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aristarchus [soylentnews.org] writes:

From Portland Mercury [portlandmercury.com]:

Jeremy Christian has been unanimously convicted on all 12 criminal charges tied to the 2017 MAX stabbings—including two first-degree murder charges—by a 12-person jury.
Murder in the first degree carries the possibility of life in prison.

Christian, 37, was accused of fatally stabbing Ricky Best and Taliesin Namkai-Meche and wounding Micah Fletcher—three men who confronted Christian when he broke into an anti-Muslim rant on the MAX train on May 26, 2017.

He was also charged with intimidation crimes (Oregon's equivalent of a hate crime) for directing his rant at Walia Mohamed and Destinee Magnum, two Black teenagers who were also riding the MAX that day. Mohamed was wearing a hijab, a headscarf signifying her Muslim faith, at the time.

Reminds me of MDC, who used to ride the MAX.

Christian faced another charge for threatening fellow passenger Shawn Forde with a knife after Forde used his body to block Mohamed and Magnum from Christian’s sight. Lastly, Christian was handed another intimidation charge for allegedly assaulting Demetria Hester, an African American woman who confronted Christian on the MAX the day prior while he was spouting another racist diatribe.

The verdict comes after a month-long trial featuring testimony from psychiatric doctors, law enforcement officials, victim's families, and dozens of witnesses who were riding the MAX the day of the stabbings.

Jurors were given the option to reduce Christian’s murder charges from first-degree to second-degree during deliberation. A first-degree murder charge implies that the defendant intended to murder his victims, while a second-degree charge applies to murders considered more spur-of-the-moment and possibly unintentional.

Possibly, but, you know, not likely.

Original Submission