In 2021, a man shot a young gas station employee in Idar-Oberstein. A dispute about the obligation to wear a mask is said to have been the reason. The public prosecutor's office sees the murder characteristics of "insidiousness" and "base motives" fulfilled in the accused. That makes a big difference to a possible prison sentence.
In the trial of the fatal shot at a gas station employee in the dispute over the obligation to wear a corona mask, the public prosecutor sees the murder characteristics of maliciousness and base motives in the accused. "The cause and the action are completely out of proportion," said senior public prosecutor Nicole Frohn in her plea to the Bad Kreuznach district court. The act almost a year ago in Idar-Oberstein, Rhineland-Palatinate, was the first time that deadly violence had occurred in Germany in connection with the corona measures, said Frohn. She asked for life imprisonment.
Should the court determine the particular severity of the guilt, as the public prosecutor's office demands, a release from prison for the now 50-year-old would be ruled out if he was sentenced to life imprisonment after 15 years. The great media interest in the criminal proceedings proves that the case continues to move the public. In Frohn's view, there is "clear evidence" in the process for the murder charge.
According to the public prosecutor, the accused 50-year-old German is said to have killed the 20-year-old gas station employee on September 18, 2021 in Idar-Oberstein after he had repeatedly pointed out the corona-related mask requirement. For the defendant, the corona virus was just a type of flu virus, and he had denied a disease called Covid-19, said the prosecutor. He found the Corona measures pointless and unjustified - above all the obligation to wear a mask. He blamed the then Chancellor Angela Merkel and the then Federal Health Minister Jens Spahn for the situation. In the course of the lockdown, he had become more and more radical, he "wanted to send opponents to the gas chamber". As can be seen from numerous chats on the Internet, he repeatedly threatened violence, for example against the police.
The defendant was unable to get hold of the politicians he held responsible, such as Merkel and Spahn, said senior public prosecutor Frohn. He made the cashier partly responsible for the Corona situation because he helped to enforce the measures prescribed by the state. He shot the young man on behalf of everyone he was angry at because of the mask requirement and other measures. The victim was unsuspecting and defenseless, so the murder characteristic of malice was met.
Surveillance videos show the suspect trying to buy two six-packs of beer without a mask. After the cashier refused the purchase, the 50-year-old left the gas station angrily. He then bought five cans of beer in another gas station - this time with a mask. The suspect then returned to the first gas station with a mask, got a six-pack of beer and went to the checkout. There he pulled his mask down, took up his gun and shot the teenage seller in the face at close range.
The defendant confessed to firing the fatal shot. To this day, however, he cannot explain what happened. According to a psychiatric report, the suspected perpetrator was fully culpable despite being under the influence of alcohol. The defense accused the expert of bias and demanded that the culpability be examined a second time. Traumatizing experiences of the accused were not sufficiently taken into account. The accused's father had killed himself with a gun around a year and a half before the crime at the gas station. He had also shot the defendant's mother, seriously injuring her. According to the defendant, he was unable to visit his mother in the hospital because of the corona requirements. The district court of Bad Kreuznach rejected the application for bias.
The closing statement by the public prosecutor's office was postponed several times due to requests from the defense. The victim's mother is a joint plaintiff. The defense's plea is expected this Friday.
