RICHMOND — Sen. Steve Newman, R-Lynchburg, said a lawsuit filed Tuesday by convicted murderer Jens Soering revived memories people want to forget.
“I think it is another sad day for the people of Bedford County who endured” a heinous double murder a quarter-century ago, Newman said.
Newman helped lead a statewide effort last year that blocked Soering’s potential transfer to his native Germany, where he could have been freed in two years.
Soering, who is serving two life terms for the Bedford County murders of Derek and Nancy Haysom in 1985, filed a lawsuit in a Richmond court this week that seeks to renew the transfer. Elizabeth Haysom, the couple’s daughter and Soering’s girlfriend at the time, is serving a 90-year sentence in the murders.
Soering’s lawyer argues that Gov. Bob McDonnell did not have authority to revoke a transfer request that former Gov. Timothy M. Kaine issued during Kaine’s final days in office last year.
Kaine asked the U.S. Department of Justice to take custody of Soering and transfer him to Germany.
Six months later, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder decided that McDonnell’s revocation prevailed in the case unless Virginia changed its mind about the transfer or a court ruled that McDonnell’s action was invalid.
Newman said, “I feel confident that the court will find that Governor McDonnell’s administrative decision to rescind the transfer will prevail.”
The lawsuit, filed in Richmond Circuit Court, lists McDonnell as its only defendant.
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