A 20-year-old
California man accused of charged with murdering an Italian
police officer apologized in court Wednesday, saying he was “filled with remorse” and hoped one day the slain man’s family would forgive him.
Finnegan Lee Elder, who has been on trial in Rome since February along with a fellow
American, asked the court for permission to make a spontaneous statement that, he said, he finally had summoned the courage to give.
Elder said the night of July 26, 2019, when Vice Brigadier Mario Cerciello was fatally stabbed on a Rome street, was the worst of his life “because I took a man’s life, I took a husband away from his wife, I broke a bond between brothers and I took a son away from his mother.”