"Actually lethal"

Attempted murder with a blood alcohol level of five: two years in prison

The accused (35) had been consuming vast quantities of alcohol for years.

(Bild: andranik123-stock.adobe.com)

At the beginning of last December, a 35-year-old man attacked his mother with a knife and also strangled his father. However, he is only facing three years in prison at the Vienna Regional Court - because, believe it or not, he had a blood alcohol level of five. "Actually lethal", states an expert.

The defendant's mother sits anxiously in the courtroom, his father paces up and down in front of the door. Her 35-year-old son is presented in handcuffs. On December 6 of the previous year, he attacked his parents. He put a knife to the woman's throat and strangled her father. "That would actually have been a trial for attempted murder," said the public prosecutor. However, the Viennese now "only" has to sit before a single judge. 

"My client was drunk with five per mille"
He faces a maximum of three years in prison for the attack, which is actually punishable by up to life imprisonment. "My client was drunk with five per mille. He has no memory of it himself," explains his defense lawyer Florian Kuch. This means that the offense of committing a punishable act while fully intoxicated in connection with attempted murder is fulfilled, and the penalty range is significantly reduced. 

§ Section 287 StGB Committing a punishable offense while fully intoxicated

(1) Whoever, even if only negligently, through the consumption of alcohol or the use of another intoxicating substance, intoxicates himself to the extent that he is incapable of reasoning, shall be punished with imprisonment for up to three years if he commits an act while intoxicated which would be attributed to him as a felony or misdemeanor outside this state. However, the nature and extent of the punishment may not be more severe than that prescribed by law for the offense committed while intoxicated.

The 35-year-old has been drinking horrendous amounts of alcohol for years. On the day of the crime, for example, he had already started with Jägermeister in the morning and then drank a few glasses of vodka. In the early evening, he emptied a whole bottle of whiskey. "That definitely corresponds to very severe intoxication, which would actually be fatal," the psychiatrist reported in his expert opinion at the Vienna Regional Court. Immediately after the attempted bloodbath, a measurement showed about five per mille ...

Two years in prison and therapy
Despite a memory gap, the accused pleads guilty. "He wants to undergo treatment," his defense lawyer Kuch reveals. In addition to two years in prison, he is committed to an institution for lawbreakers in need of rehabilitation. There he will also undergo therapy to work through the reasons for his alcohol abuse: A few years ago, his arranged marriage broke down and his ex-wife moved back home with their child. He never got over it ...