Holder announces Soering will stay in U.S.

After months of lobbying by Virginia officials, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder has informed Gov. Bob McDonnell that convicted murderer and former University of Virginia honors student Jens Soering will not be transferred to Germany.

In one of his last acts as governor, Gov. Tim Kaine (D) said he would allow Soering to serve time in his native Germany.

But in one of his first reversals of his predecessor's actions, McDonnell (R) sent a letter to Holder revoking the state's consent to the transfer, saying he had been deluged by those opposing Kaine's action.

"You should be assured that it is the position of the United States Department of Justice that Soering will not be considered for transfer to Germany unless and until the Commonwealth of Virginia provides clear and unambiguous consent to such a transfer,'' Holder said in his letter.

Soering, the son of a German diplomat, was convicted by a Bedford County Circuit Court jury of two counts of first-degree murder in the 1985 killings of his girlfriend's parents in a case that made international headlines.