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CNN Live At Daybreak
Sentence Announced in Cannibal Case
Aired January 30, 2004 - 06:08 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: A grizzly -- and we mean grizzly -- trial has come to an end in Germany. Surely you've heard of the self- confessed cannibal who advertised on the Internet and received a willing victim. Armin Meiwes killed that victim and cannibalized him.
His punishment? Live to Germany and Walt Rodgers to tell us.
Hello -- Walt.
WALTER RODGERS, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Carol.
Armin Meiwes, the self-confessed German cannibal, has been sentenced to eight and a half years in prison for manslaughter. That is not the murder conviction that the prosecution had sought, but it is not as lenient a conviction as the defense wanted. They wanted death on demand, which is a kind of euthanasia. The judge says it wasn't that, but the judge also said it wasn't murder.
One of the more gory aspects of this trial, without going into too much detail, was a two-hour video tape of the sexual orgy and the cannibalism and the murder of the victim, Bernd Juergen Brandes. And you can see Meiwes participating in this killing and even consuming part of his victim.
Having said that, it was so gory and so gruesome that when the judge was talking about this in sentencing he choked this morning. He couldn't talk at times. It was very, very difficult. Anyone who has seen that tape of this ritualistic killing, the cannibalism, and then the burial and so forth, looks at that tape and says it's just too horrible to be believed.
Having said that, most Germans that we spoke with this morning generally believe that the sentence of eight and a half years was fair -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Oh, I wouldn't want to see that tape myself. Walter Rodgers reporting live from Germany this morning.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
Aired January 30, 2004 - 06:08 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: A grizzly -- and we mean grizzly -- trial has come to an end in Germany. Surely you've heard of the self- confessed cannibal who advertised on the Internet and received a willing victim. Armin Meiwes killed that victim and cannibalized him.
His punishment? Live to Germany and Walt Rodgers to tell us.
Hello -- Walt.
WALTER RODGERS, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Carol.
Armin Meiwes, the self-confessed German cannibal, has been sentenced to eight and a half years in prison for manslaughter. That is not the murder conviction that the prosecution had sought, but it is not as lenient a conviction as the defense wanted. They wanted death on demand, which is a kind of euthanasia. The judge says it wasn't that, but the judge also said it wasn't murder.
One of the more gory aspects of this trial, without going into too much detail, was a two-hour video tape of the sexual orgy and the cannibalism and the murder of the victim, Bernd Juergen Brandes. And you can see Meiwes participating in this killing and even consuming part of his victim.
Having said that, it was so gory and so gruesome that when the judge was talking about this in sentencing he choked this morning. He couldn't talk at times. It was very, very difficult. Anyone who has seen that tape of this ritualistic killing, the cannibalism, and then the burial and so forth, looks at that tape and says it's just too horrible to be believed.
Having said that, most Germans that we spoke with this morning generally believe that the sentence of eight and a half years was fair -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Oh, I wouldn't want to see that tape myself. Walter Rodgers reporting live from Germany this morning.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
