Overview
- The Court of Cassation declared the Turin prosecutors’ challenge inadmissible, cementing the January 2025 appellate acquittal and closing the case.
- Judges upheld findings that the killing occurred in a context of severe domestic abuse and that Cotoia acted to neutralize a perceived imminent threat, consistent with legitimate or putative self-defense.
- The incident occurred on April 30, 2020 in Collegno, where the then 18-year-old Cotoia fatally stabbed his father, Giuseppe Pompa, 34 times during a violent family dispute.
- The case traversed a first-instance acquittal, a 2023 appellate conviction to six years and two months, a 2024 annulment with remand by the Cassation, and an appeal-bis acquittal now confirmed.
- Prosecutors Lucia Musti and Giancarlo Avenati Bassi alleged illogical reasoning, misread evidence and even hinted the brother’s involvement, arguments the supreme court declined to entertain as it left no further proceedings pending; during the process Cotoia changed his surname, earned a degree and secured stable work.