The Oregon Court of Appeals on Wednesday upheld Jeremy Christian’s convictions and life sentence for the murders of two men and the attempted murder of a third man by stabbing them all in their necks on a crowded Northeast Portland MAX train in 2017.
The Appeals Court also affirmed the jury’s finding that his attack was motivated by race and bias.
In addition, the court upheld Christian’s conviction for assaulting a Black woman the night before the killings by throwing a Gatorade bottle at her face.
The Appeals Court rejected all 16 points of error that Christian’s defense lawyers argued were made during 19 days of Christian’s trial and sentencing in 2020.
Multnomah County Circuit Judge Cheryl Albrecht had ordered Christian to serve two true life prison terms for killing Taliesin Namkai-Meche and Ricky Best, plus 25 years for other crimes, including wounding Micah Fletcher.
The Appeals Court ruling essentially found that Albrecht successfully maneuvered through many complicated legal questions.
Christian’s defense attorneys, Greg Scholl and Dean Smith, didn’t offer comment for this story. But Marc Brown, a senior deputy defender who filed the appeal, said Christian plans to appeal to the Oregon Supreme Court.
Prosecutor Jeff Howes, who represented the state with now-former prosecutor Don Rees, said one of the first things he did after reading the ruling was to notify one of the victims advocates for the district attorney’s office to reach out to Christian’s victims and let them know the convictions still stand four years after they were handed down.
“To me it’s not over,” Howes said, noting that the state’s high court still might review the case. “But I hope they find some comfort that we went through that together and the Court of Appeals said, ‘You did it right.’”
Christian, who was 35 at the time of his crimes, was convicted of the first-degree murders of Namkai-Meche, 23, and Best, 53, and the attempted first-degree murder of Fletcher, then 21.
The stabbings happened on May 26, 2017, after Christian unleashed a vile torrent about Muslims, Christians and Jews, spoke of beheadings and shouted, “Go home, we need American here!” at two teenage girls. The girls – one who is African American and the other an immigrant from Somalia who was wearing a hijab – were 16 and 17 at the time and were riding the train to Clackamas Town Center.
According to evidence presented at trial, Namkai-Meche had approached Christian with his phone, apparently in an attempt to record Christian’s tirade. After Christian swatted Namkai-Meche’s phone onto the train’s floor and shoved Fletcher and Namkai-Meche, Fletcher responded by shoving Christian a few times and telling him to get off the train. That’s when Christian stabbed both of them and Best, who was standing nearby.
During Christian’s sentencing hearing in 2020, Christian said Best had done nothing but stand near him when he stabbed him. Much of the horrific scene and aftermath was caught on video from TriMet surveillance cameras and bystander phones.
The previous day, on May 25, 2017, Christian also had spouted hate speech on a different MAX train, then threw a half-filled Gatorade bottle at the face of Demetria Hester, seriously injuring her eye. Hester said a police officer who responded didn’t take Christian into custody and less than 18 hours later, he stabbed the three men.
In addressing Christian’s appeal, the Appeals Court found that the judge was on solid legal ground to deny his contention that he couldn’t get a fair trial in Multnomah County and the trial must be moved to a different county, where potential jurors were less familiar with the facts of the case.
The Appeals Court wrote that despite “substantial media attention” leading up to trial, “that attention was focused on the events that occurred, which were largely undisputed, rather than on the possible legal defenses available to defendant or the trial theories of the parties.”
The sentencing of Christian also occurred less than a year after Senate Bill 1013, passed by the Oregon Legislature, took effect. It created the crime of first-degree murder and called for sentences ranging from life in prison with a 30-year minimum to true life with no possibility of release.
Christian’s sentencing was one of the early test cases of the new law and the Legislature’s directions to judges to determine sentences. Christian’s attorneys argued those directions were constitutionally vague, but the Appeals Court disagreed. Brown, Christian’s appellate lawyer, said this will be of specific interest to Christian in the case he makes to the state Supreme Court.
Among other determinations, the Appeals Court also upheld a jury finding that Christian showed no remorse for the killings.
Christian had contended he was sorry for killing Best, who didn’t interact with him and he said was “collateral damage,” but the Appeals Court noted that Christian had made statements after his arrest that he was justified in stabbing all three victims and he did not “feel one bit remorseful or sorry about that.”
Read the Appeals Court ruling here.
— Aimee Green covers breaking news and the justice system. Reach her at 503-294-5119, agreen@oregonian.com or @o_aimee.
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