New trial opens for American friends over fatal stabbing of Rome police officer

Rome — A new trial opened Friday for two American men in the slaying of an Italian plainclothes police officer during a botched sting operation after Italy's highest court threw out their convictions.

Italy's highest Cassation Court ordered a new trial last year, saying it hadn't been proven beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendants, with limited Italian language skills, had understood that they were dealing with Italian police officers when they went to meet an alleged drug dealer in Rome.

Finnegan Lee Elder and Gabriel Natale-Hjorth, who were teenagers at the time of the July 26, 2019 slaying, sat side-by-side as an appeals court judge made opening remarks in the new trial. The two are being held in separate prisons near the Italian capital.