The Trento Court of Appeal has granted Monica Busetto a review of her conviction and she has been released from prison. The reported turning point is the necklace tied to the DNA evidence: family photographs indicate that the necklace worn by victim Lida Taffi Pamio did not match, in length or appearance, the one seized from Busetto’s home.
Busetto, 64, had received a final 25-year sentence for the killing of her neighbour in Mestre in December 2012 and spent more than a decade in prison. La Repubblica reported that the seized necklace was 58 centimetres long, while the necklace visible in photographs from the 1980s was estimated at 68 to 72 centimetres and looked different. The court accepted that ground for review and did not need to examine a separate defence argument about possible contamination of evidence.
That distinction matters. The ruling does not settle Busetto’s guilt or innocence in the killing. It does, however, reopen scrutiny of the identity of the object that supported the central DNA element in the original case. Where a physical exhibit bears such weight, establishing whose object it was is not a peripheral dispute; it can affect the foundation of the conviction.
The case also carried an earlier procedural contradiction. Susanna “Milly” Lazzarini, who had confessed to another killing and gave changing accounts about Taffi Pamio’s death, was acquitted of that killing in her own separate trial, while Busetto was convicted in a separate proceeding. La Repubblica reported that Venice’s prosecutor general had also sought a review based on the conflict between those outcomes. Trento instead accepted the argument concerning the necklace.
The review now begins a new stage in the case. The available report does not include the full court ruling or a timetable for the new merits hearing, so it cannot establish how that proceeding will conclude.
Sources
- la Repubblica · Source date: 2026-11-13
Independent editorial content. WUA is not affiliated with any political party. 2026-11-13