Milan, 27 May (LaPresse) – Alberto Stasi has been acquitted in the first two instances of judgment, with the “factual evidence” established in the trial being placed on the same level as “a fanciful and abstruse hypothesis”. Such as that of Chiara Poggi “opening the door” of the villa in Via Pascoli to let “the cat out”, thus allowing a “burglar” to “enter” who, in an attempted robbery, allegedly killed the 26-year-old. With these words, the Court of Cassation in 2013 overturned the previous acquittal verdicts of Poggi's ex-boyfriend for the Garlasco murder, ordering a new trial in the Milan Court of Appeal, which was held with new investigations, expert reports and seizures, leading to the final conviction in December 2025. The acquittals of Stasi, which have been back in the news in recent weeks, were, according to judges Barodovandi, Rombola, Tardio, Bonito and Boni, the result of a view “far removed from common sense”. In particular, the judges focused on the “alternative explanation” of the “unknown” killer. The Milan court had written that 'there is no evidence to exclude that Chiara Poggi, once awake that morning, deactivated the alarm and let the cat out into the garden, leaving the front door ajar. Or perhaps she closed it, but may have opened it again when she saw someone entering the garden'. “The thief or robber,” the ruling continued, 'may have lost control as a result of the victim's possible and unexpected reaction, and may have killed her in the brutal manner with which she was found. He could then have fled without taking anything, contrary to his initial plan, because he was distraught by what had happened.‘ This theory was described by the judges who acquitted the defendant as a ’fantastical reconstruction,‘ yet it was based on the ’same facts" as those presented by the Milan Public Prosecutor's Office, which had sought a conviction, and was therefore sufficient to raise legitimate doubts about the defendant's guilt. The Court of Cassation censured this reasoning as ‘incorrect’ because it ignores ‘factual data’ that has been acquired and is not disputed, such as ‘the lack of signs of sexual violence on the victim,’ ‘the clothing’ (Poggi opened the door in her pyjamas), ‘traits of her personality’ (the victim's reserved nature), the “failure to remove any property from Poggi's home”, the “knowledge of the apartment by the murderer”, who threw the body down the staircase leading to the basement hidden by a folding door, and the “perceptible shoe prints”. A “methodological approach” that considered each piece of evidence “in isolation” without placing it in a “global and unified” context, as should be done in both cases of conviction and acquittal.
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