'It's too lenient, he should have got life,' local resident Bernd Exner told Reuters. Many Germans were shocked by the sentence - as well as the evidence. They wanted him to be convicted of 'killing of request,' a form of illegal euthanasia carrying a sentence of six months to five years.

Legal experts said the case could ultimately go to the country's Supreme Court because it had no precedent.ĭefense lawyers said that because the victim volunteered to be killed and eaten the crime deserved to be classified as a mercy killing. Prosecutors wanted a life term, calling the man a 'human butcher' who acted to 'satisfy a sexual impulse.' They said Meiwes should have known his victim was disturbed and said they would appeal, Reuters reported. Meiwes admitted killing and carving up Bernd Juergen Brandes but insisted it was all consensual. The court in Kassel ruled Friday that Armin Meiwes, a 42-year-old computer expert who met his victim on the Internet, had no 'base motives' in the crime - sparing him a murder conviction. KASSEL, Germany - German prosecutors say they will appeal against the manslaughter conviction for a self-confessed cannibal who killed and ate a man who had asked to die.

Germany's cannibal trial hears testimony from the victim's former lover. Meiwes said he had been in touch with hundreds of willing victims. Actually, as much as that sounds like the Enquirer it was an AP story in the Seattle PI.įriday, JanuPosted: 12:23 PM EST (1723 GMT)

Armin meiwes video footage