Grazioli trial: Pietro Mele acquitted due to mental incompetence but deemed a social danger: three years in REMS

The trial against Pietro Mele, accused of stalking, child pornography, and aggravated defamation via social media against journalist Pino Grazioli and his daughter, who was a minor at the time, has concluded before the IX Criminal Section (Panel C) of the Court of Naples.

The judges issued a sentence of acquittal pursuant to Article 88 of the Criminal Code for total mental insanity, simultaneously applying the man a detention security measure of assignment to a REMS (Residence for the Execution of Security Measures) for a period of three years, together with perpetual monitoring of his dangerousness.

The contested conduct and the genesis of the proceedings

The legal case, which unfolded over five years, stems from the defendant's harassment following a journalistic interview conducted by Grazioli with a woman who made accusations against Mele. According to the trial, the defendant launched a vicious online defamatory and denigratory campaign, calling the victim a "non-journalist" and a "failure."

The prosecution's case was further aggravated by the charge of child pornography, linked to the creation and dissemination on social networks of an explicitly sexual photomontage, in which the face of the reporter's underage daughter was superimposed on the body of a naked woman in a context of sexual acts with the defendant.

The expert issue and the battle over social dangerousness

The preliminary hearing proved complex and detailed, also marked by renewed witness examinations due to the change in the composition of the judging panel. In the final stages of the trial, the defendant's defense presented an initial expert report, drafted as part of proceedings before the Court of Salerno, which diagnosed "premorbid paranoid personality disorder" and "chronic delusional disorder," attesting to the total incapacity to understand and decide and the inability to consciously participate in the trial. However, the defense did not lift its reservations regarding the individual's dangerousness to society.

Following the filing of a further expert report conducted at the Court of Naples North—which also indicated total insanity but lacked conclusive evidence of dangerousness—the civil party, represented by attorney Massimo Viscusi, filed a defense brief pursuant to Article 121 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, highlighting the gaps in the reports and requesting a rigorous assessment of the defendant's social dangerousness, a crucial factor in the application of security measures.

The official expert report and the final decision

During the hearing at the end of June, in response to a request made jointly by the Public Prosecutor and the civil party pursuant to Articles 507 and 220 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, the Court ordered the appointment of an official expert to formally assess Mele's psychiatric profile and social dangerousness.

The technical assessment dispelled previous uncertainties, confirming both the defendant's total incapacity to understand and decide at the time of the crime and his persistent danger to society, indicating the need for a mitigated detention regime in a therapeutic environment. Following the hearing, granting the requests of the Public Prosecutor's Office and the civil plaintiff, the Panel ordered the defendant's acquittal and the application of the security measure pursuant to Article 222 of the Code of Criminal Procedure at the high-intensity therapeutic healthcare facility where he was already being held.