Murder trial starts Tuesday
Jeremy Christian
The trial of Jeremy Christian, the Portland man accused of stabbing two men to death after they came to the defense of two girls on a Tri-Met Max train in 2017, started Tuesday following jury selection and is expected to take a month, officials said.
Christian faces two counts of first-degree murder, one count of attempted first-degree murder, two counts of assault, three counts of menacing and three counts of second-degree intimidation.
The whole city was shocked to learn about the violent deaths of Taliesin Mryddin Namkai-Meche and Ricky Best, and the life-threatening injury of Micah Fletcher on the light-rail train near the Hollywood station in northeast Portland.
According to court documents, the three men were passengers on the train when Christian began yelling anti-Muslim rants at two high school students, one wearing a hijab and the other an African-American.
Portland police have called the case the biggest in the last decade. Christian is claiming self-defense.