Jason Doty, the former Marana High School student who prosecutors say concocted a bizarre and blood-thirsty religion that combined Satanism and white supremacy, was convicted of first degree murder Jan. 18 for killing a security guard last year in a Casas Adobes park.
The six man, six woman jury said they were unanimous in their verdict that Doty was responsible for the killing of 55-year-old Grady Towers, who was shot seven times as he read a book and listened to music during his guard shift at Tohono Chul Park in the early morning hours of March 20, 2000.
The jury, which deliberated less than five hours, also convicted Doty of armed robbery for rifling Towers pockets and stealing a donation box from the gift shop at the park, which is located near North Oracle and West Ina roads.
Doty, 29, still faces separate first degree murder trials scheduled for later this year for the death of 50-year-old Robin Hay, who was slashed and stabbed to death during the robbery of an eegees restaurant in Marana just six days after Towers was murdered, and for the killing of Joseph McDowell, Doty's 27-year-old friend who died after a vehicle that was fleeing from police crashed April 9, 2000.
Police allege that Doty was driving the car before it crashed northwest of Tucson, but eluded capture after fleeing into the desert.
Doty turned himself in to the Pima County Jail two weeks after McDowell died.
During closing arguments for the four day trial, Deputy Pima County Attorney David White said Doty's motivation for the murder of Towers was directly linked to his belief in "Aryan Satanism" and was designed to further Doty's belief that he could "ignite a race war that would lead to world domination by Jason Doty and his Satanic Wermacht."
Prosecutors have collected more than 4,000 pages of Doty's writings, many of which allegedly center on his racial and Satanic beliefs, according to court records.
Some of the writings submitted as evidence in Doty's trial for Towers' murder alluded to a need to establish a "war chest of money to foment the race war" and a "confession" to the murder, White told the jury.
A page titled "Equinox MM," which was dated the day after Towers was killed and found among Doty's possessions, was the confession, White said.
"Behold the terror in his eyes, the lamb is thrust into the jaws of the wolf, screaming in pain, taken with force," a copy of the writing in the court file said.
Thomas Frumson, a prison inmate who once served time with Doty and claimed to be his "second in command of the Satanic Wermacht," took the stand in the trial and said Doty viewed the members of his cult as wolves who preyed on the weak.
Doty served eight years in prison after being convicted of burglary and was released in 1999, according to court records.
Frumson said Doty believed that magical powers could be obtained by violently shedding the blood of white people who did not share his Aryan beliefs.
Prosecutors also produced a .22 caliber handgun that witnesses identified as belonging to Doty and which ballistics test showed fired the bullets that killed Towers.
Boot prints found at the murder scene also matched boots belonging to Doty, White said.
Richard Parrish, Doty's court appointed attorney, said during his closing arguments that the boots were not conclusively linked to Doty, and noted Doty's fingerprints were not found on the gun that killed Towers.
Parrish said the writings were simply metaphors that Doty created to "vent his spleen" over the frustration of being incarcerated.
White countered in his rebuttal that some of the most damning writings were dated months after Doty was released.
Doty was scheduled for sentencing Jan. 22, after the Northwest EXPLORER's press time.