HOUSTON – Harris County capital murder suspect Lee Gilley appeared in a courtroom in Turin, Italy, around 3 a.m. local time Monday, for a hearing to validate his arrest at the Turin Court of Appeals.
The 39-year-old, accused of killing his pregnant wife Christa Bauer in the Heights in Oct. 2024, cut off his ankle monitor while out of jail on a $1 million bond, and flew to Italy earlier this month just weeks before his trial.
Recommended Videos
RELATED: Judge forfeits $1 million bond for capital murder suspect who fled to Italy before trial
He was stopped by border police when he arrived at the airport in Milan while presenting forged travel documents and using the name “Lejeune Jean Luc Olivier,” according to a federal criminal complaint.
In the Italian courtroom Monday morning, Gilley did not consent to being extradited to the U.S., although his U.S. defense attorney Dick DeGuerin said that’s what he advised Gilley to do during a phone call last week.
An NBC News journalist in the room reported that Gilley then made unsolicited statements to Judge Marta Sterpos.
“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 went to great lengths to escape and seek protection in Italy,” Gilley reportedly said.
Gilley told the court he chose Italy from the very beginning — a place his late wife loved dearly, according to friends — and said he’d like to live in the European country because of the lifestyle, culture, international protection, and to receive a fair trial.
The judge asked if he wanted to move to another country, and Gilley reportedly responded: “I chose Europe because of its due process guarantees, and Italy because there is strong public opposition to the death penalty.”
Harris County prosecutors have never indicated an intent to seek death for Gilley, although the other punishment option for capital murder is life without parole, which also isn’t in compliance with European law, Gilley’s Italian defense attorney Monica Grosso told reporters Monday.
Italian newspaper la Repubblica reported that Gilley also expressed distrust of the U.S. justice system, citing the removal of his two children after Bauer’s death despite a non-violent history.
Gilley thanked the judge in Italian twice, while wearing jeans and a white shirt.
The Italian Ministry of Justice told NBC News a decision hasn’t been decided yet over Gilley’s extradition, noting that there haven’t been any requests from the Trump administration.
KPRC 2 News reached out to the White House Monday, which referred any requests related to Gilley’s extradition to the U.S. Department of Justice.
Outside the courtroom, Grosso said Gilley believes he’s been the subject of a media campaign in the U.S. that would not have allowed him to obtain a real fair trial, and for that reason, “terrified,” he left the country.
Grosso, who declined to comment when contacted by KPRC 2 News over the weekend and is not subject to the gag order issued in the Texas capital murder case late Friday, described Gilley as tired but “calm and confident” about obtaining international protection.
MORE ON THE GAG ORDER: Judge issues gag order limiting public comments in Lee Gilley capital murder case
She is working to have him transferred to the CPR of Turin, an administrative detention center, where he would await the process for international protection away from prison restrictions, la Repubblica reported.
According to la Repubblica, it will take five days to determine if Gilley will remain in his cell at the Lorusso e Cutugno prison in Turin, where he’s been held in solitary confinement, or if he will begin fighting for political asylum from the CPR of Turin.
“At the CPR he would be waiting to be summoned before a territorial commission that will decide on his political asylum,” la Repubblica journalist Giado Lo Porto said. “Freedom is excluded because he has no support or a home here in Turin, therefore ... he must wait for the commission’s decision.”
For now, Gilley’s Harris County capital murder trial remains scheduled to start late this month.