Germany/Portugal - Christian Brueckner, 27 @ time of 1st crime (2004), charged with sexual assault crimes, Praia de Rocha, Portugal. #5

[RichardKimble]

You may or may not recall that the defence objected to one of the judges back at the start in February , the judge in question was found guilty in 4 offences, oh and one of the replacements was also rejected.

Fall Christian B.: Gericht verurteilt Skandal-Schöffin

Der Prozess vor dem Landgericht Braunschweig gegen Maddie-Verdächtigen war ihr erster als Laienrichterin. Sie flog an Tag 2 wegen Mordaufrufen im Internet raus. Die Verteidiger hatten Hintergrundchecks gemacht.

www.braunschweiger-zeitung.de

 

[frank-cole]

Homepage

Homepage des Auftritts der Nebensprache

www.bundesverfassungsgericht.de

The chief prosecutor has intimated that the request for an appeal will be directed to the Supreme Court.

The success rate of overturning trial verdicts is very low. It’s unlikely that the defence will succeed in overturning the DM conviction & unlikely the prosecution will succeed in overturning the acquittals. That said - this whole thing has been twist after turn.

With CB’s 18 convictions - I wonder if any started as acquittals & were successfully appealed.

Disclaimer - many of his previous offences are similar to the offences he was on trial for. But those are just 18 coincidences. He has a system re-boot after every offence.

 

[Davieson]

What a pity the off-duty Portuguese police officer who attended the playground incident was unable to testify to the court due to a malfunctioning video link.
What a pity the judge chose to tell the court about the uncorroborated contents of an email from HaB's ex-boyfriend JC in which it was claimed she wasn't raped.
Why did the judge apply such conflicting standards to witness evidence in the court room?

Doesn't matter that she told the court observers and officials about this letter. They weren't making any judgment.
She and the other judges clearly knew the contents of the letter and took it into account, or not, as the case may be.

 

[Mex]

You may or may not recall that the defence objected to one of the judges back at the start in February , the judge in question was found guilty in 4 offences, oh and one of the replacements was also rejected.

Fall Christian B.: Gericht verurteilt Skandal-Schöffin

Der Prozess vor dem Landgericht Braunschweig gegen Maddie-Verdächtigen war ihr erster als Laienrichterin. Sie flog an Tag 2 wegen Mordaufrufen im Internet raus. Die Verteidiger hatten Hintergrundchecks gemacht.

www.braunschweiger-zeitung.de

Absolutely nothing to do with with any one of the five indictments; more a procedural issue regarding the appointment of a judge to the probationary period of five years.

One does wonder why the defence did not flag it up pre trial until so late in the day (the woman had just been appointed that day).

The accusation spectacularly was the first defence disruption to this trial and set the tone for all future proceedings.
Worth noting that all participants in the trial were appalled but I'm sure it could all have been handled with more discretion and without disruption to the job in hand.

The defence had prior knowledge that could have been shared with the authorities before day one of the trial

Snip
Judge CE adjourned the case until next Friday after CB's defence team claimed that one of the lay judges had made violent posts on social media about Brazilian leader Jair Bolsonaro.

Referring to Bolsonaro, the lay judge allegedly tweeted “kill the now” and "kill the devil". The posts did not involve CB's case.

The defense team claimed said the remark meant the lay judge was unfit to sit on the case.

https://www.itv.com/news/2024-02-16/christian-brueckner-trial-suspended-after-lay-judge-deemed-unfit

 

[UK Girl]

Doesn't matter that she told the court observers and officials about this letter. They weren't making any judgment.
She and the other judges clearly knew the contents of the letter and took it into account, or not, as the case may be.

Was it really any worse than the witness who went to stay with him with her friend and then apparently was terrified all night and fled the next day but then went out sightseeing and to the bars with him? yet was another who forgot to tell the BKA any of this when she originally went to them. Yet her friend apparently had no issues. That one blew my mind.

 

[frank-cole]

Absolutely nothing to do with with any one of the five indictments; more a procedural issue regarding the appointment of a judge to the probationary period of five years.

One does wonder why the defence did not flag it up pre trial until so late in the day (the woman had just been appointed that day).

The accusation spectacularly was the first defence disruption to this trial and set the tone for all future proceedings.
Worth noting that all participants in the trial were appalled but I'm sure it could all have been handled with more discretion and without disruption to the job in hand.

The defence had prior knowledge that could have been shared with the authorities before day one of the trial

Snip
Judge CE adjourned the case until next Friday after CB's defence team claimed that one of the lay judges had made violent posts on social media about Brazilian leader Jair Bolsonaro.

Referring to Bolsonaro, the lay judge allegedly tweeted “kill the *advertiser censored* now” and "kill the devil". The posts did not involve CB's case.

The defense team claimed said the remark meant the lay judge was unfit to sit on the case.

https://www.itv.com/news/2024-02-16/christian-brueckner-trial-suspended-after-lay-judge-deemed-unfit

Great point.

It’s very difficult for people who are pro-victim to talk favourably about a paedophile’s defence lawyers.

But - I’m grinding my teeth & wincing whilst writing the following - the stunt with the lay judge at the start of the trial was a very clever move. It didn't seem like more masculine bravado towards the prosecution, it was as if to put the judges on high alert. From minute one the judges will have realised that the defence had scrutinised them in a lot of detail & were keyed up on any cracks they could exploit. That would have made it uncomfortable. The succession of motions in the weeks that followed, had followed the successful motion to have one of the judges struck off. I can imagine that this is exactly the type of play that comes out when mob bosses, hitmen & high profile financial fraudsters are on trial.

 

[Mex]

The success rate of overturning trial verdicts is very low. It’s unlikely that the defence will succeed in overturning the DM conviction & unlikely the prosecution will succeed in overturning the acquittals. That said - this whole thing has been twist after turn.

With CB’s 18 convictions - I wonder if any started as acquittals & were successfully appealed.

Disclaimer - many of his previous offences are similar to the offences he was on trial for. But those are just 18 coincidences. He has a system re-boot after every offence.

He was entitled to appeal each and every case for which he was convicted.
His legals even took the DM appeal to the European court - not to plead his innocence - but to complain about the arrest from Italy in the first instance.
He lost the appeal.
Snip
According to court documents, in which CB is referred to as XC, he was extradited from Portugal for sexually abusing a minor in June 2017, then travelled to the Netherlands and Italy whilst still on probation after his release.
He was extradited to Germany from Italy in October 2018 on a warrant for drug trafficking before being tried and convicted of rape and extortion in December last year.

The ECJ case centred on whether the German authorities needed Portugal's consent to bring rape proceedings because of the 2017 extradition.

Madeleine McCann suspect Christian Brueckner loses bid for prison release

Lawyers for prime suspect Christian Brueckner had argued that protocols in the use of the European Arrest Warrant had been reached, but today judges threw his appeal out

www.mirror.co.uk

 

[Mex]

Great point.

It’s very difficult for people who are pro-victim to talk favourably about a paedophile’s defence lawyers.

But - I’m grinding my teeth & wincing whilst writing the following - the stunt with the lay judge at the start of the trial was a very clever move. It didn't seem like more masculine bravado towards the prosecution, it was as if to put the judges on high alert. From minute one the judges will have realised that the defence had scrutinised them in a lot of detail & were keyed up on any cracks they could exploit. That would have made it uncomfortable. The succession of motions in the weeks that followed, had followed the successful motion to have one of the judges struck off. I can imagine that this is exactly the type of play that comes out when mob bosses, hitmen & high profile financial fraudsters are on trial.

In retrospect this seemingly trivial happening did indeed set the tone for subsequent events throughout the trial.
The chief prosecutor is on record as stating that in his twenty years experience as a prosecutor he had never seen the like.

 

[frank-cole]

In retrospect this seemingly trivial happening did indeed set the tone for subsequent events throughout the trial.
The chief prosecutor is on record as stating that in his twenty years experience as a prosecutor he had never seen the like.

Agree. The defence played all the tricks in their book. I am guessing they’ve defended mob bosses & hitmen & had success with the same methods.

You’d be hard pressed to find people who genuinely think OJ Simpson is innocent. He just had a good defence. For example - In another universe - if OJ Simpson was suspected of calling CB that night then that must mean he’s actually innocent of murdering Nicole Simpson………

That’s what things sometimes read like.

 

[Monic]

The more photos I see of CB, the more I think he looks like this drawing

 

[frank-cole]

The more photos I see of CB, the more I think he looks like this drawing

Me too. Blonde haired pitted skin, pockmarked face ‘ugly man’ - spotted on at least 3 occasions lurking around the OC. Highly unlikely for there to coincidentally be another man in the area, who just so happened to fit the exact same description.

 

[frank-cole]

The more photos I see of CB, the more I think he looks like this drawing

Surely there must be tourist photos or videos with him in the background in PDL that week. I’m guessing the BKA will have that evidence. On the flip-side, I’m very surprised the press haven’t gotten hold of an image with him in the area that week or the weeks prior. Hard to imagine a press who’d opt to keep that quiet.

 

[Davieson]

Surely there must be tourist photos or videos with him in the background in PDL that week. I’m guessing the BKA will have that evidence. On the flip-side, I’m very surprised the press haven’t gotten hold of an image with him in the area that week or the weeks prior. Hard to imagine a press who’d opt to keep that quiet.

Evidence of what - being seen in PDL ?

 

[frank-cole]

Evidence of what - being seen in PDL ?

I can smell another coincidence on the horizon…

CB says in his letter that if he was never in the area. If there’s a picture or video of CB in the area, it’ll be a bit of bad news for team CB.

 

[Anxala]

Evidence of what - being seen in PDL ?

Person who lives, hangs out and socialises in general area seen in general area.

Damning. Go straight to jail.

 

[Davieson]

Person who lives, hangs out and socialises in general area seen in general area. Damning.

With evidence like this, its clear to see why prosecutors didn't do too well in the recent trial.

 

[Mex]

Person who lives, hangs out and socialises in general area seen in general area. Damning.

What is a protocol in a police investigation?
Checking CCTV from a variety of sources. Nowadays inclusive of doorbell and vehicle footage. They don't waste time on that if it is of no value.

Footage of a suspect lurking outside No5A in PdL would not necessarily have been 'damning' if considered in isolation and neither would footage of CB in the corridor outside HB's hotel room.

Evidence comprises of many individual pieces put together to build a picture.

 

[Mex]

With evidence like this, its clear to see why prosecutors didn't do too well in the recent trial.

Unfortunately there was no evidence like this in the recent trial and in many incidences prosecutors had to fight an uphill battle to have whatever witnesses and what evidence there was heard in court.

An appeal has been requested based on shortcomings such as these.

 

[mrjitty]

i guess all we have left is to see if Braunschweig drop MM indictment next year sometime.

can’t imagine HCWs team will seek publicity after this reverse and judicial dressing down.

 

[Mex]

Person who lives, hangs out and socialises in general area seen in general area.

Damning. Go straight to jail.

Definitely so: but you did overlook the illegal entries into premises in his night time job as a burglar and on at least one occasion as a rapist.
All the while no doubt casing jobs while he was just innocently 'hanging out'.