The long, complicated saga of the two young men from Marin County who found themselves at the center of an international crime story five years ago has resolved, in part, for one of them — but this isn't making the victim's wife very happy.

It's hard to suggest that there was wrong done "on both sides" when you're talking about the brutal stabbing of a police officer. But there certainly seemed to be complicating factors in the 2019 case of a drug deal gone wrong in Rome's nightclub district, and two non-uniformed cops who could be mistaken for a drug dealer's muscle men, especially when not everyone involved speaks the same language.

Finnegan Lee Elder and Gabriel Natale-Hjorth, both recent graduates of Tamalpais High School and aged 19 and 18 at the time, respectively, met up in Rome in July 2019 for what was meant to be a weekend of partying. Natale-Hjorth, who is half Italian and has family in the country, came to the bustling city to meet his friend Elder who'd flown in from California.

After being out partying much the night, the pair sought some cocaine from a drug dealer who, it turned out, was a police informant. The deal goes sour with the dealer's mediator leading them on a long quest, the ultimate deal gets interrupted by police but Natale-Hjorth manages to flee. The two young men, believing they were cheated, end up running off with the backpack of the dealer's mediator, believing he was trying to scam them out of 80 euros. The mediator turned to the police for help to get his backpack and cellphone back.

The police, known in Rome as Carabinieri, agree to help if the mediator can call his own phone and summon the men back to the nightlife district. Having gone back to their hotel, and worried they could face some sort of roughing up by the dealer or his henchmen, Elder brings along a hunting knife.

When they are confronted by two plain-clothed Carabinieri, who Elder and Natale-Hjorth contend did not identify themselves as police, a scuffle ensues, and Elder ends up stabbing 35-year-old Mario Cerciello Rega. Complications with traffic meant that an ambulance was slow to arrive, and Rega died from his wounds.

Elder and Natale-Hjorth flee the scene back to their hotel, but are soon arrested, and the knife is found hidden in a ceiling panel. News of the crime spreads across Europe and the US. Both teens are put in jail, and due to the outbreak of COVID-19, they aren't put on trial until 2021, at which point they were both handed life sentences.

They appealed in 2022 and had their sentences reduced — Elder's to 24 years, and Natale-Hjorth's to 22 years.

A second appeal was granted based on evidence about the officers' conduct, and took place last month. As the Associated Press reported, the court upheld the convictions, but Elder's sentence was reduced further to 15 years, and Natale-Hjorth's to 11 years and four months.

Now, as ABC 7 reports today, a judge has granted house arrest for the remainder of Natale-Hjorth's sentence. Having Italian citizenship, it appears he will be able to serve the remaining six years under house arrest at his grandmother's home near Rome. He is currently 23 years old.

"We are delighted with the outcome and look forward to welcoming Gabriel back to his family home soon," said Natale-Hjorth's family in a statement to ABC 7's Dan Noyes. (Noyes had a child who was a classmate of the two men, and has been following the story closely since it began. He and ABC7 also produced a documentary short about the crime.)

Elder, who is 24 years old, still has approximatly 10 years left on his sentence, but his family also put out a statement about the appeal saying they are "so relieved for this chapter for Gabe and his family to be over and a new phase to begin."

The UK Guardian reports that Rega's widow, Rosa Maria Esilio, said through a lawyer that she was "totally shocked" by the news of the house arrest decision.

Per the Guardian, Italian prosecutors may still appeal the reduction in the sentences in Italy's highest court.

Previously: Two Marin Men Jailed In Italy For Cop Killing Back In Court

Photo courtesy of the Natale-Hjorth family