Page 6 of 8 FirstFirst ... 45678 LastLast
Results 51 to 60 of 76

Thread: Lemaricus Devall Davidson - Tennessee Death Row

  1. #51
    Administrator Helen's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2013
    Location
    Toronto, Ontario, Canada
    Posts
    20,875



    Related:

    Woman convicted in 2007 Knoxville murders denied parole

    By Forrest Sanders
    WSMV

    NASHVILLE, TN - A woman involved in a notorious murder case will not be granted parole after a unanimous decision by the five-member Tennessee Board of Parole. Vanessa Coleman is convicted of helping four men torture and kill Channan Christian and boyfriend, Christopher Newsom, in Knoxville in 2007.

    "To this day, after eight years, I can't sleep," said the mother of victim Channan Christian, Deena Christian, speaking to the board. "I still fight daily for my sanity, because I don't have my daughter. This is what she took from us. We will never get to see Channon walk down the aisle, and we'll definitely never get to hold her children. We'll never have that right. It's gone."

    In addition to the four men convicted of the crimes, the Knox County District Attorney said Coleman was involved by binding the victims, stealing from them and doing nothing to stop her co-defendants.

    "If I could've changed things, I would've changed things," Coleman told the board. "It wasn't in my control."

    Coleman's parents told the board they support their daughter and know she's changed in the eight years she's served.

    "I strongly feel she has paid her debt to society," said Coleman's mother, Linda Coleman. "She is a good hearted, strong and very loving girl."

    Many of the victims' supporters expressed they didn't believe Coleman's remorse, pointing out a page of her diary where she said she loved her life and described her time in Tennessee as an adventure. Coleman denied the entry had anything to do with the deaths of Christian and Newsom.

    "Yes, I made a mistake in my life by hanging with the wrong people," said Coleman. "I made a mistake. I can take responsibility for my mistakes, but I'm a changed person."

    All five members of the board said they couldn't grant parole to Coleman due to the seriousness of the crimes.

    "Channon and Chris got a little justice today," said Deena Christian following the decision. "I don't believe anyone that has a family or especially children would want her walking the streets."

    Coleman said if she were granted parole, she would move in with her family in Kentucky and become a cosmetologist. Her next parole hearing will be in December 2020. Coleman is now serving a 35-year sentence.

    http://www.wsmv.com/story/27599410/w...-denied-parole
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

  2. #52
    Member Member
    Join Date
    Feb 2014
    Location
    Melbourne Australia
    Posts
    86
    ""I strongly feel she has paid her debt to society," said Coleman's mother, Linda Coleman"

    Paid her debt?? Maybe in another 80 years...

  3. #53
    Senior Member Frequent Poster elsie's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2012
    Location
    North Carolina
    Posts
    324
    I remember these horrific murders and to think she would ever get parole is not justice.
    Proverbs 21:15 "When justice is done, it is a joy to the righteous but terror to evil doers."

  4. #54
    Senior Member CnCP Addict maybeacomedian's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2014
    Location
    IL
    Posts
    657
    Here's a small portion of the prosecution's closing arguments in the guilt/innocence phase of the trial:


  5. #55
    Administrator Moh's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2010
    Location
    Germany
    Posts
    13,014
    Tenn. Supreme court to hear Christian/Newsom killer's appeal

    Knoxville (WBIR) - The ringleader convicted in the Christian-Newsom murders will appeal his case to the Supreme Court this week.

    A Knox County jury convicted Lemaricus Davidson of the January 2007 murder, rape and torture of Channon Christian, 21, and Christopher Newsom, 23.

    Davidson was sentenced to death. He's awaiting execution at the Riverbend Maximum Security Institution, according to Department of Correction records.

    The state Supreme Court is legally required to review death sentences to ensure it was not arbitrary, that the evidence properly supported the sentence, that circumstances supporting the sentences outweighed any mitigating circumstances, and that the sentence wasn't disproportionate to sentences in similar cases.

    The court will also consider whether the trial court should have suppressed evidence found during a search of Davidson's home and statements he made while in custody. They'll also consider whether the court made a mistake by letting people wear buttons displaying photos of the victims during the trial.

    Three other people -- Letalvis Cobbins, George Thomas, and Vanessa Coleman were also convicted for their roles in the case.

    According to authorities, Christian and Newsom were carjacked from a Washington Pike apartment complex and forced to go to Davidson's Chipman Street house. Newsom was raped and killed shortly after, and the killers set his body on fire by nearby railroad tracks.

    Christian was held in the house and intermittently raped and tortured. She suffocated in a garbage can found in the house.

    The Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in the case in Knoxville beginning at 10 a.m. Wednesday.

    http://www.wbir.com/news/crime/tenn-...ppeal/23064984

  6. #56
    Senior Member CnCP Legend CharlesMartel's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2014
    Location
    FRANCE
    Posts
    3,073
    State Supreme Court weighs botched warrant in Christian-Newson appeal

    KNOXVILLE — Tennessee Supreme Court justices could use the case of the ringleader of a January 2007 torture slaying to craft new law.

    The justices heard arguments Wednesday in the appeal of Lemaricus Davidson, who was sentenced to die for his role in the January 2007 carjacking, kidnapping, beating, rape and slayings of Channon Christian, 21, and Christopher Newsom, 23.

    It is an appeal guaranteed by law in all capital murder cases.

    Although the justices will weigh many issues surrounding Davidson's case, the justices in oral arguments today in Knoxville made clear they are interested in using a search warrant foul-up to explore the possibility of crafting what is known as a "good faith exception."

    Federal courts long have used such an exception to essentially forgive honest mistakes, such as clerical errors, by police that lead to flawed legal documents, such as search warrants. Typically, if a search warrant is deemed legally flawed, whatever evidence is discovered as a result of that search is tossed out. If, however, a court determines the police were acting in good faith — officers didn't lie, for instance — when obtaining and executing the warrant, the evidence can be saved.

    Tennessee courts have repeatedly declined to adopt a good-faith exception. In 2011, the state Legislature created one. That law would not apply in Davidson's case, though, and the state's high court has not yet been asked to rule on whether that 2011 law is itself constitutionally valid.

    Justice Jeffrey Bivins said during arguments in Davidson's appeal the high court already has one case ripe for consideration of the creation through actual case law of a good faith exception, and Davidson's case could provide fodder in that as well.

    "This court has the authority to adopt that, and we want to know if we should adopt that," Bivins told attorney David Eldridge, who represents Davidson.

    The state Court of Criminal Appeals already has held that because police already had amassed evidence against Davidson as a suspect and had discovered Newsom's body and Christian's missing vehicle near Davidson's house, authorities inevitably would have found Christian's body through legal means. It's known as the doctrine of inevitable discovery and, in Davidson's case, saved the day for prosecutors.

    The warrant mix-up occurred because lead investigator Todd Childress chose the wrong size paper to fax a copy of the document and supporting affidavit to a Knox County General Sessions Court judge for approval. The signature line wound up cut off from the document, and Childress inadvertently signed the document in the wrong place.

    The mistake was discovered within minutes of the initial entry into Davidson's home, by then left vacant, but an officer found Christian's body before commanders ordered the raiding team to back out. A second search warrant — with the proper signature line and signature — was then obtained.

    Christian and Newsom were carjacked and kidnapped outside the Washington Ridge Apartments and taken to Davidson's house, where both were beaten and raped. Newsom was taken from the house to nearby railroad tracks, where he was shot execution-style and his body set on fire. Christian was held captive for several more hours and repeatedly raped. She was stuffed alive inside the trash can and left to die.

    http://www.knoxnews.com/news/crime-c...366707191.html

  7. #57
    Senior Member CnCP Legend Mike's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 2015
    Location
    Pennsylvania
    Posts
    4,795
    Tennessee Supreme Court upholds death sentence for Lemaricus Davidson

    KNOXVILLE (WATE) – The Tennessee Supreme Court has upheld the death sentence for the main suspect in the 2007 murders of Channon Christian and Christopher Newsom in Knoxville.

    Lemaricus Davidson sought to overturn his convictions on counts including first degree murder and two death sentences.

    Davidson raised several issues, one of which was the legality of the search of his house based on a faulty affidavit. The Knoxville police officer who prepared it did not sign it. Neither the judge who issued it nor the assistant district attorney general noticed the admission.

    The Supreme Court upheld that a signed affidavit is required and the warrant was invalid, making any evidence found as a result, including Christian’s body, inadmissible at trial. However, the court adopted a limited good-faith exception to the rule for a non-constitutional violation. The exception applies when a law enforcement officers carries out a search he or she believes in good faith to be valid but later turns out not to be because of the affidavit requirement.

    The court also ruled Davidson’s statement to law enforcement was admissible in court, the court did not err in allowing family members to wear buttons with the victims’ photos, and the court did not err in allowing post-mortem photographs of the victims during trial.

    http://wate.com/2016/12/19/tennessee...icus-davidson/
    "There is a point in the history of a society when it becomes so pathologically soft and tender that among other things it sides even with those who harm it, criminals, and does this quite seriously and honestly. Punishing somehow seems unfair to it, and it is certain that imagining ‘punishment’ and ‘being supposed to punish’ hurts it, arouses fear in it." Friedrich Nietzsche

  8. #58
    Administrator Moh's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2010
    Location
    Germany
    Posts
    13,014
    Related

    Knox prosecutor doesn't shut the door on future charges in torture slayings

    By Jamie Satterfield
    The Tennessean

    The Knox County District Attorney General's office is refusing to present to a grand jury evidence against a fifth suspect in the January 2007 torture slayings of a young couple.

    Hugh Newsom met with District Attorney General Charme Allen armed with a thick analysis of circumstantial evidence against Eric Boyd in the killings of his son, Christopher Newsom, and Newsom's girlfriend, Channon Christian, and asked her to present the case to a Knox County grand jury for consideration of charges, including murder. She refused.

    Boyd is serving an 18-year federal prison sentence for hiding out Lemaricus Davidson, convicted and on death row as the ringleader of the slayings of Newsom, 23, and Christian, 21. The couple was carjacked at an apartment complex off Washington Pike, bound, held hostage, beaten, tortured, raped and slain. Davidson's brother, Letalvis Cobbins, is serving life without parole in the case, as is his friend, George Thomas. Cobbins' girlfriend, Vanessa Coleman, is serving 35 years.

    All three men implicated Boyd in the crimes. Boyd's own statement to authorities was rich in details, particularly about the carjacking, though he denied being there. Since the case's inception, federal and state authorities privately have been at odds over the state's failure to prosecute Boyd for murder, though bits of it have surfaced in the 10 years since all five suspects were arrested. Also from the start, Hugh Newsom and wife Mary Newsom have been convinced it was Boyd who raped their son, killed and burned him.

    Allen contends she, like her predecessor, does not believe there is enough evidence against Boyd to allow a grand jury to review it, according to Deputy District Attorney General Kyle Hixson.

    "The decision was made in 2007 that there was not enough evidence to charge Eric Boyd with the murders of Channon Christian and Chris Newsom," Hixson said. "Nevertheless, General Allen treats this as an open investigation, and she continues to dedicate staff and resources to the case. Our extensive efforts have not revealed enough evidence to date that would alter the conclusion initially reached 10 years ago. The investigation is ongoing, however, and General Allen is dedicated to working every angle of this case and looking into new leads as they may arise."

    The statement did not address specific questions from the News Sentinel about issues raised by Hugh Newsom, including a comparison he makes to the evidence in another murder case being prosecuted by Allen.

    Hugh Newsom argues there is more evidence against Boyd than Thomas. But there is one big difference between the cases of the other four suspects and Boyd. Older than the others, he is a criminal from way back, and he beat the justice system once. The other four admitted they were in the Chipman Street house where the couple were held hostage. Boyd didn't.

    Boyd's violent history

    Boyd, 44, is a Knoxville native. He's also a Knoxville criminal. In 1994, Boyd embarked on a violent robbery spree that included the attempted murder of a witness and, once behind bars, assaults on other inmates and threats to prison guards. There was lots of gun play in the robberies. He was sentenced in 1995 to 20 years in prison. In 2002, he was set free. The Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals ruled the state breached its plea deal with Boyd when it gave another defendant a better deal.

    Boyd made clear in court back then he believed his co-defendant in the robberies got special treatment because he was white and could afford a private lawyer. Boyd was black and too poor to hire an attorney, so he had court-appointed counsel, and he argued well before the appellate court ruled in his favor he was being denied justice because he was black. The appellate court didn't weigh in on the racial divide but made note of it.

    By early 2006, Boyd had met up with ex-con Davidson, and the pair were pulling off drug-related home invasions and robberies, testimony has shown. They weren't identified or arrested, though. In late December 2006, Cobbins came to visit his brother for the holidays at Davidson's Chipman Street house. He brought Thomas and Coleman. They, too, met Boyd through Davidson.

    On Jan. 6, 2007, Davidson, a drug dealer, needed a car and money, and he turned to his pal Boyd for help. Boyd borrowed a car from a relative. Hours later, Christian and Newsom were being held hostage. A garbage truck driver saw the car parked outside Davidson's house right alongside Christian's Toyota SUV.

    The case against Boyd

    David Jennings, a veteran federal prosecutor who now supervises an entire unit of prosecutors, has made no bones in court about his belief Boyd was with Davidson, Cobbins and Thomas when the couple was carjacked, in the house when the couple was forced inside, raped Newsom and helped drag him via a dog collar chain to his death. He does not speak publicly about the case.

    Jennings headed up the federal prosecution of Boyd for harboring Davidson. After a debate, the details of which have never been made public, the U.S. Attorney's Office decided to leave the prosecution in the slayings themselves to the office of now-retired District Attorney General Randy Nichols.

    Nichols refused to seek an indictment against Boyd. He argued he didn't have enough evidence.

    But Jennings offered Nichols a blueprint on prosecuting Boyd for murder in the case he presented to a federal jury on the harboring charge. Jennings and Assistant U.S. Attorney Tracy Stone had to prove the couple was slain to prove Boyd knew the guy he was hiding out - Davidson - was a wanted murder suspect.

    The following is a detailing of circumstantial evidence against Boyd culled from testimony at the federal trial and hearings in the state court prosecutions of the other suspects:

    Boyd's relative loaned him her white Sunbird on the day Christian and Newsom went missing. Davidson had no car, so he would have had to walk from Chipman Street several miles away or hitch a ride to kidnap the couple. Xavier Jenkins, a driver for a garbage company located across the road from Davidson's house, saw that car parked next to Christian's vehicle outside Davidson's house after the couple were kidnapped. He was emphatic in his testimony that the Sunbird Boyd's relative loaned him was the same car he saw. He gave details on the car, including a pin stripe color. He also saw four men inside Christian's vehicle as it drove past him. The Sunbird was still outside the house.

    Not long after Jenkins saw them, another Chipman Street resident heard three gunshots coming from the area around nearby railroad tracks. Newsom was shot three times alongside those railroad tracks. His body wasn't discovered for several more hours. Testimony has suggested Newsom was tied up on the floor board of Christian's vehicle as it drove past Jenkins.

    On Jan. 8, 2007 - with Newsom dead but Christian still alive inside Davidson's house - Davidson's girlfriend said Boyd was sitting in the living room with Cobbins and Thomas. Coleman was nowhere to be found. Authorities believe she had Christian in the bathroom so Davidson's girlfriend Daphne Sutton wouldn't see her. Boyd said little, she recalled. Sutton has insisted she had no idea what had happened since she left Davidson two days earlier after a fight. He often beat her. She has been a star witness, not suspect, since the case began. There is no evidence of any involvement by her in the crimes.

    Soon after Sutton left, Christian was forced alive into a trash can in the kitchen, where she suffocated. Davidson called Sutton for a ride. She agreed. A day later, she would drop him off near a housing project off Western Avenue. He met up with Boyd at an apartment in the housing project. When Davidson's picture flashed on a television screen as a murder suspect, Boyd had no reaction.

    Boyd was arrested on his way to bring Davidson food after holing up his friend at a vacant house on Reynolds Street the pair burglarized. Davidson was nabbed a short time later. Boyd denied any role in the crimes against the couple. He had no alibi, and he had lots of details about exactly what happened in that parking lot where the couple was initially confronted.

    He said the carjackers saw the couple standing near Christian's vehicle. They were kissing and, therefore, distracted, and Boyd said that made them perfect targets. According to Boyd's statement, the carjackers only intended to take the Toyota but pushed the couple inside when headlights from an approaching vehicle spooked them.

    But Boyd insisted every detail he had came from Davidson while the two spent time together in the vacant house. There was one other bit of circumstantial evidence on Boyd's phone. DNA made clear it was Davidson and Cobbins who raped Christian. But the burning of Newsom's body destroyed DNA evidence in his rape. Boyd had images of gay pornography on his phone.

    Deal #1 derails

    The Newsoms pushed Nichols to prosecute Boyd in the killings. Under U.S. Supreme Court rulings, Nichols could not use the statements of Davidson, Cobbins or Thomas against Boyd. Nichols insisted he needed one of them to testify, and the only way he could get that testimony was to make a deal with one of them. He had already filed a death notice for each.

    Hugh Newsom was amenable to some sort of deal for at least one of the suspects. Not a get-out-of-jail-free card, the father said, just an agreement to take the death penalty off the table. Christian's father, Gary Christian, was opposed to any deal. Hugh Newsom said Nichols tried to sway Christian's father by saying a life without parole sentence meant the killers would be alone in a cell for 23 hours a day.

    The families wanted to see exactly what life was like for maximum security inmates in Tennessee's prisons. A visit was arranged at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution just outside Nashville. What those families saw shocked them, Hugh Newsom said. Inmates were milling around, playing sports and games.

    "They were having a good time, laughing, telling jokes," he said.

    The warden told the families even maximum security inmates are given freedom outside their cells each day. There is no 23-hour lockdown - unless an inmate gets in trouble or is in need of protection. Hugh Newsom said Gary Christian was incensed.

    "Before we got out of the parking lot, Gary was on the phone with Nichols," he said.

    There would be no plea deals.

    Deal #2 collapses

    The Newsoms began writing letters to Cobbins not long after he was convicted. Cobbins was the only suspect who took the stand. The Newsoms said they figured he might be willing to take it again - against Boyd. Last year, the Newsoms finally got a chance to sit down with him, albeit separated by plexiglass. Hugh Newsom made his appeal to a man who helped torture and kill his son.

    "He was very cordial," Hugh Newsom said. "He was going to testify against Boyd."

    But Cobbins dashed the Newsoms' hope soon after, claiming prison guards had been beating him up ever since he met with the families of the couple.

    "Unless he got a reduced sentence, he said he wouldn't cooperate," Hugh Newsom said.

    Once again, Gary Christian balked at a deal. None was offered.

    A while back, a stranger from California reached out to the Newsoms. He had been following the case and reviewing every public detail. He had a background in investigation. He presented them with a report outlining the circumstantial evidence against Boyd. Hugh Newsom held on to it for a bit, but then he saw a story in the News Sentinel about another murder case built entirely on circumstantial evidence.

    Grand jury review rebuked

    Norman Clark was accused of killing his pregnant girlfriend and their unborn son in December 2011. The only forensic proof was a fingerprint his defense attorney easily explained away. An expert put his phone within a mile of the killing around the time it was committed, but no witness saw him near the scene on the night in question. Clark had a partial alibi, and he denied the slayings. The state's strongest evidence was motive, arguing Clark was the only one with reason to kill his girlfriend.

    Under the direction of current DA Allen, Clark was tried in the murder. A jury voted 11-1 to acquit. Despite that, Allen last year announced her office would again prosecute Clark. A second trial is set for later this year.

    Hugh Newsom said he grabbed that file from the California man and asked for a meeting with Allen. She was flanked, he said, by two other prosecutors he did not know and Leland Price, one of two prosecutors in the trials of Davidson and the others.

    "We kind of begged her, please prosecute Eric Boyd," Hugh Newsom said.

    Allen asked for time to review it. Unlike a trial in which a unanimous acquittal bars the state from trying a suspect anew, if a grand jury rejects a murder case against Boyd, the state can try again with a different panel for as long as Boyd is alive. But she refused to present it.

    "We just run into a brick wall, trying to convince them," he said. "Take it to a grand jury. If they say no, we're satisfied."

    Boyd is serving his federal sentence at a low security work camp in Mississippi. Hugh Newsom said he's in protective custody. The News Sentinel could not confirm that. His freedom is guaranteed in 2022, though he could shave some time off for good behavior.

    http://www.tennessean.com/story/news...ings/96237052/

  9. #59
    Administrator Aaron's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2015
    Location
    New Jersey, unfortunately
    Posts
    4,382
    In today's orders, the United States Supreme Court declined to review Davidson's petition for certiorari.

    Lower Ct: Supreme Court of Tennessee, Eastern Division
    Case Nos.: (E2013-00294-SC-DDT-DD)
    Decision date: December 19, 2016
    Don't ask questions, just consume product and then get excited for next products.

    "They will hurt you. They will hurt your grandma, these people. The root cause of this is there's no discipline in the homes, they don't go to school, you know, they live off the government, no personal accountability, and they just beat people up for no reason, and it's disgusting." - Former Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters

  10. #60
    Administrator Helen's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2013
    Location
    Toronto, Ontario, Canada
    Posts
    20,875
    5 things to know about the Christian-Newsom torture slayings

    By Hayes Hickman
    The Knoxville News-Sentinel

    The 2007 torture slayings of Channon Christian and Christopher Newsom are among the most horrific crimes in Knoxville's history.

    Here are five things to know about the case:

    1. Details of the case were horrific


    Christian, a 21-year-old University of Tennessee student, and her boyfriend, Newsom, 23, were heading out to a friend's birthday party on the night of Jan. 06, 2007 when they were ambushed and carjacked in the parking lot of a North Knoxville apartment complex off Washington Pike.

    They were taken in Christian's Toyota 4-Runner to a rental house on Chipman Street in East Knoxville where the group's ringleader, Lemaricus Davidson, lived.

    Both victims were beaten, raped and tortured. Newsom was exectuted within a few hours of the abduction and his body set on fire. Christian is believed to have been held captive in the small Chipman Street house for another 24 hours, during which she was repeatedly assaulted. Ultimately, she was wrapped in garbage bags, stuffed inside a trash can and left to die, slowly suffocating.

    2. Five people were charged and convicted


    Davidson, a known drug dealer who was on parole for carjacking at the time, is believed to have concocted the initial plan to carjack someone for money. He enlisted his brother, Letalvis Cobbins who was visiting from Kentucky; Cobbins' friend, George Thomas; and Davidson's partner-in-crime, Eric Boyd, in the plan.

    Davidson, Cobbins and Thomas all were convicted in state court for the murders and rapes. Davidson was sentenced to death. Cobbins is serving life without parole. Thomas will not be eligible for parole for roughly 120 years.

    Prosecutors have long said they did not have enough evidence to link Boyd to the slayings. He was convicted in federal court, however, of harboring Davidson afterward and currently is serving an 18-year prison sentence.

    This week, authorities unsealed a 36-count presentment charging Boyd in the rapes and murders. Prosecutors have yet to detail the evidence against him.

    Also convicted as an accessory was Cobbins' girlfriend, Vanessa Coleman. She is serving a 35-year prison term.

    3. Judge's pill scandal led to retrials


    Knox County Criminal Court Judge Richard Baumgartner presided over the initial trials in 2009. In 2011, he resigned and pleaded guilty to official misconduct for buying pain pills from a felon on probation in his court.

    After it was revealed Baumgartner had been snorting painkillers on the bench and holding court while high, defendants in several high-profile cases won new trials, including Thomas and Coleman.

    Coleman and Thomas were retried separately and found guilty again in 2012 and 2013, respectively.

    The convictions against Davidson and Cobbins ultimately were allowed to stand due to the forensic evidence against them.

    4. The case was steeped in racial tension


    The victims were white. The suspects were black.

    Conservative commentators, white supremacists and others raised questions early on about why the five suspects were not being charged with a hate crime. Mainstream news outlets, including the News Sentinel, were accused of racial bias in their coverage.

    Prosecutors insisted that there was no indication that Christian and Newsom had been targeted because of their race.

    The controversy prompted two downtown protests within a month of each other in 2007 by white supremacists groups.

    In 2013, Christian's parents, Deena and Gary, and Newsom's parents, Hugh and Mary, appeared on right-wind pundit Glenn Beck's online show to revisit the story.

    Beck argued the case should have been prosecuted as a hate crime - even though Tennessee law doesn't allow for that - and that national media outlets failed to cover the case due to bias against reporting on black-on-white crime.

    "Who cares what color you are?" Deena Christian responded. "I care what they did to my child."

    5. The case led to the passage of two new state laws


    The Channon Christian and Chris Newsom acts were approved by the state Legislature in 2014 to help the families of future victims avoid some of the heartache suffered by the couple's loved ones.

    The Channon Christian Act puts new restrictions on what criminal defendants and their attorneys can do in trying to portray a victim in a negative light before a jury.

    The law is similar to the longstanding rule that prevents prosecutors from bringing up a defendant's previous crimes in an effort to prejudice a jury.

    During his trial, Davidson claimed the couple had come to his house to buy drugs. Conversely, jurors were not allowed to hear about his previous carjacking conviction.

    The Chris Newsom Act revises the rules for a judge acting as a "13th juror" at the conclusion of a criminal trial.

    Baumgartner's drug scandal removed him from the bench before he could affirm the convictions in the initial Christian-Newsom trials, triggering a series of legal problems in upholding the convictions of the four defendants tried in his court.

    https://www.knoxnews.com/story/news/...ngs/485812002/
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

Page 6 of 8 FirstFirst ... 45678 LastLast

Thread Information

Users Browsing this Thread

There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)

Tags for this Thread

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •