Jean-Marc Reiser, 61, appealed on Thursday July 7 against his conviction on Tuesday by the Bas-Rhin assizes to life imprisonment with 22 years of security for the assassination of Sophie Le Tan, a-t- we learned from one of his lawyers. “Jean-Marc Reiser appealed today (Thursday) the civil and criminal provisions of the judgment of the Assize Court,” Ms.e Pierre Giuriato, confirming information from the regional daily The Latest News from Alsace (DNA).
In addition to the criminal conviction, Jean-Marc Reiser was also ordered by the Assize Court to compensate the relatives of the young student in civil court for a total of 435,000 euros, a sum well above the case law in the matter. “The appeal was lodged by Jean-Marc Reiser himself at the registry of the remand center” where he is currently detained, added another of his lawyers, Mr.e Francis Metzger, recalling that Jean-Marc Reiser had quickly made it clear to his three councils on Tuesday that he intended to appeal his conviction.
He will be retried within a year, this time before the Assize Court of Appeal of Haut-Rhin, said the council. “I was notified by the registry of the assize court,” said Ms.e Metzger. “He did it without warning me specifically. “There was no prior consultation, it was he himself who materialized the declaration of appeal at the registry of the remand center and not his lawyers at the registry of the assize court” , continued the Strasbourg criminal lawyer.
READ ALSOLe Tan case: Jean-Marc Reiser believes he does not deserve forgiveness
Killed on her 20th birthday
Jean-Marc Reiser was sentenced on Tuesday to life imprisonment, with 22 years of security, the maximum sentence he faced, for the assassination in legal recidivism of Sophie Le Tan, a young student from Strasbourg.
Arrested quickly after the disappearance of the young woman on September 7, 2018, the day of her 20th birthday, Jean-Marc Reiser had denied any involvement for two and a half years, before admitting in January 2021 to having killed and dismembered her. He then hid the body in a forest in the Vosges.
On the other hand, he denied any homicidal will and any premeditation, a position he continued to maintain throughout his trial, without succeeding in convincing the jurors who finally retained premeditation in their verdict.
Particularly procedural, Jean-Marc Reiser has already been convicted in 2003 for rape: there too, he appealed after his first appearance before the assizes, and he even went to cassation to have his conviction overturned on appeal. Retried on appeal, he was finally sentenced to 15 years in prison in 2003.
READ ALSOMurder of Sophie Le Tan: investigations into a disappearance in 1987