An den Grenzen des Heimtückebegriffs

According to established case law, the killing of constitutionally unaware is, with a few exceptions, not to be regarded as lying-in-wait murder, but only as manslaughter. The reason for this is the victim's lack of ability to harbour suspicion, which is absolutely necessary for the presumption of unawareness under the current definition of lying-in-wait. The author analyses the case law on the killing of constitutionally unaware victims and critically examines the applicable demarcation criteria and the interpretation of the defining characteristics of the concept of lying-in-wait. She then uses the current definition of lying-in-wait to develop a consistent solution for dealing with the killing of constitutionally unaware victims.