Murder In Rome By U.S. Students: What Happened?

The two American suspects are said to have confessed to the crime, but the Italian criminal justice system differs greatly from our own. 

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(Photo by VINCENZO PINTO/AFP/Getty Images)

Over the weekend, two 19-year-old Americans travelling in Italy were arrested for the murder of a police officer in Rome.  The story caught my eye because I used to live in Rome, covered the courts as a reporter, and know how tough it can be getting a fair trial when you’re accused of one of the most vilified acts in Italy (and almost anywhere) — killing a police officer.  Add that to the fact that neither reportedly speaks Italian well, if at all, and the difficulties their parents will face navigating the Italian criminal justice system, so different from our own.

The two men, Finnegan Lee Elder, 19, and Gabriel Natale Hjorth, 18, from the Mill Valley area of San Francisco, were on vacation in Rome and reportedly looking to buy drugs in the equivalent of New York’s Lower East Side — Trastevere, a warren of cobble stone streets where tourists congregate in certain piazzas and cafes and drug dealers in others.

The two reportedly bought cocaine after being directed (on surveillance camera) to a drug dealer but, later discovering the putative cocaine was just ground-up aspirin, decided to teach the dealer a lesson — never a good idea in a foreign country, when you’re already doing something wrong.

They went back to the square to find the dealer, but he wasn’t there.  However, the guy who pointed him out was.  They grabbed that person’s backpack and phone and later, when he called them, demanded 100 euros and a gram of cocaine in return for his property.

Reports say he was a police informant, so instead of showing up at the rendezvous near the Vatican-area hotel where the two were staying, two plainclothes police officers came instead.   It’s unclear why they were in plainclothes, whether they identified themselves, and why they didn’t just arrest the pair immediately.

An altercation ensued, ending with the stabbing death of Mario Cerciello Rega, a 35-year-old national police officer, or carabinieri. His partner was allegedly also attacked but not seriously injured.

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Like New York, there are surveillance cameras everywhere in Rome.  After Rega’s death, Elder and Hjorth were easily identified, located, and apprehended.  Bloody clothes and a large knife were said to have been found in their hotel room.  The knife was hidden “behind a panel in the room’s ceiling,” reports said, although I find this hard to believe since ceilings in Rome are generally not paneled.  They also had their bags packed and tickets home for the following day, but it’s unclear whether this may just have been a coincidence.

The media jumped on the story, at first stating that the killers were North African immigrants, prompting anti-immigrant Interior Minister Matteo Salvini to write on Twitter, “A manhunt is underway in Rome to catch the bastard who tonight stabbed to death a Carabinieri,” adding that the perpetrator should do “hard labor in prison for the rest of his days.” (We’ll see if he adopts the same hardline position now that he knows the suspects are two U.S. teens.)

Police killings are rare in Italy and this has galvanized national attention.  Hundreds waited in the Roman summer heat outside the police command where Rega worked to offer letters, poems, and flowers.  The Carabinieri Facebook page included dozens of official postings, “liked” by hundreds of thousands, providing information about the murder, follow-up, and upcoming memorial service and funeral.  Rega will be eulogized in the same church where he married less than two months ago.

Meanwhile, the two American suspects are said to have confessed to the crime.  Yesterday’s Italian daily, Corriere Della Sera, pictured one of the men blindfolded while reportedly being questioned by police.  I’m certain his defense attorneys will make a lot of that photo in developing a theory that his confession was coerced.

But the Italian criminal justice system differs greatly from our own.  It is “inquisitorial” rather than “adversarial,” meaning the prosecutor does a full investigation which he then shares with the judge before even defense counsel. That judge (or judges) generally have a pretty strong opinion about the case before the trial even starts. While six citizens also sit in judgment in the most serious cases, they sit at the judge’s bench next to two judges.  They all discuss the case together, and although are meant to have equal weight, the judges’ opinions are generally the most influential.  There is no requirement of unanimity.  A mere majority can convict.

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The good news is that the appeal process is more probing. It’s not based only on legal errors committed in the trial court (like in the U.S), but on a full reconsideration of the evidence. Remember Amanda Knox, the last American who became well-known in Italy as a murder suspect in 2007? After spending four years in jail, she was convicted at trial but later acquitted following appeal.  She goes back to Italy now to talk about her case and improvements that can be made in the Italian justice system.

Meanwhile, the parents of accused murderers Elder and Hjorth, back in San Francisco, have reportedly not been able to speak to the teens yet.  I don’t envy the difficulty they’ll be facing over the upcoming months and most likely years, navigating the Italian criminal justice system (even getting someone to answer the phone can be tough, and expecting them to speak English, impossible), dealing with the unwanted publicity, and potentially losing their sons for a very long time.

Toni Messina has tried over 100 cases and has been practicing criminal law and immigration since 1990. You can follow her on Twitter: @tonitamess.

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