Crime (15 page)
Michalka was sentenced to two years. A week after the trial, I ran into the presiding judge in one of the long halls in the court building in Moabit. She said the jurors were getting together to buy him an air ticket.
After Michalka had served half his sentence, he was released on probation. The presiding judge at the parole hearing, a wise old man, had them run through the whole story all over again, and just muttered, “Wild.” Then he ordered Michalka set free.
Michalka is back living in Ethiopia today and has acquired full citizenship. Tiru now has a brother and a sister. Sometimes Michalka calls me. He still tells me that he’s happy.
Ceci n’est pas une pomme
.
AFTERWORD
Many things in the German justice system are different from the way they are in America. We don’t have juries anymore. Back in the 1920s they became too expensive for the thrifty Prussians. For larger trials, today’s court consists of three career judges plus two lay judges who are ordinary citizens without legal training and are appointed to serve for a specific term. Their opinions carry the same weight as those of the career judges.
And unlike in America, the prosecutor is not on the side of the state. Like a judge, he is obliged to be impartial; he must also ascertain if there is evidence that can be used in the defense of the accused, and he must move for acquittal if the guilt of the defendant is not proved. Only the defense attorney takes one side against the other; he may act only in the interests of his client.
Almost every criminal case in Germany is heard by a court, even those in which the accused has confessed. A person’s guilt and his or her punishment can only be established by a court; they are not the subject of bargaining by a prosecutor and a defense attorney.
There are many other differences. We all wear robes in court, black cloaks made of cloth or silk; the judges and prosecutors wear white cravats and white shirts. But finally, the differences between our two justice systems are insignificant.
A NOTE ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Ferdinand von Schirach was born in Munich in 1964. Since 1994, he has worked as a criminal-defense lawyer in Berlin. Among his clients have been the former member of the Politburo Günter Schabowski, the former East German spy Norbert Juretzko, and members of the underworld.
A NOTE ABOUT THE TRANSLATOR
Carol Brown Janeway’s translations include Bernhard Schlink’s
The Reader
, Jan Philipp Reemtsma’s
In the Cellar
, Hans-Ulrich Treichel’s
Lost
, Zvi Kolitz’s
Yosl Rakover Talks to God
, Benjamin Lebert’s
Crazy
, Sándor Márai’s
Embers
, Yasmina Reza’s
Desolation
, Margriet de Moor’s
The Storm
, and Daniel Kehlmann’s
Fame
and
Measuring the World
.
