Grosseto, Italy (CNN)The captain of the Costa Concordia is guilty of manslaughter and other charges related to the ship's fatal wreck in January 2012 off the Italian coast, a judge announced Wednesday night, capping a tumultuous 19-month trial and providing a little more closure for dozens of grieving families.
Lengthy trial or not, the three-judge panel needed only about five hours to decide the fate of Francesco Schettino. Their choices: Agree with prosecutors who cast the captain as an "idiot" who abandoned ship like a coward, or with defense lawyers who characterized him as a "scapegoat" who ended up in a lifeboat only because he lost his balance and fell into it.
