Finnegan Lee Elder, then 19, admitted to stabbing Mario Cercello Reg in the early morning of July 26, 2019, when his 18-year-old friend Gabriel Christian Natale-Hyort was fighting another police officer.
Americans claim they defended themselves when plainclothes police tried to catch them after trying to buy drugs.
The court rejected the testimony of the criminals, imposing the highest measure of restraint with the right of parole after 21 years for good behavior. The lawyers immediately announced that they would appeal.
Two Americans from California were also found guilty of attempted extortion, assault, resistance to a government official, and carrying knives.
Elder and Natale-Hjort came to Rome on vacation, where they tried to buy drugs from a local dealer. In court, they said they were deceived. When the drug dealer tried to escape, the tourists managed to snatch the bag from him. They subsequently agreed to meet with the dealer again to get their money back in exchange for the bag, but instead two police officers showed up and a fight ensued. According to police, 35-year-old Cercello Rega was unarmed at the time of the incident. Then he received 11 stab wounds from Elder with an 18-centimeter knife, which he brought from the United States.
Italian media reported that the drug dealer was an informant who asked the police to intervene to get his bag back. During a court appearance last September, Elder apologized for what he had done.
Natale-Hjort first told the police that he was not involved in the murder and did not know that his friend had a knife. However, his fingerprints were found on the shelf of their hotel room where the weapon was hidden.