Software engineer convicted of killing seven co-workers

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- A man who gunned down seven co-workers at a software company in what he called a divine mission to prevent the Holocaust was convicted of murder Wednesday by a jury that rejected his insanity defense.

Michael McDermott, a hulking 43-year-old with long, shaggy hair and a bushy black beard, stood impassively as the verdict was delivered in a courtroom packed with tearful relatives of the victims.

The convictions on seven counts of first-degree murder meant an automatic sentence of life in prison without parole. Massachusetts does not have a death penalty.

Prosecutors said McDermott went on his rampage because he was angry about the company's plan to comply with an IRS order to withhold a large portion of his salary to pay back taxes. They said he concocted the Holocaust story after boning up on how to fake mental illness.

During sentencing, McDermott sat at the defense table with his burly arms in front of him and read a Bible without looking up as relatives of the dead took the stand and sorrowfully recalled their loved ones. Some stole glances across the courtroom at McDermott, but he didn't meet their eyes.

"His life is insignificant. He will die in a silent hell he has created for himself," said Scott Troy, whose sister, Cheryl Troy, was killed.

"He has accomplished nothing."

The defense claimed the software engineer was insane, suffering from depression and schizophrenia, and didn't know what he was doing at Edgewater Technology Inc. in suburban Wakefield on Dec. 26, 2000.