A step to the higher court paid off for him: the brother-in-law murderer from Grünburg (Upper Austria) received “only” 20 years instead of life in prison on Tuesday. The 38-year-old killed his former brother-in-law (43) in Grünburg at the beginning of March with two shots from a pistol.
On March 5 at 1 a.m., Roland K. (38) from Ennsdorf called his ex-brother-in-law Hermann F. in Grünburg to wake him up. He shot the glass front with a Glock (caliber 9 millimeters) and killed the hated 43-year-old. He then took his nephew (12) from the first floor and forced him to look at his father’s body.
Judge imposed maximum sentence
A first instance jury in Steyr imposed a life sentence on October 18. The judge described the act as a ‘cold execution’. But K. appealed against the maximum sentence.
Compensation for survivors
His lawyer Hans-Jürgen Riedl justified this on Tuesday in the Oberlandesgericht Linz by saying that his client had confessed from the start and had contributed to finding the truth. K. has now also transferred 10,000 euros in compensation to the surviving relatives. And he referred to the good prognosis of the psychiatric expert, according to which the 38-year-old was unlikely to repeat such an act.
Acting ‘out of excessive empathy’
According to Riedl, the murder took place mainly out of “excessive empathy” for the troubled sister. “I know it was a mistake and I am responsible for it,” K. explained, but asked for a milder punishment.
The appeals panel also recognized mitigating factors and reduced his prison sentence to 20 years.
Source: Krone
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