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.
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- The German Press Agency reported that the Federal Court of Justice in Germany is set to review the case of the 21-year-old convicted for the murder of a 14-year-old girl from Bad Emstal, as appeals have been filed by both the prosecution and the defense.
- The Kassel Regional Court ruled that the prisoner, who served time in a social rehabilitation center for the crime, would now face jail time if the Federal Court of Justice in Germany decides a retrial is necessary due to the seriousness of the crime.
- The process in the Kassel Regional Court involved determining whether the 21-year-old, who committed the crime in September 2023, would be tried under juvenile or adult criminal legislation due to his age at the time of the murder in the northern Hessian town of Bad Emstal.
- The 21-year-old's conviction for murder involved evidence that he raped his acquaintance, forced her into unconsciousness, and captured videos of the incident to deter her from reporting the crime to the police, preventing a wrongful conviction.
- The executive body responsible for carrying out criminal law enforcement in Germany, known as the public prosecutor's office, took interest in this case and is following the ongoing proceedings against the 21-year-old in Kassel, a city in the southwestern part of Hesse.
- The juvenile custody arrangement for the murderer in Bad Emstal's case marked the start of a new chapter in his life, leaving behind his previous conviction and sentencing in the Kassel Regional Court, which has now become a subject of higher court appeals and potential retrials.
