# Murder conviction overturned, deportation looms

> Werner Kunkel spent 30 years in prison for a 1986 murder. His conviction was thrown out for prosecutorial misconduct. Now he faces deportation to Germany, a country he left at age seven.
- Title: Murder conviction overturned, deportation looms · ABC News
- Summary: Werner Kunkel spent 30 years in prison for a 1986 murder. His conviction was thrown out for prosecutorial misconduct. Now he faces deportation to Germany, a…
- Keywords: werner kunkel, north dakota, murder conviction, great north innocence project, deportation, immigration and customs enforcement, prosecutorial misconduct, gilbert fassett, news, Murder, conviction, overturned
- Source: ABC News — https://abcnews.com/US/north-dakota-mans-murder-conviction-overturned-now-deported/story?id=136340217
- Author: ABC News
- Read time: 1 min
- Topics: werner kunkel, north dakota, murder conviction, great north innocence project, deportation, immigration and customs enforcement, prosecutorial misconduct, gilbert fassett, news
## Thirty years for a brutal murder
Werner Kunkel was convicted in nineteen ninety-five of the nineteen eighty-six murder of Gilbert Fassett, whose body had over one hundred stab wounds. He received a life sentence.
## Prosecutors hid evidence of innocence
The Great North Innocence Project found that prosecutors had not disclosed evidence supporting Kunkel's innocence. A district court judge threw out his conviction in February and ordered a new trial.
## Kunkel came to America at seven
Kunkel, now sixty-five, was brought from Germany by his mother at age seven. He never became a US citizen, doesn't speak German, and has no connection to Germany.
## ICE arrests him hours after release
A district court ordered Kunkel's release from state prison last month. Hours later, Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents took him into federal custody where he remains.
## Government resurrects old charges
The Department of Homeland Security cited forgery, assault on a peace officer and other decades-old convictions to justify deportation. Kunkel's lawyer says the government is grasping at straws.

> Only now when you're afraid that he might get out and we won the case for the murder is when you bring it up.
## State wants conviction reinstated
North Dakota prosecutors asked the state supreme court to reinstate Kunkel's conviction, arguing the withheld evidence does not establish innocence and other guilt evidence is overwhelming.
## Three possible futures await
If North Dakota's high court reinstates his conviction, Kunkel returns to prison. If it rules the conviction unjust, he gets a new trial. If ICE wins, he faces deportation to Germany.
## Rulings expected within weeks
A federal immigration judge is expected to rule within the month on deportation. The state supreme court will separately decide whether to reinstate the murder conviction.
## Key takeaway

Werner Kunkel's murder conviction was overturned after prosecutors suppressed evidence, but he now faces deportation despite never becoming a US citizen and having no ties to Germany.