Berlin
A German man who killed and ate a willing victim he met on the Internet was convicted of murder this week and sentenced to life in prison. In March 2001, Armin Meiwes, 44, cut off bits of Bernd Juergen Brandes, and the two men ate the pieces together. Brandes, who had responded to an ad seeking a “well-built male” for “slaughter and consumption,” died of the wounds, and Meiwes ate some more of him. This is the second time Meiwes has been tried for the crime. In 2004, he was convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to 8 ½ years in prison, but an appeals judge threw out that sentence as too lenient. Germany has no double-jeopardy law, so defendants can be tried twice for the same crime.
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