In a case that had grabbed the nation's attention due to its appalling nature, the Frankfurt state court convicted Armin Meiwes of murder in 2006 after he admitted to killing and eating a 43-year-old Berlin man.

Meiwes met Bernd Juergen Brandes over the Internet and reportedly video-taped the murder for his own sexual pleasure. He maintains that his act was a mercy killing at Brandes' request.

Meiwes, 44, was first convicted of manslaughter in 2004 by the Kassel state court and then retried for murder and sentenced to life in prison in 2006. A computer scientist, he had set up a room especially for the killing in his home in Rotenburg, a town in northeastern Hesse. The Federal Constitutional Court said Friday, Oct. 24 that a more lenient sentence would not come into question.