Psychiatric-Forensic Report Presented in Trial That Will Decide Gina H.'s Criminal Responsibility

Overview

• The court received a psychiatric-forensic report by expert Peter Keiper that is being treated as the decisive evidence on the defendant's mental state at the time of the alleged killing.
• Media report that the report runs about 30 to 40 pages and that Keiper and a colleague interviewed the defendant several times at Bützow prison while preparing it.
• Under German law the expert’s finding on Schuldfähigkeit — full responsibility, diminished responsibility, or absence of responsibility — will determine whether a conviction leads to a prison sentence or placement in a psychiatric hospital.
• The defendant denies the charges and has a reported history of recurrent depression and a personality disorder with borderline traits, which the report evaluates as possible factors affecting responsibility.
• If the court accepts the expert assessment as completing the evidence phase, prosecutors and the defense are scheduled to deliver closing arguments at the end of October with a possible verdict to follow in November.