SOERING ASKS COURT FOR APPEAL

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, February 15, 1992                   TAG: 9202150226
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: A-4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: GREG SCHNEIDER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RICHMOND                                LENGTH: Medium
SOERING ASKS COURT FOR APPEAL
Attorneys for Jens Soering, the German diplomat's son convicted in 1990 of murdering his girlfriend's parents in Bedford County, asked the Virginia Supreme Court on Friday to hear an appeal.
Soering got two life sentences for the 1985 stabbing deaths of wealthy industrialist Derek Haysom and his wife, Nancy. The Haysoms' daughter, Elizabeth, pleaded guilty in 1987 to being an accessory to the murders.
The case drew international attention, spawned at least one book and supplied weeks of tabloid-TV fodder.
On Friday, before a panel of three Supreme Court justices, defense attorney William Cleaveland said Soering deserved an appeal for two reasons:

When Soering was arrested in England by British police, Cleaveland said, he was interrogated for 19 hours over four days and was denied permission to call a lawyer. "He asked for a lawyer at least 12 times," Cleaveland said.
"He signed five different waiver forms, didn't he?" asked Justice A. Christian Compton.
True, Cleaveland replied, but Soering didn't understand his rights and was worn down by the grueling interview.
Cleaveland said the law is unclear on whether a resident alien being detained abroad has the same constitutional rights as if he were arrested in the United States. If the court decides Soering should have had Fifth Amendment protection against self-incrimination, Cleaveland wants his interrogation thrown out.

During the trial, the prosecution tried to put on expert testimony showing that a bloody sockprint from the crime scene corresponded to Soering's foot. The trial judge refused to declare the witness an expert, but did let him outline some of his findings.
"When he was completed with that analysis, there was nothing left for the jury to decide," Cleaveland complained Friday, arguing that the testimony should not have been allowed.
Cleaveland had 10 minutes to make his case before Compton and Justices Elizabeth Lacy and Richard Poff. The panel will decide whether the whole court should hear the appeal.
If this tactic doesn't work, Cleaveland and fellow defense attorney Richard A. Neaton said, the battle will move to the U.S. Supreme Court.

by Bhavesh Jinadra by CNB