Texas man who cut off his ankle monitor and fled to Europe using a fake name and passport after being killed. accused of strangling his pregnant wife in 2024 told a court in Italy that he was innocent.
Lee Gilley, an asylum seeker in Italy, appeared at the Palace of Justice on Monday for a hearing relating to his arrest on May 3 in Milan. Judge Marta Sterpos of the Turin Court of Appeal asked Gilley whether he consented to extradition to the United States or whether he wanted the process of seeking international protection to continue.
“I don’t consent,” Gilley told the judge, before making unsolicited statements about his wife’s death.
“My wife died and they wrongly blamed me. That’s why I no longer have faith in the justice system. I’m innocent. I didn’t kill my wife,” he said. “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’s wife, Christa Gilley, 38, was found unresponsive at the couple’s Houston home on Oct. 7, 2024, after police received a call about a suicide, officials said. She was pronounced dead at the hospital the next day, according to court documents.
Hospital staff noticed bruising and “apparent trauma to his face,” police previously said. His death was ruled a homicide due to neck compression. The autopsy revealed that she was approximately eight weeks pregnant at the time.
Lee Gilley was arrested on October 11, 2024, for capital murder, but was released on bail a few days later.
According to court documents, Gilley was scheduled to appear in a Texas court later this month for trial, but on May 1, he turned off his court-ordered GPS ankle monitor and fled the country.
Last week, Interpol Washington received information that Gilley had been apprehended and taken into custody upon landing at Milan Malpensa Airport on an Air Canada flight. Court records indicate he was traveling under the pseudonym “Lejeune Jean Luc Oliver” and had used a passport and other Belgian identity documents, which turned out to be fake and falsified.
While awaiting deportation, Gilley revealed his true identity and said he was awaiting trial in the United States for the murder of his wife, according to the documents.
In court Monday, Gilley told the judge he would like to stay in Italy “because of the lifestyle, culture, international protection and to receive a fair trial.”
“Did you want to move to another country?” » asked the judge.
Gilley responded: “I chose Europe because of its due process guarantees, and Italy because there is strong public opposition to the death penalty. »
He then thanked the judge twice in Italian.
The Justice Department spokesperson told NBC News that Italian Justice Minister Carlo Nordio had not yet decided on the extradition.
A spokesman for the Italian Foreign Ministry said the minister was unlikely to comment on the matter and that the office had limited jurisdiction over Gilley because he is not Italian.
A US judge issued a silence order last week limiting public comment on the case, KPRC, NBC affiliate in Houston, reported.
Monica Grosso, Gilley’s lawyer, told NBC News that Gilley is “confident that he will be able to obtain international protection from Italy.”
Grosso also said she would look into the matter of Gilley’s release and that she did not think he would try to flee again because he had no papers.