Virginia Politics

Va. governor denies convicted killer Jens Soering’s return to Germany

By Rachel Weiner and Laura Vozzella December 22, 2015
@rachelweinerwp
@LVozzella

A German diplomat’s son convicted of murder in Virginia in a case that has attracted international attention will not be allowed to go back to his native country. ... Gov. Terry McAuliffe on Tuesday denied a transfer petition from Jens Soering, who is serving two life sentences for a 1985 double murder.
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Soering was convicted in the killings of his then-girlfriend’s parents, Derek and Nancy Haysom of Bedford County, in central Virginia.
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Earlier this year Soering wrote to McAuliffe again asking for a transfer. The New Yorker has reported that officials in Germany, including Chancellor Angela Merkel, have raised the repatriation issue.
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Soering and Elizabeth Haysom, his girlfriend when they attended the University of Virginia, fled overseas and were arrested in England. Haysom agreed to return to Virginia, but Soering fought removal. A diplomatic agreement reduced the charges against him from capital murder, for which he could have been sentenced to death, to first-degree murder. ... Haysom is serving a 90-year sentence for her role in the killings. She testified against Soering, who insisted during his trial and since then that he is innocent.