Father of winnenden rampage receives lighter sentence

The father of tim K. Share the blame for the bloodbath with 16 deaths four years ago. This is what the stuttgart regional court found after reexamining the case. The judges in stuttgart sentenced the 54-year-old entrepreneur on friday to 18 months imprisonment on probation, among other things for involuntary manslaughter. He had kept the pistol in an unlocked closet, with which his son had shot him on 11. Marz 2009 in winnenden and wendlingen had shot and killed 15 people and himself. Most of the victims of the rampage were students and teachers of the albertville secondary school in winnenden.

"It is the chamber’s conviction that the rampage would not have occurred if they had properly stored weapons and ammunition. Point. Off," said presiding judge ulrich polachowski. The defendant had simply "handled the gun law requirements sloppily," he emphasized.

The court found the defendant guilty of 15 counts of involuntary manslaughter and 14 counts of negligent infliction of bodily harm. In addition, the judges considered it proven that he had violated the weapons law.

The chamber does not assume that the parents knew about the death fantasies of their 17-year-old son. Polachowski thus justified that the chamber reduced the sentence from the first verdict from 21 to 18 months. The father could not have foreseen that the rampage would occur. For a conviction for involuntary manslaughter, however, the "concrete foreseeability" is not decisive. Even an abstract danger was sufficient if it later became reality.

The second trial had become necessary because the federal supreme court had overturned the first verdict due to formal errors. Since only the defense, and not the public prosecutor’s office, had requested an appeal, the sentence for the defendant could not be higher this time than in the first trial.

Polachowski appealed to the defendant to finally face up to his guilt and accept the new sentence. In the meantime, eleven professional judges and four lay judges had come to the same conclusion. "They should see what they are doing to themselves, their family and the victims’ relatives when the trial goes to the next and next and next round."Many of the defendants agreed with him. The trial had reopened old wounds, especially at christmas time. One father said after the verdict that he wanted to finally be able to grieve properly.

Even if the penalty was somewhat lower, the chamber followed the request of the public prosecutors and many of the plaintiffs in essential points. They had pleaded for a new conviction for involuntary manslaughter, arguing that the appeals process had not brought any new findings. "I was fully convinced by the verdict, both legally and humanly," prosecutor thomas hochstein said on friday.

The defense, on the other hand, was disappointed: "we are all unhappy about the verdict," said lawyer hubert gorka. The defenders had only seen a violation of the weapons law and demanded that the chamber refrain from imposing a penalty. The defendant had already suffered enough because of the loss of his son, gorka said in his plea. The three defense attorneys are now considering whether to appeal the verdict. "I will advise my client to appeal the verdict," said gorka.

Even if it becomes legally binding, the legal disputes will not end there: the father will face claims for millions in damages.