Italy Appeals Court Upholds Conviction of 2 Americans in Death of Policeman but Reduces Sentences

Finnegan Lee Elder (2nd L) and Gabriel Natale Hjorth (3rd L) listen to the reading of the judgment at the end of a hearing for the appeals trial for killing Italian Carabinieri paramilitary police officer in Rome on July 3, 2024. Alessandra Tarantino/AP Photo

ROME—An Italian appeals court on Wednesday upheld the convictions of two American men in the slaying of an Italian plainclothes police officer during a botched sting operation but reduced their sentences. The new trial was ordered after Italy’s highest court threw out their convictions.

The court convicted Lee Elder Finnegan and sentenced him to 15 years and 2 months in prison and gave a sentence of 11 years and four months, along with a 800 euro ($863) fine to Gabriele Natale-Hjorth.