Double-murderer Jens Soering has filed a lawsuit against Gov. Bob McDonnell’s decision to withdraw former Governor Tim Kaine’s transfer request, reports the Daily Progress.
In the suit filed in Richmond on Tuesday, Soering, who is serving time for the 1985 double murder of Derek and Nancy Haysom, parents of his then-girlfriend Elizabeth Haysom, questions whether McDonnell’s decision was within his constitutional authority.
As one of his last acts as Governor, Kaine agreed to ask the Department of Justice to let Soering finish his sentence in his native Germany. McDonnell, then, withdrew Kaine’s request.
“Gov. McDonnell has moved in very dangerous waters in revoking the action of a predecessor,” Steven Rosenfield, Soering’s attorney, is quoted as saying. “That is because one day, he will leave office and no doubt grant clemencies and pardons and consent with foreign governments and will not have to be worried that his actions will be revoked by a successor.”
Soering was a UVA student at the time of the murders. Haysom is also serving time related to the crime in Fluvanna Correctional Center for Women.
To read C-VILLE’s cover story on Jens Soering, click here.
