Two American students have appeared in an Italian court on the first day of their trial over the fatal stabbing of a policeman during a botched drug bust last year.
Finnegan Lee Elder, 20, and Gabriel Natale-Hjorth, 19, are charged with killing newlywed officer Mario Cerciello Rega, 35, who was stabbed 11 times last July.
The two men from California, who had been on vacation in Rome and were teenagers at the time, face life sentences if convicted.
The pair listened expressionless today as the judge read them trial procedures in a packed courtroom.
Prime suspect Elder swaggered arrogantly into the crowded courtroom as his heart-broken parents watched from the public gallery filled with news crews from around the world.
As he was led out during a break, Elder looked at his parents and held up his hand showing his fingers crossed.
Co-defendant Gabriel Natale-Hjorth appeared wide-eyed and terrified as he was led into court by armed prison officers a few seconds later. His Italian-born father was also in court.
Gabriel Natale Hjorth at the opening of the trial for the killing of Italian policeman Mario Cerciello Rega in Rome today
Gabriel Natale-Hjorth, 19, (left) and Finnegan Lee Elder, 20, (right) are accused of stabbing Deputy Brigadier Mario Cerciello Rega to death on Friday in Rome. Natale-Hjorthand is from the affluent area of Mill Valley, California, known as ‘millionaire’s village’
Mario Cerciello Rega, who had just returned to work from his honeymoon, suffered 11 stab wounds and later died in hospital from his injuries
Dressed in a plaid, checked shirt, jeans and sneakers, Elder looked around him as he took in the extent of the media spectacle his alleged crimes have created in Italy.
Natale-Hjorth was more smartly dressed in an opened-neck white shirt, black sweater and tan chino trousers.
The funeral of Brigadier Cerciello Rega was held at the same church where he was married just months before
Both men had short-cut hair and had shaved their adolescent faces.
Elder, now aged 20, and Natale-Hjorth, 19, are charged with the murder of the Carbinieri deputy brigadier who died from stabs wounds in the early hours of July 26 last year.
The pair are also charged with attempted extortion, resisting arrest and injuring Rega’s partner, Andrea Varriale.
Opening the proceedings at Rome’s Criminal Court Judge Marina Finiti welcomed the 12-strong jury into court, each dressed in a red, green and white sash, the colours of the Italian tricolor flag.
Officer Rega’s widow Maria Rosaria Esilio was also in court for the beginning of the trial, which is expected to last months.
In Italy, the slaying aroused an outpouring of public sympathy for Cerciello, who had just returned from his honeymoon when he was killed.
Speaking outside the court Elder’s lawyer explained that his client had no idea the Rega was a policeman.
Renato Borzone told DailyMail.com: ‘Finnegan does not dispute what happened that night. But Finn and Gabriel had no idea they were fighting with policemen, they thought they were criminals.
‘At no point did Officer Rega show Finn his badge. And even if he said he was a Carbinieri [ Italian paramilitary police] Finn does not speak Italian so he did not understand.
‘The boys thought Rega and his partner were working with the drug dealer. They were sure that the people that they met that were criminals.
‘And we will demonstrate in court that when they were taken by surprise they did not think they were Carabinieri but by criminals.’
Maria Rosaria Cerciello Rega at the first day of the trial of two teenagers accused of killing of her cop husband
The death of the victim, Mario Cerciello Rega, shook Italians and has dominated headlines across the country
Gabriel Christian Natale Hjorth (right) and Finnegan Lee Elder, in their hotel room in Rome
Huge crowds attended his funeral – which was broadcast live on television – where he was hailed as a hero.
The case has been marked by major blunders – especially the blindfolding of Natale-Hjorth during his police interrogation
But the case has also been marked by major blunders – especially the blindfolding of Natale-Hjorth during his police interrogation – and contradictory statements made by the key prosecution witness, Cerciello’s police partner Andrea Varriale.
In the aftermath, Varriale said he and Cerciello had been attacked by men of North African descent. He also initially claimed he had been armed.
Both officers were in fact unarmed and acted without backup, in violation of police procedure.
Amid the intense media focus in the case, comparisons have been made to the high-profile trial of Amanda Knox, a US student convicted and later acquitted of a 2007 murder in Italy.
Elder has admitted to stabbing Cerciello with a 7-inch serrated-edge combat knife he had stashed in his sweatshirt but told investigators he thought he and his friend were being set upon by drug dealers.
The young men and Varriale have given opposing versions of what happened during the 32-second attack in the early hours of the morning, which followed a botched drug deal.
Hours earlier, the young men from the San Francisco Bay Area had gone looking for cocaine in the popular night-life area of Trastevere. Intermediary Sergio Brugiatelli introduced them to a dealer who sold them aspirin instead.
In retaliation, the teens stole Brugiatelli’s bag, before demanding money and drugs to return it.
Gabriel Natale-Hjorth at the opening of the trial today. The US teenagers are being tried for killing the officer Mario Cerciello Rega
This social media photo shows Natale-Hjorth flaunting his wealth outside the Gucci Shop in Rome just days before being arrested for the stabbing death of an Italian officer
The two officers approached Finnegan and Hjort and announced they were Carabinieri, but after brief exchange of words Finnegan pulled out a knife and stabbed Rega several times
Hundreds of people turned out to honor Cerciello Rega outside a chapel in Rome
Cerciello and Varriale went in Brugiatelli’s place to the designated exchange point in an upscale neighborhood near the teenagers’ hotel but the handover never took place.
Elder told police they were jumped from behind by the officers and believed they were thugs sent by Brugiatelli.
Gabriel Natale Hjorth at the opening of the trial for the killing of Italian policeman Mario Cerciello Rega in Rome today
Varriale has said he and Cerciello, both in plain clothes, told the young men they were police, but that Elder pulled out a knife and attacked Cerciello, while Natale-Hjorth wrestled with Varriale.
The teens then fled to their nearby hotel, where police later found the military knife hidden behind a ceiling panel.
Last night Esilio issued a statement ahead of the trial stating that her life, her family and her dreams all lay in ruins following her husband’s death.
She said: ‘Tomorrow is seven months since the murder of my husband Mario.
‘He believed in God, and was a brave police officer, who dedicated his life to the service of others, in particular the most vulnerable in society.
‘His murder cannot and must not go unpunished. Our new married life was cut short by criminals. His murder shocked the world.
‘It shattered the peace of a lot of humble people, who just like Mario had faith in God.
‘These good people must compete every day with a minority who poison society with terrible crimes.
‘Since Mario’s death, my family also is over, because our unborn children and all our dreams also lie in his grave.
‘My life has been reduced to memories and how our life would have been together.
Ethan Elder and Leah Lynn Elder, father and mother of Finnegan Lee Elder at the opening of their son’s trial in Rome today
Ethan Elder, father of Finnegan Lee Elder, being hugged by his wife Leah today at the opening of the trial of their son for killing Italian policeman, Mario Cerciello Rega, in Rome last July
Gabriel’s mother Heidi Hjorth, 57, (left) is a high-end realtor with upmarket real estate brokerage Golden Gate Sotheby’s International Realty while his father Fabrizio Natale, 54, is also among the elite an Executive director at a venture capital and private equity firm
‘I’m thankful to those that proved their sincere solidarity in this sad affair while I am in the hands of the judges, prosecutors and lawyer in my search for justice not revenge.
‘But also to you journalists from your words deepens the respect of the memory of the heroic sacrifice of Mario who fell defending the rule of law for all of us.’
Elder’s legal team claim their client Elder acted in self-defense when he stabbed officer Rega.
Natale-Hjorth’s lawyers are attempting to distance their client from Elder and for him to be judged separately for his part in the events.
Both boys claim their confessions to the murder were signed under duress and after hours of bullying and intimidation.
Pictures and film of Natale-Hjorth being questioned while blind-folded in the hours after their arrests were leaked to Italian media.
Their lawyers have called for film from a bank’s security camera overlooking the murder scene, seized by the police investigators, should be made public as it supports their clients’ case of self-defense.
Prosecutors claim the film is of no interest to the case. Rega’s death caused uproar throughout Italy.
Natale-Hjorth hails from the leafy affluent enclave of Mill Valley – a small town located just a short drive from San Francisco, over the Golden Gate Bridge often referred to as ‘millionaire’s village’, DailyMail.com previously revealed.
The town is packed with art galleries, trendy fashion boutiques and open-air coffee shops and is popular with wealthy Silicon Valley entrepreneurs and downtown financial brokers.
The 19-year old’s luxurious lifestyle is in stark contrast to the jail cell in Rome where he was awaiting trial.
Natale-Hjorth is from an affluent area of Northern California called ‘Millionaire’s Village’
This is the Natale-Hjorth’s family’s main home – a posh $1.65 million three bedroom house with stunning views of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area
This is the home of Elder and his family in the Sunset District of San Francisco
Former Interior Minister, hardliner Matteo Salvini branded the accused ‘b******s’ and called for them to be sentenced to ‘hard labor for life’.
Lawyers acting for Elder and Natale-Hjorth have questioned whether the boys can get a fair trial.
The case has been compared to that of Amanda Knox, the American college student who was convicted and later acquitted of murdering her British flat-mate Meredith Kercher in Perugia, Umbria, in November 2007.
Today’s hearing was adjourned after less than half an hour while for Judge Finiti to consider an application from the defense to postpone the trial.
Elder’s parents, Ethan and Leah, declined to comment when they left the court room.
Under Italian law, Natale-Hjorth, who was 18 years old last July, faces the same charge of ‘voluntary homicide’ with a special circumstance of killing a police officer, even though he did not stab Cerciello.
Both young men are also charged with attempted extortion. They face a maximum penalty of life imprisonment in isolation.