The judge prefaced her judgment with a short preface. The process had met with great public interest, in part, there was talk of criminal re-exploration. However: "We have applied the law, nothing more, nothing less," says Cornelie Eßlinger-Graf.
In short, the decisive sentence for the defendant falls. "We could not tell you that you're a murderer." Instead, the Fourth Major juvenile court of the district court of Stuttgart condemns the 21-year-old Mert T. for "prohibited motor vehicle race with fatalities" and "intentional endangerment of road traffic".
Five years imprisonment - plus driving license withdrawal for four more years
The Raser must be detained for five years. For the first time in a fatal accident in Germany, the Stuttgart judges used a regulation that had been included in the penal code in 2017 under clause 315d. It is supposed to sanction illegal car races and reckless turf.
T. also has to give up his driving license for four years after the end of the detention - a lifelong withdrawal of the license would have been possible only in previous driving violations.
270 km / h on the highway
The verdict came to a close after 16 days of negotiations with the "Jaguar Trial", named after the Tat tool, a Jaguar F-Type with 550 hp and a roaring flap exhaust.
On this borrowed floor, Mert T., a mechatronics engineer in training at Daimler, toured for a day on March 6 on a crazy Raser ride through Stuttgart and the surrounding area. T. filmed it, almost a dozen friends rose alternately to process the trip to Instagram stories.
The apprentice broke the rear of the sports car several times, on a motorway section he reached 270 km / h, which T. documented by one-handed filming the speedometer with his cell phone.
85 seconds
In the evening, the disaster happened.
At around 11:30 pm, T. picked up another buddy, "to shoot this one, last, short round," said the judge.
The journey takes only 85 seconds at the end.
Although only 50 km / h was allowed, T. "pushed the accelerator all the way through" and reached 168 km / h in the city center. In an evasive maneuver, he lost control and crashed into a small car of the brand Citroën C1, which just wanted to turn from a parking garage driveway on the road.
In the Citroën died Riccardo K. and Jacqueline B., a young couple of 25 and 22 years. The two had finished their work in a cinema and had driven out of the staff garage. "The injuries led directly to death," said Eßlinger Graf.
He inflicted infinite suffering on the bereaved, according to the judge of Mert T., because he wanted to "show and splurge". She clarifies: "This accident is based on the brainless rage."
No killing charge
This frenzy evaluated the chamber as a "intentional negligence offense," it explains the court spokesman after the verdict. Intentionally Mert T. therefore brought the danger that led to the crash. But he could not be proved that he accepted the death of other people.
The judge came to the conclusion through the trial: "The defendant did not want to hurt or kill himself or anyone else." The man believed to be able to control the vehicle, by "intentional fast driving" he had wanted to impress his buddies.
Marijan Murat / DPA
"Protect and Indicate": Mert T. before the verdict
The verdict also provides an insight into the biography of the razor. T.'s father works for Deutsche Bahn, the mother as a cleaner. The mother pats her son. The judge speaks of an "inappropriate oversupply", Mert T. has been assigned to the siblings the "role of Nesthäkchens".
His girlfriend does not introduce T. to the mother, he fears she might reject the girl. For the day after the Raserfahrt he plans with the girlfriend a trip to Amsterdam. She has since split up, now he hopes to regain the heart of the girlfriend.
At school he demonstrated "diligence and effort", followed by the training as a mechatronics technician, who wanted to complete T. in February 2020. He is interested in expensive and fast cars, although he does not own one. "Nachreifen" must the young man, so the judge. However: There was "no single proof of an administrative offense in traffic" given. T. also belongs "not to the poser scene".
Difference to "police raids"
The chamber discussed in detail whether the accident must be considered a murder. "Whether this legal perspective is the royal road, I'm not sure," says the judge - also with regard to other procedures. However, the Stuttgart case differs from "police raids".
In one such a Hamburg court sentenced in November 2018 a racer for murder, which the Federal Court has now confirmed. Also in Darmstadt there was a murder verdict, after a racer without a license and with expired registration raced off in front of two police cars and crashed into the car of a family on a highway parking lot.
In Kleve on the Lower Rhine, the prosecutor charged with murder against a 21-year-old, who accelerated in the Mercedes AMG his father in a car race in the city on 167 km / h and then killed a woman.
"It was not conciliatory"
Even in Stuttgart, the subject of murder is not yet finally off the table. The verdict is not yet legally binding. "My clients see the causer more as a murderer," says lawyer Christof Müller-Holtz, who represents the parents of the killed Riccardo K. The lawyer - unlike the court - assumes a killing charge.
Still in the meeting room, Riccardo's mother goes to the dock and says a few words to Mert T. What? Ts defender Markus Bessler does not want to repeat the sentences. Only so much: "It was not conciliatory."
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