Proceedings discontinued on the charge of insult

Our client from Hamburg had received a penalty order from Brühl District Court (in North Rhine-Westphalia). He was accused of insulting a woman in a queue at an amusement park. A legally binding penalty order has the same effect as a judgment following a public trial. A conviction by summary penalty order therefore also leads to a previous conviction.

An objection was first lodged against the penalty order. This is usually followed by a public trial before the court that issued the summary penalty order. In this case, attending the main hearing in Brühl would have involved a time-consuming and costly journey. This had to be avoided in the interests of the client. A statement was therefore prepared in close consultation with the client. In this statement, reference was made to open questions arising from the investigation file and to the injuries inflicted on our client as a result of the incident. This convinced the court. Ultimately, it was possible to obtain a dismissal of the case in return for a manageable fine below the original fine. Our client was also pleased that he was spared the tedious and costly journey to a court hearing and that he still has no criminal record.