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Cannibal Sentenced
Aired January 30, 2004 - 15:08 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.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: There's something both horrifying and yet fascinating about confessed cannibal Armin Meiwes. The computer repairman is going to prison for killing, butchering and eating a willing victim he solicited on the Internet. But he wasn't convicted of murder.
CNN's Walter Rodgers explains the details of this bizarre case in Kassel, Germany.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WALTER RODGERS, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The courtroom was packed awaiting a verdict. Self-confessed German cannibal Armin Meiwes has enjoyed his celebrity status. Still, moments before sentencing, when asked if he was tense, the 42-year-old nodded, yes.
But he said he was hopeful about leniency. Meiwes, who shopped the Internet to find a willing victim to be slaughtered and eaten, could have been sentenced to life in prison, minimum 15 years, but his lawyer argued the man Meiwes killed and ate 20, kilos, 44 pounds of human flesh, was a willing victim. Judge Volker Muetze concurred, manslaughter, less than murder, but not the assisted-suicide conviction Meiwes and his lawyer sought.
Meiwes listened without emotion to the verdict, 8 1/2 year. Judge Muetze, in passing sentence, said Meiwes' orgy of killing was viewed with repulsion in civilized society. Recalling a gory videotape Meiwes made of the cannibalism and killing, the judge himself seemed to choke on his own words, so repellent were the images of slaughter, mutilation and dismemberment.
Meiwes, according to psychiatrists, felt empowered eating the flesh of another, subconsciously filling a void and becoming a more complete person himself. Prosecutor Marcus Koehler expressed disappointment when the lesser penalty. The prosecutor said he still believes Meiwes is a murderer. And, under German law, he can ask an appellate court for a harsher sentence.
The cannibal's attorney, Harald Ermel, however, said he thought the verdict a bit severe. But he claimed victory, saying, his client could be paroled by 2008.
(on camera): Most Germans with whom we spoke thought the verdict was fair. So, perhaps the only mystery left in this case now is the question of just how badly people here were scarred, discovering they lived with a cannibal in their midst. Walter Rodgers, CNN, Kassel, Germany.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
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 - 15:08 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: There's something both horrifying and yet fascinating about confessed cannibal Armin Meiwes. The computer repairman is going to prison for killing, butchering and eating a willing victim he solicited on the Internet. But he wasn't convicted of murder.
CNN's Walter Rodgers explains the details of this bizarre case in Kassel, Germany.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WALTER RODGERS, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The courtroom was packed awaiting a verdict. Self-confessed German cannibal Armin Meiwes has enjoyed his celebrity status. Still, moments before sentencing, when asked if he was tense, the 42-year-old nodded, yes.
But he said he was hopeful about leniency. Meiwes, who shopped the Internet to find a willing victim to be slaughtered and eaten, could have been sentenced to life in prison, minimum 15 years, but his lawyer argued the man Meiwes killed and ate 20, kilos, 44 pounds of human flesh, was a willing victim. Judge Volker Muetze concurred, manslaughter, less than murder, but not the assisted-suicide conviction Meiwes and his lawyer sought.
Meiwes listened without emotion to the verdict, 8 1/2 year. Judge Muetze, in passing sentence, said Meiwes' orgy of killing was viewed with repulsion in civilized society. Recalling a gory videotape Meiwes made of the cannibalism and killing, the judge himself seemed to choke on his own words, so repellent were the images of slaughter, mutilation and dismemberment.
Meiwes, according to psychiatrists, felt empowered eating the flesh of another, subconsciously filling a void and becoming a more complete person himself. Prosecutor Marcus Koehler expressed disappointment when the lesser penalty. The prosecutor said he still believes Meiwes is a murderer. And, under German law, he can ask an appellate court for a harsher sentence.
The cannibal's attorney, Harald Ermel, however, said he thought the verdict a bit severe. But he claimed victory, saying, his client could be paroled by 2008.
(on camera): Most Germans with whom we spoke thought the verdict was fair. So, perhaps the only mystery left in this case now is the question of just how badly people here were scarred, discovering they lived with a cannibal in their midst. Walter Rodgers, CNN, Kassel, Germany.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
