Jens Söring

Jens Söring, usually rendered in English as Jens Soering, (born 1 August 1966, in Bangkok, Thailand) is a German convicted double murderer.

Jens Söring was born on 1 August 1966, in Bangkok as the son of a German diplomat, Klaus Söring.

He moved to the United States in 1977 and graduated from The Lovett School in Atlanta, Georgia, in 1984.

He then attended the University of Virginia where he entered into a relationship with fellow student Elizabeth Haysom.

The killings took place at the Haysom residence in the Boonsboro area of Lynchburg, Virginia in March 1985.

Söring (along with Elizabeth Haysom) fled the United States shortly thereafter.

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.

Six months after the murders, with investigators closing in on the couple, Söring and Haysom fled to England where they lived under assumed names.

They 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, Söring confessed to the murders during interrogation by police, but at his trial in 1990 he pleaded not guilty, claiming he confessed to shield Haysom from prosecution, believing that he had diplomatic immunity.

Söring 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 Söring filed a number of legal appeals and post-conviction petitions.

All were rejected by the courts.

During his incarceration, Söring converted from Buddhism to Roman Catholicism and wrote multiple books about his life in prison and his religious beliefs.

On 30 April 1986, Söring and Haysom were arrested for fraud after writing over $5,000 ($13,577.17 in 2023) in fake checks, using false papers, and lying to the police in London, England.

Under questioning by British, American, West German and Virginia authorities, Söring confessed to the double murder several times to several authorities, including medical persons.

Haysom waived extradition.

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.

In 1990, he was convicted in Virginia, United States of America of murdering the parents of his then-girlfriend, Elizabeth Haysom.

For her role in the deaths, Haysom was convicted of two counts of accessory before the fact to murder.

In prison, Söring claimed he was not guilty.

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.

Haysom pleaded guilty and then testified against Söring.

At trial, she testified that Söring committed the murders and that she was an accessory to the crime.

Söring was tried for two counts of first degree murder in 1990.

According to the prosecution, he 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.

Söring was sentenced to two consecutive life terms.

Haysom was sentenced to 90 years imprisonment (one 45-year sentence for each murder, to be served consecutively).

She had a mandatory release date in 2032 when she would have been 68 years old, but was released concurrently with Söring and deported to Canada in December 2019.

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, and admitted to having had a drug problem while representing Söring; moreover, the judge, William M. Sweeney, knew Nancy Haysom's brother (Elizabeth's uncle) and had presided over Elizabeth's court proceeding.

Ed Sulzbach, an 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.

His 2007 book The Convict Christ was awarded first prize by the Catholic Press Association of North America in the category "Social Concerns".

After fourteen parole requests and numerous petitions for a gubernatorial pardon - all unsuccessful - he was released on probation and deported to Germany in 2019.

Söring appears on talk shows, has an exclusive contract with Netflix and uses his case in the media.

In Germany, for legal reasons, Söring is not allowed to accuse his ex-girlfriend of the crime.

Instead, Söring portrayed himself as a victim and critic of an unjust US justice system.