Giulia Cecchettin murder, the possible scenarios of the trial of Filippo Turetta

Today, while the autopsy will be performed on Giulia Cecchettin’s body, her ex-boyfriend, Filippo Turetta will be questioned by the Venice prosecutor Andrea Petroni: the investigators, after the brief confessions given to the investigating judge, expect his collaboration in the investigations.

What are the scenarios that lie ahead for Filippo Turetta now? We talked about it with the criminal lawyer Alessia Sorgato, forensic victimologist and red code commissioner of the Milan Bar Association, which mainly deals with domestic crimes and violence against vulnerable individuals.

What could happen if his defense relied on insanity?
«Insanity must be ascertained by a specialist through a psychiatric assessment. The law indicates three fields of investigation: the ability to stand trial, that is, to understand the dynamics of the trial and consciously participate in it. This condition may depend on transitory states, not necessarily already chronicled in a mental illness, and therefore revisable. But the true core of the psychiatric assessment is the evaluation of the capacity to understand and will at the time of the crime, which is considered diminished or excluded in the presence of a mental defect among those cataloged by psychiatric science. Thirdly, the social dangerousness is assessed, the possibility that a subject commits a crime again, and in particular a crime of the same type. This is very slippery ground: there have been psychiatric reports that have ruled out social danger, maintaining that the murderous target was the murdered woman, and that the risk of the crime being repeated was therefore to be excluded.”

If mental defect were recognized, what would happen?
«If the defect is partial, the sentence is reduced, and if it is total, a sentence of acquittal is pronounced, even with the application of a series of corrective measures, from safety measures – in case of social danger – to taking charge by of a CPS, a multifunctional psychiatric center. If mental defect is excluded, however, no reduction in sentence is applied.”

What if premeditation was recognized?
«This aggravating circumstance carries a life sentence which, in turn, with a 2019 law, precludes the possibility of requesting an abbreviated sentence and therefore obtaining a discount of one third of the sentence. While in the case in which there is a marriage bond between the victim and the perpetrator of the murder (even after separation) or a de facto union or a current emotional relationship, a specific aggravating circumstance is foreseen which leads to the sentence of life imprisonment, in others cases, premeditation must be recognized to prevent access to the abbreviated trial and therefore to a discount of one third of the sentence”.

Turetta is in precautionary custody in prison: could he end up under house arrest?
«Yes, precautionary custody in prison could be replaced with house arrest, not necessarily at home, but also in the community. In fact, his precautionary framework has weakened.”

Could the fact that Turetta is collaborating represent an advantage for him?
«Confession and repentance will be enhanced when he is sentenced, for example with the granting of generic mitigating circumstances. The collaborative attitude saves a lot of work for the investigators who, nevertheless, have to look for confirmation of his confession. In this case, as in many others, there are no eyewitnesses who saw the moment or the smoking gun.”