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Johnathan Doody Sentenced To 249 Years In Prison For Temple Murders

A man who has been convicted twice and tried three times for the same crime was sentenced Friday morning. Johnathan Doody has already been in prison for more than 20 years for the killing of nine people at a West Valley Buddhist temple in 1991.

Friday morning, Doody was sentenced to 249 years in prison without parole. He will spend the rest of his life behind bars because he was 17 when he killed the six monks, one nun and two others. In order to be eligible for the death penalty the perpetrator has to be 18 at the time of the crime.

The now 39-year-old Doody was convicted for the first time in 1993 for the massacre. But in 2011, an appeals court overturned that verdict, ruling his confession was coerced. In October of last year in his second trial, jurors could not reach a verdict, then this January, he was convicted in his third trial after his accomplice testified the crime was Doody’s idea.

Doody still maintains his innocence.

Alexandra Olgin was a Senior Field Correspondent at KJZZ from 2013 to 2016.