Because people were so upset about her lighter sentence, Koch was re-arrested in 1949 and tried before a West German court. The trial started on 27 November 1950 and lasted seven weeks. During this time, 250 witnesses testified, including 50 who defended Koch. Koch collapsed and had to be carried from the court in late December 1950, and again on 11 January 1951. At least four separate witnesses for the prosecution testified either that they had seen Koch choose tattooed prisoners, who were then killed; or that they had seen or helped make human-skin lampshades from tattooed skin. However, prosecutors dropped this charge when they could not prove lampshades or any other items were actually made from human skin.