The murder of Second Lieutenant Alfred R. Lyth, 22, was committed in Garfagnana, Italy, by Italian "Monte Rosa" Division soldiers during World War II.
He was later captured by "Monte Rosa" soldiers of the Italian Social Republic and conducted to their headquarters in Camporgiano, where he was interrogated.
From September 25 to October 4, 1946, an American military court tried three Italian soldiers for murder: Captain Italo Simonitti, Private Benedetto Pilon, and General Mario Carloni.
Newspapers noted that in an unusual move, the prosecutor in a U.S. war crimes trials, for the first time, was an African American, Lieutenant Clarence W. Burks of Pittsburgh.
However, in January 1951, to the shock and anger of local U.S. officials, Minister of Justice Attilio Piccioni declared the four men to be political prisoners and granted them amnesty.