A judge sentenced a white supremacist to spend the rest of his life in prison for fatally stabbing two other white men who came to the defense of two black women whom he threatened on a suburban train in Portland three years ago.
Multnomah County Circuit Judge Cheryl Albrecht sentenced Jeremy Christian, 38, to two life terms after hearing statements from Christian victims or the victims’ families on Tuesday and Wednesday, The Oregonian reported / OregonLive.
Taliesin Namkai-Meche, 23, and Ricky Best, 53, died from knife wounds to the neck, and Micah Fletcher survived after Christian also stabbed him in the neck on May 26, 2017.
Christian boarded the MAX Light Rail train in Portland during the night trip and began shouting racist, anti-Muslim and xenophobic slurs at the two young black women, prosecutors said.
Jeremy Christian, 38, was sentenced to life in prison by a judge in Portland, Oregon, on Wednesday. He is seen upstairs in a Portland courtroom on Tuesday yelling at one of his assault victims, Demetria Hester: “I should have killed you, bitch!”
The verdict was announced in February. Taliesin Namakai-Meche (left) and Ricky Best (right) were killed while trying to stop Christian’s racist tirade against two young black women.
Christian’s outburst in court on Tuesday came after Hester (pictured) told Christian: ‘When you die and go to hell, I hope you rot.’
One of them, Walia Mohamed, was an immigrant from Somalia and was wearing a Muslim headscarf. She was with her friend, Destinee Mangum.
Another young black woman, Zhada Allen, testified that she was on the train that day and was afraid for her life.
Some witnesses said that Christian in his outburst made a cutting movement through his neck and mentioned the beheading people.
As his tirade continued, Christian grabbed Namkai-Meche’s cell phone as he tried to film and threw it to the ground.
Authorities say Fletcher stood up to intervene and confronted Christian, who taunted the men to “do something” to stop him.
Christian then took out a 4-inch folding knife and stabbed Fletcher and Namkai-Meche, prosecutors said.
Authorities say he also stabbed Best, who was nearby.
Jury members in February convicted Christian of the deaths of Namkai-Meche and Best.
In addition to the two counts of murder, Christian was convicted of attempted murder for stabbing Fletcher and assaulting and threatening for shouting insults and hitting a black woman with a bottle on another light rail the day before the stabbings.
The judge sentenced him to more than 25 years for those crimes.
Michah Fletcher, who survived the attack, appears in the photo when the verdict was read in February.
Somali immigrant Walia Mohamed (left), 20, was the target of Jeremy Christian’s racist protests that preceded the killings. Destinee Mangum (right), 18, describes running for fear of her life after seeing Micah Fletcher stabbed in the neck by Jeremy Christian
Many of the victims and their families urged the judge not to let Christian return to society and emphasized the need for systemic change in a world that does not want to recognize the circumstances that allowed Christian to act on his beliefs without restriction.
Christian, via video broadcast from a remote courtroom, said: “I am sorry that two people died, but I do not regret my actions.”
Christian was removed from the courtroom on Tuesday after yelling at victim Demetria Hester: “I should have killed you, bitch!”
Hester had survived the verbal and physical attack the day before Christian killed Namkai-Meche and Best.
‘In my case, the white supremacist received special treatment from the police. He didn’t believe me or the two TriMet supervisors, ” Hester said of a police officer who responded to the assault.
‘He refused to stop the assailant and let him walk away knowing who he was. The officer asked for my identification and treated me as if I were the aggressor because of my color. ”
Hester said to Christian, “When you die and go to hell, I hope you rot.”
It was then that he began to shout violent threats at Hester, took off his mask and shouted: “I should have killed you, b *** h”.
The outburst came within 30 minutes of the 11 am session. Hester was the first of 15 people to read impact statements.
Christian was not wearing handcuffs when he reacted violently. He was detained by Multnomah County Sheriff’s deputies and removed from the courtroom.
“His behavior today was especially egregious, so he lost his right to be here during the sentence,” said Albrecht.
Hester was the first of 15 people to read impact statements. On the left, she appears in the photo in 2017. She was attacked the day before Christian killed two people and said in her statement: “In my case, the white supremacist received special treatment from the police.”
The outburst came 30 minutes into the 11 am session Hester was the first of 15 people to read impact statements
Christian was not wearing handcuffs on Tuesday when he reacted by ripping off the mask and shouting abuse at the victim.
The judge wanted the victim’s impact statements to continue in his absence.
However, Fletcher’s lawyers, who survived the stabbing of the train, and the Namkai-Meche family, wanted Christian to have to listen to a statement and watch it while it was being read.
According to KATU 2, the judge was looking for a way to get Christian to another courtroom in a live broadcast.
“I blame the system for creating and facilitating people like Jeremy,” Hester had said in her impact statement. “The police captured, not killed, a racist white supremacist known to the police.”
The sentence was delayed due to the coronavirus pandemic.
When she resumed four months after the convictions, Hester took the opportunity to partially blame systemic racism for Christian being able to attack and kill people despite his hateful actions against her the day before.
Her statement that black women are not believed echoes what is said as part of the Black Lives Matter movement.
Hester mentioned how she had come out with outbursts in previous court appearances
Zhada Allen, 17, testifies at Christian’s murder trial on January 28, 2020 in Portland, Oregon.
‘The police murder us all day, every day … We will fight to dismantle this corrupt system. Our community is being victimized again and again by the system and we are paying it financially, physically, mentally and emotionally, ” said Hester. “There is no help from the mayor, governor, congress, judge.”
In the days following the stabbing, photos and videos appeared showing Christian had recently attended and spoken at a rally organized by a far-right group called Patriot Prayer, whose periodic political events were already causing tension in the city.
He was caught on camera doing the Nazi salute while wearing an American flag around his neck and holding a baseball bat.
On Facebook, her prolific posts criticized Portland as being so politically correct that her right to freedom of expression was constantly under attack.
Those beliefs were also in front and in the center of the courtroom, when Christian told the judge on the first day of the trial that he would wear his blue jail-issued uniform instead of a suit because otherwise it would be like lying. .
“I don’t care how long I spend in prison,” he said. “The only thing that matters to me is that the public see and hear what happened on the train.”
Christian was arrested near the scene of the murders
Christian’s defense attorneys Gregory Scholl and Dean Smith argued that Christian had acted in self-defense and felt threatened by Namkai-Meche and Fletcher.
An expert defense witness testified that Fletcher, in particular, escalated the situation by approaching 6 feet from Christian moments before Christian drew his knife.
During the trial, Detective Michelle Michaels read a transcript of Christian’s comments shortly after he was arrested.
“There is no way I can explain what happened,” he said.
‘Except that both people would be alive if they had kept their hands in peace. Either I got off the train or I allowed myself freedom of expression.
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