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PostPosted: Fri May 10, 2013 3:49 am 
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Davidson County to supply 3rd jury in Christian-Newsom trials

By Jamie Satterfield
Posted May 8, 2013 at 8:23 p.m.

NASHVILLE — It is a well soon to be thrice tapped.

For the third time in a more than six-year prosecution effort in the torture slayings of a young Knox County Couple, Davidson County will provide the pool from which potential jurors will be selected.

The clerk’s office in Nashville has summoned 480 people to appear Thursday in Davidson County Criminal Court to fill out questionnaires in the upcoming retrial of George Thomas, one of four defendants in the January 2007 deaths of Channon Christian, 21, and Christopher Newsom, 23.

The questionnaires are designed to help both prosecutors and defense attorneys to ferret out potential bias among the jury pool in a case that has been labeled one of Knoxville’s most horrific crimes and spurred extensive local media coverage and at least one national television documentary.

This is the third time Davidson County has been asked to serve up a jury pool in the case. Jurors in the original trials of co-defendant Letalvis Cobbins and his girlfriend, Vanessa Coleman, hailed from Nashville.

Thursday’s jury selection process is one more twist in what has proved a torturous legal road.

....more at link
http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2013/may/0 ... christian/

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PostPosted: Fri May 10, 2013 3:50 am 
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Davidson County jury being selected for retrial in case of Knoxville couple's torture slaying

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
May 09, 2013 - 8:56 am EDT

NASHVILLE, Tennessee — The Davidson County Criminal Court has summoned 480 people as potential jurors in a Knoxville murder case.

The Knoxville News Sentinel reports (http://bit.ly/171bvMF) this will be the second trial for George Thomas, who was convicted in December 2009 in the torture and slaying of a young Knoxville couple. Thomas, of Lebanon, Kentucky, was sentenced to life without parole.

He won a retrial after the judge in the case abruptly left the bench in a prescription pills and sex scandal without having affirmed the verdict.

Thomas has maintained he is innocent, saying he was inside the home where 21-year-old Channon Christian and 23-year-old Christopher Newsom were held but took no part in crimes against them.

Once jurors are selected, they will be bussed to Knoxville on Sunday. The trial begins Monday.

...more at link
http://www.therepublic.com/view/story/d ... uple-Slain

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PostPosted: Sat May 11, 2013 2:55 am 
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After first day, 67 potential jurors remain in Thomas retrial

By Jamie Satterfield
Knoxville News Sentinel
Posted May 9, 2013 at 8:41 p.m.

NASHVILLE — Some remembered the names of the young couple slain in Knoxville more than five years ago. Others recalled images of their faces.

But none of the potential jurors who confessed Thursday having heard about the January 2007 torture slayings could forget the sheer brutality of the crimes.

“I do remember hearing and reading about how they were tortured,” one Davidson County woman said. “That sticks in my mind.”

...more at link
http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2013/may/0 ... remain-in/

“That’s a pretty horrific act,” said another potential juror — this one a man.

The process to seat a jury for the retrial of George Thomas, one of four defendants in the carjacking, kidnapping, rape and slaying of Channon Christian, 21, and Christopher Newsom, 23, began Thursday in the Davidson County.

Senior Judge Walter Kurtz opted to travel to Davidson County to select a jury because of extensive media coverage of the case and general outrage in the community in Knox County in a case that has now spanned five years, six trials and a scandal over the state judge who helmed four of those trials.

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PostPosted: Tue May 14, 2013 3:17 am 
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Christian - Newsom Murder Trials

On the night of January 6, 2007, Channon Christian and Christopher Newsom disappeared as their friends expected them to arrive at a party. Knoxville police later said they had been carjacked. The bound body of Chris was found the next day near some railroad tracks in East Knoxville. The medical examiner said he had been repeatedly raped, beaten and shot. His body was also burned. The bound body of Channon was found in a trash can in a nearby house two days later. The medical examiner said she was also repeatedly raped, beaten and bleach was poured down her throat. She suffocated in the trash can.

LeMaricus Davidson, Letalvis Cobbins, and George Thomas were arrested a few days later and charged with the murders of the couple. Later, Cobbins' then girlfriend, Vanessa Coleman, was also charged with murder.

Cobbins was found guilty of Christian's murder and sentenced to life imprisonment without parole on August 26, 2009. Davidson was found guilty of murdering Christian and Newsom and sentenced to the death penalty on October 30, 2009. Thomas was found guilty of murdering Christian and Newsom and sentenced to life in prison without parole on December 10, 2009. Coleman was convicted of lesser charges of facilitating Christian's murder, kidnapping rape and theft on May 13, 2010 and sentenced in July to 53 years in prison. Another man, Eric Boyd, was convicted in federal court in October 2008 as an accessory after the jury agreed that he helped Davidson hide following the murders. Boyd was sentenced to 18 years in prison and a federal appeals court upheld his conviction in 2011.

The judge who presided over all the trials, Richard Baumgartner, resigned in March 2011, pleaded guilty to official misconduct and admitted he'd become an addict who bought drugs from a felon under his jurisdiction. In December 2011, Judge Jon Kerry Blackwood granted new trials finding that Baumgartner was impaired during the originals.

The Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals, however, recused Judge Blackwood in three of the four cases, saying there was a "reasonable basis" to question his impartiality because of outbursts that took place during court proceedings related to the murders. Special Judge Walter Kurtz of Davidson County was appointed to oversee the retrials of Cobbins, Davidson and Thomas.

Judge Blackwood was allowed to remain on the bench for the retrial of Vanessa Coleman. Her retrial took place in November 2012. She was convicted on 13 of 17 counts in the case. In February 2013, she was sentenced to 35 years in prison, with the possibility of parole in four and half years. She later requested a third trial.

In January 2013, Special Judge Walter Kurtz reviewed the requests of Davidson, Cobbins and Thomas for new trials. Davidson's attorney argued that a jury praise service influenced their decision towards his client. On January 15, George Thomas was granted a new trial, while Davidson and Cobbins were denied new trials.

George Thomas' retrial is scheduled to begin May 13.

....more at link
http://www.wate.com/category/172992/chr ... der-trials

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PostPosted: Tue May 14, 2013 3:18 am 
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DAY 1


WATCH LIVE STREAM
http://www.wate.com/category/264228/geo ... as-retrial

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PostPosted: Tue May 14, 2013 3:20 am 
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George Thomas retrial gets underway
Posted: May 13, 2013 10:10 PM Updated: May 14, 2013 2:58 PM

KNOXVILLE (WATE) - The retrial for Christian-Newsom murder suspect George Thomas got underway Monday morning.

A jury of 16 people from Davidson County was seated on Friday. Four of those will be alternates.

The jury consists of eight white men, five black women and three white women. All ages are represented in the pool, though most are middle-aged. Two are in their 20s
[...]
Opening statements get underway

Assistant District Attorney TaKisha Fitzgerald began opening statements for the state by laying out the crimes and what happened to Channon and Chris.

She told the jury that there were four people in the car the night the couple was carjacked.

Fitzgerald describes how Newsom's body was found with gunshot wounds and had been set on fire.


....more at link
http://www.wate.com/story/22231650/open ... as-retrial

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PostPosted: Tue May 14, 2013 3:10 pm 
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Updated: Day 2 George Thomas retrial: Witness agrees Thomas 'just sat there'
By Jamie Satterfield
Posted May 14, 2013 at 1:40 p.m., updated May 14, 2013 at 1:59 p.m.

KNOXVILLE — The defense team for torture-slaying suspect George Thomas continued today to hammer the lack of proof tying their client to the crimes.

The only witness who, besides Thomas himself, saw Thomas in the Chipman Street house where the victims were held was Daphne Sutton.

The girlfriend of convicted ringleader Lemaricus Davidson, Sutton testified today she saw Thomas in the house the day after Channon Christian, 21, and Christopher Newsom, 23, were kidnapped in January 2007.

...more at link
http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2013/may/1 ... amie-satt/

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PostPosted: Tue May 14, 2013 3:12 pm 
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LIVE TWEETS - Jamie Satterfield

https://twitter.com/jamiescoop

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PostPosted: Wed May 15, 2013 1:53 am 
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Prosecution lays out Thomas' whereabouts in Christian/Newsom murders
By Jamie Satterfield
Posted May 14, 2013 at 8:36 p.m.

After a full day of testimony Tuesday, here’s what the jury heard in testimony about torture slaying suspect George Thomas:

He was at the Chipman Street house of convicted ringleader Lemaricus Davidson a day before Channon Christian, 21, and Christopher Newsom, 23, were kidnapped. He had no phone, no car and no gun.

He was there seated in a chair in the living room the day after the January 2007 kidnapping. He said nothing, did nothing and, again, had no gun.

...more at link
http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2013/may/1 ... abouts-in/

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PostPosted: Thu May 16, 2013 11:18 am 
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In Day 3 of testimony, jurors hear recording of Thomas' interview with investigators
Posted: May 16, 2013 2:23 AM

KNOXVILLE (WATE) - George Thomas' ex-girlfriend Stacy Lawson took the stand and an interview between Thomas and investigators was played in day three of testimony for the Christian-Newsom defendant.

Thomas is being retried for his part in the brutal murders of Knoxville couple Channon Christian and Christopher Newsom.

...more at link
http://www.wate.com/story/22257908/geor ... -testifies

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PostPosted: Thu May 16, 2013 11:20 am 
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George Thomas retrial day 4: Closing arguments underway; jury may get Christian-Newsom case this afternoon
By News Sentinel staff
Posted May 16, 2013 at 10:35 a.m.

KNOXVILLE — Jurors hearing the George Thomas retrial in the 2007 killings of Channon Christian and Chris Newsom may be deliberating as soon as this afternoon.

Knox County prosecutors rested this morning after offering three days of evidence. Thomas’ lawyers, Tom Dillard and Steve Johnson, told Senior Judge Walter Kurtz this morning they were resting without offering proof.

The state and defense now shift into summarizing their cases for the jury, a panel of Davidson Countians brought to Knoxville because of high pre-trial publicity through the years.

The trial began Monday in Knox County Criminal Court.

....more at link
http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2013/may/1 ... arguments/

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PostPosted: Thu May 16, 2013 3:44 pm 
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George Thomas retrial day 4: Jury begins deliberations
By Jamie Satterfield
Posted May 16, 2013 at 10:35 a.m., updated May 16, 2013 at 12:21 p.m.

KNOXVILLE — The fate of torture-slaying suspect George Thomas is now up to a Davidson County jury.

Both the prosecution and defense rested their respective cases this morning in the retrial of Thomas in the January 2007 torture slayings of Channon Christian, 21, and Christopher Newsom, 23.

Thomas did not testify and the defense offered up no witnesses.

Instead the two sides battled in closing arguments on whether Thomas can beheld criminally responsible for crimes for which he is not forensically linked.

....more at link
http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2013/may/1 ... arguments/

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PostPosted: Thu May 16, 2013 3:59 pm 
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sounds like it could be a quick deliberation too


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PostPosted: Thu May 16, 2013 4:05 pm 
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There are 12 primary counts and a bunch of alternative theories.... could take some time. :)

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PostPosted: Thu May 16, 2013 7:56 pm 
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PostPosted: Fri May 17, 2013 3:05 pm 
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PostPosted: Fri May 17, 2013 3:07 pm 
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Penalty Phase....


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PostPosted: Fri May 17, 2013 3:20 pm 
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George Thomas guilty on all counts in Christian-Newsom murder retrial

Posted: May 17, 2013 10:59 AM

KNOXVILLE (WATE) - A second jury found Christian-Newsom defendant George Thomas guilty on all 38 charges for his role in the torture, rape, kidnapping and murders of the Knoxville couple.

In Count 17 for the murder of Chris Newsom, Thomas was found guilty of a lesser charge - facilitation of first degree murder.

Thomas could be seen shaking his head in court as the verdicts were read by the jury foreman.

The families of the victims will read their victim impact statements and the sentencing will take place at 3 p.m

...more at link
http://www.wate.com/story/22275979/jury ... as-retrial

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PostPosted: Fri May 17, 2013 5:49 pm 
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PostPosted: Fri May 17, 2013 5:50 pm 
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