgment at the end of a hearing for the appeals trial in which Finnegan is facing murder charges for killing Italian Carabinieri paramilitary police officer Mario Cerciello Rega, in Rome, Wednesday, July 3, 2024. At right sits Gabriel Natale Hjorth charged for the same killing. (AP Photo/ Alessandra Tarantino)

An Italian appeals court has upheld the convictions of two American men in the killing of an Italian plainclothes police officer during a botched sting operation but reduced their sentences

ROME (AP) — An Italian appeals court on Wednesday upheld the convictions of two American men in the killing of an Italian plainclothes police officer during a botched sting operation five years ago but significantly reduced their sentences.

The new verdict, ordered after Italy’s highest court threw out the original convictions, drew acceptance from the men's families and disappointment from the officer's widow.

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Finnegan Lee Elder and Gabriel Natale-Hjorth had been found guilty in the July 2019 killing of Carabinieri Vice Brigadier Mario Cerciello Rega, and after the first trial, were both sentenced to life in prison, Italy's harshest penalty.

Those sentences were reduced on appeal before Italy’s highest Cassation Court last year ordered a new trial altogether. On Wednesday, the appeals court convicted Finnegan and sentenced him to 15 years and 2 months in prison. Natale-Hjorth was sentenced to 11 years and four months, along with a 800 euro ($863) fine.

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