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Defendant Andreas S. (right) with his defense attorney Leonard Kaiser: "Mr. S. could be placed in preventive detention," says the senior public prosecutor
Photo: Uwe Anspach / dpa
In three months she wants to graduate, then Yasmin B. will be a commissioner.
The police station in Kusel is her last training station.
On the night of January 31, Yasmin B., 24, sits next to her colleague Alexander K., 29, both wearing uniforms and protective vests.
You drive on the country road between Ulmet and Mayweilerhof, less than 30 kilometers from Kaiserslautern.
Then they notice a car with dead game in the trunk.
When the requested reinforcements arrive, the police officer and her colleague are dead.
What happened that winter morning at around 4:20 a.m.?
Finding out is the task of the 4th criminal division of the district court of Kaiserslautern.
22 deer and deer on the truck bed
Presiding judge Raphael Mall has the man who was driving the car uncuffed.
Andreas S., 39 years old, born in Zweibrücken, is accused of murder.
A nondescript man with dark hair and glasses.
Florian V. is a few seats away, he is 33 years old and at large.
He accompanied S. that January night and unpacked so extensively in interrogations that the prosecution is largely based on his statements.
They should match the forensic investigations.
And this is how V's version is heard when the senior public prosecutor Stefan Orthen reconstructs the events: How Andreas S. and Florian V. drove through the Kusel district in a converted van, equipped with weapons and silencers, night vision and thermal imaging cameras.
In search of fallow deer, roe deer and wild boar.
S. wanted to sell them on his own account, as so often before.
A lucrative business for both men, who otherwise lived on social benefits.
22 deer were lying behind them on the loading area when, according to the indictment, they got into the police traffic control.
The officials discovered the animals and demanded an identity card.
It sounds routine.
Yasmin B. checked the vehicle documents, according to Orthen, and her colleague radioed the suspicion of poaching.
A co-plaintiff will later say that he sounded calm, like in a normal operation.
In panic and fear of death
Senior public prosecutor Orthen describes how Andreas S. used a pretext to go back to the van, took out the loaded shotgun and shot the 24-year-old "suddenly with the intention of killing" in the head;
Her colleague had taken cover and made an emergency call in panic and fear of death.
According to the indictment, Andreas S. shot the 29-year-old three times, went to the seriously injured police officer and shot her again in the face.
Before the senior public prosecutor sat down again, he said: "In the case of Mr. S., placement in preventive detention is an option."
Andreas S.'s defense attorney, on the other hand, says that everything was very different that night: Lawyer Leonard Kaiser describes how Andreas S. and Florian V. met in August last year, became friends and quickly became a team, which is the "semi-legal Hunting', as he calls it.
S. shot wild boar and deer, slaughtered them and gutted them.
Florian V., a previously convicted father with a drug problem, was initially excited.
With joints, however, he had himself under control and got used to this type of job.
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Florian vs defender Christian Kessler (r.)
Photo: Uwe Anspach / dpa
From November onwards, they perfected poaching: Florian V. received ten euros for every wild boar under 40 kilos, fallow deer, lambs and sheep shot, 20 euros for heavier wild boars and 25 euros for every deer.
Florian V. was “very enthusiastic” and at the same time worried about how he should feed his family when the season was over – and especially if you were caught.
The distribution of roles in S.'
Admission is very clear: he, the experienced poacher, who found it difficult not to tell the game tenants anymore, and did good by supporting a penniless family man.
On the other hand, Florian V., the indebted junkie with impaired impulse control, who only gets through the night with the help of amphetamines and joints and dreams of being allowed to shoot himself.
V. was "clearly euphoric" when he was finally allowed to approach the shot boar with the shotgun, claims S.
»Good morning, general traffic control!«
That's how it should have come to that January night.
Florian V. was smoking joints and swallowing amphetamines and was on his way with the shotgun to the wild boar that S. had just killed when a civilian vehicle stopped and the driver shouted: "Good morning, general traffic control!"
Andreas S. speaks of an exchange of words at the rear of his van, which he did not understand, then shots, he opened the passenger door, the car window shattered, he grabbed a hunting rifle and shot in the direction of the muzzle flash.
He says he didn't understand what was going on.
He shouted that the shooting should stop, then shot himself – "just to ensure that people stopped shooting at him," according to his lawyer.
Only then did S. turn on his headlamp and see two things: the dead police officer in uniform and Florian V. with the shotgun in his hand.
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Kusel police murders: the accused claims to have shot in self-defense
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Police murder in Kusel: prosecutors accuse Andreas S. of murder
He asked his buddy to get his ID back, which he had given the officers.
Florian V. went to the police officer and shot her in the face.
After that he was beside himself and yelled that he was "under no circumstances going to jail".
Then they drove off without the ID, stowed the game, cleaned the car and the weapons and took a shower.
All of this is the version of Andreas S. His former buddy Florian V., however, remains in court with his representation.
He admits all allegations against him and thus confirms the charge: Andreas S. shot both police officers, Florian V. was only there, helped S. after the crime and illegally poached.
Not more.
His defense attorney Christian Kessler later emphasized that Florian V. was himself threatened by S. after the fatal shots at the two officers and feared for his life.
To this day he suffers from the fact that he was unable to prevent the crime.
He "imagined the first day of the hearing differently," says Judge Mall at the end.
It remains unclear what he means.
On the other hand, it should be clear that a trial in which both defendants accuse each other should not be short.
