PORTLAND — An attorney for the man accused of fatally stabbing two men on a Portland light-rail train may use an insanity defense.
KGW-TV reports in documents filed Thursday in Multnomah County Circuit Court, Jeremy Christian’s lawyer Greg Scholl writes he “intends to rely on the defense of mental disease or defect at the time of the charged conduct.”
Authorities say Christian stabbed three people aboard a MAX train in May 2017 after they tried to intervene as Christian spewed anti-Muslim threats at two black teenage girls.
Scholl says Christian lacked the capacity to form the intent to commit his crimes. Scholl says Christian was also “suffering from an extreme emotional disturbance” at the time of the incident.
Christian has pleaded not guilty to the 15-count indictment that includes two counts of aggravated murder in the deaths of Ricky Best and Taliesin Namkai-Meche.
