Īfter a unique two-month trial that has gripped both Germany and the wider world with its gory details, a judge yesterday sentenced Meiwes to a mere eight and a half years in jail after ruling that he was guilty of manslaughter and not murder. Just over two hours later Armin Meiwes, the self-confessed German cannibal who killed and ate another man, left a stunned courtroom scarcely able to believe his luck.
Kevorkian was convicted of second-degree murder, and his conviction was affirmed. (p.179)īut not the trial court or the appeallate court: Dr. (p.179)Įven the patinet's family had accepted his choice to escape the suffering and indignity of the slow demise.
Kevorkian for administering a lethal injection to a former racecar driver who, due to advanced Lou Gehrig's disease, was no longer able to move, eat, or breath on his own. Kevorkian, for example, the state prosecuted Dr. Not every violation of human dignity deserves criminal punishment, but only such that affects society at large. On his flesh, may serve as an example.(p.179) Ī recent German case, in which Armin Meiwes was persecuted for killing his willing victim, Berndluergen Brandes, and cannibalizing as an example. As for consensual physical harm, it should be punishable only when an important welfare interest normally protected by criminal law is set back in a way that denies the victim his equal moral worth.