CBC News - Art & Design - Antiquities case vs. ex-Getty curator dismissed

The Italian case against former Getty Museum antiquities curator Marion True, seen at the Los Angeles museum in 1998, has abruptly ended. (Wally Skalij/The Los Angeles Times/Associated Press) The trial of former U.S. antiquities curator Marion True has ended abruptly, after years of hearings and legal proceedings in Rome.

True's lawyers had argued that the statute of limitations on the charges faced by the former Los Angeles museum curator expired in July.

At a hearing on Wednesday, an Italian court agreed with the defence team.

Marion True has faced ongoing hearings and legal proceedings in Italy since 2005. (Pier Paolo Cito/Associated Press)In 2005, True was charged with receiving stolen items in her role as antiquities curator at the J. Paul Getty Museum as well as conspiring to deal in looted artifacts along with co-defendants, including American art dealer Robert Hecht. During hearings held in Italy over the past five years, she consistently denied the charges.

Lawyer Alessandro Vannucci, who represents Hecht, said the trial against his client is slated to continue. The statute of limitations on his case does not expire until July. Hecht faces charges of heading up an antiquities trafficking operation, but, like True, has denied any wrongdoing.

In 2007, a court in Greece also dropped criminal charges against True, saying the period of limitations for the Greek charges against her had expired.

Amid the lengthy legal battles concerning True and Hecht, the Getty Museum and other U.S. art institutions negotiated the return of dozens of disputed items to Italy and Greece, including a fifth-century BC statue of Aphrodite, a fifth-century BC vase attributed to Greek painter Euphronios and a fourth-century BC Macedonian golden wreath.