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Volume III · Page 911
| which lead you to assume that a very :
serious offense had been committed? DEFENDANT ROTHAUG: The justification for our sentence can be seen from the opinion given by the court, and that is before this Tribunal. I cannot say any more. All I can add is, that specifically for this case that is to say for the original case that had to be dealt with, that is to say, for molesting the woman in a sexual way, there was a decision from the Reich Supreme Court which stated an opinion specifically in regard to this question and discussed it from its basic angles, and that decision evidently was the cause for considering the death sentence at all. With us a further point of view was added and it was that decision that was made available to the court. |
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| PRESIDING JUDGE BRAND: I should like your
professional opinion Was the nullity plea* involved in the Lopata case? I don't
remember at the moment. MR. WOOLEYHAN: Yes, Your Honor. PRESIDING JUDGE BRAND: What is your best. honest judgment as to whether or not if Lopata had been a racial German there would have been a nullity plea and a direction from the Reich supreme court to retry the case? What is your honest opinion about that? DEFENDANT ROTHAUG: Mr. President, these two cases cannot be compared with each other because the Reich Supreme Court in this case stated its opinion on the basis that he was a Pole. Q. Now, I am asking if Lopata had been a racial German, all other facts being the same as they were in the Lopata case, is it your judgment that the nullity plea would have been invoked and that the Reich Supreme Court would have ordered the case sent back to you for another trial? I should like your opinion on that. A. Mr. President, this question is very interesting, but I cannot even imagine that possibility, even theoretically, because the very elements which are of the greatest importance could not be applied to a German. PRESIDING JUDGE BRAND: That's all I wanted to know . |
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* For the decree establishing the nullity plea and other material concerning its application, see section V C 1 b.
