Two U.S. Students Guilty of Murdering Italian Police Officer

Finnegan Elder and Gabriel Natale-Hjorth were found guilty of fatally stabbing 35 year old police officer, Mario Rega.

Two American students from California have been convicted of the 2019 murder of an Italian police officer. Finnegan Elder and Gabriel Natale-Hjorth were found guilty of fatally stabbing 35 year old police officer, Mario Rega after an alleged botched drug deal. Both Elder and Natale-Hjorth received life in prison sentences, which is the most severe punishment in the country as Italy doesn’t have the death penalty. At the time of the crime elder was 19 and Natale-Hjorth was 18. Elder admitted to stabbing Rega 11 times but maintained it was in self-defense, saying he believed the police officer was a criminal. At the time of the incident, Rega and his partner were not wearing their uniforms. Natale-Hjorth was convicted of helping him to conceal the weapon. The two hid the knife used on Rega in their hotel room. Under Italian law, an accomplice in an alleged murder can also be charged with murder.