At 2 pm today, the verdict will be handed down against the two young women who are accused of killing 21-year-old Tove after a night out in Vetlanda. Leif GW Persson believes that there will be a conviction – but is critical of that outcome. In addition, Persson questions the judge’s objectivity. Three jurors and a councilor have spent the last few weeks evaluating the evidence in one of Sweden’s most high-profile legal cases. The defendants, the 20-year-old and the 18-year-old, could become the first women under the age of 21 to be sentenced to life imprisonment in Sweden – if the court goes along the lines of the prosecutor. And Leif GW Persson speculates that the outcome will be just that. However, the criminologist does not agree with the prosecutor’s claims – as far as the 18-year-old is concerned. – I think that the 18-year-old should be sentenced for common crime against the peace and then the murder charge should be dismissed completely, because there is a lack of intent and there is a lack of evidence. As for the 20-year-old, it’s more complicated. I wouldn’t start climbing the walls there if you followed the prosecutor’s line. “A judge must be objective” Persson, who attended the trial himself, believes that by making observations of the mood in the courtroom, he can therefore anticipate the outcome. And among other things, he questions the judge’s objectivity. – That a judge must be objective hardly needs to be said. For him, these are equal opponents, they are parties – the defense and the prosecutor. And I react to him interrupting and scolding the lawyers on several occasions for asking leading questions. But the fact is that defenders get to ask leading questions. But when the prosecutor is in and stomping on the same grounds, it doesn’t cause any reaction. – That makes me believe that this verdict that we get at 2 p.m. will essentially go along the lines of the prosecutor. But I think that in a majority of the country’s other 47 district courts there, it had not done so. But no matter how it goes, there will of course be an appeal, adds Persson. TV4 Nyheterna has contacted judge Erik Handmark, who declines to comment on the criticism.
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