Italian appeals court reduces sentences for 2 Americans convicted of killing policeman

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 original 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 to Gabriele Natale-Hjorth.

They were found guilty in the July 2019 slaying of Carabinieri Vice Brigadier Mario Cerciello Rega. Prosecutors had asked that Finnegan be sentenced to 23 years and nine months and 23 years for Natale-Hjorth.