Performing an audit successfully – tips and advice from a specialist lawyer!

A revision before a court is a legal remedy with the help of which the legal force of a judgment is suspended and the punishment imposed therein is changed or canceled. A positive appeal judgment usually means that the accused is in a better position than after the original decision. Although it is customary for defendants to avail themselves of the appeal, other parties such as plaintiffs, co-plaintiffs or the public prosecutor’s office can also use the appeal. The revision then has the effect that the judgment in question is checked from a legal point of view in a higher instance in order to affirm or negate the technical errors that have been brought forward. This is precisely where the key characteristic of this appeal lies: when you file an appeal, the whole process is not rolled back. There is no renewed taking of evidence or repeated questioning of witnesses before the competent judge.

An appeal against all judgments from the first instance at the regional court and higher regional courts as well as appeal judgments from criminal chambers at the regional courts is permissible (here, however, not in juvenile criminal cases, there the legal process is so shortened that only one appeal or appeal is possible). Furthermore, as a so-called jump revision against all judgments by local courts. However, this is rarely recommended, since such a factual instance is overlooked by the appeal chamber of the regional court.

The deadline for filing an appeal is generally one week from the day the judgment was announced. An exception applies if the accused was not present for the announcement, then the period begins with the service of the judgment. If this ends on a Saturday, Sunday or a general public holiday, the end of the following working day is considered to be the end of the period. If the deadline is missed through no fault of the defendant, for example due to a lawyer’s mistake in the chancellery, reinstatement in the previous state can be granted. The appeal must be lodged either in writing or on record at the registry of the court of origin.

The revision must be justified. The deadline for this is one month after delivery of the judgment.

The appeal is justified if there is an absolute or relative reason for an appeal and the accused is adversely affected by this. The absolute reasons for revision are finally listed in § 338 StPO. Relative reasons for revision can lie in the violation of formal requirements or in substantive law, i.e. a legally incorrect assessment of the facts or an incorrect determination of the amount of the penalty.

If these deficiencies have been successfully validated, the judgment will be overturned in whole or in part and referred back to the court of origin, albeit another judge, for a new decision.

The presentation of possible reasons for revision would go beyond the scope of this article and would be a case for a long book. However, it always applies that a revision should be written by an experienced defense attorney, who need not have participated in the main hearing.

Lawyer Andreas Junge is a specialist lawyer for criminal law and a certified advisor for criminal tax law. One of his areas of expertise is criminal revision law. The average success rate for revisions is less than 10%. Attorney Andreas’ appeals are 80% successful. He has the knowledge and experience to advise you optimally and to be able to check the challenged judgment for possible legal errors and to successfully assert these errors.

Just send your questions by e-mail or call Andreas Junge’s office. He has his office in Berlin and a branch in Cottbus. Short-term contact is also possible via mobile phone: 01792346907 and the usual messenger services.

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