USA - Connecticut. Benedetto Cipriani, extradited from Italy, was beaten by his cellmate and is in critical condition

Benedetto Cipriani, the mastermind behind a 2003 triple homicide, was beaten by his cellmate and is in critical condition at the University of Connecticut Heath Center, authorities said. Correction Department spokesman Brian Garnett said Tuesday evening that at about 12:30 p.m. Tuesday there was an altercation between Benedetto Cipriani and his cellmate at the MacDougall-Walker Correctional Institution in Suffield. Cipriani was badly injured and was taken to the prison ward at the health center. The incident is being investigated by state police and the correction department, Garnett said. Hospital spokeswoman Carolyn Pennington said Cipriani is in critical condition. Cipriani is serving a 200-year prison term for arranging the murders of Robert Stears, Barry Rossi and Lorne Stevens on July 30, 2003. After the killings, Cipriani fled to his native Italy, and during negotiations to have him returned to stand trial, Italian officials asked U.S. diplomats not to seek the death penalty. Cipriani insisted, even after his conviction, that the agreement also required that he be returned to Italy to serve his sentence. Prosecutor Dennis O'Connor successfully argued that no such agreement existed and that U.S. diplomats had agreed only to consider sending Cipriani back to Italy to serve an additional sentence. On March 31, 2009, Judge Julia Dewey sentenced Cipriani to 200 years in prison. Jose Guzman, the triggerman in the killings, was sentenced to life in prison. A third defendant, Erik Martinez, was sentenced to 25 years in prison. The case of Cipriani was followed by Hands off Cain to make sure Italy would non extradite him before receiving adequate assurance that he would non be sentenced to death.