Jens Söring

Jens Söring, usually rendered in English as Jens Soering, (born 1 August 1966 in Bangkok, Thailand) is a German citizen who, in 1990, was convicted of two counts of first-degree murder in Virginia, United States of America.

Jens Söring
Born (1966-08-01) 1 August 1966
Bangkok, Thailand
NationalityGerman
Criminal statusParoled
Conviction(s)First degree murder
Criminal penaltyLife imprisonment

Söring was convicted of killing the parents of his then-girlfriend Elizabeth Haysom in the unincorporated hamlet of Boonsboro, Bedford County, Virginia with her help in March 1985. Soering (along with Haysom) fled the United States shortly after murder investigators requested he provide fingerprint, footprint, and blood samples in October 1985.

Soering and Haysom were arrested in London in April 1986. His fight against extradition led to the landmark judgment of the European Court of Human Rights in Soering v United Kingdom that establishes that extradition to the United States is illegal if the accused faces the death penalty. Söring was extradited after the authorities in Bedford County gave assurances that they would not seek the death penalty.

Following his arrest in 1986, Soering confessed to the murders numerous times. Despite this, at his trial in 1990 he pleaded not guilty and claimed his confessions were false. The jury was unpersuaded and he was convicted and sentenced to two consecutive life sentences. Alleging irregularities in the investigation leading to his arrest and in his trial, in the years following his conviction Soering filed a number of legal appeals and post-conviction petitions. All were rejected by the courts. Prior to being granted parole in November of 2019, fourteen parole requests were denied and numerous petitions for a gubernatorial pardon were unsuccessful. His parole was granted in November 2019, with Söring being deported back to Germany and barred from entering the United States.

During his incarceration, Söring converted from Buddhism to Roman Catholicism and wrote multiple books about his life in prison and his religious beliefs. His 2007 book The Convict Christ was awarded first prize by the Catholic Press Association of North America in the category, "Social Concerns".

Early life and education

Jens Söring was born on 1 August 1966 in Bangkok as the son of a German diplomat, Klaus Söring.[1][2] He moved to the United States in 1977 and graduated from The Lovett School in Atlanta, Georgia, in 1984.[3][4] He then attended the University of Virginia where he entered into a relationship with fellow student Elizabeth Haysom.[4]

Crimes, confessions and extradition

In March 1985, when Söring was 18 and Haysom was 20, Haysom's parents, Derek (born 1913) and Nancy Haysom (born 1931), were murdered in their home in the then unincorporated hamlet of Boonsboro, in Bedford County, Virginia.[5] Six months after the murders, with investigators closing in on the couple, Söring and Haysom fled to England where they lived under assumed names.[6][7][8]

On 30 April 1986, Söring and Haysom were arrested for fraud after writing over $5,000 ($11,700 today) in fake checks, using false papers, and lying to the police in London, England.[9][10] Under questioning by British, American, West German and Virginia authorities, Söring confessed to the double murder several times to several authorities, including medical persons.[7]

Haysom waived extradition.[11] Söring fought extradition on the basis that the capital punishment and especially the exposure to the so-called death row phenomenon, i.e. the emotional distress felt by prisoners on death row constitute inhuman or degrading treatment as forbidden by Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights. On 7 July 1989, the European Court of Human Rights agreed with this assessment and ruled in Soering v United Kingdom that extradition to countries where the accused faces the death row phenomenon is unlawful.[12] After this decision, the authorities in Bedford County agreed not to pursue the death penalty and Söring was extradited to the United States on 12 January 1990.[9]

Trial and conviction

Haysom pleaded guilty and then testified against Söring.[13] At trial, Haysom testified that Söring committed the murders and that she was an accessory to the crime.[13][14][15][16]

Söring was tried for two counts of first degree murder in 1990. According to the prosecution, Söring committed the murders and Haysom was an accessory before the fact. Söring pleaded not guilty, stating he made a false confession to protect Haysom, as he assumed he would have diplomatic immunity. Yet during his four year detainment in London, he did not mention this topic. [17]

Söring was sentenced to two consecutive life terms.[18] Haysom was sentenced to 90 years imprisonment (one 45-year sentence for each murder, to be served consecutively).[19][20] She had a mandatory release date in 2032 when she would have been 68 years old.[10], but was released concurrently with Söring and deported to Canada in December, 2019.[21]

Alleged irregularities

Since the trial, Söring has raised several issues regarding his trial: Richard Neaton, Söring's defense attorney, was subsequently disciplined and eventually disbarred for reasons unrelated to Söring's case,[22] and admitted to having had a drug problem while representing Söring;[23] moreover, the judge, William M. Sweeney, knew Nancy Haysom's brother (Elizabeth's uncle) and had presided over Elizabeth's court proceeding.[24] Ed Sulzbach, a FBI profiler who according to some familiar with the case was asked to consult, concluded that the crime had been committed by a female who knew the Haysoms, settling on Elizabeth as the likely killer.[25][26] The detective working on the case, Ricky Gardner, denied that a profile had been created by Sulzbach.[25] No report was entered into evidence at Söring's trial.[27]

A blood-smeared sock print was introduced as main evidence against Söring. The prosecution's expert witness, Robert Hallett, who was not an expert on footprints, claimed that he was able to match it perfectly to Söring.[28] An FBI agent interviewed by WVTF in 2018 dismissed the witnesses' methods as a "magic trick" and noted that Sulzbach had matched the sock to a female in his report.[25]

In 2009, the 42 pieces of DNA evidence from the crime scene were tested (technology was previously not sufficiently advanced).[29] Of the 42, 31 were either too small or degraded to yield results. The 11 samples successfully tested excluded both Söring and Elizabeth Haysom.[27]. However, other interpretations of the DNA analysis conclude that it does not exonerate Söring.[30][31]

Soering's supporters claim that the DNA evidence exonerates Söring of the double murders because the DNA profile of the swab with blood type O (Söring's type) does not match Söring's DNA profile. However, detailed analysis of the DNA swabs shows that Söring is not exonerated. In a 2019 report, Terry Wright, a Metropolitan Police investigator who had interviewed Söring, devotes nearly 100 pages to this topic, concluding that the DNA evidence does not exonerate Söring.[31] Another Söring detractor, an American lawyer by the name of Andrew Hammel, also gives an interpretation of the DNA evidence, including the DNA profiles of the samples that were able to yield such [32]. In discussing the DNA analysis it is important to understand the following. A swab may contain DNA independent of the blood. That is, the blood sample can be contaminated with DNA from another source independent of the source of the blood. Also, DNA analysis does not yield blood type. Söring's blood type, type O, was found at the crime scene. The DNA that was found on the swab with type O blood does not match Söring; however, it matches Derek Haysom at eight separate loci. The odds of this happening are one-in-the millions. This shows that the swab with blood type O was most likely contaminated with DNA from Derek Haysom and not that of an unknown male attacker, as Söring's supporters claim. In fact, this is what the Virginia state DNA examiner concluded in 2009 [33]. Since Söring has blood type O, it is possible that this sample of blood came from Söring, and it is therefore possible that he was at the crime scene. Since roughly 45% of the population carries blood type O, the DNA analysis does not conclusively place Söring at the crime scene. However, neither does it exonerate him.

The detailed interpretation of the DNA analysis, which includes the profiles and loci data, presented by Hammel and the London criminal investigator, Terry Wright, who interviewed Söring[31] is rare. Other sources that claim the DNA analysis exonerates Söring do not explain the points made in Hammel's and Wright's texts. None of the following explain that the DNA profile associated with blood type O is probably from Derek Haysom: the documentary film, Das Versprechen (English: Killing for Love), Amanda Knox's podcast (based on the movie, Killing for Love), the John Grisham interview on ZDF (German television station) [34] , or the New Zealand Herald article cited below, claiming Söring's exoneration [35].

Further investigations and parole requests

Jens Söring began to be eligible for parole in 2003. His twelfth parole request was denied at the beginning of 2017.[36] A petition for an absolute pardon was filed on 22 August 2016.[37]

Chuck Reid, one of the original investigators of the Haysom murders, has occasionally agreed to be interviewed about the case. His participation in the 2016 documentary The Promise led him to take his long-standing doubts about the outcome more seriously.[38]

An expert on police interrogations and confessions, Dr. Andrew Griffiths, spent four months reviewing all statements Söring made to police and prosecutors after he and Haysom were caught in London a year after the murders, and concluded British and American investigators "violated a host of British laws," including holding Söring incommunicado and denying him access to his solicitor; however, this conclusion is unrelated to and separate from Söring's conviction in the United States.[39]

Whatever conclusions Dr. Griffiths came to, ample evidence exists to suggest that Söring indeed had access to his solicitor while detained in London. Mr. Terry Wright, a detective at Metropolitan Police Service in the Criminal Investigations Department at Richmond Police Station, London, was one of the officers who interviewed Söring there. In order to apprise the governor of Virginia of incriminating evidence against Söring upon the accused's request for a pardon, Wright compiled a 454 page report, entitled: A True Report of the Facts of the Investigation of the Murders of Derek and Nancy Haysom.[31] Wright not only states that Söring spoke to his solicitor, Keith Barker, but produces a signed affidavit from Söring waiving his right to speak to a solicitor.[31]

On 3 May 2017, Albemarle County Sheriff J. E. "Chip" Harding released a 19-page report on a months-long investigation he had conducted on this case. He concluded that Jens Söring is innocent and asked Governor McAuliffe to pardon him.[40][41]

On 27 September 2017, Albemarle County Sheriff J.E. "Chip" Harding held a press conference on Jens Söring's case. Sheriff Harding had been investigating this case for a long time and had previously called on the governor to pardon Söring. In a supplement letter to Governor McAuliffe he stated that he was "convinced Mr. Söring did not kill Derek and Nancy Haysom and was not present at the scene when the murders took place." Retired Detective Sergeant Richard L. Hudson Jr, who continues to assist Sheriff Harding in the investigation, also presented his conclusions. In his letter to the Governor, Hudson wrote "that the evidence appears to lead to a conclusion that Mr. Söring is innocent of murdering the Haysoms." Nationally recognized Serology and DNA expert, J. Thomas McClintock, Ph.D., who had reviewed the forensic files but had never worked on the Haysom case, presented his findings during the press conference. These findings were in accordance with the findings of Moses Schanfield, Ph.D., a professor of forensic science and expert witness, who had reviewed the forensic files earlier in 2017 but had never worked on the Haysom case, and, at the time, concluded that "Söring must be excluded as the donor of unidentified blood stains found at the scene. Rather, the DNA evidence supports the conclusion that two unknown men left blood at the scene." This conclusion supports the theory that Soering and his team set forth at his 1990 trial: that Elizabeth Haysom committed the murders with one or more male accomplices. Prof. Schanfield wrote a supplement to his initial report, which was also presented to the press in his absence. This supplement contained additional observations which significantly strengthen his earlier opinions.[42][43][44][45][46]

On October 10, 2017, Germany's ambassador Dr. Peter Wittig and its former president Christian Wulff, amongst Söring's Counsel Steven Rosenfield and others, attended Söring's 13th parole hearing. Following this hearing, Wittig told the assembled media "We are deeply convinced of the innocence of Jens Söring." [47]

On October 27, 2017, a further press conference was held in the Söring case. It was hosted by Gail Starling Marshall, former Deputy Attorney General of Virginia, who had been supporting Söring for more than 20 years and believed he is innocent. Speakers included Dr Moses Schanfield, a leading expert in DNA and serology and Dr Andrew Griffiths, an international expert in police interrogation techniques. During the press conference, Söring's counsel, Steven Rosenfield, announced that the University of Richmond School of Law's Institute for Actual Innocence supports Söring's pardon petition and that its founder and director, Prof. Mary Kelly Tate had now written a letter to the Governor of Virginia to ask that he grant Söring a pardon. Professor Tate said in an interview "I think the new DNA evidence is quite, quite compelling, and I think it's clear that Jens Söring would not be convicted today. I believe it's appropriate for him to get an absolute pardon or a conditional pardon." Dr Griffiths, who had spent 5 months reviewing the tapes and written protocols of the interrogations of Söring in 1986, confirmed that he believed Söring's confession to be unreliable. He strongly criticised Bedford County Sheriff's Office investigator Ricky Gardner's conduct at the time. Dr Schanfield presented a memorandum issued by the Virginia Department of Forensic Science which states that a particular blood stain found at the crime scene came from a single contributor and was not a mixture. This memorandum also confirms that Söring was eliminated as contributor of this stain.[48][49][50]

On 25 November 2019, Governor Ralph Northam accepted the Virginia Parole Board's recommendation to release both Haysom and Söring. Though neither will receive a gubernatorial pardon, both were released into the custody of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for deportation to their home countries of Canada and Germany. Both will remain ineligible to reenter the United States.[51][52]

On 17 December 2019 Söring returned to Germany by landing in Frankfurt.[53]

Life in prison and writings

Söring served his sentence at the Buckingham Correctional Center in Dillwyn, Virginia. While in prison, he converted from Buddhism to Roman Catholicism.[54] Söring has published several books and articles while incarcerated. In 1995, he wrote Mortal Thoughts, describing it as "The autobiography of a young man imprisoned for a double-murder he did not commit." In 2007, his book The Convict Christ was awarded first prize by the Catholic Press Association of North America in the category, "Social Concerns."[55]

  • Mortal Thoughts. 1995
  • The Way of the Prisoner: Breaking the Chains of Self Through Centering Prayer and Centering Practice. New York: Lantern Books. 2003. ISBN 1-59056-055-8.
  • An Expensive Way to Make Bad People Worse: An Essay On Prison Reform from an Insider's Perspective. New York: Lantern Books. 2004. ISBN 1-59056-076-0.[56]
  • The Convict Christ: What the Gospel Says About Criminal Justice. Maryknoll, New York: Orbis Books. 2006. ISBN 1-57075-648-1.
  • The Church of the Second Chance: A Faith-Based Approach to Prison Reform. New York: Lantern Books. 2008. ISBN 978-1-59056-112-6.
  • One Day in the Life of 179212: Notes from an American Prison. New York: Lantern Books. 2012. ISBN 978-1-59056-345-8.
  • A Far, Far Better Thing. New York: Lantern Books. 2017. ISBN 978-1-59056-564-3. (Written by Jens Söring and Bill Sizemore, with a foreword by Martin Sheen)
  • Son of the Promise. Amazon. 2019. ASIN B081NFXCMC.

Documentary

A full-length documentary film about the case, Killing for Love (German: Das Versprechen or The Promise), by Marcus Vetter and Karin Steinberger, premiered at the Munich International Film Festival and was released theatrically in October 2016. It had its North American premiere on 5 November 2016 at the Virginia Film Festival. In the U.K. the film was expanded into a six-part series shown in March 2017 on BBC Four as part of the documentary strand Storyville.[57] In the Netherlands, public broadcaster NPO2 showed the film in two parts in its documentary series 2Doc in April 2017.

A podcast inspired by the documentary Killing for Love (in German, Das Versprechen) was reproduced and publicized in the United States by AMC Theaters, in colloboration with Amanda Knox's true crime podcast, The Truth About True Crime.[58][59] Another podcast based on his case was published by Jason Flom and novelist John Grisham, Did a Fatal Attraction Lead to a Wrongful Conviction? The Story of Jens Soering.[60]

References
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  2. Davey, Monica. "Soering trial full of culture shocks". The Roanoke Times. Retrieved 14 October 2017.
  3. Mackenzie, Christina (7 July 1989). "West German Wins Fight Against Extradition to the United States". Associated Press News Archive. Retrieved 14 October 2017.
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