Friday, August 04, 2006

Bizarre News Story of the Day

This story was the subject of a very disgusting, yet wonderful, conversation last night.

German cannibal sentenced to 8 years in prison

KASSEL, GERMANY - A 42-year-old German man who confessed to killing, dismembering and eating another man who he said agreed to the grisly act was sentenced to eight and a half years in prison.

A German court convicted Armin Meiwes of manslaughter on Friday, ruling he had no "base motives" in the crime and sparing him a murder conviction.

The prosecution, who had been looking for a murder conviction and a life sentence, said they would appeal the verdict.

Prosecutors had argued that Meiwes, who met his victim over the internet, was satisfying a sexual impulse.

They said he filmed himself dismembering the victim before he ate him so he could "admire himself as a human butcher."

But Meiwes' lawyer argued that the slaying was a "homicide on demand." He said it was a form of mercy killing – because the victim gave his consent to be killed and eaten.

In his trial, Meiwes confessed in detail to the March 2001 killing of 43-year-old Bernd Juergen Brandes at his home in the nearby town of Rotenburg.

Brandes had travelled from Berlin in reply to an internet advertisement seeking a young man for "slaughter and consumption."

Meiwes testified that Brandes wanted to be stabbed to death after drinking a bottle of cold medicine to lose consciousness.

"Bernd came to me of his own free will to end his life," said Meiwes in a closing statement Monday. "For him, it was a nice death."

Meiwes said he regretted the killing.

"I had my big kick and I don't need to do it again," he said. "I regret it all very much, but I can't undo it."

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