May 11, 2026
Texas Man Flees To Italy To Avoid Trial For Murdering His Pregnant Wife
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RSS Feed A Texas man who cut off his ankle monitor and fled weeks before his capital murder trial, was in an Italian courtroom today. 40-year-old Lee Gilley was apprehended while trying to enter Milan with a forged Belgian passport that allowed him to flee Texas. Now Gilley’s fate is in the hands of an Italian judge as he fights extradition. Gilley is seeking asylum and protection in Italy from the death penalty.
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00:00:02
Speaker 1: Hey, the folks, it is Monday, May eleventh, and an American man is seeking asylum in Italy. He doesn't want to come back to the US because he says he is being persecuted.
00:00:12
Speaker 2: Why.
00:00:13
Speaker 1: He says, he's been falsely accused of strangling to death his pregnant wife. And with that, welcome to this episode of Amy and TJ. A fascinating case. Oh, by the way, he fled right before his murder trial, so he doesn't necessarily look like a guy who's innocent, but he says he is no.
00:00:31
Speaker 2: In fact, his lawyer did say he was concerned that this might make him look guilty.
00:00:38
Speaker 3: Yeah you think so.
00:00:40
Speaker 2: He has been behind bars or excuse me, he was afforded the ability to post bail to get out on bond rather than wait behind bars for his murder trial. And so yes, just before his trial is set to begin, he cuts off his ankle monitor.
00:00:54
Speaker 1: And by the way, the trial was supposed to begin this month for a crime that was minute in twenty twenty four. So the guy we're talking about here is Lee Gilly, forty years old now, but he is accused of killing his pregnant wife in twenty twenty four. We'll get into the details of the crime here, Robes. But he was supposed to go to trial. It was weeks away from starting. And then Robes on May first, the great escape, which cutting off an ankle monitor doesn't seem to be that difficult, but he puts some time, as I'm planning, and some effort into getting away.
00:01:29
Speaker 3: Uh, that's right.
00:01:30
Speaker 2: He was actually able to get to use a fake passport, had a fake name.
00:01:37
Speaker 3: He had he said he was a Belgian citizen. I believe was the fake passport. His name le Jeu Jean luc Olivet's what he went with. That's what he went with. It worked enough to get him to Milan. But when he went through.
00:01:50
Speaker 2: Or tried to get through security there at Milan, his passport got flagged.
00:01:53
Speaker 1: He got flagged. Now he didn't get flagged, Robes, as a criminal. He didn't get flagged as a guy who has wanted for murder back in the US. It just got flagged for whatever reason. After a while, this is going on, and then he just flat out admits, Hey, this is who I am, this is where I'm from, this is what I'm accused of. And here we go. So Robes, this just happened to be today. He was in court in a court in Italy today because they're trying to get his butt back to the US and he ain't trying to come just yet.
00:02:23
Speaker 2: No, this was an extradition hearing, and the judge in Italy today asked Lee, Gilly, you know, do you consent to be extradited back to the United States.
00:02:33
Speaker 3: His answer, I do not consent. And he didn't stop there.
00:02:38
Speaker 1: He did not, and Robes, I'm not sure how far this is going to go, if it's up to him or not. But as of right now, he's not on his way back, but he is, and he decided to do this in an Italian court today once again proclaim his innocence. Declaire quote. My wife is dead and they wrongly blamed me. That's why I no longer have faith in the justice system. I am innocent. I did not kill my wife. The only crime I committed was fleeing. I fled to avoid being killed. I would took great lengths to escape and seek protection in Italy. A reminder, this crime, if we haven't said, did take places in Houston, a state not necessarily known for being shy about using the death penalty. So I assume that's the reference he's making there in Houston.
00:03:21
Speaker 2: Yes, he actually went to great lengths. It was almost as if he was complimenting Italians and their judicial system in Europe as a whole, saying, I knew i would get due process over here, and I've done a lot of research, and I found that the Italian justice system is much more fair and I'll have a better chance at getting a fair trial if i stay here in Italy. I think he even cited the culture, just the judicial system. He was literally praising the country of Italy to the judge in the hopes of persuading him not to send him back to the United States.
00:03:52
Speaker 1: That's exactly what all of that should be interpreted. It has please don't send me back. And we don't know just yet what's to come up that, but Robes, this is pretty remarkable, as you put it, that a guy who was accused of strangling to death his thirty eight year old and pregnant wife. They discovered she was eight weeks pregnant. I believe in the autopsy. They set his bond in a million dollars and he met it so that means he could get out. The protection was the ankle monitor. Apparently it didn't work.
00:04:24
Speaker 2: No, And in fact, obviously I looked at you and I thought, my god, can you think of anyone other than a white male who would have been given a bond that was purely attainable for him?
00:04:34
Speaker 3: He was a well off dude, had a house.
00:04:36
Speaker 2: I mean, you can use lots of collateral, etcetera to post bonds like these, But just the fact that he had a reasonable bond that he could meet. Can you imagine that ever being granted or afforded to anyone of color.
00:04:47
Speaker 1: Look, I don't know how the system works and what the criteria are. And you plug, you know, sometimes we see judge plug things into a formula and say, all right, this is your crime, this is what you did in the past, and all right, it says your bond should be a million. I don't know how they determine, but there are some crimes that seem like like some people we hear and they go, okay, clearly they're not going to get bond, And then one like this I wouldn't have assumed. So he's accused of murdering two people.
00:05:12
Speaker 2: Yeah, accused of murdering your pregnant wife would not seem like a charred that serious that you would be able to just be wandering free, Yes, freely. I know you have an ankle monitor so you can only go to certain places. But clearly that didn't work for him, and that didn't stop him. And when you hear what he's accused of doing, it is it's even more concerning that he would be allowed to make bond and to be able to mingle so to speak with members of the community, I mean rogue.
00:05:41
Speaker 1: This is we are talking about strangulation. Yes, so this is a matter. I believe. It came in October seventh of twenty twenty four as a suicide call initially, but his wife was found unresponsive thirty eight years old. It wasn't until later at the hospital that they did discover they saw some bruising to her phase into her throat, and they started piecing it together and he was arrested a few days later, and then Robes he was arrested a few days later, and a few days after that he was back chilling at home.
00:06:11
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, that really is remarkable when you think about those that sequence of events and imagine it being anyone else.
00:06:18
Speaker 3: That's I mean, a.
00:06:19
Speaker 2: Million dollars after being charged with capital murder. When you are charged with capital murder, you know that your life is on the line. You are desperate, and so to give somebody that much time at home to plan or to do whatever you need to do is seemingly irresponsible.
00:06:37
Speaker 3: I'm really shocked. I truly am. You may laugh at me, but I am shocked.
00:06:40
Speaker 2: Then they would let somebody out with that series of a charge.
00:06:44
Speaker 1: This is a double capital murder, are we talking about? Yes, I mean I assume the charge is included in there about the I mean she was pregnant eight weeks. Yes, right, I assume that charges. But this is the guy who was accused of being a double murderer and the two people he killed, his wife and his unborn child. So if and he got bonded, okay, the system works, however, supposed to work, and maybe he deserved. I don't know what to say there robes, but he goes. If you look at this, he was arrested October eleventh, Yes, he was out days later. I think it was six days after that, so we're around the seventeenth. So he has been out of jail since October seventeenth ish of twenty twenty four. A full year and a half.
00:07:26
Speaker 3: Wow.
00:07:26
Speaker 1: For the most point, that's a lot of time. Like you said, two platin plan whatever.
00:07:31
Speaker 2: Yes, And obviously during that time he was able to secure fake enough passports and documentation that claimed he was some Belgian national that he was able to get through security. I'm assuming through one of the Houston area airports to make his way on an Air Canada jet.
00:07:47
Speaker 3: To Italy to Milan.
00:07:51
Speaker 2: That is remarkable to me that he was able to do all of that while allegedly being monitored by the courts to make sure he didn't have anywhere to go. And normally, obviously if you're charged with something like this, to be released with an ankle monitor, you still have to have you have to usually release your passport, you have to hand over any sort of ability to travel outside of the country.
00:08:14
Speaker 3: But at what point did the ankle monitor go off?
00:08:16
Speaker 2: Like I know he cut it off, So maybe if you place it in a like at night or something on his bed, they wouldn't know he hadn't gotten, he hadn't left.
00:08:24
Speaker 1: I'm trying to think of the experiences, and I've obviously never worn one, but I've been around guys who had to use it and I've been around guys and I remember like they'll check in with you at a certain time, like literally, you hear a voice come on the ankle monitor, and if you don't respond back in a matter of minute, they will send somebody right there as a violation of your bail and they will come get you. What he must have known when they're going to check They're going to know when they're going to check in. But to cut that thing off and make it through an airport, I mean, I'm shocked. Did they know immediately it came off and it was just too late? They didn't where it was at that point, So he's I mean the airport.
00:09:03
Speaker 2: It really it's something that you would see in a movie that you would say when you watch that could never actually happen. I can't recall seeing or remembering anything recently where someone charged with that heinous of a crime was a allowed out on bond and b was able to cut off their ankle monitor and get far enough away as Italy.
00:09:19
Speaker 3: That is pretty remarkable. And now he has the you know.
00:09:23
Speaker 2: I shouldn't say audacity, but now he's this is all a part of a legal strategy for him to not come back to the States.
00:09:29
Speaker 1: A legal strategy that could also end up being some sort of political one making some statement, don't send me back there. They're they're going to kill me. Let me stay here with you all in Italy. I don't know what Italy's rules are. Will they refuse to extradite. We don't know how that's going to go yet. But yes, he did have a court date today. And it's not the date or the court I should say, not the country even where he should have been in court this month. But he is making a plea. So he asked the judge, or rather the judge, do you consent to extradition? He heard his answer, no, I do not consent. So what happens now, Well, we await a decision, and it's possible, folks, it's possible he might not be coming back soon.
00:10:13
Speaker 3: Stay here.
00:10:22
Speaker 2: Welcome back everyone to this episode of Amy and TJ. We are talking about a Texas man who was set to begin his murder trial, his capital murder trial for killing his pregnant wife in October of twenty twenty four.
00:10:37
Speaker 3: We're talking about Lee Gilly. He was charged with.
00:10:40
Speaker 2: That series of a charge, was granted bail a few days after he was arrested. He had an ankle monitor he managed to cut off, had forged documents he managed to purchase somehow, and he made his way all the way to Milan. And he was in an Italian courtroom today telling the judge, Yeah, I want to go back, No thanks all past I prefer Europe. I chose Europe, he said, because if it's due process guarantees and Italy because there is a strong public opposition to the death penalty.
00:11:13
Speaker 1: And I'm from Texas.
00:11:16
Speaker 3: Need I say more?
00:11:17
Speaker 1: Did he mention that he is from Texas? Now did you see if they were for sure going for the death penalty?
00:11:25
Speaker 2: Now this case in Texas, and that is why the judge now needed to take a beat, because it hasn't been clarified. And he did indicate that he wanted clarification as to whether or not Gilly could possibly be facing the death penalty. We all know a capital murder charge and certainly being convicted of murdering your pregnant wife would certainly put him put the death penalty on the table as.
00:11:49
Speaker 3: Far as Texas law goes. Oh, I think that's funny.
00:11:53
Speaker 1: I know, I mean, I think there's some shoplifting that to the death penalty, possibly just getting Texas. You understand where we're coming from. We know it's not that bad, and Florida's meeting you right now in death penalty case. But anyway, that's neither here nor there. But Ropes, yes, it's capitain murder. He's eligible for the death penalty, but they have not said for sure whether they're going to pursue it. But is Italy going to refuse to send him back? Will the judge be able to make this call on his or her own to say, hey, we'll send you, or are there plenty other people need to be signing off on this. Roes are kind of in a stand still right now.
00:12:29
Speaker 2: It's unclear because the judge asked him specifically, do you want to.
00:12:33
Speaker 3: Move to another country?
00:12:35
Speaker 2: And he said yes, I chose Europe, I chose Italy and he thanked the judge twice in Italian. So I bet he's been practicing for this moment, just in case he ended up in front of an Italian judge. And so we're waiting basically now on this Italian justice minister. His name is Carlo Nordio, and he'll decide whether or not to extradite Gilly but it will be curious.
00:13:00
Speaker 3: I mean, I don't know.
00:13:01
Speaker 2: I didn't see any indication, did you, as to which way he may rule on this.
00:13:06
Speaker 1: Because I mean, Romes, does the US have to give Italy assurances that we won't seek the death penalty before they'll say, okay, we'll send them back. I'm not sure because they haven't said they're giving him the death penalty yet, so they but we need to give you assurances that we won't seek it later.
00:13:27
Speaker 2: And I'm wondering if just the state of Texas or whoever's making this call the attorney general, or does it this rise to the level of the federal government. I don't know, But the point being, do you really want to incentivize someone Not that most people would be capable of pulling off something like this, but really truly incentivize people to flee to another country to escape the laws that are clearly in place in the state that you chose to reside in. I mean, you don't want to incentivize somebody or and I know that they wouldn't necessarily want to make an example out of anybody, but they certainly wouldn't want this because this is getting international attention. Obviously, Texas folks don't want anyone to think they're in Texas that someone in Italy, some Italian judge, is telling them what they can and cannot do with the prisoner who committed a crime in their state.
00:14:11
Speaker 1: Yeah, Texas not going to like some Italian dude and some swede Lofas and a double breasted no jagget, no Jackett telling them what to do.
00:14:23
Speaker 2: No in an attorney and attorney for Gilly this is interesting.
00:14:27
Speaker 3: Her name is Monica Grosso.
00:14:29
Speaker 2: She told NBC News that she is confident that her client will be able to obtain international.
00:14:35
Speaker 3: Protection from Italy.
00:14:37
Speaker 2: Maybe that's just what she's supposed to say, but she sounded confident when speaking to NBC.
00:14:41
Speaker 1: Well, they seem like they're trying to turn this into an international incident of some guy. They're screaming as loud as they can, robes publicly and saying all the things to get attention, get headlined and maybe get something. But this is a strategy. We know this. It's just being done on an international scale.
00:14:58
Speaker 3: I can't imagine. I know that certainly.
00:15:01
Speaker 2: You know he has other children, by the way, and so there's a back and forth now a custody battle over who has these children, which grandparents, which set of relatives will be able to watch over these poor children. They've lost their mother and now their father has fled the country. And look, his trial was set to begin in a matter of weeks, So this is a total mess and is going to need some resolution pretty quickly.
00:15:24
Speaker 1: Well, we will see if he can get back quickly enough, because Bob, I believe it was May twenty ninth is when his trial was expected. Don't know if they could dare still go forward if he gets back, But a trial was supposed to happen here in a matter of weeks.
00:15:37
Speaker 2: Yes, and if it wasn't on anyone's radar, it wasn't necessarily on ours, but it certainly is now. We will be watching to see what happens with Gilly, and certainly if and when he makes it back to the United States, we'll be following his trial. But without everyone, Thank you as always for listening to us. I'm Amy Roboch alongside TJ.
00:15:54
Speaker 3: Holmes. We'll talk to you soon.
00:16:00
Speaker 1: Fe
Speaker 1: Hey, the folks, it is Monday, May eleventh, and an American man is seeking asylum in Italy. He doesn't want to come back to the US because he says he is being persecuted.
00:00:12
Speaker 2: Why.
00:00:13
Speaker 1: He says, he's been falsely accused of strangling to death his pregnant wife. And with that, welcome to this episode of Amy and TJ. A fascinating case. Oh, by the way, he fled right before his murder trial, so he doesn't necessarily look like a guy who's innocent, but he says he is no.
00:00:31
Speaker 2: In fact, his lawyer did say he was concerned that this might make him look guilty.
00:00:38
Speaker 3: Yeah you think so.
00:00:40
Speaker 2: He has been behind bars or excuse me, he was afforded the ability to post bail to get out on bond rather than wait behind bars for his murder trial. And so yes, just before his trial is set to begin, he cuts off his ankle monitor.
00:00:54
Speaker 1: And by the way, the trial was supposed to begin this month for a crime that was minute in twenty twenty four. So the guy we're talking about here is Lee Gilly, forty years old now, but he is accused of killing his pregnant wife in twenty twenty four. We'll get into the details of the crime here, Robes. But he was supposed to go to trial. It was weeks away from starting. And then Robes on May first, the great escape, which cutting off an ankle monitor doesn't seem to be that difficult, but he puts some time, as I'm planning, and some effort into getting away.
00:01:29
Speaker 3: Uh, that's right.
00:01:30
Speaker 2: He was actually able to get to use a fake passport, had a fake name.
00:01:37
Speaker 3: He had he said he was a Belgian citizen. I believe was the fake passport. His name le Jeu Jean luc Olivet's what he went with. That's what he went with. It worked enough to get him to Milan. But when he went through.
00:01:50
Speaker 2: Or tried to get through security there at Milan, his passport got flagged.
00:01:53
Speaker 1: He got flagged. Now he didn't get flagged, Robes, as a criminal. He didn't get flagged as a guy who has wanted for murder back in the US. It just got flagged for whatever reason. After a while, this is going on, and then he just flat out admits, Hey, this is who I am, this is where I'm from, this is what I'm accused of. And here we go. So Robes, this just happened to be today. He was in court in a court in Italy today because they're trying to get his butt back to the US and he ain't trying to come just yet.
00:02:23
Speaker 2: No, this was an extradition hearing, and the judge in Italy today asked Lee, Gilly, you know, do you consent to be extradited back to the United States.
00:02:33
Speaker 3: His answer, I do not consent. And he didn't stop there.
00:02:38
Speaker 1: He did not, and Robes, I'm not sure how far this is going to go, if it's up to him or not. But as of right now, he's not on his way back, but he is, and he decided to do this in an Italian court today once again proclaim his innocence. Declaire quote. My wife is dead and they wrongly blamed me. That's why I no longer have faith in the justice system. I am innocent. I did not kill my wife. The only crime I committed was fleeing. I fled to avoid being killed. I would took great lengths to escape and seek protection in Italy. A reminder, this crime, if we haven't said, did take places in Houston, a state not necessarily known for being shy about using the death penalty. So I assume that's the reference he's making there in Houston.
00:03:21
Speaker 2: Yes, he actually went to great lengths. It was almost as if he was complimenting Italians and their judicial system in Europe as a whole, saying, I knew i would get due process over here, and I've done a lot of research, and I found that the Italian justice system is much more fair and I'll have a better chance at getting a fair trial if i stay here in Italy. I think he even cited the culture, just the judicial system. He was literally praising the country of Italy to the judge in the hopes of persuading him not to send him back to the United States.
00:03:52
Speaker 1: That's exactly what all of that should be interpreted. It has please don't send me back. And we don't know just yet what's to come up that, but Robes, this is pretty remarkable, as you put it, that a guy who was accused of strangling to death his thirty eight year old and pregnant wife. They discovered she was eight weeks pregnant. I believe in the autopsy. They set his bond in a million dollars and he met it so that means he could get out. The protection was the ankle monitor. Apparently it didn't work.
00:04:24
Speaker 2: No, And in fact, obviously I looked at you and I thought, my god, can you think of anyone other than a white male who would have been given a bond that was purely attainable for him?
00:04:34
Speaker 3: He was a well off dude, had a house.
00:04:36
Speaker 2: I mean, you can use lots of collateral, etcetera to post bonds like these, But just the fact that he had a reasonable bond that he could meet. Can you imagine that ever being granted or afforded to anyone of color.
00:04:47
Speaker 1: Look, I don't know how the system works and what the criteria are. And you plug, you know, sometimes we see judge plug things into a formula and say, all right, this is your crime, this is what you did in the past, and all right, it says your bond should be a million. I don't know how they determine, but there are some crimes that seem like like some people we hear and they go, okay, clearly they're not going to get bond, And then one like this I wouldn't have assumed. So he's accused of murdering two people.
00:05:12
Speaker 2: Yeah, accused of murdering your pregnant wife would not seem like a charred that serious that you would be able to just be wandering free, Yes, freely. I know you have an ankle monitor so you can only go to certain places. But clearly that didn't work for him, and that didn't stop him. And when you hear what he's accused of doing, it is it's even more concerning that he would be allowed to make bond and to be able to mingle so to speak with members of the community, I mean rogue.
00:05:41
Speaker 1: This is we are talking about strangulation. Yes, so this is a matter. I believe. It came in October seventh of twenty twenty four as a suicide call initially, but his wife was found unresponsive thirty eight years old. It wasn't until later at the hospital that they did discover they saw some bruising to her phase into her throat, and they started piecing it together and he was arrested a few days later, and then Robes he was arrested a few days later, and a few days after that he was back chilling at home.
00:06:11
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, that really is remarkable when you think about those that sequence of events and imagine it being anyone else.
00:06:18
Speaker 3: That's I mean, a.
00:06:19
Speaker 2: Million dollars after being charged with capital murder. When you are charged with capital murder, you know that your life is on the line. You are desperate, and so to give somebody that much time at home to plan or to do whatever you need to do is seemingly irresponsible.
00:06:37
Speaker 3: I'm really shocked. I truly am. You may laugh at me, but I am shocked.
00:06:40
Speaker 2: Then they would let somebody out with that series of a charge.
00:06:44
Speaker 1: This is a double capital murder, are we talking about? Yes, I mean I assume the charge is included in there about the I mean she was pregnant eight weeks. Yes, right, I assume that charges. But this is the guy who was accused of being a double murderer and the two people he killed, his wife and his unborn child. So if and he got bonded, okay, the system works, however, supposed to work, and maybe he deserved. I don't know what to say there robes, but he goes. If you look at this, he was arrested October eleventh, Yes, he was out days later. I think it was six days after that, so we're around the seventeenth. So he has been out of jail since October seventeenth ish of twenty twenty four. A full year and a half.
00:07:26
Speaker 3: Wow.
00:07:26
Speaker 1: For the most point, that's a lot of time. Like you said, two platin plan whatever.
00:07:31
Speaker 2: Yes, And obviously during that time he was able to secure fake enough passports and documentation that claimed he was some Belgian national that he was able to get through security. I'm assuming through one of the Houston area airports to make his way on an Air Canada jet.
00:07:47
Speaker 3: To Italy to Milan.
00:07:51
Speaker 2: That is remarkable to me that he was able to do all of that while allegedly being monitored by the courts to make sure he didn't have anywhere to go. And normally, obviously if you're charged with something like this, to be released with an ankle monitor, you still have to have you have to usually release your passport, you have to hand over any sort of ability to travel outside of the country.
00:08:14
Speaker 3: But at what point did the ankle monitor go off?
00:08:16
Speaker 2: Like I know he cut it off, So maybe if you place it in a like at night or something on his bed, they wouldn't know he hadn't gotten, he hadn't left.
00:08:24
Speaker 1: I'm trying to think of the experiences, and I've obviously never worn one, but I've been around guys who had to use it and I've been around guys and I remember like they'll check in with you at a certain time, like literally, you hear a voice come on the ankle monitor, and if you don't respond back in a matter of minute, they will send somebody right there as a violation of your bail and they will come get you. What he must have known when they're going to check They're going to know when they're going to check in. But to cut that thing off and make it through an airport, I mean, I'm shocked. Did they know immediately it came off and it was just too late? They didn't where it was at that point, So he's I mean the airport.
00:09:03
Speaker 2: It really it's something that you would see in a movie that you would say when you watch that could never actually happen. I can't recall seeing or remembering anything recently where someone charged with that heinous of a crime was a allowed out on bond and b was able to cut off their ankle monitor and get far enough away as Italy.
00:09:19
Speaker 3: That is pretty remarkable. And now he has the you know.
00:09:23
Speaker 2: I shouldn't say audacity, but now he's this is all a part of a legal strategy for him to not come back to the States.
00:09:29
Speaker 1: A legal strategy that could also end up being some sort of political one making some statement, don't send me back there. They're they're going to kill me. Let me stay here with you all in Italy. I don't know what Italy's rules are. Will they refuse to extradite. We don't know how that's going to go yet. But yes, he did have a court date today. And it's not the date or the court I should say, not the country even where he should have been in court this month. But he is making a plea. So he asked the judge, or rather the judge, do you consent to extradition? He heard his answer, no, I do not consent. So what happens now, Well, we await a decision, and it's possible, folks, it's possible he might not be coming back soon.
00:10:13
Speaker 3: Stay here.
00:10:22
Speaker 2: Welcome back everyone to this episode of Amy and TJ. We are talking about a Texas man who was set to begin his murder trial, his capital murder trial for killing his pregnant wife in October of twenty twenty four.
00:10:37
Speaker 3: We're talking about Lee Gilly. He was charged with.
00:10:40
Speaker 2: That series of a charge, was granted bail a few days after he was arrested. He had an ankle monitor he managed to cut off, had forged documents he managed to purchase somehow, and he made his way all the way to Milan. And he was in an Italian courtroom today telling the judge, Yeah, I want to go back, No thanks all past I prefer Europe. I chose Europe, he said, because if it's due process guarantees and Italy because there is a strong public opposition to the death penalty.
00:11:13
Speaker 1: And I'm from Texas.
00:11:16
Speaker 3: Need I say more?
00:11:17
Speaker 1: Did he mention that he is from Texas? Now did you see if they were for sure going for the death penalty?
00:11:25
Speaker 2: Now this case in Texas, and that is why the judge now needed to take a beat, because it hasn't been clarified. And he did indicate that he wanted clarification as to whether or not Gilly could possibly be facing the death penalty. We all know a capital murder charge and certainly being convicted of murdering your pregnant wife would certainly put him put the death penalty on the table as.
00:11:49
Speaker 3: Far as Texas law goes. Oh, I think that's funny.
00:11:53
Speaker 1: I know, I mean, I think there's some shoplifting that to the death penalty, possibly just getting Texas. You understand where we're coming from. We know it's not that bad, and Florida's meeting you right now in death penalty case. But anyway, that's neither here nor there. But Ropes, yes, it's capitain murder. He's eligible for the death penalty, but they have not said for sure whether they're going to pursue it. But is Italy going to refuse to send him back? Will the judge be able to make this call on his or her own to say, hey, we'll send you, or are there plenty other people need to be signing off on this. Roes are kind of in a stand still right now.
00:12:29
Speaker 2: It's unclear because the judge asked him specifically, do you want to.
00:12:33
Speaker 3: Move to another country?
00:12:35
Speaker 2: And he said yes, I chose Europe, I chose Italy and he thanked the judge twice in Italian. So I bet he's been practicing for this moment, just in case he ended up in front of an Italian judge. And so we're waiting basically now on this Italian justice minister. His name is Carlo Nordio, and he'll decide whether or not to extradite Gilly but it will be curious.
00:13:00
Speaker 3: I mean, I don't know.
00:13:01
Speaker 2: I didn't see any indication, did you, as to which way he may rule on this.
00:13:06
Speaker 1: Because I mean, Romes, does the US have to give Italy assurances that we won't seek the death penalty before they'll say, okay, we'll send them back. I'm not sure because they haven't said they're giving him the death penalty yet, so they but we need to give you assurances that we won't seek it later.
00:13:27
Speaker 2: And I'm wondering if just the state of Texas or whoever's making this call the attorney general, or does it this rise to the level of the federal government. I don't know, But the point being, do you really want to incentivize someone Not that most people would be capable of pulling off something like this, but really truly incentivize people to flee to another country to escape the laws that are clearly in place in the state that you chose to reside in. I mean, you don't want to incentivize somebody or and I know that they wouldn't necessarily want to make an example out of anybody, but they certainly wouldn't want this because this is getting international attention. Obviously, Texas folks don't want anyone to think they're in Texas that someone in Italy, some Italian judge, is telling them what they can and cannot do with the prisoner who committed a crime in their state.
00:14:11
Speaker 1: Yeah, Texas not going to like some Italian dude and some swede Lofas and a double breasted no jagget, no Jackett telling them what to do.
00:14:23
Speaker 2: No in an attorney and attorney for Gilly this is interesting.
00:14:27
Speaker 3: Her name is Monica Grosso.
00:14:29
Speaker 2: She told NBC News that she is confident that her client will be able to obtain international.
00:14:35
Speaker 3: Protection from Italy.
00:14:37
Speaker 2: Maybe that's just what she's supposed to say, but she sounded confident when speaking to NBC.
00:14:41
Speaker 1: Well, they seem like they're trying to turn this into an international incident of some guy. They're screaming as loud as they can, robes publicly and saying all the things to get attention, get headlined and maybe get something. But this is a strategy. We know this. It's just being done on an international scale.
00:14:58
Speaker 3: I can't imagine. I know that certainly.
00:15:01
Speaker 2: You know he has other children, by the way, and so there's a back and forth now a custody battle over who has these children, which grandparents, which set of relatives will be able to watch over these poor children. They've lost their mother and now their father has fled the country. And look, his trial was set to begin in a matter of weeks, So this is a total mess and is going to need some resolution pretty quickly.
00:15:24
Speaker 1: Well, we will see if he can get back quickly enough, because Bob, I believe it was May twenty ninth is when his trial was expected. Don't know if they could dare still go forward if he gets back, But a trial was supposed to happen here in a matter of weeks.
00:15:37
Speaker 2: Yes, and if it wasn't on anyone's radar, it wasn't necessarily on ours, but it certainly is now. We will be watching to see what happens with Gilly, and certainly if and when he makes it back to the United States, we'll be following his trial. But without everyone, Thank you as always for listening to us. I'm Amy Roboch alongside TJ.
00:15:54
Speaker 3: Holmes. We'll talk to you soon.
00:16:00
Speaker 1: Fe