Prosecutors vow retrial of accused priest killer Skip to main content

Prosecutors vow retrial of accused priest killer

Thai-born Jonathan Doody, convicted of killing nine Buddhist worshippers in 1991 in Phoenix, Arizona, should be released following the latest opinion by the United States Supreme Court, says a former abbot.
Mano Laohavanich, who has fought for Doody, said the court has rejected an appeal by the state of Arizona asking it to revoke the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals' May 4 decision to overturn Doody's conviction after he allegedly confessed to the crime.
Doody: New charges to be laid
Doody, who was 17 at the time of the killings and is now in his 30s, was sentenced to 281 years in prison after he was convicted of shooting nine people at Wat Promkunaram in west Phoenix. He denied the charges.

"Doody should be free without any condition and the procedure should not take longer than a few months," said Mr Mano, a former abbot of Wat Dhammakaya in California.

"It is a victory," he said from Manila in a phone interview with the Bangkok Post.

But, Jerry Cobb, spokesman for the Maricopa County Attorney's Office, said prosecutors would file new charges in coming days against Doody.

Mr Cobb said it would take some time to prepare the charges. "This is a 20-year-old case," Mr Cobb said. "We have to get our arms around it."

The Supreme Court on Tuesday refused to hear an appeal by Arizona officials who asked for a re-examination of a lower court's decision to throw out Doody's confession.

Doody was convicted of slaying six priests, a nun and two helpers during a robbery at the temple.

The bodies were found arranged in a circle, and all had been shot in the head.

The 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals found Doody's Miranda warnings were inadequate and threw out the conviction, ruling the confession was involuntary, partly because he wasn't properly read his rights by the officers interrogating him.

Lawyers for the state contended that Doody's confession was reliable and admissible and cited an Arizona court's decision that upheld the confession.

Arizona attorney-general Tom Horne, whose office defended the conviction in appeals courtsl, said there was other evidence of Doody's guilt even without the confession.

Mr Horne said he expects Doody will remain behind bars while he awaits a retrial.

Victoria Eiger, a lawyer who handled Doody's appeals, said there was no substance left to the case without Doody's confession.

"It was the cornerstone of the state's case," Ms Eiger said.

Doody and another teen were arrested after investigators linked them to the murder weapon.

http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/local/261037/prosecutors-vow-retrial-of-accused-priest-killer
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