Federal Court of Justice overturns verdict on drive amok in Trier - trial must be partially reopened

Due to legal errors - Federal Court of Justice overturns verdict on drive amok in Trier - trial must be partially reopened

The trial surrounding the rampage in Trier with five fatalities must be reopened in parts. Following a decision by the Federal Court of Justice (BGH) in Karlsruhe, the verdict of the Trier regional court was largely overturned due to legal errors. This means that the defendant's appeal has been upheld, the BGH announced on Monday.

The reason: The Regional Court had not justified its assumption that the defendant had acted in a state of significantly reduced culpability without legal error. The decisions on the legal consequences were therefore also to be overturned.

Five dead in rampage in Trier - perpetrator sentenced to life imprisonment

During the rampage on December 1, 2020, a man drove his SUV through the pedestrian zone in Trier and deliberately hit passers-by. Five people died in the attack, including a baby. There were also dozens of injured and traumatized people.

In August 2022, the perpetrator was sentenced to life imprisonment for multiple murders and multiple attempted murders at Trier Regional Court. The court also established the particular gravity of the guilt and ordered the man to be placed in a closed psychiatric hospital.

According to the expert, the man suffers from paranoid schizophrenia with bizarre delusions - and is therefore of reduced culpability. The trained electrician remained silent about the allegations during the year-long trial. One day after the verdict, the driver's defense lawyer lodged an appeal.

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1. The defendant, whose rampage in Trier resulted in five fatalities, will now have parts of his trial revisited due to legal errors identified by the Federal Court of Justice in Karlsruhe.
2. Despite not providing a justification for his reduced culpability, the Trier Regional Court had assumed that the perpetrator of the 2020 drive-amok incident acted in a state of significantly reduced culpability.
3. The Federal Court of Justice in Karlsruhe overturned the verdict of the Trier Regional Court, as it found several legal errors in their assessment, requiring the trial to be partially reopened.

Source: www.stern.de