Appeal court orders mental state examination in Oulu murder case

The Rovaniemi Court of Appeal has ordered a mental state examination for Marcus Kuoksa, who was sentenced to life imprisonment for murdering a family acquaintance in Oulu, Yle reports.

The court said the examination was justified by the nature of the homicide, the way it was carried out, its seriousness and other related circumstances. Kuoksa will remain in custody, the court also ruled in an interim judgment.

The case is before the Court of Appeal after Kuoksa appealed the Oulu District Court’s decision. He is seeking to have the murder conviction reduced to manslaughter and his life sentence replaced with a fixed-term prison sentence.

In its interim judgment, the Court of Appeal found that Kuoksa had committed the act described in the charge. It will decide at a later stage whether the offence was murder or a less serious crime.

Victim was unable to defend himself

The Oulu District Court sentenced Kuoksa to life imprisonment in November 2025. It found that the then 22-year-old had murdered a man aged slightly over 60 in the victim’s apartment in Oulu in May 2025.

Kuoksa and the victim knew each other. Kuoksa’s father had been friends with the victim, and Kuoksa had been invited to stay at the victim’s home for several days. According to the court, Kuoksa became angry after the victim began criticising his father.

Kuoksa struck the victim on the head with a baseball bat at least 10 times and stabbed him in the neck 10 times with a kitchen knife. The victim had limited mobility, was sitting in an armchair and was unable to defend himself.

After the killing, Kuoksa sent photographs and videos of the dead victim to friends on social media. In one video, he filmed the weapons used and the victim.