Family Upset 2 California Men Got Italy's Harshest Sentence in Police Stabbing Death
When prosecutors sought an indictment for two American teenagers for the fatal 2019 stabbing in Rome of an Italian paramilitary officer, they described them as being in cahoots from start to finish
By Frances D'Emilio •
NBC Universal, Inc.
The family of one of two California men, both convicted of a fatal stabbing during a scuffle with an Italian police officer, on Thursday blasted the jury for ordering Italy’s harshest punishment of life imprisonment, a sentence frequently meted out to mobsters who assassinate state officials.
Months after the July 26, 2019 slaying of Carabinieri Vice Brigadier Mario Cerciello Rega in Rome, prosecutors asked for indictments for the two teenage friends from California. They described the defendants, then 19 and 18, as being in cahoots from start to finish, even though only one of them wielded the knife in what their lawyers steadfastly contended was in self-defense.