UK Convicts 2 in Soldier's Gruesome Murder

A jury today convicted two British men who considered themselves "soldiers of Allah" of murdering serviceman Lee Rigby, who was run down with a car, stabbed to death, and nearly decapitated in a frenzied attack on a London street. The jury of eight women and four men deliberated for just 90 minutes before finding Michael Adebolajo and Michael Adebowale guilty of murdering Rigby. They were acquitted of attempting to murder a police officer. Both men had pleaded not guilty to murder, though neither denied taking part in the May 22 attack.

Adebolajo was filmed by a passerby moments after the attack, covered in blood and holding a cleaver and a knife, justifying the killing as revenge for British troops killing people abroad. "An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth," he said repeatedly on the video. Adebolajo later told the police that Rigby had been targeted because "he was the soldier that was spotted first." Adebowale chose to present no evidence in his defense during the three-week trial. His lawyer, Abbas Lakha, told the jury that his client agreed with Adebolajo's description of the attack as a "military operation" and the two men as soldiers. (More Lee Rigby stories.)