Schöffengericht#
Schoeffengericht, consists of 2 professional judges and 2 lay Judges ( Schoeffen) and is the first instance for individual offences listed in the code of criminal procedure and those offences that are punishable by more than 5 years imprisonment and that have not been allocated to the Geschworenengericht. The sentence is passed by a majority of votes, in cases of parity of votes it is up to the presiding professional judges to reach a decision.