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Accused Mario N. with one of his defense attorneys (left): "Shaken that he was able to commit the crime"
Photo: Boris Roessler / dpa
On the first day, when masks can be taken off in many places in Germany and the corona restrictions have been relaxed, two sergeants take Mario N. to Room 7 of the Kreuznach district court.
The 50-year-old wears an FFP2 mask.
The presiding judge ordered it so that everyone in the room must wear such a mask.
On the evening of September 18 last year, when he entered a gas station in Idar-Oberstein and wanted to buy two six packs of beer, Mario N. was not wearing a mask.
The cashier Alexander W., a 20-year-old student, pointed out that N. left the gas station – without a mask and without beer.
He reportedly returned about 90 minutes later and shot the young man with an illegal gun.
The public prosecutor has accused Mario N., among other things, of murder out of malice and base motives.
"He confesses"
Judge Claudia Büch-Schmitz now says that anyone who speaks can take off the mask.
And also for those who have a problem with having to wear them all day long.
However, this only applies to those involved in the process, not to spectators.
Mario N. doesn't hesitate and rips it off his head with relief.
Now you can see his graying beard, he clears his throat, says the blinds should be drawn because he can't see anything else.
Only then does he give his name, date and place of birth.
Mario N. is a freelance software developer;
he is divorced;
he lived in a detached house in Enzweiler, a district of Idar-Oberstein in Rhineland-Palatinate.
Now he is in custody.
The act in Idar-Oberstein caused a stir, there was a debate about the willingness to use violence and radicalization of corona deniers, mask refusers and so-called lateral thinkers.
There had been fights in supermarkets and attacks on test centers.
But Alexander W. is considered the first person who had to die because he had pointed out corona rules to a customer.
His mother is sitting as a joint plaintiff in Room 7 across from Mario N. He looks over at her several times.
"He regrets the act and has confessed," his defense attorney Alexander Klein will say at the end of the day of the trial.
Mario N. himself was "shocked that he was able to commit the crime".
Chief prosecutor Nicole Frohn explains what is said to have happened that September evening: Mario N. is said to have entered the gas station at 7.48 p.m. – without the mouth-nose cover required at the time.
At the checkout, Alexander W. reminded him of the obligation to wear a mask, and a war of words ensued.
The cashier finally refused the sale, N. left the gas station.
According to the investigation, N. bought beer at another gas station, drove home, but could not let the argument with Alexander W. go and came to the conclusion that he had to show that there were "limits".
For a long time now, N. has felt "burdened by the corona restrictions and decided to send a signal," says Frohn.
He made the decision to kill Alexander W. because he wanted to enforce the Corona regulations and he considered him "shared responsibility for the overall situation".
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At home, N. is said to have pocketed the Smith & Wesson revolver, model 686, caliber 357 Magnum, loaded with five cartridges and drove to the gas station again with it.
At 9:19 p.m. he is said to have entered her – with a mask over his mouth and nose – and then took a six-pack of beer from the shelf and queued at the checkout.
Attorney General determined
When it was his turn, according to the indictment, he pulled down the mask to provoke Alexander W.
When he reacted as expected, N. pulled the gun out of his pocket, shot the student in the face from a short distance, put his mask back over his mouth and nose and left the gas station at 9:21 p.m.
Alexander W. did not expect such an attack, says the senior prosecutor, he fell to the ground and died instantly.
There is silence as she recites these details.
The mother is crying.
An apology, an explanation she will not hear that day.
The court surprised the defense with the news that the public prosecutor's office in Koblenz had already initiated preliminary proceedings against other suspects in October last year and that a psychological assessment of Ns was also carried out as part of these proceedings.
In total, there are almost 1300 pages of file material.
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The crime scene the day after the crime: did Mario N. threaten the cashier?
Photo: Christian Schulz / dpa
Without knowing the documents, N's lawyers do not want their clients to confess and have questions answered.
Chief Public Prosecutor Frohn suggests that the confession be shelved and that evidence be taken.
Defense attorney Axel Küster replies, visibly irritated: "It's about essential components like a 26-page psychological assessment, which the authorities have known about for months." How should one simply continue?
Where did the murder weapon come from?
The stakes are high for Mario N.
There is an initial interrogation in which he admits the crime, and videos from surveillance cameras from the sales room that document the process as described by the prosecution.
Another video shows Mario N. raising his fist on his car after his first visit to the gas station.
Did he threaten the cashier?
Mario N. was arrested in front of the police station in Idar-Oberstein the morning after the crime when he obviously wanted to turn himself in.
He was not known to the police until then, and certainly not to the Office for the Protection of the Constitution.
How can it be that a man suddenly commits such a murder out of nowhere?
The revolver is said not to have been the only weapon Mario N. owned.
Investigators found a Ceska 1945 pistol, 6.35 mm Browning caliber, in the drawer of his living room table.
It is unclear where the weapons came from.
Mario N. wants to eliminate these ambiguities on the next day of the hearing.
Maybe he can also explain why he didn't put on a mask in the gas station even after the cashier's first request.
She put it in his pocket, according to the indictment.