Germany's top court on Thursday upheld a murder conviction against a man involved in an illegal car race through one of Berlin's most famous streets that led to a deadly accident in 2016.

The Federal Court of Justice (BGH) rejected the appeal of one of the two defendants against an earlier ruling from a regional court in Berlin, which had sentenced both men to life imprisonment.

The federal court ruled that the regional court was correct in its ruling that the first defendant had acted with conditional intent.

In the case of the second defendant, however, the BGH overturned the conviction. The regional court must now hear the case for a third time.

The accident

In 2016, Marvin N. and Hamdi H., identified only by their first names in accordance with Germany's privacy laws, engaged in an illegal car race through the western part of Berlin.

While racing down the capital's famous Kurfürstendamm boulevard, the pair disregarded several red lights before Hamdi H. slammed his car into the vehicle driven by the victim — a retired doctor and widowed father-of-two — killing him. The two defendants and a passenger in Marvin N.'s car sustained only slight injuries.

Volatile legal battle

A regional court in 2017 sentenced the two drivers, both in their mid-20s, to life in prison for murder, the first such conviction for street car racers in Germany.

A year later, the BGH struck down the verdict after defense attorneys argued that the convictions were invalid because the men had not intended to commit murder.

In a retrial in 2019, the defendants were once again found guilty of murder and were re-sentenced to life in prison. The presiding judge found that was sufficient evidence to suggest the suspects had shown "willful intent," saying that "the accused and trivially played with the lives of others." 

The men appealed the decision, sending it back to the BGH for the latest ruling. 

kp/rt (AFP,dpa)