An emblematic trial of domestic violence begins Thursday, February 11 at the Court of Assizes of Moselle.
Judged on appeal in Metz, a thirty-something acquitted in February 2020 in Nancy for the murder of her companion in 2016, appears again at the assizes, according to
France Bleu.
This new trial, which takes place from February 11 to 15, follows the appeal of the decision by the Nancy public prosecutor's office.
At the end of three days of trial at the Assizes, in 2020, Florianne H. had been acquitted by the jurors, who had accepted self-defense.
Contacted by Le
Figaro
, the lawyer for the civil parties, Maître Gérard Kremser, considers that "
the jurors at first instance, in Nancy, were influenced by the media trials of women victims of domestic violence, who killed their spouses.
Legally, self-defense is questionable.
"
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On November 28, 2016, in the early morning hours, after yet another domestic dispute, Florianne H. killed her husband Johnny A., aged 27, with a knife in the heart, in Longuyon (Meurthe-et-Moselle).
The young woman, aged 28, at the time of the facts, describes him as a violent man, suffering from an addiction to alcohol and drugs.
He died the next day in hospital.
A few days before his passage to the act, Florianne H. had already stabbed him, for the first time, under the nipple, underlines the lawyer of the civil parties.
Mother of a child, Florianne lived alone with her partner, given the tensions within the couple.
A first trial at the Assizes in 2020
Florianne H. acknowledges the facts in police custody, but claims to have defended herself against her threatening spouse.
In 2020, at the Nancy Assizes, she was tried for murder.
During the three days of this trial at first instance she repeatedly asserted that she had no choice, that she thought Johnny A. was going to kill her.
The young woman testifies to an unbearable daily life: "
It was increasingly strong and more frequent violence
".
She also claims to have undergone forced sex, "
three times a day recently
," reports
the Republican East
.
At the end of the requisitions, in Nancy, the attorney general demanded eight years in prison, accompanied by socio-judicial follow-up of five years.
He believes that she intentionally stabbed her partner.
Some witnesses on the stand also insisted on his aggressive and impulsive behavior.
The Advocate General refutes the thesis of self-defense, according to the
Republican East
.
“
She used a dangerous weapon, aimed at a vital area.
She did land a heavy blow in the heart region.
And it is not established that she was in danger of death.
Only she says it.
"
Read also: Domestic violence: an uphill struggle
However, the jurors did not follow the prosecution and retained self-defense.
Florianne was acquitted and released after more than three years in pre-trial detention.
According to Maître Paul Herhard, who represents lawyer Gérard Kremser in Metz, this dossier, “
it's sex, drugs, rock'n'roll and violence.
This fatal stabbing can in no way be part of a framework of self-defense. "
The defendant's lawyer, Maître Jean Kopf was delighted with this outcome at the end of the first trial in 2020.
"She was acquitted, the jurors considered that she was in self-defense"
, declared lawyer at AFP.
"I am, of course, very satisfied, because self-defense is very difficult to obtain, it takes proportionality, and there, in this case, she had a knife and her companion was not armed,"
he said. -he adds.
However, a few days after the verdict, the Attorney General of the Nancy Court of Appeal, Jean-Jacques Bosc, appealed on Tuesday February 25, 2020 against the young woman's acquittal.
The victim already known for acts of violence
In 2020, during the first trial in Nancy, an ex-girlfriend of the victim painted a rather dark portrait of Johnny A. “
When he had what he wanted, it was fine.
But you shouldn't say no to this gentleman.
He pissed me off, in fact.
He put my life at risk.
No one can imagine what I went through.
He was hitting me in front of my son, who he was sitting on the sofa to watch.
He broke my ribs, my nose, smashed cigarettes on my face.
“, Reports
the Republican East.
However, concerning this relationship with Florianne, "
the violence was reciprocal"
according to the lawyer for the civil parties.
Thursday, for the first day of this appeal trial, the debates focused on the personality of the accused.
At the end of this trial, two possible outcomes: either the young woman is found guilty, she could therefore return to prison, or she once again benefits from self-defense and, in this case, she will remain free.
The verdict is expected on Monday February 15.
