A jury Friday found Jeremy Christian guilty of killing two men and trying to kill a third man during a racist rant on a rush-hour MAX train in a unanimous verdict hailed by victims of the attack, their families and Portland leaders as a repudiation of hate.
The seven men and five women deliberated about 11 hours over two days before reaching their decision in the murders of Taliesin Namkai-Meche, 23, and Ricky Best, 53, and the serious wounding of Micah Fletcher, then 21, on May 26, 2017.
Christian stabbed all three in the neck on a Green Line train as it pulled into Northeast Portland’s Hollywood Transit Center on the eve of the Memorial Day weekend.
Jurors also found Christian guilty of hate crimes for threatening to harm two girls on the train, one an African American teenager and the other her friend, an immigrant from Somalia who was wearing a hijab. Witnesses said Christian unleashed a vile torrent about Muslims, Christians and Jews dying, spoke of beheadings and shouted, “Go home, we need American here!”
CurtisAnn
Article URL : https://www.oregonlive.com/news/2020/02/jeremy-christian-guilty-on-all-counts-in-max-stabbings-trial.html