Prosecutor demands life sentence for Americans who killed cop during Italian vacation
A prosecutor has demanded a pair of Americans accused of killing a police officer during an Italian vacation spend the rest of their lives in jail.
Prosecutor Maria Sabina Calabretta on Saturday requested the maximum possible sentence for Gabriel Natale-Hjorth and his high school pal, Finnegan Lee Elder, for the death of Carabinieri Vice Brig. Mario. The officer had just been married and fresh off his honeymoon when he was murdered during an undercover operation in Rome.
The suspects, both from the San Francisco Bay area, initially blamed each other for the attack, but 20-year-old Elder eventually confessed to stabbing the officer with a 7-inch combat knife. Natale-Hjorth, meanwhile, wrestled with his partner, Andrea Varriale, who was left slightly injured.
The fatal confrontation unfolded in the early hours of July 26, 2019. The pair were confronted by the pair of plainclothes Carabinieri officers, tasked at the time time with intercepting the suspects after an intermediary on a drug deal reported them for stealing his bag because he sold them aspirin instead cocaine
Both men said they were unexpectedly jumped from behind by the cops, who they believed at the time to be associates of the drug dealer they had swindled.
During his trial earlier this month, Natale-Hjorth said the officers did not identify themselves nor show a badge at any point during the confrontation — a claim Varriale has denied.
Calabretta during her four-hour indictment said that the attack against the policeman was “disproportionate” and carried out with “the purpose of killing.”
The pair are slated to be sentenced on March 8.
With News Wire Services
