In 2017, Dimitri Fricano was arrested for killing his girlfriend during a heated argument while they were vacationing in Sardinia. He originally told police that robbers had attacked and killed her, but an investigation found more and more holes in his story. He eventually admitted that he had stabbed her more than 50 times. He was put on trial for murder, found guilty, and was sentenced to 30 years behind bars in 2022. At the time of his conviction Fricano weighed 260 pounds, but during his first year of incarceration, he ballooned to 440 pounds, a weight doctors say puts him at risk of cardiovascular disease. He reportedly can’t even get around the prison without crutches or a wheelchair. Now, an Italian court has ruled that his condition is “incompatible with the prison regime” because prison makes it impossible for him to follow a low-calorie diet. A panel of judges agreed that he can’t remain incarcerated because his obesity and chain-smoking habit put him at imminent risk of dying. Fricano will now serve the remainder of his sentence under house arrest, a decision that has infuriated his victim’s family.
