In Knoxville Horror Case, Tennessee Appellate Court Issues Stays in Retrials of Three Defendants Whose Murder Convictions Had been Thrown Out by Judge Mischief II

 

By David in TN

 

 

Channon Christian and Christopher Newsom were carjacked, kidnapped, robbed, gang-raped, tortured and murdered. They and their families are the only people who matter in this case.

 

 

"Alleged" ringleader Lemaricus Davidson was convicted, and sentenced to die in Judge Richard Baumgartner's court, but Baumgartner's successor, Judge Jon Kerry Blackwood, threw out Davidson's (and Letalvis Cobbins' and George Thomas') murder conviction, for matters irrelevant to his trial.

 

 

Davidson's half-brother, Letalvis Cobbins, with a new hairdo, at his February 25, 2010 sentencing

 

 

Cobbins' friend, George "F—k That White Girl" Thomas, at his March 4, 2010 sentencing

 

    

Cobbins' girlfriend, Vanessa Coleman, wrote in her diary of her participation in the atrocity, "I've had one hell of an adventure in the big TN," and "Ha Ha." She was acquitted of rape and murder, but convicted of facilitation, and sentenced to 53 years in prison, the first time around. [NS: Coleman's "adventure in the big TN" consisted, in its entirety, of her participation in the gang rape, torture, and murders of Channon Christian and Christopher Newsom. So much for the disgusting contention by Coleman, her attorneys, and her family that she was a prisoner, and as much a victim as Channon Christian.]

 

 

Judge Richard Baumgartner, at Letalvis Cobbins' February 25, 2010 sentencing

 

Eric Boyd was convicted in federal court as an accessory after the fact to carjacking in April, 2008. He is appealing his verdict.

 

 

A Tennessee appellate court has issued a stay in the retrials of three of the defendants in the Christian-Newsom torture-murder case.

 

The ruling applies to "alleged" ringleader Lemaricus Davidson, his half-brother Letalvis Cobbins, and George Thomas. Channon Christian and Christopher Newsom were tortured to death on January 7, 2007.

 

The Tennessee Attorney General had filed an appeal of Judge Jon Kerry Blackwood's refusal to step away from the case.

 

Judge Jon Kerry Blackwood

 

The appellate judges are giving the defendants' lawyers until Monday to respond.

 

Blackwood gave all four defendants new trials after it was revealed former Judge Richard Baumgartner, who presided over the original trials, was buying drugs from a probationer under his supervision.

 

The Knox County District Attorney General's office did not contest the decision to give a retrial to the fourth defendant, Vanessa Coleman. Baumgartner was captured on videotape during Coleman's trial appearing incoherent on the day of the verdict.

 

I was in the courtroom for three days of Coleman's trial. I saw Baumgartner fall asleep during testimony on one occasion and at times seemed "out of it."

 

Coleman is still scheduled to be retried in November. Dates for the other three have not been set, pending the outcome of the current maneuvers. So far, The Knox County DAG, Randy Nichols, has lost every time.

 

Baumgartner is facing trial in federal court this month. He is charged with lying to protect a drug conspiracy involving him and his pill-supplying girlfriend, Deena Castleman.

 

 

Judge Baumgartner's probationer girlfriend/drug supplier, Deena Castleman