Joel Marin, who attacked a class room in Kuopio in 2019 using a longsword, does not intend to appeal his sentence to the Supreme Court, his lawyer Matti Niiranen told news agency STT.
"The matter has been discussed and we have decided to accept the verdict from the Court of Appeal," Niiranen said.
Consequently, the Court of Appeal's sentence of life imprisonment for one charge of murder and 20 counts of attempted murder remains in force.
The attack took place at Savo Vocational College in October of 2019 when the at-the-time 24-year-old Marin attacked a classroom located in a Kuopio shopping centre.
A 23-year-old Ukrainian woman was killed in the attack and about a dozen others were injured. Some of the victims were left with lifelong injuries.
THL, court ruled defendant sound of mind
Marin’s defence lawyers had argued that he was non compos mentis at the time of the attack. However, a psychological evaluation was carried out by the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (THL) during the preliminary examination found that the man was guilty at the time of the acts and that he understood his actions. The district court agreed with the ruling.
According to the Court of Appeal, the case did not reveal anything new that would have led it to reach a different verdict than the district court.
In addition to the murder charge and 20 attempted murders, Marin was also charged with violently resisting a police officer, aggravated assault and vandalism. The decision of the Court of Appeal was unanimous.