ROME - The judges of the first Court of Assizes have sentenced Californians Finnegan Lee Elder and Gabriel Natale Hjorth to life imprisonment for the murder of vicebrigadier Mario Cerciello Rega on July 26, 2019.

  Elder and Hjorth, who were 19 and 18 respectively at the time of the crime, stabbed Rega to death after he and his partner, Andrea Varriale, confronted the pair in an alley after they had tried to buy cocaine and then stole the dealer's bag. Just a few steps from Piazza Cavour, Hjorth wrestled with Varriale while Elder stabbed Rega 11 times. Though Elder killed him, both are equally culpable under Italian law. The verdict was handed down on Wednesday night.

  After the over 50 hearings of the trial, the court, presided over by Marina Finiti, came to a decision after 13 hours of deliberation. The two Americans have also been condemned to two months of daily isolation.

  Speaking after the verdict, Franco Coppi, Rega's family's lawyer, said, "a severe sentence, but corresponding to the attrocious crime that was committed. It is an adequate punishment for the gravity of the deeds of the two defendents, they have not shown any sign of repentance."

  Meanwhile Hjorth's lawyer called the sentence "unjust and incomprehensible."

  During the trial Maria Sabina Calabretti, the chief prosecutor, gave a detailed account of the night in question. "Everything tells us that Cerciello and Andrea Varriale, when they met Brugiatelli [the drug dealer who alerted them to the knife-wielding teenagers], behaved in a professional and non-confidential manner. We can exclude any previous acquaintance with him."

  She told the court of their escape to their hotel in Prati, and of how they called Brugiatelli to arrange the return of his bag, carrying out a sweep of via Gioacchino Belli for videocameras before the meeting.

  "There was no legitimate defence, they both went to the meeting prepared. They were ready for everything. They were not worried about the health of the victim, they escaped and hid the knife."

  She added, "Cerciello was not killed by a stab wound, but by 11 slashes in less than 30 seconds. The victim didn't have time to put up any defence... He could have done very little even if he was armed, and he wasn't."

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