The German legislator had actually introduced a provision in Section 362 No. 5 of the Code of Criminal Procedure that declared the legal force of an acquittal of a defendant to be a very volatile circumstance. As soon as new facts or evidence emerged against the defendant, the trial could start all over again.

It may be difficult for a layperson to understand that a murderer can be acquitted: But that is the price of a constitutional state. Thankfully, the Federal Republic of Germany has an intact Federal Constitutional Court that protects the constitution and, in its ruling of October 31, 2023 (2 BvR 900/22), read the riot act to the legislature. The new regulation is unconstitutional.