How many lawyers can one defendant have?

Question

In the large-scale lawsuit against alleged "Reichsbürger" in Germany, it is reported that each defendant has 2 to 4 lawyers. Obviously, that complicates things not only for the accused, but also for the court and the entire case (and likely increases their chance of finding some loophole in the law to get their defendant acquitted). But how many lawyers can one defendant have? Is there a regulation to that?

Also, who pays for them? One would assume that if the defendant is found guilty, the defendant has to pay them, but what if the defendant doesn't have the money? And what if the defendant is acquitted? Does then the state have to pay for all those lawyers? That sounds like a bad deal for the tax payers.

Answer 1

How many can you have?

Germany alows at most 3 defenders under §137 (1) StPO.

(1) Der Beschuldigte kann sich in jeder Lage des Verfahrens des Beistandes eines Verteidigers bedienen. Die Zahl der gewählten Verteidiger darf drei nicht übersteigen.

(1) The accused is allowed to use the aid of a defender in all parts of the process. The number of chosen defenders may not exceed three.

Or, if you need aid in remembering, Monty Python got it down for you:

Then shalt thou count to three, no more, no less. Three shall be the number thou shalt count, and the number of the counting shall be three. Four shalt thou not count, neither count thou two, excepting that thou then proceed to three. Five is right out. Once the number three, being the third number, be reached,

... you hast filled thy bench of attorneys to thy brim.

Who pays the Lawyer?

You need to pay your lawyers first, because you ordered it. Only if you have a public defender, the bill goes to the state. BUT you only get a public defender if the case requires you to have a lawyer in the first place under §140 StPO (Notwendige Verteidigung/Anwaltszwang) at which point you can get one under §141 StPO and only starting the moment that §170 StPO happens. In short, you need a lawyer if you defend against a felony (Verbrechen) or in front of a higher court. You don't get a public defender for "small" cases where no lawyer is mandated.

Note I mentioned that the point of time you get the public defender under §141 StPO is special. That moment is when the prosecution officially starts with the Staatsanwaltschaft filing papers at the court according to §170 StPO and informing the defendant of that. That moment is the "Anklageerhebung" and crucial for all payments: It is the absolute earliest moment that the state pays for as necessary. Any moment before that is by definition not required and necessary - and won't ever be recovered from the state. But what is?

Getting costs replaced...

Loss against the State

If the defense loses and had a public defender, the state will still pay but add the bill for the defense to the convicted person atop any fines.

Win with a PD

If the defense wins and had a public defender, all is good, no more money changes hands.

Win with council of choice

If the defense had chosen its own counsel (of at most 3), then only the necessary costs are repaid. That is the full billable cost of all 3 named coundels that the lawyer incurred starting the moment the prosecution started under §170 StPO and that is necessary as part of the case.

Thus (again) any costs that happened before the prosecution officially started with the letter indicating so are still in the defense's pocket.

Also, the costs are capped under the RVG which dictates the whole billing of lawyers starting with what billing increments to use and also laying out what is billable as necessary (notwendig) and even putting hour and hourly caps on certain actions. Thus very pricy lawyers (or having lawyers way before the Anklageerhebung) might still cost way more than you can get back from the state.

Prosecution ended without verdict after Anklageerhebung

If the case ends with the prosecution stopped (Verfahrenseinstellung) the whole bill is under scrutiny and the court decides who pays.

No prosecution before Anklageerhebung

If no prosecution is brought, you are still obligated to pay them for their time spent to prevent the prosecution, and you can't get the repayment by the state - that lawyer time was not necessary under the law.