{"id":14971,"date":"2026-05-11T19:41:11","date_gmt":"2026-05-11T19:41:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/14971\/"},"modified":"2026-05-11T19:41:11","modified_gmt":"2026-05-11T19:41:11","slug":"i-am-innocent-lee-gilley-asks-for-protection-in-italy-after-fleeing-u-s-before-harris-county-capital-murder-trial","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/14971\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018I am innocent\u2019: Lee Gilley asks for protection in Italy after fleeing U.S. before Harris County capital murder trial"},"content":{"rendered":"

HOUSTON \u2013 Harris County capital murder suspect Lee Gilley<\/a> 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.<\/p>\n

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. <\/p>\n

RELATED: Judge forfeits $1 million bond for capital murder suspect who fled to Italy before trial<\/a><\/p>\n

He was stopped by border police when he arrived at the airport in Milan while presenting forged travel documents and using the name \u201cLejeune Jean Luc Olivier,\u201d according to a federal criminal complaint.<\/p>\n

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\u2019s what he advised Gilley to do during a phone call last week. <\/p>\n

An NBC News journalist in the room reported that Gilley then made unsolicited statements to Judge Marta Sterpos.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy wife is dead, and they wrongly blamed me; that\u2019s 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,\u201d Gilley reportedly said.<\/p>\n

Gilley told the court he chose Italy from the very beginning \u2014 a place his late wife loved dearly, according to friends<\/a> \u2014 and said he\u2019d like to live in the European country because of the lifestyle, culture, international protection, and to receive a fair trial.<\/p>\n

RELATED: \u2018She loved Italy\u2019: Houston murder victim\u2019s friends frustrated over husband Lee Gilley fleeing U.S. ahead of trial<\/a><\/p>\n

The judge asked if he wanted to move to another country, and Gilley reportedly responded: \u201cI chose Europe because of its due process guarantees, and Italy because there is strong public opposition to the death penalty.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u2019t in compliance with European law, Gilley\u2019s Italian defense attorney Monica Grosso told reporters Monday. <\/p>\n

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\u2019s death despite a non-violent history.<\/p>\n

Gilley thanked the judge in Italian twice, while wearing jeans and a white shirt.<\/p>\n

The Italian Ministry of Justice told NBC News a decision hasn\u2019t been decided yet over Gilley\u2019s extradition, noting that there haven\u2019t been any requests from the Trump administration.<\/p>\n

KPRC 2 News reached out to the White House Monday, which referred any requests related to Gilley\u2019s extradition to the U.S. Department of Justice.<\/p>\n

Outside the courtroom, Grosso said Gilley believes he\u2019s 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, \u201cterrified,\u201d he left the country.<\/p>\n

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,<\/a> described Gilley as tired but \u201ccalm and confident\u201d about obtaining international protection.<\/p>\n

MORE ON THE GAG ORDER: Judge issues gag order limiting public comments in Lee Gilley capital murder case<\/a><\/p>\n

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. <\/p>\n

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\u2019s been held in solitary confinement, or if he will begin fighting for political asylum from the CPR of Turin. <\/p>\n

\u201cAt the CPR he would be waiting to be summoned before a territorial commission that will decide on his political asylum,\u201d la Repubblica journalist Giado Lo Porto said. \u201cFreedom is excluded because he has no support or a home here in Turin, therefore … he must wait for the commission\u2019s decision.\u201d <\/p>\n

For now, Gilley\u2019s Harris County capital murder trial remains scheduled to start late this month. <\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 by KPRC Click2Houston – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"HOUSTON \u2013 Harris County capital murder suspect Lee Gilley appeared in a courtroom in Turin, Italy, around 3…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":14972,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[10105,436,9295,10950,9275,10951,5,9272,1879,7570,36],"class_list":{"0":"post-14971","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-italy","8":"tag-capital-murder","9":"tag-crime","10":"tag-harris-county","11":"tag-heights","12":"tag-houston","13":"tag-houston-heights","14":"tag-italy","15":"tag-lee-gilley","16":"tag-local","17":"tag-murder","18":"tag-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14971","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14971"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14971\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14972"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14971"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14971"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14971"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}