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adequate opportunities and had a stunted development. He had no family or other contacts to go to on weekends and holidays. These conditions were, according to witness psychologists and deaf interpreters, a contributing factor to his later social problems and major problems with language comprehension.
242:
The court rejected the appeal against Moen's conviction in the Torunn
Finstad case, and on 13 October 2005, the Norwegian Criminal Cases Review Commission received a preliminary application to review the case. When Moen died on 28 March 2005 of natural causes, it became known that he wanted the case
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Moen was born almost deaf and had no contact with other deaf people, neither children nor adults, from the time he was 1½ years old until he was 7-8 years old. In the childhood years when hearing children learn to speak and understand concrete and abstract concepts and nuances, Moen grew up without
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must be upheld by both the public prosecutors and the courts. Mæland stated that witnesses had been coaxed by the
Trondheim police force, while at the same time significant evidence proving Moen's innocence had been withheld from the defence and the courts. "Some of the evidence has basically been
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announced that the court had quashed the conviction and acquitted Moen for the rape and attempted murder of Sigrid
Heggheim. The court found that the forensic evidence exonerated Moen, and that in any case reasonable doubt should have acquitted him in the first place. Among other things, he had an
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to killing both Sigrid
Heggheim and Torunn Finstad. On 15 June 2006, the Criminal Cases Review Commission formally accepted the application, and on 24 August 2006, the Frostating court posthumously acquitted Fritz Moen for the rape and murder of Sigrid Heggheim. It found that the preponderance of
314:. Besides Professor Mæland, it consisted of judge Inger Marie Dons Jensen and psychiatrist Ingrid Lycke Ellingsen. Its mandate was to "find out why Moen was wrongfully convicted and evaluate whether changes are needed in the criminal justice system to avoid wrongful convictions in the future".
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Solberg has become notorious for miscarriages of justice, having also been instrumental in the wrongful conviction of Atle Hage, a father who was convicted of incest, took his own life after his release from prison, and was cleared ten years later when his children testified on his behalf.
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Sigrid
Heggheim, who was found dead in September 1976. She had been strangled and an attempt had been made to rape her. The same court indicted Moen for murder and attempted rape on 15 September 1981, and on 19 December he was convicted and sentenced to an additional 5 years. An appeal was
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for the most likely time of the crime. The forensic evidence indicated that the perpetrator had pursued the victim across a field, knocked her down, and then tied her with her own clothes — Moen was partly paralysed and physically incapable of these actions.
114:, serving a total of 18 years in prison. After the convictions were quashed, an official inquiry was instigated to establish what had gone wrong in the authorities' handling of the case, and on 25 June 2007 the commission delivered harsh criticism to the
262:
In the aftermath of the acquittals, Fritz Moen's lawyers filed a civil suit against the
Norwegian government seeking 28 million NOK (€3 million). The case was settled in April 2008 when the presiding judge awarded 20 million NOK.
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evidence made Hepsø a more likely suspect, and that Moen's confession was likely coerced and only included information that had been made public. These two acquittals are widely attributed to the work of Moen's defence lawyer
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The conclusion of the inquiry recommended there be no investigation to label responsibility to individual police or judicial officers since "such action would probably lead to the pulverisation of responsibility".
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hidden within the police reports," Mæland concluded. The justice minister commented during the press conference that "the commission's report shows that grave errors have been committed leading to grave results."
321:(Infringement) by Tore Sandberg, the private investigator involved in Moen's case, was published in October 2007. The book names police officers and other public servants instrumental in Moen's prosecution.
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When Moen was convicted, his defence lawyer, Olav
Hestenes, announced: "For the first time at this desk, I allow myself to say that a travesty of justice has been committed." The judge,
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Biological samples were collected at both crime scenes and tested with technology available at the time, but the samples were then lost and destroyed for reasons that remain unclear.
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court for the crime on 11 April 1978. He was convicted and sentenced to 20 years' imprisonment on 29 May the same year. This sentence was reduced to 16 years on appeal.
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in 1944 and never met his son. Fritz had little or no contact with his mother after he arrived at the orphanage. The mother married in 1947. She later had two sons.
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The case caused widespread public debate in Norway. There were calls for a formal inquiry into the conduct of the prosecutors and police, and in 2008 the newspaper
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Moen's lawyer requested a new trial for both cases on 2 January 2000. The court accepted the request for the Sigrid
Heggheim case, and on 7 October 2004 judge
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Standing
Committee on Scrutiny and Constitutional Affairs recommended that a commission be appointed to investigate and, if warranted, prosecute for the
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in the Second World War. Moen was deaf from birth, and his mother decided she could not take care of him. In June 1943 he was placed in an orphanage in
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Torunn
Finstad, who was reported missing on 4 October 1977 and found dead two days later, having been raped and strangled. Moen was indicted by a
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as a symbol of the responsibilities of the criminal justice system, although there so far has been no sign of this being taken seriously.
405:
516:
360:, the only wrongful conviction magazine in the United States, published an article about Fritz Moen's case in its Spring 2008 issue:
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The prosecuting authorities relied on Moen's confession to the murders, which appears to have been coerced by way of intimidation.
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145:. It is unclear whether he lived with his mother in the period before this, or whether he was already staying in an infant home.
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Moen was deaf and had a severe speech impediment. He was also partially paralysed, but had normal intelligence and good memory.
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Moen was the son of a Norwegian woman (Betzy Moen) and a German corporal (Fritz Robert Hellmann). His father served during the
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In December 2005, it became known that Tor Hepsø, a convicted criminal with a long history of violence, had made a
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On 25 June 2007 a commission headed by Henry John Mæland, professor of law at the
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Norwegian Criminal Cases Review Board decision about Moen's case (Norwegian)
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Moen "listens" to the radio (1959). He could hear and feel high bass sounds.
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Norwegian Criminal Cases Review Board decision about Moen's case (English)
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Exonerated Of Two Murders, Fritz Moen Posthumously Awarded $ 4 Million,
362:"Exonerated Of Two Murders, Fritz Moen Posthumously Awarded $ 4 Million"
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Moen was convicted for two separate rapes and murders, both in
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proposed erecting a bust or statue of Moen in front of the
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justices who presided over the Moen cases. The three were
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The commission was appointed on 8 September 2006 by the
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Justice:Denied - the magazine for the wrongly convicted
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40:
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478:Haugli, Børre O.; Ida Johansson (25 June 2007).
550:"Høyesterettsdommere stilles ikke for riksrett"
102:(17 December 1941 – 28 March 2005) was a
122:in what was immediately termed Norway's worst
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221:(defender during reopening of the case) and
85:Wrongful conviction of two separate murders
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18:
16:Norwegian victim of miscarriage of justice
640:Norwegian victims of human rights abuses
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432:"Moen-byste foran Justisdepartementet"
217:Fritz Moen's tombstone, surrounded by
655:People wrongfully convicted of murder
7:
650:People convicted of murder by Norway
645:Norwegian people convicted of murder
294:was violated repeatedly by both the
548:Ommundsen, Else Gro (8 May 2008).
515:Gjerde, Robert (5 February 2008).
457:"Krass kritikk i Fritz Moen-saken"
14:
625:Norwegian prisoners and detainees
406:"Forlik om Fritz Moen-erstatning"
290:. The commission stated that the
160:Initial conviction and sentencing
517:"Stortinget må vurdere riksrett"
558:(in Norwegian). Archived from
525:(in Norwegian). Archived from
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272:Norwegian Ministry of Justice
670:People with speech disorders
381:"Wrongly Convicted Database"
243:on his behalf to continue.
139:German occupation of Norway
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148:Moen's father died on the
118:, the prosecution and the
255:and private investigator
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605:, Issue 40 (Spring 2008)
324:On 5 February 2008, the
304:presumption of innocence
292:principle of objectivity
334:Norwegian Supreme Court
225:(private investigator).
620:Overturned convictions
326:Norwegian Parliament's
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124:miscarriage of justice
665:Norwegian deaf people
453:Norwegian News Agency
342:Karin Maria Bruzelius
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496:on 27 September 2007
284:University of Bergen
253:John Christian Elden
219:John Christian Elden
108:wrongfully convicted
248:deathbed confession
209:Convictions quashed
589:2007-03-05 at the
529:on 8 February 2008
480:"Politiet slaktes"
338:Magnus Matningsdal
231:Wenche Skjæggestad
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93:18 years in prison
660:Police misconduct
562:on 22 August 2008
346:Eilert Stang Lund
312:Norwegian cabinet
100:Fritz Yngvar Moen
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455:(25 June 2007).
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383:. Archived from
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332:of three of the
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110:of two distinct
90:Criminal penalty
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51:17 December 1941
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357:Justice:Denied
317:A book called
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82:Known for
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73:(aged 63)
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192:Karl Solberg
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76:Oslo, Norway
71:(2005-03-25)
635:2005 deaths
630:1941 births
522:Aftenposten
330:impeachment
268:Aftenposten
195: [
614:Categories
566:12 October
555:Dagsavisen
533:5 February
485:Nettavisen
391:2013-12-11
319:Overgrepet
174:Frostating
133:Early life
47:1941-12-17
23:Fritz Moen
368:Footnotes
180:rejected.
166:Trondheim
104:Norwegian
55:Sarpsborg
587:Archived
298:and the
143:Skjeberg
500:25 June
463:25 June
278:Inquiry
112:murders
300:courts
296:police
120:courts
116:police
59:Norway
437:3 May
416:3 May
236:alibi
199:]
568:2008
535:2008
502:2007
490:TV 2
465:2007
439:2017
418:2017
344:and
106:man
66:Died
41:Born
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364:.
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197:no
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