Man convicted of murder in shooting of Seattle officer

SEATTLE – A jury has rejected a man’s insanity defense and convicted him of first-degree murder for shooting and killing a Seattle police officer as he sat in a patrol car.

The King County jury announced Friday it also found Christopher Monfort guilty of two charges of attempted murder and one arson charge. Monfort was found not guilty on one count of attempted murder.

Superior Court Judge Ronald Kessler said the guilty verdict in Officer Timothy Brenton’s 2009 killing means the jury must return to decide if Monfort should spend life in prison or be sent to death row, the Seattle Times reported.

The judge ordered jurors to come back June 16 for the second phase of the trial.

Jurors started deliberations Monday after hearing testimony from dozens of witnesses, with the past two months focused on Monfort’s mental state when he waged what prosecutors called a war against the Seattle Police Department.

The defense did not dispute that Monfort killed Brenton. Instead, they argued he was mentally ill. His attorneys said Monfort believed if enough police officers were randomly killed, the deaths would put an end to instances of police brutality.

Monfort was accused of setting fire to police vehicles and detonating pipe bombs at the Charles Street maintenance yard Oct. 22, 2009. He rigged the explosives to go off as officers responded to the scene, according to charging documents.

Nine days later, Monfort ambushed Brenton and his partner, Britt Kelly, as they sat in a patrol car in Seattle’s Leschi neighborhood.

Brenton died instantly, and Kelly suffered a minor injury.