Knoxville Horror Judge Baumgartner Update

By David in TN

Previously: “Knoxville Horror Judge Baumgartner under Criminal Probe.”


In tomorrow’s (February1) Knox News, Jamie Satterfield gives the latest developments in the criminal probe regarding Judge Richard Baumgartner.

The best legal opinion is that the Christian-Newsom Knoxville Horror trials will probably not be overturned. The bar is high, or is supposed to be.

Meanwhile, Mario Boone, a reporter for the Knoxville CBS affilliate, who I saw try to arrange a meeting between Vanessa Coleman’s father and Channon Christian’s parents, says it is

unclear how the investigation, and Baumgartner’s health problems will affect his previous rulings, like the high profile Christian-Newsom torture killings case.
Ted Lavit, Vanessa Coleman's lawyer, tells me he'll "consider all issues affecting the rights of coleman [sic]," for possible appeal.

Is Boone hoping the Coleman verdict (or sentence) will be succesfully appealed?

NS: No doubt. He’s never left any ambiguity about where his loyalties lie, and they are not with the law. (Boone is black, and impartial black reporters are almost non-existent. They get their jobs based on racial favoritism, with the understanding that they are to be agents of such favoritism, and they rarely disappoint.)

If Coleman gets a new trial, the verdict could veer radically in either direction, depending on jury selection. She could get acquitted of all charges, or could be convicted of murder. Considering the known facts and her ghoulish diary entries, I think it would be justice for her to be convicted of murder, but considering the criminal justice bonuses that black women routinely enjoy, my hunch is that an across-the-board acquittal is more likely than a conviction on the highest charges.