Deggendorf (dpa / lby) - In the Deggendorf retrial for the killing of a 20-year-old woman from Freyung in Lower Bavaria, the defense attorneys pleaded for the accused to be convicted of manslaughter. Last week, the public prosecutor had demanded a murder verdict and a determination of the particular severity of the guilt. The twelve-year prison sentence for manslaughter, to which the 28-year-old was sentenced in a first trial in Passau in 2017, is appropriate, the renewed trial has not changed that, according to the defense attorneys Thomas Krimmel and Holm Putzke on Monday before the Deggendorf district court . The verdict is expected on October 4th.
The defenders assumed a spontaneous act in the dispute. Her client feared that he would no longer see his son in the event of a separation. The defense attorneys did not consider the murder characteristics of malice and base motives cited by the public prosecutor to be given, nor was there any particular gravity of the guilt.
In particular, the defense attorneys drew attention to numerous testimonies that they believed to be contradictory. In the six years since the crime, there has been a lot of talk and speculation. The witnesses could no longer say with certainty what they heard from whom. "The witness evidence is the most insecure there is," said Putzke. The evidence on the victim's bed also does not clearly indicate that the victim was killed while he was sleeping, according to the defense attorneys.
In a first trial before the district court of Passau, the accused was finally sentenced to twelve years in prison for manslaughter in 2017. In May 2022, the current retrial began. This had become possible because in the first trial two witnesses had made false statements in favor of the accused. They were finally sentenced to suspended sentences in 2019.
