In the trial of the fatal shot at a gas station employee in the dispute over the corona mask requirement, the defense rejected the charge of murder.

Unlike the public prosecutor's office, defense attorney Alexander Klein did not see the murder criteria as insidious and base motives. Before the Bad Kreuznach District Court on Friday, he pleaded for manslaughter with significantly reduced criminal liability of the accused who was drunk to the act. Klein did not name a penalty.

"The question of the characteristics of the murder is what drove us in the process. The perpetrator was clear from the start," said the defense attorney. From his point of view, the fact that the victim was "not chosen arbitrarily" speaks against the allegation of base motives, the defender said, referring to the dispute about wearing the corona mask that preceded the shooting. Later, the defendant's second defense attorney was to make his plea.

The act almost a year ago in the Rhineland-Palatinate town of Idar-Oberstein had caused nationwide horror. In court, the accused 50-year-old German admitted the fatal shot at the 20-year-old cashier and said he could not explain the crime to this day.