accidents
Could it also be murder? Heavy consideration in the Raser process
The trial against a speeder has begun before the Heilbronn district court. photo
© Sebastian Gollnow/dpa
A car can become a murder weapon. For example, when a driver steps on the gas pedal in cold blood and runs over a person. A court wants to clarify whether this was also the case in an accident in Heilbronn.
The 21-year-old, who is taking a seat in the dock, is said to have stepped on the gas pedal so hard on that Sunday afternoon half a year ago in the middle of downtown Heilbronn that he lost control of his 300-hp sports car. In the Tempo 40 zone, he raced at around 100 kilometers per hour into the car of a 42-year-old when he wanted to drive out of an exit with his family. The man died in the wreckage of his car, his wife was seriously injured, the two children were slightly injured. The 21-year-old and his one-year-old passenger also suffered minor injuries.
The young driver should have known what could threaten, accuses the public prosecutor. Shortly before the fatal crash with the high-speed sports car, the Turk is said to have almost run over a pedestrian at a zebra crossing. The woman was just able to avoid it, the prosecutor said. She is certain: at this point at the latest, the suspected speeder made a conditional killing intent and accelerated. The young man consciously accepted the risk, but “approvingly accepted” the danger. Others were “completely indifferent” to him in his frenzy. The victim and his family had no chance. The accusation above all: manslaughter.
However, the Great Youth Chamber does not rule out that the 21-year-old could be punished even more severely. The court wanted to at least check whether a murder charge could also be considered in this case, said the presiding judge. “Manslaughter becomes murder when there is a murder characteristic,” he explained. “And this is where the insidiousness comes in. If I kill a person by acting insidiously, manslaughter becomes murder.” Until at least mid-December, it will now be a question of weighing up the characteristics of a murder. The large youth chamber has to rely on witness statements and reports, because the accused, who is known to the police as a speed offender, initially did not comment.
Heilbronn case not a legal premiere
Illegal car racing has been a criminal offense since October 2017. Since then, participation can be punished with up to two years in prison. However, a “race against yourself” is also punishable. Paragraph 315d also provides for up to ten years in prison if the death or serious damage to the health of another person is caused by a “banned motor vehicle race”.
The Heilbronn case is by no means a legal premiere. In recent years, there have always been murder charges after frenzy or illegal car racing. The case of two men who fought on Berlin’s Ku’damm in 2016 in which an uninvolved pensioner died was particularly well known. Here one driver was convicted of murder and the second of attempted murder.
A lawsuit in Stuttgart four years ago also made headlines: a then 21-year-old lost control of a rented sports car at high speed. He collided with his car with a small car, in the debris of which two people died. The young man was accused of murder and sentenced to five years in prison for manslaughter.
Corresponding convictions have not always been reached in other speeding murder trials either. The question always remains whether the accused had intent to kill and a motive for murder. Even a car race resulting in death is not always to be regarded as murder.
Press release from 02/21/23