PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — Before the jury reached a verdict in the Jeremy Christian sentencing hearing Thursday, KOIN 6 News asked people on the street outside the courthouse their reactions.
The hearing comes after Christian was convicted on all counts last Friday related to the killing of two people and critically wounding another in an attack on a MAX Green Line in 2017.
Jurors considered several sentence enhancement factors for the 12 charges, including Christian’s likelihood of rehabilitation; whether or not he has shown remorse; and whether he was motivated by “unreasonable racial and religious bias.”
They returned a unanimous verdict on all the sentencing factors. Sentencing is expected sometime in late March.
“He’s been a pretty vocal contrarian from the beginning,” Lindsey Morton of Forest Grove said.
When asked his reaction to the fact that mtions were filed that took the death penalty off the table for Christian’s sentencing in October 2019, Morton said that was a good thing since he doesn’t generally believe in the death penalty. But he added that the Christian case “pushes my conviction.”
“If anybody deserves it, he does,” Morton said.
Fairview resident James Wright said he thought the conviction of Christian seems “reasonable” and that the sentencing enhancement factors are “reasonable things to consider.”
“I definitely think it was racially and religiously motivated,” said Zezo Hassan of Hillsboro. He added that he thought Christian has shown “no evidence of remorse whatsoever.”
“I feel strongly that he’s definitely motivated by race,” local resident C. Kurney said.
Alexandra Lukich of Portland said she doubts Christian can be rehabilitated.
“I think given the opportunity, he would do it again,” she said, adding she also believes the attack Christian committed was racially motivated.
The sentencing enhancement hearing for Christian continued Thursday after jurors heard arguments from both prosecution and defense Tuesday and Wednesday.