The rampage killed five people at the time, including a nine-week-old baby, and by October 2021, another man died from related injuries from the attack.
Back in August 2022, the Trier Regional Court had sentenced the perpetrator to life imprisonment and that he be placed in a psychiatric ward. The driver was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, but it was decided that he acted in a deliberate manner without delusions.
Upon investigation, Germany’s Gederal Court of Justice (Bundesgerichtshof) ruled that the court in Trier’s original decision needed to be overturned because of legal errors. The Trier Regional Court also had not examined how the effects of the defendant’s alcohol consumption interacted with his illness, so they did not accurately interpret the perpetrator’s level of culpability. Therefore, another chamber of the Regional Court of Trier is partially retrying the case.
While it is undisputed that the defendant was the perpetrator, the defendant’s lawyers have demanded acquittal because of his mental illness. They call for a maximum of 12 years in prison with a placement in a psychiatric ward.
Around 60 witnesses have been summoned to this new trial, which runs until the beginning of May.
