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BGH overturns daily rate level: new trial for previously convicted defendant!
The BGH abolishes the daily rate for fines due to inadequate findings; new proceedings are expected at the Cologne District Court.
BGH overturns daily rate level: new trial for previously convicted defendant!
A surprising ruling by the Federal Court of Justice (BGH) is causing a stir: On April 24, 2025, the court overturned parts of an earlier ruling by the Cologne Regional Court, which had sentenced a defendant to 90 daily rates of 80 euros each for attempted coercion. What’s special about it? The BGH criticized the justification for the daily rate, which was considered inadequate. You can find out more about this at anwalt.de.
The defendant, who has several previous convictions and occasional crack use, was released from custody on April 16, 2024. In his case, he stated that he wanted to earn an income of around 2,500 euros per month through occasional work in welding technology. The Cologne Regional Court believed this information and set the daily rate accordingly. But the BGH found that there was a lack of concrete evidence of the income level and referred the matter to the Cologne District Court for a new hearing.
The importance of the daily rate amount
The daily rate in Germany is determined taking into account the individual financial situation of the perpetrator and is based on Section 40 of the Criminal Code (StGB). Minimum criteria state that a fine can include a minimum of 5 and a maximum of 360 daily rates, which can range from 1 euro to 30,000 euros. It is interesting that the number of daily rates does not depend on the perpetrator's income, but on his guilt. With fines of more than 90 daily rates, the person concerned is considered to have a criminal record - so in an explosive case, the questions of punishment and justice were taken to the extreme. This delivers fachanwalt.de comprehensive information.
After the BGH ruling, the question is now being raised as to how long-term the defendant's income situation really is. The unclear nature of his work - whether self-employed or dependent - was an important factor for the BGH's concerns. In such a legal gray area, the determination of the daily rate is crucial because it requires clear, comprehensible evidence in order to be able to realistically assess future income. Some emphasis is also placed on the defendant's actual ability to misclassify his temporary income situation as permanent.
Legal remedies and the consequences
During the appeal, the defendant focused exclusively on the amount of the daily rate. This precise focus led to the BGH partially repealing the original decision. This is an example of how important well-founded legal representation is in criminal proceedings. At nwb.de highlights the complexity of such cases, where the verdict can have a profound impact on the lives of the defendants.
As a result, it remains to be seen how the Cologne District Court will deal with the new findings and requirements. Once again, questions arise regarding the defendant's financial possibilities and how these can be legally interpreted. It is clear that in case law, precise reasoning and well-founded evidence are of the utmost importance in order to be able to make adequate and fair judgments.