Many Oregonians might wonder how Jeremy Christian has any chance of mounting a serious legal defense in the criminal case against him.

His attorneys haven't revealed their strategy, but Christian is accused of fatally stabbing two men in the neck on a MAX train and seriously wounding a third passenger a year ago this week.

There is powerful evidence against him: A crowd of other riders witnessed the killings and TriMet surveillance video captured the attack. Court documents say Christian told police after his arrest: “I hope everyone I stabbed died.”

Christian, 36, is charged with aggravated murder and attempted murder. A trial is scheduled to start in June 2019.

Prosecutors declined an interview for this story. Christian’s defense attorneys offered a statement saying the case differs markedly from the public perception.

“What happened on the train that day is quite different in many important respects from what has been portrayed and reported about the incident from the beginning. The established narrative is in many ways quite incorrect,” said Greg Scholl, who is representing Christian with attorney Dean Smith.

“Mr. Christian’s social history, family history, background, development and mental status are some of the areas we are most interested in exploring, and we will continue to do so,” Scholl said. “Recent and past events in his life, as well as exactly what happened on the MAX train that day, are all part of our focus as we defend and continue to investigate this case.”

Scholl declined to talk about possible defenses. But law professors and criminal defense attorneys not associated with the case said Christian has several options.

He could claim mental illness made it impossible for him to form an intent to kill, they said. Witnesses said Christian was shouting racist and xenophobic comments at two black teenage girls, one who was wearing a hijab, on the train. He also ranted about his right to free speech and tried to discuss a book, “Sagas of the Icelanders,” but was frustrated that the strangers around him weren’t interested, witnesses said.

Or Christian could claim he was acting in self-defense, legal observers said. In earlier hearings, Christian’s attorneys claimed other passengers were the aggressors. They haven’t denied that Christian stabbed the men.

But whatever Christian and his attorneys decide, some outside experts say the odds are stacked against him and he probably will face a lifetime behind bars.

At this point, the goal of his attorneys most likely won’t be to focus on an acquittal but to avoid a death sentence for their client.

“There’s a big difference between life in the general prison population and life on death row,” said Kevin Sali, a Portland defense attorney who has handled capital murder cases. “It’s a meaningful difference.”

MOUNTING MENTAL HEALTH DEFENSE

To prove aggravated murder, the prosecution’s case must convince jurors that Christian “intentionally” killed Ricky Best, 53, and Taliesin Namkai-Meche, 23.

Even though Christian told police he wanted his victims to die, his lawyers could argue he was so consumed by mental illness that he didn’t truly understand what he was saying.

Moments before Christian suddenly pulled out his knife, he shouted, “Go home, we need American here!” at the two teen girls, police said.

The defense could claim “diminished capacity” -- that his mental illness made it impossible for him to form the intent to kill.

A psychologist hired by Christian’s lawyers said he saw signs in Christian of post-traumatic stress disorder and a socialization disorder, which means trouble interacting with others. But he didn’t officially diagnose Christian with a mental illness.

It’s possible that Christian’s “survival responses” took hold during the confrontation, developed over the 7 ½ years he spent in prison for robbing a convenience store, psychologist Mark Cunningham wrote in an 11-page report.

Christian told the psychologist that he went into “auto pilot” when outnumbered on the MAX train.

“Mr. Christian recalled that he was barely conscious of his actions until he heard people yelling: ‘He's stabbing them! He's killing them!’ He recalled then realizing that there was no immediate threat -- snapping out of a fight or flight response," Cunningham wrote in the psychological profile of Christian.

Under a diminished capacity argument, Christian could be convicted of a lesser crime, such as first-degree manslaughter, for recklessly causing the death of Best and Namkai-Meche.

The defense also could argue that Christian was guilty except for insanity, which would require his attorneys to first file notice with the court.

If convicted, Christian would go to the Oregon State Hospital for what could be the rest of his life.

In his assessment, Cunningham described Christian as socially hobbled -- having dropped out of school when he was in ninth-grade but ultimately earning his GED. He has never been in a serious romantic relationship and spent most of his 20s in prison.

Christian refused to hold down a steady job because he didn’t want to pay taxes to the government and instead earned his money mostly through selling his plasma or comics in front of Powell’s Books, Cunningham’s report said. He had hoarded about 15,000 comic books that filled his bedroom and the living room in his parents’ home.

Christian also had an unrealistic plan to move to South America, where he’d live with an aboriginal tribe along the Amazon River and be free from government interference, the psychologist’s report said.

ARGUING SELF-DEFENSE

In a court memo last year, one of Christian’s attorneys wrote that Namkai-Meche and a third man, Micah Fletcher, may have provoked Christian.

Fletcher “traveled some distance” past other passengers “to confront” Christian on the train, Scholl said in the memo. He also described Fletcher as shaking his finger at Christian and taking a “fighting stance.”

Scholl said one witness reported that Namkai-Meche also was recording video of Christian on his cellphone and allegedly told Christian “you’re going to be an internet sensation.”

“The video (from other passengers) clearly shows from multiple angles that Mr. Christian was thrown into seats” before he started stabbing, Scholl said.

Prosecutors have disputed Christian’s contention that the other passengers threatened him. Witnesses said Christian was the first one to get physical on May 26 by shoving Namkai-Meche, then shoving Fletcher. Police say Christian also plunged a knife into Fletcher’s neck, but he survived.

Christian could argue self-defense on the grounds that he believed his life was in danger. But the question is whether he would succeed, given that other people under comparable circumstances might not have felt similarly threatened.

Other people who have killed have walked free, sometimes based on controversial self-defense theories.

The classic case is that of a police officer cleared of criminal wrongdoing for fatally shooting an unarmed suspect after fearing that person was reaching for a deadly weapon.

Another case that stirred controversy was that of Trayvon Martin, the unarmed African American 17-year-old who was shot and killed by neighborhood watch captain George Zimmerman in Florida in 2012 during an altercation. Zimmerman argued self-defense, and a jury acquitted him of all charges.

NO DEATH PENALTY DECISION YET

Prosecutors haven’t said yet whether they would seek the death penalty against Christian. They must announce a decision before the trial begins.

No one has been executed in Oregon since 1997 and Gov. Kate Brown has placed a moratorium on state-sanctioned killings. But the future political climate could change, attorneys said.

Christian also is charged with second-degree intimidation, a hate crime offense. It accuses Christian of frightening the girls by threatening to harm them based on his perception of their race, national origin or religion.

Prosecutors added another charge after an African American woman reported that she encountered Christian on a different MAX train the night before and said he yelled that he wanted to kill all Muslims, blacks and Jews.

If the case goes to trial and prosecutors convince jurors that bigotry is an intrinsic part of Christian’s actions, jurors could vote that he’s an ongoing threat to society and deserves the death penalty.

Christian’s attorneys could counter that Christian has strong views, but they aren’t based on racial discrimination, legal experts said.

Cunningham, the psychologist, found that Christian didn’t espouse white supremacist views during 12 hours of interviews. Rather, he said, Christian makes confrontational statements to exercise his “free speech.”

TRIAL MORE THAN YEAR AWAY

No doubt, Christian will undergo more psychological evaluations in the next year leading up to trial. Prosecutors, for instance, will tap their own specialists.

By then, more than two years will have passed since the killings.

Russell Barnett, a Portland defense attorney, said that’s not unusual. He usually tells new aggravated murder clients that it could be more like 2 ½ to three years before they go to trial. That’s because more than any other type of case, the courts know “we have to make sure we get this right,” Barnett said.

Defense attorneys, prosecutors and the judge want to avoid a long appeals process like the cases of teenage killer Randy Lee Guzek or prolific serial killer Dayton Leroy Rogers, Barnett said. Both Guzek and Rogers have been sentenced to death four times after winning repeated appeals before the Oregon Supreme Court.

In Christian’s case, Barnett said: “I’m confident that none of the (defense) lawyers are thinking ‘Yeah, I can walk this guy.’ It’s ‘How do I keep this guy off of death row? And how do I do a thorough enough job to keep this case from coming back?’”

-- Aimee Green