quote:

ORIGINAL: E-Mail Knoxville, Tenn. (WVLT) - The District Attorney General of Knox
County announced the list of charges facing now five suspects in the double murder of Channon Christian and Christopher Newsom.


The District Attorney General Randy Nichols is not saying whether or not he will seek the death penalty, but he does say the State will seek conviction for all charges filed in a 24-page indictment from the Knox County Grand Jury.

[size=4 family="serif"]Lemaricus Davidson, 25[size=4 family="serif"], faces a total of 46 charges. Davidson was indicted on 16 counts of Felony Murder growing out of rape, robbery kidnapping and theft of Channon Christian and Chris Newsom, 2 counts premeditated murder of Christian and Newsom, 2 counts especially aggravated robberies from Christian and Newsom, 4 counts especially aggravated kidnapping of Christian and Newsom, 20 counts aggravated rape of Christian and Newsom, and 2 counts of theft from Christian and Newsom.

[size=4 family="serif"]Letalvis Cobbins, 24[size=4 family="serif"], faces a total of 46 charges.  Cobbins was indicted on 16 counts of Felony Murder growing out of rape,
robbery kidnapping and theft of Channon Christian and Chris Newsom, 2 counts premeditated murder of Christian and Newsom, 2 counts especially aggravated robberies from Christian and Newsom, 4 counts especially aggravated k! idnappi ng of Christian and Newsom, 20 counts aggravated rape of Christian and Newsom, and 2 counts of theft from Christian and Newsom.

[size=4 family="serif"]George Thomas, 24[size=4 family="serif"], faces a total of 46 charges. Thomas was indicted on 16 counts of Felony Murder growing out of rape, robbery kidnapping and theft of Channon Christian and Chris Newsom, 2 counts premeditated murder of Christian and Newsom, 2 counts especially aggravated robberies from Christian and Newsom, 4 counts especially aggravated kidnapping of Christian and Newsom, 20 counts aggravated rape of Christian and Newsom, and 2 counts of theft from Christian and Newsom.

Just last night, police in Lebanon, Kentucky, arrested 18-year-old Vanessa Coleman. She faces 40 Tennessee state charges.  Coleman was indicted on 12 counts Felony Murder growing out of rape, robbery kidnapping and theft of Channon Christian and Chris Newsom, 1 count Premeditated Murder of Christian only, 1 count Especially Aggravated Robbery of Newsom only, 4 counts especially aggravated kidnapping of Christia n and Newsom, 20 counts of aggravated rape of Christian and Newsom and 2 Counts of theft from Christian and Newsom.

[size=4 family="serif"]Eric Boyd, 24[size=4 family="serif"], also arrested in connection with the fatal carjacking, only faces federal charges as an accessory after the fact. He was not indicted by Knox county grand jury.

Felony Murder carries a possibility of death, life without the possibility of parole and life with parole. Especially Aggravated Robbery is a Class A felony that carries a possibility of 15 to 60 years in prison. Aggravated Rape is a Class A felony that carries a possibility of 15 to 60 years of prison.

At a news conference Thursday, Nichols commended the
cooperative efforts between several departments and credits that cooperation for the fast pace this case is moving through the court system.

Nichols says he hopes to move the case to trial on thefirst day it's set.

The four are expected to make their first court appearance within ten to fifteen days.

This is certainly a case garnering a lot of public interest, Nichols recognizes that and says he expects all kinds of requests filed in this case, including a change of venue in order to receive a fair trial. But he says he does hope 12 Knox County jurors will be able to determine the guilt or innocence of these suspects

quote:

ORIGINAL: snopes.com
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Newsom/Christian Murders

 
Claim:   E-mail describes the brutal rapes and murders of Christopher Newsom and Channon Christian.

Status:   True.

Example:   [Collected on the Internet, April 2007]

 Origins:   On 6 January 2007, Knoxville, Tennessee, residents Christopher Newsom, Jr., 23, and Channon Christian, 21, went out for a dinner date at a local restaurant, then headed to a friend's house to watch a movie. They never came back.

When the couple had failed to return by the following morning, their parents notified police. Christopher Newsom's body was found near some railroad tracks in East Knoxville that afternoon, but Channon Christian remained missing. A trace run on Channon's cell phone helped authorities locate her abandoned vehicle the next day, and fingerprints raised from an envelope inside the automobile led police to the residence of 25-year-old Lemaricus Devall "Slim" Davidson, where they discovered Channon's body wrapped in a blanket.

The details of the crime as they emerged in the press were horrific. Carjackers had taken Channon's vehicle at gunpoint, bound and blindfolded the couple, and transported them to Davidson's residence. At that location, Christopher was raped (in front of Channon) by multiple assailants,
his penis was cut off, he was shot multiple times, his body was set on fire, and, finally, his corpse was taken away and dumped alongside railroad tracks. With Christopher out of the way, the perpetrators next focused their depravity on Channon. Over the ensuing two days, they beat her, gang-raped her, urinated upon her, cut off one of her breasts (while she was still alive), and poured bleach down her throat. As with Christopher, they finished up by shooting her multiple times and setting her body on fire, but instead of dumping her corpse elsewhere, they wrapped it in a blanket and stuffed it into a trash can which was left inside the residence. (This is the version of the crime initially presented in press accounts. Later reports have questioned some of the details, such as whether Newsom's penis really was severed, and how long Christian was actually held before she was killed.)

Five suspects have since been arrested and charged with the murders of Christopher Newsom and Channon Christian (and related crimes). Davidson, along with his brother, Letalvis "Rome" Cobbins (24), and George Geovonni "Detroit" Thomas (27), have all been indicted on a total of 46 counts each: 16 counts of felony murder, 2 counts of premeditated murder, 2 counts of especially aggravated robbery, 4 counts of especially aggravated kidnapping, 20 counts of aggravated rape, and 2 counts of theft. Vanessa Coleman (18), has been indicted on a total of 40 counts: 12 counts of felony murder, 1 count of premeditated murder, 1 count of especially aggravated robbery, 4 counts of especially aggravated kidnapping, 20 counts of aggravated rape, and 2 counts of theft. Eric DeWayne "E" Boyd (34) was not indicted and faces federal charges only as an accessory after the fact. All five suspects are currently awaiting trial.

Some commentators (as cited in the example reproduced above) have made much of the fact that the bulk of the news reportage about the Newsom/Christian murders has been local (predominantly in Tennessee, where the crimes took place, and in neighboring Kentucky), while the case has received little or no national coverage by major news outlets — a phenomenon attributed to supposedly biased news media loath to report black-on-white crime. (Both Christian and Newsom were white; all five of the suspects arrested in connection with their killings are black.)

However, the notion that every major news outlet in the U.S. (all of them competitive, profit-making businesses) has conspired to ignore what would otherwise be a compelling national story is rather implausible. A more rational explanation might be found in the sober observation that murders — even decidedly horrific murders — are unfortunately too frequent an occurrence in the U.S. for all of them to garner national attention. The cases that do tend to attract prolonged, nationwide coverage are ones exhibiting a combination of factors (e.g., scandal, mystery, sexual elements, celebrity involvement, shockingly large numbers of deaths, victims who especially elicit sympathy) that make them particularly fascinating and compelling to the public at large, such as the still-unsolved murder of 6-year-old beauty queen JonBenet Ramsey, the mysterious disappearance (and death) of pregnant Laci Peterson, the massacre of 32 students and faculty at Virginia Tech, and the celebrity trial to determine whether actress Lana Clarkson committed suicide or was killed by reclusive record producer Phil Spector.

And, of course, the fact that the victims were white and the (presumed) killer black didn't stop the O.J. Simpson murder trial from becoming the most media-covered event in the history of jurisprudence.

quote:

ORIGINAL: Satyr6406

Popeye,
 
            Being a journalist, I am in the habit of always checking sources. I have found Snopes to be absolutely infallible. That's why I checked with them, before I posted, here.
 
            I think - as I said in another thread - that what we really need is a little equality; not different rules for different people. Now, the question is, how do we go about holdibng the media's feet to the fire?
 
 
 
 
 
                      Peace and comfort,
 
 
 
 
 
                                             Michael