EUGENE, Ore. -- A jury Friday convicted an unemployed mill worker for shooting and killing four patrons in a crowded 'ladies night' bar.
The jury of six men and six women found Lawrence Moore, 25, guilty of four counts of aggravated murder. Twenty other people were wounded in the shooting last May at the Oregon Museum tavern in nearby Salem, Ore.
The bearded, bespectacled defendant took the stand in his own defense last week and admitted opening fire with an automatic pistol on the 'ladies night' crowd, saying he was trying to get members of a 'syndicate' of millionaires, Jews and criminals who had been trying to poison him.
Moore could receive up to four consecutive life sentences and additional time at later proceedings for the injuries he caused.
Moore had pleaded innocent to the murder charges, citing mental disease or defect as a defense.
In his closing statement, defense attorney Michael Callahan of Salem asked, 'Is there any doubt in anybody's mind that this person is about as sick as you can imagine?
'You've got about nine solid months of a completely psychotic man,' he said. 'The disease is permanent. It doesn't get any better, it doesn't get any worse.'
Three psychiatrists and one psychologist testified during the trial, which began Oct. 6, that Moore suffered from paranoid schizophrenia and could not be held responsible for the crimes.
Marion County Deputy District Attorney Dale Penn said in his closing statement that Moore definitely had mental problems but that the murders were not related to his illness.
Penn said Moore opened fire with the pistol when he entered the tavern at about 10:30 p.m. because he had been rejected by women at the tavern.
'The defendant was a person able to prepare and plan a murder,' Penn said, calling Moore rational and deliberate when he committed the crime.
