Overview
- Defense lawyer Thomas Löcker asked the court on Friday for a full acquittal and for Gina H.'s arrest warrant to be lifted, saying unresolved gaps make the evidence insufficient.
- The public prosecutor and the victim's lawyer have both sought a murder conviction, life imprisonment and the legal finding of besondere Schwere der Schuld.
- Prosecutors rely on circumstantial forensic traces — fibers in the defendant's car and under the victim's nail, shoeprints at the pond, a bloodstain on a kitchen cloth and the defendant's phone being switched off — while acknowledging there is no confession, no eyewitness to the killing and no recovered weapon.
- The defense challenged each item: it said a similar jacket owned by the defendant's son could explain fibers, a prior bathing accident could explain the bloodstain, and the two men who accompanied the defendant to the pond may have biased testimony.
- Judges will hear remaining defense arguments and the defendant's final statement before delivering a verdict on November 10, 2026, with the besondere Schwere finding meaning an early release after 15 years would be highly unlikely.