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

DATE: TUESDAY, March 26, 1991                   TAG: 9103260365
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B4   EDITION: BEDFORD/FRANKLIN 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

SOERING'S ATTORNEY FILES 61-PAGE APPEAL

When Jens Soering's attorney said last year that he would appeal his client's murder conviction on any and every ground he could think of, he was only exaggerating a little.

Defense attorney Rick Neaton has filed a 61-page appeal with the Court of Appeals in Richmond. The document outlines eight reasons why he says Soering deserves an appeal.

Many of the items listed in Neaton's brief arose during the Soering's trial last year for the 1985 murders of his girlfriend's parents in Bedford County.

Among other things, Neaton claimed in his brief:

Circuit Judge William Sweeney should not have heard the case; Sweeney should have held the trial outside of Bedford County and should have called a jury from farther away than Nelson County; and Sweeney should have thrown out Soering's confessions to police.

Neaton also said that testimony about a bloody sock print should have been kept out of the trial and that Sweeney should have offered the jury legal instructions related to manslaughter and accessories after the fact.

by CNB