Trial Set For Bay Area Teens Charged In Killing Of Rome Police Officer
ROME (CBS / AP) — The lawyer of one of the two Bay Area teenagers jailed in Rome over the slaying of a Carabinieri police office says their trial has been fast-tracked and will begin early next year.
Craig Peters, representing Finnegan Lee Elder of San Francisco, said Thursday that the first hearing has been scheduled for Feb. 26.
Earlier this week, prosecutors requested a swift trial, a so-called "immediate trial" procedure.
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Elder and his friend Gabriel Natale-Hjorth of Mill Valley were jailed in July as authorities investigated their alleged roles in the fatal stabbing of Mario Cerciello Rega.
Italian prosecutors said Elder confessed to knifing the officer during a scuffle, while Natale-Hjorth allegedly assaulted the slain officer's partner at the end of a chain of events sparked by a drugs deal that went wrong.
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