Facts
The appellant X. was found guilty by the Appellate Court of the Canton of Basel-Stadt of multiple cases of receiving stolen goods (Art. 160 para. 1 SCC) and sentenced to five months in prison. The appellant had acquired goods from various individuals for resale purposes on multiple occasions between November 2002 and August 2004. The Appellate Court assumed that the appellant must have known or at least suspected that the goods had been obtained through criminal acts against property.
The appellant filed both a constitutional complaint and a federal appeal, requesting the annulment of the Appellate Court's judgment. He applied for a psychiatric expert opinion regarding his accountability, as he suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder.
Considerations
The Federal Court examined whether the lower court had rightly waived the obtaining of a psychiatric expert opinion. It found that the appellant's post-traumatic stress disorder did not raise serious doubts about his accountability. The lower court had correctly established that the appellant, despite his illness, was able to run his second-hand shop in a targeted and profit-oriented manner and that his behavior before, during, and after the acts did not show a lack of reality.
The Federal Court referred to its previous case law, according to which the…