Overview
- The Supreme Court of Cassation’s Fifth Criminal Section declared the Turin prosecutors’ appeal inadmissible, making the January 2025 acquittal irrevocable.
- Then 18 years old, Cotoia killed his father, Giuseppe Pompa, with 34 stab wounds on April 30, 2020, inside the family home in Collegno near Turin.
- The judicial path moved from an initial self-defense acquittal to a 2023 appellate conviction, followed by a 2024 annulment with remand, and a new appeal that again cleared him.
- Prosecutor General Lucia Musti and Avvocato Generale Giancarlo Avenati Bassi contended the acquittal was illogical, citing an orderly crime scene and a lack of clear defensive wounds, but the court ultimately upheld self-defense.
- The defense said he intervened to protect his mother and brother from abuse, and during the proceedings he took his mother’s surname, completed a communications degree, and secured ongoing employment.