Sometimes it was difficult for a defense attorney to defend his client’s behavior, as in a case before the Ebersberg District Court. The criminal record of the accused was “a declaration of bankruptcy,” according to the lawyer. The 55-year-old had been convicted a total of 29 times in the past 38 years. Most of the time it was about traffic offences, again this time: The stonemason from Munich is said to have been drunk and without a driver’s license with a borrowed truck on a motorway in the Ebersberg district.
The then owner of the vehicle was also in the dock, the charge being that she was allowed to drive without a license. She had already received a penalty order from the district court for 20 daily rates of 40 euros each, against which she had appealed. According to the former businesswoman, whose company is now insolvent, the 55-year-old took over the truck from her and wanted to do a test drive. She asked him explicitly if he had a driver’s license for the weight class. The stonemason then showed her a driver’s license, at least the document looked like one and the man’s name was on it.
The owner of the truck also has to answer
However, the woman also admitted that she had not checked the driver’s license carefully or even copied or photographed it. “That was a mistake, I admit that,” said the 39-year-old, who now works as a teacher. However, she had known the other accused for a long time and there was a corresponding relationship of trust. Neither judge Vera Hörauf nor the prosecutor saw a reason to come to a different conclusion than in the penalty order. According to the prosecutor, he would not agree to a cessation, and the 20 daily rates were the minimum that could be imposed anyway. After a brief consultation with her defense attorney, the 39-year-old withdrew her appeal.
On the other hand, the co-defendant, who confessed to the matter, had to stay in the room much longer. He admitted to drunk driving without a license just as frankly as that he had had an alcohol problem for years. This was also indicated by the medical report after the incident on the motorway: Despite almost 1.4 per thousand alcohol in the blood, no failure symptoms were found in the 55-year-old.
He explained that he really wanted to devote himself to his addiction problem. He has already contacted two specialist clinics and asked about treatment options. He is also trying to get the health insurance company to cover the costs, but there has not yet been a commitment from a clinic for a rehab.
Since 1984, the defendant has driven 15 times without a license and nine times while drunk
For the public prosecutor, these efforts were not enough to give the accused a positive social prognosis, he applied for a prison sentence of eleven months without probation. “There have already been enough warning shots.” After all, the accused has already been convicted 15 times for driving without a license, nine times for drunk driving, there are also a few cases of hit and run including negligent bodily harm, various property crimes such as fraud, theft and embezzlement and he has not been subject to his probation conditions in the past either always complied. Compulsory admissions to treatment centers had always remained without consequences. Last but not least, the 55-year-old was already on probation for drunk driving without a license and hit-and-run after his most recent drunk driving.
The defense attorney did not want to contradict this statement, but one should appreciate the defendant’s efforts to face his alcohol problem: “He wants to tackle it.” After all, he had already informed himself about offers. Therefore, the 55-year-old could be given probation again, combined with the condition of therapy, which he also had to complete.
The chairman, on the other hand, largely followed the request of the public prosecutor and sentenced the accused to nine months in prison without probation. On the one hand, the “impressive bar of previous entries” was decisive, on the other hand the unteachability of the 55-year-old: in two open probation for drunkenness and driving without a driver’s license, he sat behind the wheel again without a license and drunk, and that too on the motorway .
In addition, the defendant’s efforts to seek therapy are not sufficient for a positive social prognosis; for this there should have been at least a specific registration, or better still, the beginning of the therapy. Last but not least, “it is also not to be conveyed to anyone that someone who constantly flouts the law will get probation again”. The verdict is not yet legally binding.