Overview
- The court convicted the 31-year-old of sexual violence in its lesser-penalty form and imposed a three-year sentence, reversing the Macerata trial court’s acquittal.
- The first-instance ruling had cited the teen’s prior sexual experience and an alleged lack of resistance, language that drew political backlash and fresh calls for a clear consent law.
- Sustaining the appeal, the prosecutor Cristina Polenzani argued that consent must exist from start to finish and said the girl expressed an immediate refusal after initial kissing.
- Defense attorneys Mauro Riccioni and Bruno Mandrelli called the original verdict “linear” and said they will petition the Court of Cassation once the reasons are filed.
- The episode dates to summer 2019 in Macerata, involving a 17-year-old foreign student who reported being pinned by the shoulder and later showed ecchymoses judged healable in eight days, findings the defense attributed to suction.