Facts
On July 3, 2017, a dispute between neighbors took place in U., involving B. and the spouses C. [A.] attempted to record the incident with her mobile phone, which led to differences between her and B. The case resulted in the opening of criminal proceedings against all parties involved, including [A.] and B. On August 15, 2019, the public prosecutor's office dropped the proceedings and took charge of the procedural costs, but did not award compensation to [A.] for her defense costs.
[A.] filed an appeal against the dismissal decision, requesting the annulment of the decision and the award of compensation of 6'764.75 francs for her defense costs. The cantonal court dismissed the appeal, condemning [A.] to pay procedural costs and compensation to B.
[A.] filed a criminal appeal, requesting the annulment of the cantonal court's decision and the award of compensation for her defense costs.
Considerations
The Federal Court examined the question of whether [A.] was entitled to compensation for her defense costs. According to art. 429 al. 1 let. a CrimPC, the accused person is entitled to compensation for the expenses incurred by the reasonable exercise of their procedural rights in the event of dismissal of the proceedings.
The Federal Court considered that the public prosecutor's office had instructed [A.] to quantify and justify her claims within a period of 14 days, but that [A.] had not reacted within the prescribed deadline. The Federal Court estimated that this could be considered as an implicit waiver of compensation.
The Federal Court also considered that compensation could no longer be granted in a subsequent procedure, in accordance with its consistent case law (ATF 144 IV 207, 142…