Overview
- The Corte d'Assise of Arezzo on December 5 acquitted Mugnai, finding he acted in legitimate self-defense during the January 2023 incident.
- Presiding Judge Anna Maria Lo Prete’s panel rejected Prosecutor Laura Taddei’s request for a four-year sentence for excess self-defense.
- Investigators and testimony described the neighbor using an excavator to strike cars and ram the house in San Polo before Mugnai fired multiple shots with a hunting rifle.
- The prosecution’s case shifted from an initial voluntary homicide charge to seeking conviction for excessive self-defense, a position the court ultimately declined.
- Defense lawyers argued immediate danger, darkness, and the family’s fear in an isolated setting, and Mugnai expressed relief after the verdict as the victim’s relatives participated as civil parties.