Man Convicted of Murdering 9 at Temple : Crime: Buddhist monks and nun were slain in what is called Arizona’s biggest homicide. The killer, 19, could get the death penalty.

A jury convicted a 19-year-old military enthusiast Monday of robbing and killing nine people at a Buddhist temple in what a prosecutor said was the biggest homicide case in Arizona history.

Johnathan Doody was convicted of nine counts of murder, nine of armed robbery and one each of burglary and conspiracy to commit armed burglary in the Aug. 9, 1991, massacre.

Doody could receive the death penalty or be sentenced to life in prison. A sentencing hearing was scheduled for Oct. 28. Under Arizona law, appeal of a first-degree murder conviction is automatic.

Authorities said six monks, an elderly nun and two male followers were shot in the head one by one after being ordered onto the floor of the Wat Promkunaram temple’s living quarters.

Doody’s father, Brian, who is serving in the Air Force in Colorado, his brother David, 16, and his grandparents broke down in tears when the verdict was read.

In his closing argument, prosecutor K. C. Scull said that Doody, then 17, systematically killed each victim because he feared one of them might recognize him. His younger brother had been active at the temple.

Co-defendant Alessandro (Alex) Garcia, who pleaded guilty to first-degree murder in a deal to avoid the death penalty, testified against Doody.

Garcia, 18, told the court that he fired harmless shotgun blasts between each victim but that Doody killed each with shots from a borrowed rifle.

Jurors convicted Doody after two days of deliberations.

According to testimony, Doody and Garcia ransacked the monks’ quarters in the temple and took cameras, electronic equipment and $2,790 in cash.

Doody’s attorney, Peter Balkan, acknowledged during closing arguments that Doody had admitted going to the temple.

But he said Doody, an avid member of his high school ROTC unit, told friends that he was only going there to play a war game testing the building’s security system.

Doody did not testify.

Balkan suggested that four Tucson men initially arrested, or a friend of Doody’s who said he loaned Doody the rifle, might have been responsible.

The killings shocked the local Asian community as well as people in Thailand. The massacre prompted at least two visits to Arizona by Thailand’s ambassador to the United States.

The killings also helped lead to the 1992 reelection defeat of Maricopa County Sheriff Tom Agnos. His detectives were accused of coercing confessions from the Tucson men, who were later cleared in the case.