Federal Prisoner Sentenced to 45 Years in Prison for Second Degree Murder

TUCSON, Ariz. – Romeo Santino Giovanni, 46, was sentenced last week by Senior U.S. District Judge James A. Soto to 45 years in prison, followed by five years of supervised release. Giovanni pleaded guilty to Second Degree Murder on May 23, 2024.

On July 5, 2016, Giovanni, who was then a federal prisoner at a United States Penitentiary, used a cloth makeshift clothesline to strangle his cellmate to death. Giovanni left pieces of paper on his cellmate’s body, including one that read “lights out.”

The Federal Bureau of Investigation conducted the investigation in this case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew C. Cassell, District of Arizona, Tucson, handled the prosecution.

CASE NUMBER:           CR-17-1428-TUC-JAS
RELEASE NUMBER:    2024-143_Giovanni

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For more information on the U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of Arizona, visit http://www.justice.gov/usao/az/
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