More discussions about the expert’s handwritten notes

Today the court first heard a federal police detective on further investigations concerning a builder who had been fired at in Chemnitz (see the report of 13 December 2016). These investigations did not uncover anything new – then again, it seems that they had not been conducted very intensively either, as shown by the fact that the witness was unable to state the precise location of the construction site.

The court then rejected the motion by the Zschäpe defense concerning expert witness Saß’ handwritten notes (see yesterday’s report). The rest of the trial day mostly consisted of breaks – one so the defense could discuss its reaction to the decision, one so it could draft a motion for reconsideration, and one so that other partys could take cognizance of the motion and comment on it.

The court will decide on the motion for reconsideration tomorrow. The trial tomorrow will begin at 10.30.

Further questions to Prof. Saß – defense tries, but fails to gain access to his notes

The assigned counsel of accused Zschäpe today tried, but failed to have the handwritten notes of expert witness Prof. Saß introduced into the trial. The trial day began with some questions to the expert by the presiding judge. Counsel pronounced themselves surprised that Saß had not simply brought with him his notes – some 700 pages. Two weeks ago, after Saß had stated that he did not have his notes with him and the defense had answered that in that case they did not have any questions at the moment, the presiding judge had asked Saß some questions of his own and then asked him to come back to Munich this week – Heer, Stahl and Sturm had apparently believed that this included a statement that Saß was to bring his notes. Saß, however, had left them at home and stated that he had included all relevant observations of Zschäpe’s behavior in the courtroom in his expert opinion – indeed, he had made reported on these observations in some detail last time as well as today. Continue reading →