German court jails poacher who 'executed' police officers

A regional court in the southwestern German city of Kaiserslautern on Wednesday handed a life sentence to 39-year-old Andreas S. for the shooting of two police officers.

In a case that stirred nationwide outrage, the court found S. guilty of opening fire on the young officers to cover up an illegal wildlife poaching operation.

What was the court told happened?

According to the indictment, the two police officers had stopped Andreas S. and his co-defendant, Florian V., in a van in the early morning of January 31. 

The incident took place on a country road near the town of Kusel in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate. In the van were said to be more than 20 freshly killed deer.

During the stop, the suspect was said to have suddenly shot first at the 24-year-old female officer with a shotgun at close range. He then fired at her 29-year-old colleague with a shotgun and hunting rifle, the court heard. 

The fatally wounded policeman fired back but missed. He managed to make a distress call declaring, "They're shooting."

Andreas S. went on to search the wounded female officer for any notes that might incriminate him before firing again because she was still alive, this time in the head.

The two men were apprehended the following day in the neighboring state of Saarland following a major police search and a public appeal for leads.

What were the defendants found guilty of?

Judges convicted Andreas S. of two murders, as well as the offenses of commercial illegal poaching and assault against police officers. The prosecution had said that the crime had the character of an "execution," making the murder particularly grave in nature. 

The circumstances were ruled to be an aggravating factor, virtually precluding him from an early release from prison.

"We are all to this day horrified that a supposed routine control could turn into a fatal incident," German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said in a statement that followed the verdict.

The indictment was largely based on Florian V.'s statements. During the trial, the two defendants incriminated each other. Andreas S. presented the situation as self-defense saying he had acted out of surprise when the officers approached. That version of events was rejected by the court.  

The court found Florian V. guilty of aiding and abetting commercial poaching. However, he was not handed any sentence by the court, which found that he had not fired any gun and had given comprehensive statements as a key witness that allowed the crime to be solved. 

The 33-year-old had accompanied Andreas S. and sat with him in his car during the crime. Originally, he was also suspected of murder, but this was not later substantiated.

rc/jcg (AFP, dpa)