Facts
The appellant [X.] was sentenced by the High Court of the Canton of Zurich to 12 years in prison for attempted and multiple completed attempts of intentional homicide. The appellant had attacked 15 people on September 6, 2002, in a highly disturbed mental state, with the intention of killing them. His mental state was impaired by the consumption of methamphetamine and a paranoid-hallucinatory schizophrenia. The appellant believed he was hearing the voices of God, commanding him to kill people.
The High Court had initially set the sentence at 14 years in prison, which was overturned by the Court of Cassation of the Federal Supreme Court, as the sentence was deemed disproportionately severe and not justifiable. The High Court then set the sentence at 12 years in prison in its new judgment, which the appellant again challenged.
Considerations
The Federal Supreme Court overturned the judgment of the High Court and remanded the case for a new decision. The Federal Supreme Court found that the lower court had not correctly carried out the sentencing, as it had not sufficiently taken into account the appellant's diminished culpability.
The Federal Supreme Court established that the appellant had acted in a state of delusional disorder, in which he had largely lost touch with reality and his actions were prescribed by imperative voices. In such cases, complete lack of culpability is usually assumed. Since the High Court had only assumed a severe diminution of culpability, the sentence to be imposed could only be at the lower end of the possible sentence range.
The…