Emotional storm not OK as mitigation

(ANSA) - Rome, November 8 - Italy's supreme Court of Cassation said Friday that an "emotional storm" cannot be a legitimate extenuating circumstance when considering a sentence reduction in a murder case.
    The court upheld an appeal by Bologna prosecutors against a ruling by an appeal court to almost halve the sentence of a man for the homicide of his partner on the grounds that he was in the grip of an "emotional storm" when he killed the woman.
    The appeal court had reduced the jail term of Michele Castaldo, who confessed to killing Olga Matei, a woman with whom he had been in a relationship for about one month, from 30 to 16 years, provoking widespread condemnation.
    The assistant prosecutor general at the top court had argued in favour of the appeals court's ruling.