Denver – Italy’s Court of Cassation has rejected the appeal of a Moroccan man sentenced to thirty years in prison this week effectively ending a three-year legal marathon in which the defendant hoped to see his sentence reduced.
Italy’s highest appeal court dismissed Rabih Badr’s request to appeal the sentence of a murder the man committed in 2017, reports Italian media.
Rabih Badr was convicted of beating his girlfriend Marianne Obrist to death with a baseball bat after the woman was found dead in her apartment in August 2017.
Badr initially told emergency services Obrist had fallen, but a forensic autopsy later showed the cause of death was blunt force trauma and internal bleeding. A baseball bat with traces of blood was subsequently recovered by authorities, confirming the homicide. Italian authorities relayed Marianne also suffered three stab wounds during the assault.
In December 2017, Badr finally confessed to the killing of his partner, saying that“jealousy” was the motive, according to investigators.
After being tried and convicted, Badr rejected the original 30-year sentence of the Bolzano regional court in December 2018. The case then moved up to the Higher Regional Court. The Higher Regional Court rejected Badr’s appeal and affirmed the sentencing was just due to the severe and violent nature of Obrist’s death.
This week, Badr’s final appeal opportunity was officially rejected by the Court of Cassation. The court is Italy’s highest appeal court and the last judicial authority on appeals and controversial cases in the Italian judicial system.
