Italian court deliberates appeal of 2 US men in cop killing

ROME (AP) — Italy’s highest court has started deliberations in what should be the final appeal of two U.S. citizens convicted in the stabbing death of a police officer during a plainclothes operation in Rome. Finnegan Lee Elder, now 23, and Gabriel Natale-Hjorth, now 22, were convicted of slaying the 35-year-old officer in the summer of 2019. They initially received life sentences. An appeals court last year upheld their convictions, but reduced the sentences to 24 years for Elder and 22 years for Natale-Hjorth. Italy’s Supreme Court of Cassation heard some seven hours of arguments in the pair’s latest appeal before going into deliberations on Wednesday. The court can order a retrial if it finds legal procedure errors