Jens Soering: Why a German spent decades in prison in the United States

It is one of the longest and most sensational judicial cases of the past decades: Since 1986, the German Jens Söring sits in a US prison for double murder. The son of a diplomat continues to assert his innocence, he has always sought to release him. Vain. Until this week.

The story begins in August 1984.

Söring is 18 years old at the time. His father works as a German vice-consul in Detroit, Jens Soering studies at the University of Virginia. There, the young German falls in love with the native Canadian Liz Haysom, daughter of the entrepreneur couple Derek and Nancy Haysom.

Everything changes on March 30, 1985. Liz Haysom's parents are brutally murdered in her villa. What happened exactly then is still unclear. There are at least two representations.

First, the version of the investigators. According to the police, which the court and the jury follow later, Söring committed the murders because the parents of his girlfriend disapproved of the relationship. As a result, Liz Haysom was his accomplice.

Söring describes Haysom as an "icy liar"

And then there is the version of Jens Söring. He still portrays the incident quite differently. He confessed to the murders at first - but only, as he asserted later, to protect the true perpetrator: Liz Haysom.

In 2012 he wrote a book in prison entitled "Not Guilty!". In it Söring describes his former girlfriend as an icy liar, whose "rat-catcher flute" he had expired. He blamed the murders for saving Haysom from the electric chair. He had erroneously assumed that he was the son of a diplomat after being confessed to his confession and was getting away with a milder sentence in Germany.

AP

Elizabeth Haysom in court in 1987

In the end, Soering and Hayson had to answer to an American court. They fled to the UK and were arrested there in 1986. After a long legal battle that also involved the European Court of Human Rights, the two were handed over to the United States. The sensational process was televised at the time and ravaged viewers in the US. The American press delighted in the "Voodoo murders" - and Jens Söring was henceforth the "monster".

In 1990 Söring was finally found guilty. Liz Haysom had previously been sentenced to 90 years in a separate trial as his accomplice. The judgments should be the beginning of a decade-long justice drama.

All appeal and appeal requests failed

Since then, Jens Söring has been fighting for "being able to return to the other side out there, on the side of the people". But all requests for appeal and appeals by the German failed, as did his appeals to be released on probation. Söring tried to commit suicide in prison. He sought support in religion - and gave it up again. And he wrote six books.

At the Buckingham Correctional Center, a prison in the state of Virginia, Söring was subject to special detention conditions. He was not allowed to read German literature. For a long time he was not allowed to receive journalists and only communicate by post, handwritten, with the outside world.

The custody charges are just "an example of how I've been dealing with me for decades," Söring complained in 2012 in one of several letters to the SPIEGEL. He wrote: "What is being done with me has nothing to do with the rule of law."

Game ball in the brutal Senate election campaign

While the case Soering in the German public almost fell into oblivion, he was in the US several times to politics. The former history student even mutated in 2012 to the ball in a brutal Senate election campaign. His release would contradict the harsh "Law and Order" line, which is a must for US politicians, it was argued.

One of the rare moments of hope for Soering came in 2016. At that time, the German documentary "The Promise - First Love Lifelong" came to the cinemas and revealed new inconsistencies and information about the case. Among other things, none of the DNA samples seized at the crime scene agree with Söring's DNA. In addition, there was an FBI offender profile that was never introduced to the process. This pointed to a woman as a perpetrator, which must have had a close relationship with the victims - allegedly Haysom itself. But Söring's ex-girlfriend held to their presentation that it was Soering, who murdered her parents.

The verdict was incontestable

But despite the new findings happened for another three years: nothing. Jens Soering remained in custody. The verdict was incontestable. All US authorities had declared it lawful. A total of 14 applications for detention have been rejected since 1990, according to the New York Times. Jens Söring despaired.

Now suddenly - after almost 30 years - the surprising turn: On Monday evening (local time) it was announced that the now 53-year-old Söring should be deported to Germany. The decision was made by the Virginia County Pardon Board, as Governor Ralph Northam said. Jens Söring should be handed over to the immigration police, deported and be re-issued a re-entry ban.

Governor Northam said he was still opposed to a full pardon. However, he does respect the decision of the parole board to dismiss Jens Söring. According to the New York Times, a statement by the committee's chairman, Adrianne Bennett, said the release was necessary because Söring and Haysom were young at the time of the crime and have served a long prison term. A far-reaching explanation does not exist so far.

The Foreign Office announced that they continue to look after Söring. From legal circles it is said that the last criminal case against him in Germany was set in 1997. A new criminal case is not possible because Söring has already been convicted of the offense in the US and has served his sentence.

Perhaps an exit is soon approaching.