Man goes on retrial for slaying 9 at Ariz. temple

  • AP foreign,


Associated Press= PHOENIX (AP) â Lawyers are scheduled to make opening statements Wednesday at the retrial of an Arizona man whose conviction for killing nine people 22 years ago at a Buddhist temple was reversed after a court said his confession wasn't given voluntarily.

Johnathan A. Doody, 39, is accused of killing six monks, a nun and two helpers during a robbery at the Wat Promkunaram temple west of Phoenix in August 1991. Their bodies were found arranged face-down in a circle, each shot in the back of the head.

Another man who pleaded guilty in the killings told investigators that he and Doody wanted to steal large amounts of gold and cash they believed to be kept by the monks. Investigators said the robbers ransacked the temple's living quarters and made away with about $2,500 in cash, cameras and other items.

Doody's brother and mother had been members of the temple.


Doody maintains that he is innocent.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned Doody's conviction, ruling that his confession wasn't voluntary, partly because he wasn't properly read his rights by the officers who were interrogating him. The court said the nearly 13 hours of relentless overnight questioning of Doody, then 17 years old, rendered his confession involuntary.





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