In a ruling issued yesterday evening, the fifth criminal section of the Court of Appeal of Naples overturned the first-instance decision regarding Rocco Sorrentino, involved in the murder of aspiring pizza chef Francesco Pio Maimone, which occurred in a brawl that broke out in Mergellina on the night between 19 and 20 March 2023.
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The second-instance judge, partially accepting the defense arguments of the lawyer Antonio Usiello, deemed it necessary to reduce Sorrentino's responsibility, sentencing him to two years of imprisonment and to pay a fine of 9 thousand euros. The original sentence, imposed by the preliminary hearing judge Chiara Bardi in the first instance, amounted to six years.
The reasons for the sentence
The Court of Appeal, in justifying its decision, underlined that, although it is undisputed that Sorrentino was present at the crime scene and in the company of Francesco Pio Valda, indicated as the material perpetrator of the crime, no sufficient elements have emerged to attribute to him a direct role in the murder.
The video surveillance cameras in the area, in fact, filmed Sorrentino and Valda together, but did not provide unequivocal evidence of his active participation in the attack. Furthermore, the investigations of the Flying Squad and the Naples DDA, despite having reconstructed in detail the dynamics of the facts, did not allow to identify a precise causal contribution of Sorrentino with respect to the death event.
The role of the gun keeper
The ruling focused in particular on Sorrentino's role as custodian of the weapon used by Valda to fire the gunshots. The appeals judge, while acknowledging the seriousness of Sorrentino's conduct, decided to apply a more lenient sentence, taking into account the mitigating circumstances and the fact that the defendant has no criminal record.
The reactions
The decision of the Court of Appeal has provoked mixed reactions. The Maimone family, assisted by the lawyer Sergio Pisani, expressed deep disappointment for the reduction of the sentence, believing that full light has not been shed on the responsibilities of all those involved in the affair. The defense lawyers, on the other hand, welcomed the sentence with satisfaction, underlining the importance of the principle of presumption of innocence and the need for a careful and detailed evaluation of each piece of evidence.
Article published on 29 October 2024 - 10:39
The Court of Appeal's decision appears to have been very careful about the evidence presented, but I understand the Maimone family's disappointment.