The appeal hearing in the so-called Eisenheim process started on Wednesday morning. What was clear at the beginning: The court is trying to clear up Theresa Stahl’s death completely. And: The public prosecutor’s office wants the main defendant Niclas H., now 21 years old, to be sentenced to imprisonment without parole under adult criminal law.
H. is said to have run over 20-year-old Theresa in a frenzy in April 2017 after visiting a wine festival in Untereisenheim (district of Würzburg). His three passengers are accused of not having provided any assistance after the accident. In the first instance, H. was sentenced to a fine of 5000 euros in October 2019. The three co-defendants also got away with a fine.
New report considers driver to be culpable
An expert had declared the main defendant H. to be innocent because of his intoxication, which is why the young man was not convicted of negligent homicide, but of negligent intoxication. A new report, the court announced at the beginning of the appeal hearing on Wednesday, considers the 21-year-old to be guilty.
The plan to clarify all questions about the case initially made the defense attorney’s strategy difficult: At the beginning of the negotiations, they stated that their clients no longer wanted to comment and referred to statements made so far, especially in the first trial a year ago. Hans-Jochen Schrepfer, defense attorney for Niclas H., as well as Peter Auffermann, defense attorney for another defendant, spoke of abuse on the Internet and a “media campaign” to which the defendants were exposed. Schrepfer emphasized, however, that his client does not deny that he was drunk at the wheel.
Process interruption shortly after the start
The court recommended the defense lawyers to “think carefully about their strategy”, which made a “catastrophic impression”. Theresa’s family as co-plaintiffs have “a very massive interest that the matter is cleared up,” said the presiding judge Reinhold Emmert. The defendants would have the opportunity to help.
Emmert then interrupted the negotiation? after just 45 minutes. Subsequently, at least the three passengers in the accident car made a statement. However, the defendant’s gaps in memory made it difficult to reconstruct the tragic evening. They agreed that all four had been very drunk and that Niclas H. had ultimately driven the accident vehicle.
Agreed on false statements
Meanwhile it became clear that the three co-defendants had agreed after the accident to make false statements to the police. The three young men admitted to having agreed to assert to the investigators that they did not drive with H., but rather walked to their overnight accommodation.
The hearing continues in the afternoon with the hearing of witnesses.
Note: The author of this text is not related to the victim’s family despite having the same name.
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Untereisenheim
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Würzburg
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Benjamin Stahl
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accused
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debacle
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Investigators
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Fines
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Reviewers
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police
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Public prosecutor
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tragedy
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drunkenness
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Full intoxication
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