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Frankfurt / Main (dpa / lhe) - murder or self-defense? For the third time, the judiciary will deal with the violent death of a married couple from next Thursday (April 22nd). The two 57-year-old owners of a riding stables in Maintal-Dörnigheim (Main-Kinzig district) were killed by two tenants on the premises in June 2014. This is a father and his son. The now 66-year-old man first stabbed his husband according to the earlier judicial findings. A short time later, his wife was shot by the now 36-year-old son.
The Hanau Regional Court found these facts in two trials in 2015 and 2018, but acquitted the two defendants.
A self-defense situation that could have justified the use of the knife and the firearm could not be ruled out, it was said after extensive evidence.
The dispute was apparently based on disputes over rent payments.
In the incident, the father and son may have been threatened by the later victims with a knife and an ax.
The prosecution had called for life imprisonment for the father for murder and seven and a half years for the son for manslaughter.
Neither did she accept the acquittals, nor did the lawyer for the victims' surviving relatives, who were represented as joint plaintiffs.
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The Federal Court of Justice also granted the appeal against the second acquittal and this time referred the matter to the regional court in Frankfurt for complete renegotiation.
The jury chamber is facing an extensive hearing of evidence with so far 22 days of trial until the summer.
Numerous witnesses from around the accused and victims as well as technical experts are to be heard.
The start of the third trial was delayed again because both defendants are not in pre-trial detention and the judges are heavily occupied with preferential detention cases.
© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210420-99-271830 / 2