Abuse of authority

Police officer escapes conviction with 2000 euro fine

A figure of Justice (symbolic image)

(Bild: dpa/Frank Rumpenhorst)

It cost a police officer 2,000 euros and an admission of guilt to escape a conviction for abuse of authority in the course of a diversionary plea bargain. The officer had bungled a narcotics investigation. As a result, an innocent man stood trial but was acquitted.

 

It was a rare trial that took place in Linz on Wednesday: police officers are rarely tried on suspicion of abuse of authority. In this particular case, an officer from the Linz-Land district was caught for bungling a drug investigation. 

Addict died
The previous year, there had been drug problems at a skate park in Hörsching. A boy, who has since died, was caught with 20 grams of ketamine - a narcotic for horses. In her statement, his girlfriend accused a boy of selling ketamine, but then changed her mind. The girl and her mother informed the investigator of this by phone and email. The investigator said that the file was already with the public prosecutor's office. The mother and daughter were told to contact them, but this did not happen.

Prosecution collapsed
 The falsely accused man was then actually on trial as the alleged ketamine seller, but was acquitted with bombs and grenades because he was able to prove via chat messages that the girl who had "binded" him had already apologized to him. However, the police officer was then charged.

My client was completely overworked due to the staffing situation at his police station. He had recently had a gall bladder operation and had to stand in for two colleagues who were ill. He simply had a lot on his mind, maybe he didn't care.

Verteidiger Andreas Mauhart dazu, warum sein Mandant gepfuscht hatte

The trial went quickly
The trial was over surprisingly quickly after defense lawyer Andreas Mauhart informed the judge that his client now admitted that he had made a mistake. This cleared the way for a diversionary settlement: the police officer got away with a fine of 2,000 euros _ including procedural costs. 

The range of punishment would have been narrow: Abuse of authority is punishable by six months to five years' imprisonment.