Kaine and the killer

Gov. Tim Kaine ended his term on a stunning and dissonant note last week when he quietly asked the U.S. Department of Justice to transfer convicted double-murderer Jens Soering to his native Germany.

Soering confessed on five occasions to slaughtering his former girlfriends' parents in a brutal 1985 knife attack. He later recanted, but a Bedford County jury found him guilty and sentenced him to two life terms for the crime.

Soering has been eligible for parole since 2002, but his repeated requests have been turned down. He's more likely to win release in Germany, where his father is a retired diplomat.

At the very least, Kaine owes an explanation to the family of Derek and Nancy Haysom.

Their grief has been greatly magnified by this abrupt decision.

Kaine's only stated reason, given to the (Lynchburg) News & Advance, is that he wants the German government to "assume the burden of incarcerating Soering" as long as there are guarantees he remains imprisoned for at least two years.

The transfer is being sought under an international treaty that the United States can employ to secure the return of citizens imprisoned in other countries, but there has been no suggestion that Soering is part of a trade.

Kaine said he does not believe Soering's protestations of innocence. Indeed, the former governor denied the prisoner's clemency petition just six months ago and rejected a transfer request at that time.

Kaine, who is Catholic, cannot be oblivious to efforts by several prominent church leaders to secure Soering's freedom.

The prisoner converted to Christianity in 1994 and became a confirmed Catholic in 2002. The Rev. Walter Sullivan, bishop emeritus of the Catholic Diocese of Richmond, wrote the foreword for one of Soering's five books, "The Convict Christ," which won a Catholic Press Association award in 2007.

Sullivan has stated that he believes Soering is not a murderer. A representative from the diocese spoke in the prisoner's favor at a parole hearing. The Rev. Thomas Keating, a Trappist monk, visited Soering in prison.

Even if Soering's conversion is sincere and his murder confession a terrible misunderstanding, he has admitted that he is not an innocent man.

If Soering's most recent version of events is to be believed, he helped his girlfriend escape to England knowing that she had stabbed her parents to death. After his arrest in London, Soering fought extradition for three years.

Martin Luther, one of Soering's favorite theologians, wrote, "No one is sure of the integrity of his own contrition." If Soering is truly remorseful, he should stay in Virginia and face those he has wronged.

Repentance is between him and his God, and no political or church leader should intrude.