Nothing has changed in the way the defendant enters the courtroom. With a black hood and a writing pad in front of his face, Sebastian B. protects himself from the eyes of others. Even during this negotiation, he hardly speaks, keeping his head bowed and the stooped posture. He only looks up when spoken to. He speaks softly, with a shaky voice. 19-year-old B. is accused of negligently causing the death of three friends as a driver in a car accident in July 2020; Tuesday was the third day of the trial at the Frankfurt Regional Court. The court heard the accident expert's report and heard the parents of two deceased as witnesses.

“I'm trying to survive,” says one of the mothers, “but I have no more life.

Nothing. ”She was so proud when her son told her he wanted to go to university.

“We were a happy family.” Now she and her husband take pills twice a day.

Once in the evening to be able to sleep, once in the morning to get through the day.

Again and again her voice breaks away.

Her husband has needed weekly psychological care since the accident.

He has been going to her child's grave three times a day for months.

“I couldn't bear to see the boys so torn up,” says another mother, describing her reaction to the pictures of the accident.

“Our child gets a death sentence without a trial.

We get life imprisonment. "

Full throttle since leaving the place

The accident occurred about 850 meters outside of Langenhain in the direction of Wildsachsen in a right-hand bend.

The expert presents his report on the course of the accident.

B. turned into the right-hand bend at at least 135 kilometers per hour.

Taking into account the car, a Chevrolet Captiva from 2006 with 136 hp, B. would have to have given full throttle since leaving the town to reach this speed.

"He has fully stepped through since the place-name sign," says the expert.

In the curve, the car got into the opposite lane and scratched the curb along the opposite lane with the two left tires.

At the end of the curb at the exit of the curve, the rear broke out to the left and the car almost drove into the ditch on the right.

Since then no tire tracks could be found on the road, B. would have to have counter-steered, with the load switched from the left to the right side of the car.

Then the car fell two meters into a ditch to the right of the lane, positioned itself almost 90 degrees over the right side of the car and hit a tree with its roof.

In addition, information was still available in the airbag control unit.

In the three seconds before the impact, i.e. since the middle of the curve, the accelerator pedal was 97 percent depressed, 0.5 seconds before the impact even 100 percent.

“The brake pedal was never pressed.” The verdict in this case is expected for next week.

Should the court find Sebastian B. guilty of negligent homicide in three cases, he faces a prison sentence of several years.