Man Sentenced To Nine Life Sentences For Buddhist Temple Mass Murder

An Arizona man was sentenced to nine life sentences on Friday for nine murders he committed at a Buddhist temple near Phoenix over twenty years ago.

Johnathan Doody, 39, was handed the life sentences for the first-degree murder of six Buddhist monks and three others at Wat Promkunaram temple in Waddell, Reuters reported. Doody was also convicted on charges of burglary and conspiracy.

The crime, which grabbed international headlines and was originally pinned on four other suspects, is considered the most deadly to ever occur in the southwest U.S.

Doody, who was born in Thailand, was first convicted for the murders in 1994. A U.S. appeals court said the confession was coerced and overturned that verdict in 2001. Another trial was held in October 2013, but the jury was deadlocked, Reuters reported.

Friday's sentencing came after he was found guilty following a second retrial in January in Maricopa County Superior Court.

A friend of Doody's, Alessandro Garcia, was also involved in the murders. Garcia was sentenced to 271 years in prison after he pleaded guilty to the murders and another separate killing. Garcia, who testified at Doody's January trial, said it was Doody's idea to rob the temple. Doody shot the victims because they were witnesses, Reuters reported. He was 17 at the time.

The monk's bodies were discovered face down, with a single gunshot wound to the head on August 10, 1991. The other victims included a nun, a novice and a temple boy. The victims' property was taken and their residences were vandalized.

Police originally arrested four other suspects for the murders. Their confessions, which were given after questionable interrogation tactics, were later recanted, Reuters reported.

Authorities became suspicious of Doody after they found a .22-caliber semiautomatic rifle, the murder weapon, in a friend's car, Reuters reported. Police interrogated Doody for 12 hours, after which he confessed.