In the crime at the end of January 2022 on a remote district road in the western Palatinate near Kusel, the man killed a 24-year-old police officer and a police commissioner 5 years his senior with headshots. According to the LG, he wanted to cover up his hunting poaching. The crime caused outrage across the country.
With the verdict, the district court had followed the request of the public prosecutor. The prosecution had said, among other things, that the act had “executive character” – that is why the guilt was particularly serious. The two men were arrested a few hours after the crime in neighboring Saarland.
The main defendant’s defense pleaded for “a just verdict” without making any concrete demands. From her point of view, the act was “not murder, maximum bodily harm resulting in death”.
Second accused remains unpunished
The LG Kaiserslautern had found a co-accused, who was present at the night of the crime, guilty of complicity in commercial poaching, but refrained from a penalty, since the 33-year-old had already testified comprehensively before the trial began. It was said at the time that this was “considerable mitigating and essential educational aid”.
on BGH, decision of 07/18/2023 – 4 StR 117/23
Editorial office beck-aktuell, July 21, 2023 (dpa).
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From the news archive
Acquittal for convicted policeman murderer in poaching trial, report by the beck-aktuell editorial team from March 2nd, 2023, becklink 2026322
Trial of police officers killed near Kusel: public prosecutor’s office demands life imprisonment, report by the beck-aktuell editorial team from November 23, 2022, becklink 2025431