An Alameda County jury announced it found John Lee Cowell guilty of murdering Nia Wilson at the MacArthur BART station in Oakland.
A San Francisco area man with a history of violence and mental illness is guilty of the random stabbing death of an 18-year-old woman at a commuter train platform two years ago, a killing with racial undertones that prompted rallies and vigils.
The jury also convicted Cowell of the special circumstances count of lying in wait. The jury reached the verdict hours after starting deliberations. Family and friends have said the women were targeted because of their race but prosecutors declined to charge him with a hate crime. That doesn’t mean race didn’t come up. Cowell admitted at the trial that he was punched in the face by a black woman about a week before the train stabbing and the prosecutor queried him about trying to pick a fight with another black woman after the stabbing.
Videos showed Cowell tailing the women and removing a knife hidden in his pants in the attack that killed Wilson and wounded Letifah Wilson, 26. Video also showed Cowell trying to blend in with passengers after the assault, misdirecting officers and changing clothes he kept in a backpack that was tossed, along with the knife, at a nearby construction zone.Cowell has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity.
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