Wednesday, September 05, 1990
Soering gets life sentences
Judge recommends two life terms be served in prison for youthful offenders
Editor's note: This story originally ran in The Roanoke Times on Wednesday, September 5, 1990.
Jens Soering continued to maintain his innocence Tuesday afternoon as a judge sentenced him to two life terms in prison for murdering his college girlfriend's parents.
As he had at his trial, Soering stopped Circuit Court Judge William Sweeney when the judge asked if there was any reason he should not set a sentence.
"Yes," Soering said. "I am innocent."
But Sweeney approved the sentence - the maximum possible punishment - set by the jury that found Soering guilty in June of slashing Derek and Nancy Haysom to death in their Boonsboro cottage in 1985.
Soering, 24, would be eligible for parole after 20 years.
"Do I have personal opinions about the case? Of course I have opinions about the case. I'm human," Sweeney said. But expressing those opinions, he said, would be inappropriate and unnecessary.
"The jury has spoken and the jury's verdict will stand," Sweeney told Soering, who sat expressionless through the brief hearing.
Soering's defense attorney, Rick Neaton, had asked that Soering's sentence last only as long as his girlfriend's.
Elizabeth Haysom, 26, is serving 90 years in prison for helping to plot the killings. Haysom, who testified against Soering at his trial, pleaded guilty in 1987 to being an accessory before the fact in the murders. She can be paroled after serving a minimum of 12 years.
But Neaton said her role was much more than that.
"My client was greatly influenced by Elizabeth Haysom, and she was the one who wanted her parents dead," Neaton said. "I think both people ought to be treated equally."
That equal treatment should apply - regardless of which theory Sweeney believed in the case, Neaton said.
According to the prosecution's case, Soering drove to Bedford County March 30, 1985, and killed the Haysoms while Elizabeth Haysom set up an alibi for him in Washington, D.C. The defense had claimed that Elizabeth Haysom killed her parents and that Soering later agreed to take the blame for it out of his blind love for her.
Soering's parents, who offered the only evidence Tuesday in the form of a written statement, said their son's version of what happened was the only one that made sense.
Klaus Soering, a West German diplomat stationed in Mauritania, West Africa, was not allowed time off from work to attend the hearing in person, Neaton said. He said Soering's mother, Anne Claire Soering, was under doctor's orders not to leave her home in West Germany.
It was in Soering's character, his parents wrote, for Soering to take blame for somebody else's mistake. But violence was out of character, they said.
"We base our judgment on other similar actions which Jens has taken on behalf of friends at an earlier age," they said in the statement read in court by Neaton.
"Unfortunately, in none of those earlier deeds did Jens risk imprisonment for another. Jens may have had a high IQ, but he was very foolish and naive in the practical aspects of life."
Soering was an 18-year-old freshman honors student at the University of Virginia when he met and fell in love with his first girlfriend, Elizabeth Haysom.
Klaus and Anne Claire Soering made one request of Judge Sweeney. They asked that he allow their son to serve his sentence in his home country of Germany.
"We are both of such an age that we may not live long enough to see Jens released from prison in Virginia," they said.
"Please excuse our selfishness, but if you are a parent, we hope you will understand and grant our request."
Bedford prosecutor James Updike, who has rejected similar requests for out-of-country transfers from Haysom, angrily opposed that suggestion.
Questioning whether the issue was "even appropriate" for discussion, Updike said he did not believe Soering would end up serving the full sentence if transferred to Germany.
Sweeney said he was unsure whether he was in the position to make a recommendation like that.
He did, however, recommend that Soering be placed in a prison for youthful offenders, saying he feared young-looking Soering might be mistreated in another facility.
There, Soering "can be safe and his talents can be built upon," said Sweeney. "I have children and grandchildren."
Outside the courthouse, Nancy Haysom's brother told reporters that his niece and her one-time boyfriend - whom he called "assassins" - should never be paroled.
Though members of the Haysom family have rarely spoken publicly about the case, Risque L. Benedict said his comments were a matter of "release" for him now that the 5-year-old case was closed.
"My family and I are extremely glad this matter is over," he said. "Everyone in our family has suffered greatly. . . . We hope this sentencing will conclude this matter and permit some normalcy in our lives."
Benedict, who said he has never visited Elizabeth Haysom in prison, fears that members of his family could be the targets of revenge if either she or Soering were let out.
Rehabilitation, too, is impossible, he said.
"They will probably become more dangerous and cunning as a result of being incarcerated," said Benedict, who grew up in Lynchburg and lives in Fallbrook, Calif.
He described his niece as a pathological liar who could "charm the socks off anyone" and Soering as a psychotic and psychopathic killer who will try to escape from prison.
Benedict said Soering should have been tried and convicted of capital murder in the case, but said he was satisfied with the prison sentence.
Soering and his girlfriend fled UVa in late 1985 when they became suspects in the case. When they were caught in London eight months later, Soering was charged with capital murder and could have faced the electric chair.
After a long extradition battle through the court system in Britain, the European Court of Human Rights ruled that the possibility of a long wait on death row in this country would violate Soering's human rights.
Last year, Updike agreed not to seek the death penalty in order to extradite Soering to this country for trial. He lowered the charges to first-degree murder, which carry at most life sentences.
For Updike, Tuesday's sentencing marked the end of a long, frustrating case. No legal errors were made in the case that could open it up to appeal, Updike said.
But Neaton and defense attorney William Cleaveland said Tuesday that they intend to file an appeal - on any number of grounds - later this month.
They contend that the case should have been moved from Bedford County, that the judge had a personal friendship with Benedict and that the jury should have come from farther away than Nelson County. Some evidence introduced to the jury, including Soering's confessions, should not have been allowed in court, they say.
"Anything and everything is fair game," Neaton said.
Jens Soering continued to maintain his innocence Tuesday afternoon as a judge sentenced him to two life terms in prison for murdering his college girlfriend's parents.
As he had at his trial, Soering stopped Circuit Court Judge William Sweeney when the judge asked if there was any reason he should not set a sentence.
"Yes," Soering said. "I am innocent."
But Sweeney approved the sentence - the maximum possible punishment - set by the jury that found Soering guilty in June of slashing Derek and Nancy Haysom to death in their Boonsboro cottage in 1985.
Soering, 24, would be eligible for parole after 20 years.
"Do I have personal opinions about the case? Of course I have opinions about the case. I'm human," Sweeney said. But expressing those opinions, he said, would be inappropriate and unnecessary.
"The jury has spoken and the jury's verdict will stand," Sweeney told Soering, who sat expressionless through the brief hearing.
Soering's defense attorney, Rick Neaton, had asked that Soering's sentence last only as long as his girlfriend's.
Elizabeth Haysom, 26, is serving 90 years in prison for helping to plot the killings. Haysom, who testified against Soering at his trial, pleaded guilty in 1987 to being an accessory before the fact in the murders. She can be paroled after serving a minimum of 12 years.
But Neaton said her role was much more than that.
"My client was greatly influenced by Elizabeth Haysom, and she was the one who wanted her parents dead," Neaton said. "I think both people ought to be treated equally."
That equal treatment should apply - regardless of which theory Sweeney believed in the case, Neaton said.
According to the prosecution's case, Soering drove to Bedford County March 30, 1985, and killed the Haysoms while Elizabeth Haysom set up an alibi for him in Washington, D.C. The defense had claimed that Elizabeth Haysom killed her parents and that Soering later agreed to take the blame for it out of his blind love for her.
Soering's parents, who offered the only evidence Tuesday in the form of a written statement, said their son's version of what happened was the only one that made sense.
Klaus Soering, a West German diplomat stationed in Mauritania, West Africa, was not allowed time off from work to attend the hearing in person, Neaton said. He said Soering's mother, Anne Claire Soering, was under doctor's orders not to leave her home in West Germany.
It was in Soering's character, his parents wrote, for Soering to take blame for somebody else's mistake. But violence was out of character, they said.
"We base our judgment on other similar actions which Jens has taken on behalf of friends at an earlier age," they said in the statement read in court by Neaton.
"Unfortunately, in none of those earlier deeds did Jens risk imprisonment for another. Jens may have had a high IQ, but he was very foolish and naive in the practical aspects of life."
Soering was an 18-year-old freshman honors student at the University of Virginia when he met and fell in love with his first girlfriend, Elizabeth Haysom.
Klaus and Anne Claire Soering made one request of Judge Sweeney. They asked that he allow their son to serve his sentence in his home country of Germany.
"We are both of such an age that we may not live long enough to see Jens released from prison in Virginia," they said.
"Please excuse our selfishness, but if you are a parent, we hope you will understand and grant our request."
Bedford prosecutor James Updike, who has rejected similar requests for out-of-country transfers from Haysom, angrily opposed that suggestion.
Questioning whether the issue was "even appropriate" for discussion, Updike said he did not believe Soering would end up serving the full sentence if transferred to Germany.
Sweeney said he was unsure whether he was in the position to make a recommendation like that.
He did, however, recommend that Soering be placed in a prison for youthful offenders, saying he feared young-looking Soering might be mistreated in another facility.
There, Soering "can be safe and his talents can be built upon," said Sweeney. "I have children and grandchildren."
Outside the courthouse, Nancy Haysom's brother told reporters that his niece and her one-time boyfriend - whom he called "assassins" - should never be paroled.
Though members of the Haysom family have rarely spoken publicly about the case, Risque L. Benedict said his comments were a matter of "release" for him now that the 5-year-old case was closed.
"My family and I are extremely glad this matter is over," he said. "Everyone in our family has suffered greatly. . . . We hope this sentencing will conclude this matter and permit some normalcy in our lives."
Benedict, who said he has never visited Elizabeth Haysom in prison, fears that members of his family could be the targets of revenge if either she or Soering were let out.
Rehabilitation, too, is impossible, he said.
"They will probably become more dangerous and cunning as a result of being incarcerated," said Benedict, who grew up in Lynchburg and lives in Fallbrook, Calif.
He described his niece as a pathological liar who could "charm the socks off anyone" and Soering as a psychotic and psychopathic killer who will try to escape from prison.
Benedict said Soering should have been tried and convicted of capital murder in the case, but said he was satisfied with the prison sentence.
Soering and his girlfriend fled UVa in late 1985 when they became suspects in the case. When they were caught in London eight months later, Soering was charged with capital murder and could have faced the electric chair.
After a long extradition battle through the court system in Britain, the European Court of Human Rights ruled that the possibility of a long wait on death row in this country would violate Soering's human rights.
Last year, Updike agreed not to seek the death penalty in order to extradite Soering to this country for trial. He lowered the charges to first-degree murder, which carry at most life sentences.
For Updike, Tuesday's sentencing marked the end of a long, frustrating case. No legal errors were made in the case that could open it up to appeal, Updike said.
But Neaton and defense attorney William Cleaveland said Tuesday that they intend to file an appeal - on any number of grounds - later this month.
They contend that the case should have been moved from Bedford County, that the judge had a personal friendship with Benedict and that the jury should have come from farther away than Nelson County. Some evidence introduced to the jury, including Soering's confessions, should not have been allowed in court, they say.
"Anything and everything is fair game," Neaton said.
