In criminal proceedings, an accused or defendant has the right in certain situations to have the court appoint a criminal defense attorney as a public defender. The assignment in accordance to § 45 para. 3 RVG results in the activity of the defense attorney being paid for by the state treasury or state treasury.
Of course, we also take over your defense as a public defender and, on request, we can also inform you in advance by telephone or email whether the requirements for a mandatory defense are met.
In criminal proceedings against adults, this is regulated in § 140 StPO , in criminal proceedings against young people and adolescents in § 68 JGG .
After that, a public defender will be appointed, among other things, if
the main hearing takes place in the first instance before the Higher Regional Court or the Regional Court or
the accused is charged with a crime or
remand or temporary accommodation is enforced against an accused or
the accused has been in an institution for at least three months on the basis of a judicial order or with judicial approval and is not released at least two weeks before the start of the main hearing, or
this is necessary because of the seriousness of the offense or the difficulty of the factual or legal situation or it is evident that the accused cannot defend himself. Here are a few examples: an assignment usually occurs, among other things, if
- the imposition of imprisonment of 1 year or more is imminent or
- the alleged criminal offense is said to have been committed during an ongoing probation and in the event of a new conviction there is a risk of revocation of the probation in the other criminal case, or
- if the injured party has joined the criminal proceedings and is represented by a victim lawyer or
- when a blood sample is taken without a court order and without the consent of the accused, since it must be clarified in this respect whether a ban on the use of the blood alcohol report is to be assumed or
- in cases of so-called driving license tourism, when it comes to a charge of driving without a license or
- for foreigners who do not speak German, unless the matter is simple or
- for reasons of fair trial, if a co-defendant has been assigned a public defender; or
- if one of the main witnesses for the prosecution is a close family member and the defendant’s interests in his defense conflict with the interests of the family; or
- if a psychiatric expert opinion is obtained on the question of criminal responsibility or
- knowledge of the criminal file is necessary for the defense, e.g. because several prosecution witnesses have given the police partly contradictory information about the crime and allegations from the various interrogation records become necessary in the main hearing or
- if the accused is illiterate or, due to a reading and spelling weakness (dyslexia), is not in a position to record the contents of the file himself with reasonable effort in order to prepare his defence