KASSEL, Germany, Jan. 30 (UPI) -- A German court Friday sentenced a computer technician to eight-and-a-half years in prison for killing and eating a victim he said was willing to die.
The court near Frankfurt sentenced Armin Meiwes for killing Bernd-Jürgen Brandes, who had responded to an Internet posting by Meiwes seeking someone willing to be "slaughtered," the New York Times reported.
The three-judge court rejected the prosecution's plea for a murder conviction and a life sentence.
"Both were looking for the ultimate kick," said the chief judge. "This was an act between two extremely disturbed people who both wanted something from each other."
The conviction on a lesser charge means Meiwes could be released on parole in less than five years.
His lawyer Harald Ermel said he would appeal the sentence. He had argued his client was only guilty of "killing on request," an illegal form of euthanasia that carries a maximum jail term of five years.
"He will voluntarily undergo psychiatric therapy to get away from his fetish for men's flesh. I'm sure he won't do anything like this again," the lawyer told reporters.
The killing took place after hours of consensual sex and sado-masochism, Meiwes testified, and the subsequent eating took place over a period of several months.
