Oregon man who killed two for saving black teens from racist slur on train tells witness 'I should've killed you'
PORTLAND, OREGON: A white supremacist who murdered two men after they defended two black women at whom he was hurling racist and anti-Muslim slurs lashed out at one of his survivors during his sentencing hearing.
On May 26, 2017, Jeremy Christian, 38, fatally stabbed Ricky John Best of Happy Valley and Taliesin Myrddin Namkai-Meche of Portland and seriously injured Micah David-Cole Fletcher after they came to the aid of two teenage black girls, Destinee Mangum and Walia Mohamed.
Christian had confronted Mangum and Mohamed on a MAX Light Rail train in Portland, Oregon, and was directing what the Portland Police Bureau's report described as "hate speech toward a variety of ethnicities and religions."
When Best, Namkai-Mechem and Fletcher came to the teens' assistance and asked Christian to get off the train, the 38-year-old lost his temper and took out his knife. He fatally stabbed the first two and slashed Fletcher in the neck before making his escape. He was caught one block away, and in February, was convicted of the murders, as well as intimidation or hate crimes in connection to his altercations with Mangum and Mohamed, and two other black women, Zayda Allen and Demetria Hester.
It was Hester who found herself on the receiving end of a verbal attack from Christian in court this past week after she told him he was a plague on society she hoped he would rot in hell, according to Oregon Live. "Your mom should have swallowed you. You are a waste of breath," Hester told Christian during her victim impact statement. "And when you die and go to hell, I hope you rot."
In response, Christian said, "See you there," before shouting derogatory names at her and calling her a liar. "I should have killed you, b****" he yelled, tearing off his mask in the process.
The 38-year-old was not wearing handcuffs at the time, and his violent reaction forced Multnomah County Sheriff's deputies to detain him and remove him from the courtroom. "His behavior today was especially egregious so he has forfeited his right to be here during sentencing," Multnomah County Circuit Court Judge Cheryl Albrecht said.
Christian had attacked Hester one day before he fatally stabbed Best and Namkai-Mechem. He had struck her in the face with a half-filled Gatorade bottle and left her suffering a serious eye injury. In her victim impact statement, Hester also shared that the police who responded to the scene that day made her out to be the perpetrator. She blamed Christian's crimes on systemic racism.
"In my case, the white supremacist got special treatment from the police," she said, according to the Daily Mail. "He didn't believe me or the two TriMet supervisors. He refused to detain the assailant and he let him walk away knowing who he was. The officer asked me for my ID and treated me like I was the assailant because of my color."
"I blame the system for creating and facilitating people like Jeremy," she continued. "The police captured, not killed, a racist white supremacist known to the police."
While a 12-person jury unanimously found Christian guilty of his charges in February, sentencing was first delayed due to Covid-19, and now again due to his outburst in the court. He is expected to be sent to prison for life with no possibility of parole.