Rome Court Further Trims Sentence in 2019 Cerciello Rega Killing

Italy’s Court of Appeal in Rome has cut the prison term for U.S. citizen Gabriele Natale Hjorth to 10 years, 11 months and 25 days for his role in the 2019 killing of Carabinieri vice-brigadier Mario Cerciello Rega. The decision trims five months from the 11-year-and-four-month sentence imposed in a previous appeal and follows a March ruling by the Court of Cassation that ordered a limited retrial to correct the sentence calculation while upholding Hjorth’s criminal responsibility. Hjorth, now 25, was convicted of acting in concert with fellow former student Finnegan Lee Elder, who fatally stabbed Cerciello Rega during an attempted drug-related robbery in Rome’s Prati district on 26 July 2019. Elder’s 15-year-and-two-month sentence became final last year. Hjorth has been under house arrest with an electronic bracelet at his grandmother’s home in Fregene pending the appeals process. The latest ruling concludes the third round of appellate hearings in a case that initially saw both defendants handed life terms in 2021. While the appellate court confirmed the aggravating circumstances, it acknowledged a previous miscalculation in determining Hjorth’s sentence length. Lawyers for Cerciello Rega’s widow said the modest reduction offers “minimal moral satisfaction” after six rounds of litigation.