Procedures - 14-year-old girl from Bad Emstal dies; appeal filed.
The outcome in the trial of a 14-year-old girl's murder in the northern Hessian town of Bad Emstal is yet to be deemed legally finalized. Prosecution and defense have each submitted appeals, as informed by a spokesperson for the Kassel Regional Court on Wednesday. The court ruled in late May that a 21-year-old friend of the deceased was guilty of murder and had to serve 11 years and 9 months in a social rehabilitation center. The court additionally imposed the reservation of security detention. The Federal Court of Justice will now settle whether a retrial is necessary.
The judgment declared that the defendant had raped his acquaintance in September 2023, driven by sexual desires. The 21-year-old acknowledged forcing the girl into unconsciousness following an altercation. He stripped her and captured videos to deter her from disclosing the incident to the police. He lacked the intention to kill.
Given that the criminal was 20 years and 11 months old during the crime, the Kassel Regional Court's youth chamber was mandated to decide between juvenile and adult criminal legislation. The prosecution and the attorney for the victim's relatives sought a conviction under adult legal provisions and a lifetime sentence with the possibility of subsequent security detention. The defense advocated for the application of juvenile criminal law and asked for a conviction of manslaughter, consulting a detention period lower than ten years to be fitting.
Ultimately, the court dictated a conviction under adult criminal law, employing Section 106 of the Juvenile Court Act for Juveniles. Consequently, the penalty remained beneath the life sentence urged by the prosecution.
