The knot of premeditation
The new procedural phase was ordered by the Supreme Court to re-evaluate the aggravating circumstance of premeditation, excluded by the Milan Court of Appeal in June 2025, when the life sentence was confirmed. In the reasons for the decision, the Supreme Court asked to delve into the elements relating to the administration of rat poison to the victim, which began in December 2022 and intensified in the last month and a half before the crime, in addition to the defendant's online searches for lethal substances. Elements that would have been overlooked by the appeal court.
Pg: "For Impagnatiello to recognize the maximum intensity of the intent"
The deputy general prosecutor of Milan Maria Pia Gualtieri asked to recognize in Impagnatiello the aggravating circumstance of premeditation, in addition to that of the cruelty already recognized, to account for the "maximum intensity of the intent" with which he killed his partner Giulia Tramontano, who was seven months pregnant. "It is important to recognize it to put things right and give the right name" to the facts, said the prosecutor, even if "the decision cannot bring poor Giulia Tramontano back to life", but it is necessary because "there are actions that cannot be forgotten, but are an expression of the maximum intensity of the intent". For Gualtieri, the aggravating circumstance serves to restore the sense of the "brutal personality" of the accused. "Impagnatiello had plenty of time to go back on his decision, but he didn't. He wanted to bring about Giulia's death to continue his relationship with the other woman," he said. At the center of the report are the hours preceding the crime, between 3pm and 7pm on 27 May 2023, when Impagnatiello would have been unmasked by his partner and the colleague with whom he had a parallel relationship. Among the elements recalled by the prosecution, the online searches on the administration of rat poison, which began as early as 12 December 2022 and continued for months, and that relating to the "burnt ceramic bathtub", carried out before Giulia's return home. According to the prosecutor's reconstruction, the accused would also have prepared the apartment before the arrival of his partner, who was attacked as soon as she entered. The public prosecution asks to recognize the aggravating circumstance of premeditation, which does not affect the life sentence that Impagnatiello is serving in prison.
Impagnatiello Defense: “No to inferences and conjectures”
"Stick to the evidentiary findings, without reaching conclusions on the basis of inferences and conjectures". It is the invitation of the defense of Alessandro Impagnatiello to the Assize Court of Appeal of Milan. Lawyer Giulia Geradini contested the reconstruction according to which the accused had prepared an ambush, moving the carpet and covering the sofa with a cloth. "The problem was not getting rid of the partner, but the presence of the fetus", claimed the defence, according to which the administration of rat poison which began in December 2022 was aimed at causing a spontaneous abortion. In support of the thesis, the testimony of Giulia's mother on her daughter's disappointment at her partner's reaction to the pregnancy was also recalled. "The only certainty is that the poison administered was not in a dosage sufficient to cause death", stated the lawyer, also recalling the conduct following the crime, defined as "extemporaneous and approximate". Impagnatiello, he said, "purchased petrol after the murder, moved the body several times and left the rat poison in the backpack which he continued to use, thus contributing to its discovery by investigators". "Evaluate the conduct for what it was, without forcing", is the request of the defense, according to which the elements collected do not demonstrate premeditation, without "reducing the defendant's responsibility for the murder".
What can happen
Without prejudice to the first and second degree life sentences, the judges, as decided by the Court of Cassation which ordered a new trial on 9 April, must therefore only re-evaluate the aggravating circumstance of premeditation which had not been recognized in the appeal proceedings, unlike in the first degree. For the Supreme Court, however, there are elements, in the trial documents, to "demonstrate that Impagnatiello's idea" of killing Giulia Tramontano "had already emerged many months before" May 27, 2023. The Milanese Court had excluded the aggravating circumstances of premeditation, maintaining, with the confirmation, however, of the life sentence those of cruelty and the obligation of cohabitation. Decision that had exploded the anger of the victim's family: "Shame, shame. They call it law but it reads as disgust", her sister Chiara wrote on social media after the sentence that canceled the premeditated crime. The Supreme Court accepted the appeal of the Milanese Prosecutor General's Office and the arguments of the deputy prosecutor in the Supreme Court.
