Mario Roggero, a 72-year-old jeweler from Grinzane Cavour in the province of Cuneo, was definitively sentenced to 14 years and 9 months in prison for killing two robbers and wounding a third after the assault on his shop on April 28, 2021. The conviction was handed down by the Court of Appeal of Turin.

The case has sparked a political debate on self-defense law. The Lega has introduced a bill aimed at expanding the limits of self-defense, incorporating the principle of non-punishability for any reaction following an armed aggression. Lega secretary Matteo Salvini has involved Ministers Elisabetta Bongiorno and Pierantonio Matone on the Roggero issue.

The proposal, however, met resistance from Forza Italia, a member of the governing majority. Forza Italia parliamentarians spoke of "rushing ahead" and urged against legislating on emotional impulse. Deputy Justice Minister Sisto stated that the reform risked subverting the rule of law. Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, while calling the sentence "disproportionate," adopted a cautious stance, avoiding an open clash with the Lega.

The opposition sharply criticized the initiative. Five Star Movement leader Giuseppe Conte accused center-right parties of "political exploitation" over the case and argued that the Roggero case does not fall under self-defense. Conte argued that if everyone applied the rule of do-it-yourself justice, the jeweler himself would have been endangered, citing a 2005 episode in which Roggero allegedly drew a gun and threatened his daughter's ex-boyfriend and the latter's parents. The Democratic Party called the proposal a "law of the jungle."

Some observers and outlets have noted a contextual element: the self-defense law passed in 2019, championed by Salvini when he was Interior Minister and voted also by Brothers of Italy and the Five Star Movement, provides that self-defense is valid if the thief is inside the dwelling, but not if the thief exits and is pursued. According to this interpretation, the very fact that Roggero chased the fleeing robbers in the street before shooting made the 2019 law inapplicable to his case.

The judges of the Court of Appeal of Turin, in the reasoning of the verdict, identified elements that weakened the jeweler's position. In the video of the incident, Roggero is seen drawing a revolver from a drawer and involuntarily colliding with his wife before shooting the fleeing robbers in the back. The Court found not credible the account that Roggero fired because he believed his wife had been kidnapped, noting that his behavior after colliding with his wife was not consistent with the hypothesis of fear for her fate. The judges further highlighted an impulsive pattern of reaction predating the 2021 events, citing the 2005 episode that had cost him his firearms license.

Roggero's procedural conduct was also deemed relevant: he showed no remorse during the proceedings, at least until arriving at the Bollate prison. After the first-instance verdict, he had donated part of his real estate assets to one of the victims, Mariangela Sandrone, and had transferred 50,000 euros to a bank account in Tunisia, a circumstance that according to prosecutors suggested he was preparing to flee abroad in the event of a final conviction.