RICHMOND (July 12, 2012)-Today, Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli announced that the Richmond Circuit Court has dismissed convicted murderer Jens Soering’s lawsuit against Governor Bob McDonnell, finding that the governor did not violate Virginia Code § 53.1-220 when he revoked the transfer of Soering from Virginia to his homeland of Germany.
Soering is currently serving two consecutive life terms in the Buckingham Correctional Center for the brutal 1985 double-murder of Derek and Nancy Haysom in Bedford County. Soering murdered both of the Haysoms in their own home by stabbing them repeatedly in the torso and cutting their throats.
In 2010, as he was leaving office, Governor Kaine authorized Soering’s transfer to Germany, where German authorities would have likely released him in as few as two years. Upon taking office in 2010, Governor McDonnell reversed the transfer decision, deeming it both necessary and appropriate that Soering should serve his sentences in the commonwealth where the murders were committed.
The court’s order confirms the position taken by the attorney general’s office that Governor McDonnell acted properly and within his authority in revoking Soering’s transfer.
“We are pleased to have defended the hard work of local police and prosecutors, and applaud the governor’s decision to require that this vicious murderer serves his two consecutive life sentences where he belongs: in the commonwealth,” said the attorney general. “Further, we are pleased that the court once again rejected Governor Kaine’s inexplicable and irresponsible decision to transfer Soering to Germany. The transfer and likely-premature release would have been a hideous affront to the memory of Mr. and Mrs. Haysom and to their family. Today, justice has been served.”
Soering will continue serving his sentence in Virginia.
