Milan, 27 June (LaPresse) – The Milan Juvenile Prosecutor's Office has requested a 20-year prison sentence for Riccardo Chiarioni, the young man who, on the night between 31 August and 1 September last year, when he was still 17, stabbed his parents and 12-year-old brother to death in the family home in Paderno Dugnano, where his father's birthday had been celebrated just a few hours earlier. At this morning's hearing, the boy's lawyer, Amedeo Rizza, requested acquittal on the grounds of total incapacity to understand and intend. In the alternative, the lawyer asked that mitigating circumstances be recognised as prevailing over aggravating circumstances – including premeditation – taking into account the partial mental defect ascertained by the psychiatric report ordered by the investigating magistrate. The examination by psychiatrist Franco Martelli found that the young man was living suspended between “reality and fantasy” when he decided to kill his father, mother and 12-year-old brother, believing that by erasing his previous life he would be able to free himself from his discomfort and achieve “immortality”. Chiarioni, who is being held in the juvenile detention centre in Florence, is present in the courtroom, as are his grandparents and other family members. The verdict is expected at 3 p.m.
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