Capital criminal law

Capital criminal law deals with particularly serious crimes involving the death of another person, which fall under the jurisdiction of the jury chambers at the regional courts. These include murder (§ 211 StGB) and manslaughter (§ 212 StGB) as well as bodily injury resulting in death (§ 227 StGB), robbery resulting in death (§ 251 StGB) and predatory extortion resulting in death (§ 255 StGB).

Criminal defense in the area of capital criminal law is one of the most demanding tasks of criminal defense – a competent defense is indispensable, since in the worst case a life sentence is threatened.

Criminal defense is confronted with special challenges in the area of capital criminal law. For example, the proceedings are usually very extensive and include not only complex legal issues, but also psychological, psychiatric and multi-layered forensic medical issues.

Key questions that arise in capital criminal proceedings include:

• Is the evidence sufficient to actually prove the charge of guilt?
• Were murder characteristics realized and can this be proven?
• Was the client capable of committing the crime?
• Was he in a state of mental emergency?
• Was it self-defense or an act of passion?

Due to the complexity of the proceedings, extensive knowledge in procedural and substantive criminal law is just as necessary as in the psychology of testimony and criminology/criminalistics. Not only do we bring experience and excellent legal expertise to the table, but we are also proficient in the areas necessary to evaluate such a case, namely forensic medicine, testimonial psychology, criminology and specialized psychiatry.

Proceedings for murder and manslaughter represent the most drastic proceedings not only for the persons concerned, but also for their family members and friends. Our defense is not only empathetic towards the person affected, but also towards their relatives.

There is often a great deal of media interest. Therefore, we also take care of the press work and control in order to prevent false reporting and pre-judgements at an early stage.