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PostPosted: Thu Jul 12, 2012 11:31 am 
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Davidson attorneys ask judge to reconsider order vacating grant of new trials
10:46 AM, Jul 11, 2012

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Attorneys for Lemaricus Davidson, one of the four defendants charged in the January 2007 murders of Channon Christian and Chris Newsom, are asking the judge to reconsider his decision to vacate his previous order granting new trials.

David Eldridge and Doug Trant filed the motion Tuesday.

In it, they ask Judge Jon Kerry Blackwood to reconsider his June 19 decision to vacate his previous order to grant new trials.

Then, on June 19, after the state filed a motion asking Judge Blackwood to recuse himself from the case, Blackwood entered another order holding his previous decision "in nought," essentially tossing out his previous order granting new trials for Davidson and Cobbins. He noted his decision to grant Thomas a new trial still stands.

Now, Davidson's attorneys are asking that the judge reconsider that move and again grant their client a new trial.

....more at link
http://www.wbir.com/news/local/story.as ... yid=226268

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PostPosted: Thu Aug 16, 2012 6:39 pm 
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Christian-Newsom murder defendant plans Supreme Court appeal

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KNOXVILLE (WATE) - Attorneys for one of the Christian-Newsom murder defendants want to make sure their client gets a retrial and are turning to the U.S. Supreme Court for help.

LeMaricus Davidson's defense team filed a motion Tuesday asking Special Judge Jon Kerry Blackwood to issue a stay in the case while they prepare a case to present to the Supreme Court.

Attorneys David Eldridge and Douglas Trant want the high court to overturn a Tennessee Supreme Court ruling vacating the decision to grant retrials.

The deadline for filing an appeal with the U.S. Supreme Court is August 22.

Judge Blackwood said last month he would review testimony from the trials of Davidson and fellow defendant Letalvis Cobbins while considering new trials again.

...more at link
http://www.wate.com/story/19020433/chri ... urt-appeal

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PostPosted: Thu Dec 06, 2012 2:17 pm 
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Davidson seeks delay in torture-slayings retrial
By Jamie Satterfield
Posted December 6, 2012 at 4 a.m.

Accused torture-slaying ringleader Lemaricus Davidson wants to put the brakes on an upcoming hearing to determine if he should have been awarded a new trial.

Davidson's defenders have filed on his behalf a motion seeking a stay of any retrial hearing or decision by newly appointed Senior Judge Walter Kurtz.

Attorneys David Eldridge and Doug Trant want time to seek a Tennessee Supreme Court review of an order by a lower appellate court ousting from the case the judge — Senior Judge Jon Kerry Blackwood — who had ordered up a new trial for Davidson and his three alleged cohorts in the January 2007 torture slayings of Channon Christian, 21, and Christopher Newsom, 23.

Kurtz, tapped by Chief Justice Gary Wade to replace Blackwood, has set a Dec. 13 hearing to review Blackwood's new trial orders for Davidson, his brother, Letalvis Cobbins, and Cobbins' friend, George Thomas. But Davidson has until Dec. 24 to ask the state's high court to reconsider the state Court of Criminal Appeals' October decision recusing Blackwood.

...more at link
http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2012/dec/0 ... s-retrial/

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PostPosted: Fri Dec 07, 2012 5:04 pm 
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Judge nixes delay in Christian/Newsom torture-slaying hearing
By Jamie Satterfield
Posted December 7, 2012 at 4 a.m.

No.

That is Senior Judge Walter Kurtz's response to accused torture-slaying ringleader Lemaricus Davidson's bid to put on hold a hearing next week on whether Davidson should have been granted a new trial.

Kurtz's order is a scant paragraph devoted to whether a stay should be issued to allow Davidson's defenders to seek a Tennessee Supreme Court review of a midlevel appellate court's decision to boot the judge who last year ordered up a new trial and allow a second set of judicial eyes to review that order.

In Kurtz's opinion, the state's high court has already inked its approval of the recusal of Senior Judge Jon Kerry Blackwood when Chief Justice Gary Wade tapped Kurtz to replace Blackwood following the Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeal's October ruling.

"The issue is no longer one of recusal," Kurtz wrote. "In (appointing Kurtz), the chief justice exercised his statutory and inherent authority. This trial court is not in a position to overturn or modify the chief justice's order."

Kurtz has set a Dec. 13 hearing at which both sides in the court battle over the January 2007 torture slayings of Channon Christian, 21, and Christopher Newsom, 23, will get a second chance to present their respective arguments on the necessity of retrials for Davidson, his brother, Letalvis Cobbins, and Cobbins' friend, George Thomas.

....more at link
http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2012/dec/0 ... m-torture/

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PostPosted: Wed Dec 12, 2012 4:12 am 
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Lemaricus Davidson to use failed defense again in retrial effort
By Jamie Satterfield
Posted December 11, 2012 at 5:30 a.m.

Lemaricus Davidson is hoping to leap the highest legal hurdle he faces in garnering a new trial by invoking the same defense that already has failed him once — he was a drug dealer to both torture-slaying victims and had a sexual affair with one of them.

...more at link
http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2012/dec/1 ... n-retrial/

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PostPosted: Thu Dec 13, 2012 2:17 pm 
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Judge hears motions for Christian-Newsom murder retrials

http://www.wate.com/story/20334675/judg ... r-retrials

From the article involving the three remaining defendants, of particular note for Davidson:

    Davidson will be back in court on Jan. 10, 2013, when the judge will weigh an argument made by his attorney that a religious service held by the jurors during his initial trial may have influenced their ruling with regard to the death penalty.

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PostPosted: Sun Dec 30, 2012 7:13 am 
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Prayer, song, and blog prompt new murder trial motion
8:23 PM, Dec 28, 2012

A blog post allegedly written by a juror in a capital murder case is the center of a new motion for retrial.

Convicted murderer Lemaricus Davidson was sentenced the death penalty in October, 2009, for his role in the brutal deaths of Channon Christian and Chris Newsom, who were carjacked, raped, tortured and murdered.

In court documents, Davidson's attorney, David Eldridge, claimed the jury spent most of their time praying and singing hymns, when they were supposed to be deliberating sentencing.

Eldridge sourced a blogger, who he says was juror in the case. The blogger goes by 'ClaytonVol'.

On November 4th, 2009, less than a week after the jury handed down the death sentence to Davidson, 'ClaytonVol' wrote: "Out of the 5+ hours we deliberated, about four of them were spent in prayer and in reading the Bible and reaching the Moral Certainty called for by Law. This was the deciding factor and ultimate factor in our decision. We obeyed both God's law and Man's law."

A court officer during the case signed off an affidavit with attachments that appear to support the blogger's claims


...more at link
http://www.wbir.com/news/article/247218 ... ial-motion

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PostPosted: Thu Jan 03, 2013 4:47 pm 
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Could take "the deciding factor" as supposedly stated by the blogger in different ways, but they didn't let their actions circumvent either law.

I'd hate to be on a jury who spent time praying and reading the bible.


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PostPosted: Fri Jan 11, 2013 4:35 am 
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This is NOT about the "retrial" but rather a separate request for a new trial
(Due to objection over Jury praying etc)


Lemaricus Davidson will appear in court Thursday to ask for new trial
5:04 PM, Jan 9, 2013

The so-called ringleader of the Christian-Newsom murders will appear in court Thursday in a hearing to ask for a new trial.

Lemaricus Davidson was sentenced to death row back in October 2009 for murdering Knox County couple Channon Christian and Chris Newsom in January 2007.

Davidson's attorneys filed paperwork asking for a new trial for their client, saying the jury prayed and sang hymns when it was supposed to be deliberating his sentence. The defense bases their argument on a blog post they claim was written by a juror.

10News spoke with a couple of other jurors who say the service happened, but not during deliberations. They say they met together in an informal service at their hotel and never discussed the case.

Special Judge Walter Kurtz will hear Davidson's request Thursday.

We will be in the courtroom and bring you a full report on 10News and here on WBIR.com.

....more at link
http://www.wbir.com/news/local/story.as ... yid=248866

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PostPosted: Fri Jan 11, 2013 4:39 am 
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Judge rejects new trial for Lemaricus Davidson because of jurors' praise service
By Jamie Satterfield
Posted January 10, 2013 at 9:06 a.m., updated January 10, 2013 at 10:14 a.m.

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KNOXVILLE - A judge today turned aside a move by the alleged ringleader of a January 2007 torture slaying to have his death sentence tossed out because jurors sang Christian songs on their downtime.

Senior Judge Walter Kurtz said Lemaricus Davidson failed to show jurors were influenced by religion in their decision to convict him and sentence him to death in the slayings of Channon Christian, 21, and Christopher Newsom, 23.

Juror Chris Baber testified today in Knox County Criminal Court he grabbed his guitar after dinner one night during Davidson's 2009 trial and began singing Christian songs. Other jurors sang along and one read a Bible verse, he said.

However, Baber said he sought permission from court staff before doing so and the gathering played no role in the jury's later deliberations.

"We had not deliberated" before the gathering, he said.

Kurtz said he would issue a written ruling next week on the greater issue in the case - whether Davidson and suspects Letalvis Cobbins and George Thomas should be awarded new trials in the fallout from a drug scandal involving the judge who presided over their original trials.

....more at link
http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2013/jan/1 ... ard-today/

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PostPosted: Wed Jan 16, 2013 3:24 am 
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George Thomas granted new trial; motions denied for Davidson, Cobbins
Posted: Jan 16, 2013 6:00 AM
By STEPHANIE BEECKEN
6 News Reporter

KNOXVILLE (WATE) - Senior Judge Walter Kurtz ruled Tuesday to grant a new trial to George Thomas, one of the four defendants in the Christian-Newsom murder case.

Letalvis Cobbins and LeMaricus Davidson, both of whom also requested new trials, were denied.

Judge Kurtz ruled that he was able to sit as thirteenth juror in both Cobbins and Davidson's initial trials.

In the third case, however, the judge ruled that, "the Thomas case does involve an overriding issue, or primary issue, of credibility" because of the lack of evidence against him, including DNA evidence.

The new trial was granted because in his initial trial, former judge Richard Baumgartner was under the influence of prescription pain pills and eventually pled guilty to official misconduct.

In the judge's order, he wrote that he only gave Thomas a new trial because he couldn't sit as thirteenth juror, because he couldn't see and hear the witnesses who linked Thomas to the murders in the initial trial.

With the judge's ruling for a new trial for George Thomas, this will mark the seventh year and more than 300 times the victims' families have been in the courtroom.

...more at link
http://www.wate.com/story/20592621/geor ... on-cobbins

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