Baby Basketball Player Dies, Five on Trial

The tragedy of the young basketball player Marco Lelli Ricci , resident in Quarto Inferiore (Granarolo) and former player of Virtus, will be discussed in the trial. Five of the six defendants on trial, with the first hearing after the summer. This is what emerged from the sentence pronounced yesterday by the preliminary hearing judge Silvia Marini. The ruling, read at the end of a long and complex path between investigations and courtroom, includes 5 referrals to trial and a plea bargain. It is the first procedural turning point for the judicial affair arising from the death of the 15-year-old following a road accident in the spring of 2022 in Cento. Six people were accused of the tragedy, accused in various capacities of complicity in road homicide . Before the preliminary hearing judge were the boy's father, the driver of the car in which the teenager was traveling (assisted by the lawyer Vittorio Galassetti, in the dual role of defendant and injured party), the girl who was driving the car whose license plate was found at the scene of the crash, two officials of the Province, the body that owns the road (defended by the lawyers Massimo Bissi and Luca Esposito), and the two managers of the company that was carrying out the work (lawyer Riccardo Caniato). In the last hearing, the prosecution had requested five referrals to trial , while the driver had undertaken the plea bargain. Yesterday, Judge Marini issued his verdict, sending 5 defendants to trial (with the first hearing on October 14) and confirming the plea bargain of one year and 8 months of imprisonment for the woman. The sentence seems to have held up the aggravating circumstance relating to the violation of the anti-accident regulations on construction sites, a charge that the defense had tried to have dropped by asking, in discussion, for a modification of the charge. A circumstance welcomed with satisfaction by the lawyer Dario Bolognesi, civil party lawyer for the mother and brother of the basketball player, and by his colleague Galassetti in the role of civil party for the boy's father. For the young man's father, the accusations speak of responsibilities related to speed and not having paid adequate attention to the signs. The girl driving the car whose license plate was found near the sinkhole would have hit the fence protecting the excavation shortly before the tragedy, without then bothering to replace it.

Federico Malavasi

Article Tags