Verdict soon in case of Marin friends accused of murdering Italian officer
By Katie Dowd
SF GATE
March 2, 2021
A verdict is expected soon in the case of two Bay Area men who are accused of murdering a police officer in Rome two years ago.
The trial of Finnegan Elder, now 21, and Gabriel Natale Hjorth, 20, is in its final stages. The pair, who met at Tamalpais High in Mill Valley, were on vacation in Italy in 2019 when they scuffled in the street with two Carabinieri officers. Deputy Brig. Mario Cerciello Rega, 35 and fresh off his honeymoon, was stabbed to death.
Gabriel Natale-Hjorth, 20, (left) and Finnegan Lee Elder, 21, (right); Mario Cerciello Rega, 35, and bride (insert)
In court, Elder has not denied killing Rega, instead arguing it was a case of self defense not murder. At a hearing Monday, Elder read from a handwritten statement for about an hour. In Italian courts, this is known as a "spontaneous declaration," and there is no examination or cross-examination by lawyers.
“I remember little of the next few moments except for feelings of shock and terror,” he said. “I do remember, however, that I could feel his hands pressing on my chest and then on my neck with pressure, as if he were trying to strangle or choke me. At this stage, I panicked and believed he wanted to kill me. As soon as I felt his hands squeezing my neck, I instinctively brought out my knife and hit him three times in an effort to get him off me.”
As the legal proceedings wrap up, here's what you need to know about the headline-grabbing trial.
The night of the murder
How the night of July 26, 2019 unfolded depends on who you ask.
Both prosecutors and the defendants do not dispute that Elder and Natale-Hjorth tried to buy cocaine from a local dealer in Trastevere, a nightlife district in Rome.
“I thought that it would be something that would help us enjoy the night, and from past experience, I thought the effect of the drug would make us feel better and give us some energy to walk around to get to bars and pubs,” Elder said in court this week.
According to police, Elder and Natale-Hjorth got upset when the man who showed up for the drug deal didn't give them the cocaine. In retaliation, they allegedly stole the man's backpack and demanded 100 euros and a gram of cocaine to get it back. Unbeknownst to them, the man was a Carabinieri informant; he then told police he'd been robbed.
The informant arranged to meet back up with the Bay Area teens. At that meeting, around 2:30 a.m., two plainclothes police officers — Cerciello Rega and his partner Andrea Varriale — arrived. Here is where the stories vastly deviate.
Police and prosecutors say the officers identified themselves as law enforcement and showed their badges but were attacked "immediately" by the teens. Lawyers for the Americans say the officers did not identify themselves as such, and the fatal stabbing was an act of self defense by Elder. Elder told the court Monday he brought a knife to the meeting because "it gave me a sense of protection."
"We are absolutely certain that the two boys — especially Finn, who doesn’t speak a word of Italian — had no idea that they were policemen," Renato Borzone, an Italian lawyer for Elder, told the New York Times.
Varriale testified in court last year the police did identify themselves as such as they approached the Americans.
How were they caught?
The pair were found in their hotel room several hours after the incident. Police say they found the murder weapon hidden above a ceiling panel in the room.
They've been held at the Regina Coeli prison in Rome since 2019 and throughout the coronavirus pandemic. The trial began in February 2020, paused briefly during the early stages of the COVID lockdown, and has since resumed.
How do Elder and Natale-Hjorth know each other?
Although it was initially reported the pair were good friends — they both graduated from Tamalpais High in Mill Valley in 2018 — Gabriel's father Fabrizio Natale walked that back a bit in an interview. According to him, they were not close friends, but instead a pair of former classmates who happened to be in Italy at the same time.
Natale-Hjorth was born in Italy and moved to the United States as a boy; he holds dual citizenship and took trips to Italy each summer.
"He was there, he made a mistake, but he's not an assassin," Fabrizio Natale told Italian daily Corriere della Sera in August 2019.
Elder and Natale-Hjorth are identified as being from San Francisco in court documents.
What are they charged with?
They are both charged with murder, as well as attempted extortion (because of the alleged drug deal gone south) and resisting public officials. Even though Natale-Hjorth did not participate in the stabbing of Cerciello Rega, he is equally charged in the murder, per Italian law.
Why have the police beencriticized in the case?
There have been several investigations within the Carabinieri in the aftermath of Cerciello Rega's death. Almost immediately after their arrest, photos surfaced of Natale-Hjorth blindfolded with a scarf and handcuffed. There was a criminal investigation for a possible violation of defendant's rights, as well as an internal disciplinary probe.
In addition, Varriale was put under investigation for "failure to carry out his duties," military prosecutors said in September 2019. The issue in question was why he did not bring his service pistol to the scene; both officers were unarmed that night, according to court documents.
The investigation into Varriale was "a formality," according to Italian media, but it has formed part of the defense of the San Francisco men, whose lawyers are arguing they thought they were being attacked by two strangers.
What's next?
Over the next week, the last bits of testimony and evidence will be heard by an Italian jury. On March 13, the prosecution will lay out its closing argument and ask the jury for convictions.
The Americans face a life sentence if found guilty of murder. There is no death penalty in Italy.
