Overview
- Germany’s top criminal court rejected the defendant’s appeal on Tuesday, making the Offenburg life sentence final for the 2025 stabbing of a 37-year-old pregnant therapist.
- Judges had found more than 30 knife wounds and ruled the killing a treacherous murder driven by a base motive, with a finding of especially severe guilt that makes release after 15 years highly unlikely.
- The court also reserved preventive detention, which can keep a person confined after prison if they are still deemed dangerous.
- In a separate case in Darmstadt, prosecutors sought life in prison for 62-year-old Yury K., alleging murder for greed and a drug robbery, with a verdict due next Thursday.
- Forensic testimony detailed 48 injuries, including 42 stab and cut wounds, extensive defensive wounds, and a fatal collapsed lung and embolism, while the defense argued for manslaughter and cited long-term heroin addiction that experts said did not reduce culpability.