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US tourist granted house arrest in Rome policeman murder case

  • Gabriel Natale-Hjorth helped hide the murder weapon after his friend Finnegan Lee Elder stabbed Mario Cerciello Rega in Rome in 2019

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Gabriele Natale-Hjorth, left, appears in court in  Rome, Italy on July 3. Photo: EPA-EFE

An American tourist convicted over the murder of a police officer in Rome was put under house arrest on Monday by a judge in the Italian capital, judicial sources said, meaning he will be moved out of prison.

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Gabriel Christian Natale-Hjorth and his friend Finnegan Lee Elder were originally given life sentences for the 2019 murder of Mario Cerciello Rega, 35, who was stabbed to death following a botched drug deal.

Both saw their initial sentences repeatedly trimmed as the case bounced around courts in the Italian multi-tiered trial system, and earlier this month an appeal court ruled that Natale-Hjorth should serve an 11-year, four-month term.

Lee Elder Finnegan, wearing a checked shirt, arrives in court in Rome, Italy on July 3. Photo: EPA-EFE
Lee Elder Finnegan, wearing a checked shirt, arrives in court in Rome, Italy on July 3. Photo: EPA-EFE

Natale-Hjorth did not handle the knife during the attack but was tussling with another Carabinieri police officer as Elder was stabbing Cerciello Rega, according to court documents.

Elder eventually got a 15-year, 2-month term and remains in prison.

The judicial sources said judges granted Natale-Hjorth the house arrest on the request of his lawyers, and he would remain under detention at his grandmother’s house in a town near Rome. There were no immediate details on the reasons for the decision.

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Cerciello Rega’s widow was “totally shocked by the news” of the house arrest, her lawyer Massimo Ferrandino said in a statement, and would not give further comments.

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