Article bookmarked Don't show me this message again✕ Finnegan Elder reacts to the news of being sentenced to life in prison in Italy (AFP via Getty Images) The parents of one of two Americans who were convicted and sentenced to life in prison after an Italian police officer was fatally stabbed have spoken out for the first time since their son’s verdict. Ethan and Leah Elder, the parents of Finnegan Elder, described their son’s mental state as “perilous” after he was sentenced to life in prison last week. “We just want Finn to be able to survive this,” Leah Elder told ABC News’