Validity of partial acquittal for non-appealing co-defendant in criminal revision

The German Federal Court of Justice (BGH) dismissed the defendant's appeal as unfounded but modified the lower court's judgment to remove the partial acquittal, thereby upholding the conviction and ordering the appellant to bear the costs of the appeal. The dispute arose from a criminal trial at the Landgericht Hamburg, where the defendant challenged the initial verdict that included a partial acquittal; the BGH determined that no legal error to the defendant's detriment existed regarding the remaining convictions. The decisive procedural mechanism was the application of the principle that the appellate court's decision does not extend to the portion of the partial acquittal concerning a non-appealing co-accused, rendering the original cost decision for that specific acquittal portion void.