Honorary judge distracted by WhatsApp: trial to be reopened
After five days of hearings, a trial in Stuttgart came to a halt in the fall because a juror was distracted by his cell phone. Now it's starting all over again.
(Image: Yohanes Herman Nggebu/Shutterstock.com)
A trial that was aborted in the fall after a lay judge read a WhatsApp message during a witness statement will begin again today, Tuesday, at Stuttgart Regional Court. This was reported by the news agency dpa, adding that the honorary judge was subsequently declared biased. Anyone who does not follow a trial attentively obviously already has a preconceived opinion, SWR quoted the court as saying at the time. A motion for recusal filed by the defense was therefore justified. The Tagesschau added that this was the first time such a case had occurred at the regional court.
Five trial days in vain
The trial, which began in October, is about two young men who allegedly shot and critically injured a 34-year-old man in the Zuffenhausen district of Stuttgart in March 2023. The victim has been paralyzed in a wheelchair ever since. The two are accused of attempted murder. Another young man has also been charged with obstruction of justice. He is said to have disposed of the gun after the crime, which the shooter probably possessed illegally. The shootings are attributed to the series of violence between two rival gangs in the Stuttgart region, which has kept investigators busy since mid-2022, writes dpa.
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According to the SWR report, the trial had already lasted five days by the time the trial was canceled at the end of November. Everything that had been said up to that point must now be ignored. According to the reports, the lay judge responsible for the retrial may continue to act as an honorary judge and the curiosity about the WhatsApp message has no consequences for him. He would not have to pay for the costs already incurred. However, he will no longer be involved in the trial for the shooting in Zuffenhausen. According to the regional court, there have already been comparable cases at other courts. The radio station had received criticism that the training for lay assessors was too short.
(mho)
