Three days into the defense’s arguments, Jeremy Christian said he won’t take the stand, leaving doctors and old friends to come to his defense. One of those friends, Carrie Self, said, “In the time that I knew him, yes. He was not a racist.”
Another friend said Christian’s demeanor changed after he spent years in prison, starting in 2002.
Witnesses brought by prosecutors have testified several times about Christian using hate speech targeting specific racial and religious groups.
During the trial, attorney Don Rees asked Crystal Mawson, “Did you notice a change in him after prison?
“Yes,” Christian’s former girlfriend replied.
“And can you describe that for us?”
Mawson explained, “There was just something about him. He seemed a little more angry.”
Despite doctors testifying that Christian is on the autism spectrum, prosecutors questioned if that’s true.
“Are you aware that in these conversations he jokes with his mother, Mary, about how he tried to spoof some of the psychologists, who interviewed him. People like you?” Rees asked and expert.
“If it looks like a duck, swims like a duck, quacks like a duck it probably is a duck.”
The expert replied, “I have heard of that.”
“So it’s possible that Jeremy Christian is actually exactly what he looks like?” Rees asked.
Another psychologist explained Christian was on the edge the week of the stabbings after his father told him he was selling his comic books, Christian’s main source of income.
Psychologist Patricia Warford testified, “Based on his father’s report, on what had been going on before in the days before that was there was this escalation, his world was imploding.”
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