At the District Court of Schwäbisch Gmünd, proceedings concerning an incident in Heubach in July last year ended with convictions for two defendants who are alleged to have attacked a Ukrainian couple. The two defendants, represented by Stuttgart attorneys Sarah Burkhardt and Mathias Brenner, faced allegations of aggravated assault and insults.
The hearing was marked by the attorneys’ assertive defence strategy, which in particular called the witnesses’ credibility into question and levelled strong criticism at the police work. Matthias Brenner described the investigation as “amateurish”, for example because witness statements were taken without an interpreter and key investigative steps were missing.
The public prosecutor’s office sought custodial sentences for both defendants. In the end, Judge Julia Ocker sentenced one of the defendants, who had already been convicted several times, to one year in prison without probation. The second defendant, represented by attorney Brenner, received a six-month suspended sentence due to a positive social prognosis. In the reasoning for its judgment, the court essentially endorsed the criticism of the police investigation.
You can find the article here: https://www.remszeitung.de/lokales/ostalbkreis/schwaebisch-gmuend/drama-im-gerichtssaal-wie-stuttgarter-anwaelte-die-verhandlung-in-gmuend-praegten-VGYMS7TMENHXTBDIVZNL66YLUI.html
