Germany: Court rejects appeal of a nurse convicted for killing 85 patients
A German federal court has rejected an ex- nurse’s appeal of his murder conviction and life sentence for killing 85 patients by deliberately bringing about cardiac arrests.
Niels Hoegel (nurse) was convicted by a court in June 2019 in the northwestern city of Oldenburg.
On Friday, the Federal Court of Justice stated that it had rejected his appeal in a Sept. 1 decision with no findings of procedural or other errors with the verdict.
The trial court noted in its verdict the “particular seriousness” of Hoegel’s crimes.
Between 1999 and 2002, Hoegel worked at a hospital in Oldenburg and at another hospital in nearby Delmenhorst from 2003 to 2005.
The patients had been injected by Hoegel with overdoses of heart medication and other drugs.
In some cases, he was able to bring them back, but in at least 87 cases the patients died, making him what is believed to be modern Germany’s most prolific serial killer.
The killings in which he stands trial for took place between 2002 and 2005.
Last year’s verdict came on top of a 2015 conviction for two murders and two attempted murders, for which he was already serving a life sentence.
In total, Hoegel was tried in Oldenburg on 100 counts of murder, but the court found him not guilty on 15 counts for lack of evidence.
Hoegel admitted to 43 of the killings, disputed five and said he could not remember the other 52.
The federal court also rejected an appeal from a co-plaintiff against Hoegel’s acquittal in one of the cases where the court couldn’t find sufficient evidence.
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