TN - Chris Newsom, 23, & Channon Christian, 21, murdered, Knoxville, 6 Jan 2007 #3

Over 90 percent of Davidson jury pool had already heard of case

http://www.wate.com/Global/story.asp?S=11040264

Thanks Suzi for the link....I have been trying to figure out what Davidson thinks the benefit of having a jury from Knoxville will be? What does he think will be so different between a jury in Knoxville and a jury from elsewhere? For the life of me I can't figure out what his reasoning is.

steelergirl said:

Thanks Suzi for the link....I have been trying to figure out what Davidson thinks the benefit of having a jury from Knoxville will be? What does he think will be so different between a jury in Knoxville and a jury from elsewhere? For the life of me I can't figure out what his reasoning is.

Click to expand...

IDK, unless he thinks a jury from Knoxville won't be seated and the process of picking one will start over again delaying his trial?

Added round of jury selection scheduled for Davidson trial

The court has scheduled an additional round of jury selection for the trial of LeMaricus Davidson, bringing another group of hundreds to the Civic Coliseum.
Around 800 summons will be sent to potential jurors for Monday, September 14. Court officials said they expect about half those people to answer the summons and fill out questionnaires.
The second group will be on standby just in case the court cannot seat a jury from the first batch of potential jurors called on September 1.

More at link:
http://www.wate.com/Global/story.asp?S=11092803

Davidson's defense seeks to block experts' testimony

http://www.wate.com/Global/story.asp?S=11090884

Once again I am sickened by the treatment the TRASH involved in these murders have been given by the court system in Knoxville. It was ruled today that IF Davidson takes the stand the state can bring up his prior robbery conviction, but not his prior carjacking conviction. IF I am wrong in what I repeated and believe me I do want to be wrong then please, SuziQ, anyone, correct me. These poor families, my heart aches to the core for them. I realize every person has to have their day in court, I realize that I probably would not make a good juror since I wear my heart on my sleeve and empathize with people, BUT.......how do the defense attorneys sleep at night? How can a judge rule on something like this with the decision he did? I can't stand to see people who have worked for what they have to be beaten up like these families have been.
There has been a charity set up to receive donations for the month of September for the families and to help defray the cost of them taking off from work and such so that they can be in court every time these THUGS are in court. They reported tonight that there has been over 6,000.00 collected so far.
I sat and talked to my husband and mother tonight about this case and I consider myself lucky, I consider my family lucky, if that is what you want to call it. The closest family member I have had to pass away is my father who died 4 years ago at the age of 59. He died of asbestos poisoning, my mother came home and found him. I was a daddy's girl, I adored him, my mother is my best friend, but I knew my father was dying, I watched him suffer daily and after the days and months of watching him smother and almost losing my mind when he passed, I still got those last few days with him. I cannot imagine losing him or anyone to a violent death. I watched a son go to Iraq and back and I cried for days because I was so afraid, but I had those days with him. I guess what I am trying to say is those of us who HAVEN'T lost someone close to violence will never know the pain, anguish and courage the surviving family members go through. I know there are a lot of people on this site who have seen that part of society and my heart goes out to you.
Things like this make the world scary at times especially since it happened within 15 minutes from my home.

steelergirl said:

Thanks Suzi for the link....I have been trying to figure out what Davidson thinks the benefit of having a jury from Knoxville will be? What does he think will be so different between a jury in Knoxville and a jury from elsewhere? For the life of me I can't figure out what his reasoning is.

Click to expand...

This may be a silly question, but can this work FOR him in the round of appeals? Using this as a defense on not getting a fair trial? If he asked for a Knox jury can he be allowed to use that excuse for not receiving an impartial jury? Did that make any sense?

SWright363 said:

This may be a silly question, but can this work FOR him in the round of appeals? Using this as a defense on not getting a fair trial? If he asked for a Knox jury can he be allowed to use that excuse for not receiving an impartial jury? Did that make any sense?

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Hey SWright...I really don't think he can (Suzi or others feel free to correct me if I'm wrong!) because the Judge was VERY clear and on the record that he didn't think that it was in Davidson's best interest to have a Knoxville jury as he didn't think it was/is possible to find an impartial jury. So I'm thinkin since it's on the record, it's possibly something that he can't appeal on later??

:blowkiss:

ETA: The only thing I can think of is like Suzi said that he thinks that by demanding the Knox jury will delay his trial, or maybe he thinks he can just cry and cry and they'll never be able to convict him..stupid as it sounds???

SWright363 said:

Once again I am sickened by the treatment the TRASH involved in these murders have been given by the court system in Knoxville. It was ruled today that IF Davidson takes the stand the state can bring up his prior robbery conviction, but not his prior carjacking conviction. IF I am wrong in what I repeated and believe me I do want to be wrong then please, SuziQ, anyone, correct me. These poor families, my heart aches to the core for them. I realize every person has to have their day in court, I realize that I probably would not make a good juror since I wear my heart on my sleeve and empathize with people, BUT.......how do the defense attorneys sleep at night? How can a judge rule on something like this with the decision he did? I can't stand to see people who have worked for what they have to be beaten up like these families have been.
There has been a charity set up to receive donations for the month of September for the families and to help defray the cost of them taking off from work and such so that they can be in court every time these THUGS are in court. They reported tonight that there has been over 6,000.00 collected so far.
I sat and talked to my husband and mother tonight about this case and I consider myself lucky, I consider my family lucky, if that is what you want to call it. The closest family member I have had to pass away is my father who died 4 years ago at the age of 59. He died of asbestos poisoning, my mother came home and found him. I was a daddy's girl, I adored him, my mother is my best friend, but I knew my father was dying, I watched him suffer daily and after the days and months of watching him smother and almost losing my mind when he passed, I still got those last few days with him. I cannot imagine losing him or anyone to a violent death. I watched a son go to Iraq and back and I cried for days because I was so afraid, but I had those days with him. I guess what I am trying to say is those of us who HAVEN'T lost someone close to violence will never know the pain, anguish and courage the surviving family members go through. I know there are a lot of people on this site who have seen that part of society and my heart goes out to you.
Things like this make the world scary at times especially since it happened within 15 minutes from my home.

Click to expand...

Is there a mailing address for the families benefit fund? My brother used to live less than 5 minutes from the scene of the abduction.

It is my understanding that donations are being taken at any East TN Suntrust Bank branch. I just looked it up in the phone book and it is Suntrust Bank, 9950 Kingston Pike, Knoxville, TN 37922. Their phone number is 865-560-7233/7234. I would call them and see since I physically took my donation in and am not sure if that is the correct address to use or not.

SWright363 said:

It is my understanding that donations are being taken at any East TN Suntrust Bank branch. I just looked it up in the phone book and it is Suntrust Bank, 9950 Kingston Pike, Knoxville, TN 37922. Their phone number is 865-560-7233/7234. I would call them and see since I physically took my donation in and am not sure if that is the correct address to use or not.

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I live in Middle Tennessee and do my banking at Sun Trust. I guess I can ask my local bank. Somebody on the Knoxville News-Sentinel message forum gave this address:

Sun Trust
Attn: Newsom-Christian Family Benefit Fund
700 E. Hill Ave.
Knoxville, TN 37915

I think that is the main Knoxville Sun Trust bank.

Thanks for posting the latest links Suzi!
I can post any interesting info and links if I hear them! (that is if you haven't gotten the scoop already!)

:bow::thumb:
:bananapowerslide:


Here is a link to other info about Christian-Newsom fund and it has a link to find a place to donate (including those listed above):

http://www.wate.com/Global/story.asp?S=11090698

Today I went to the Sun Trust bank here in Middle Tennessee where I have an account. I saw one of the managers and asked him if I could make a donation to the Newsom-Christian fund. I showed him the printout of the site (http://www.newsom-christianfamilyfund.com/), which has the account number. He had never heard of the case. I explained the situation of the parents and why they needed financial help.

We went to a teller to arrange it. The manager asked me what happened. I told them (a little) what was done to Channon. They were stunned. The teller, a middle-aged woman, said, "I guess they shot the boy." "No," I said, "He was also gang-raped, marched to a railroad track, shot three times, and his body was set on fire." The teller and the manager both sucked in their breath in horror.

The manager put up the site printout where it could be seen by bank patrons. You can make a donation from any Sun Trust bank in the Southeast. All you need is to print the above site which has the account number and tell the people in the bank the details of the case.

Just an update on jury selection:

http://www.wbir.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=98610&catid=2

Just an article I found about Davidson's trial. His attorney's were trying to get some evidence thrown out, Judge didn't have any of that! Also states in the article that jury selection is set to begin Monday, fyi!!

"Judge to allow testimony on gun test in torture-slaying trial"
http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2009/sep/16/judge-to-allow-testimony-on-gun-test/

I don't know how the parents handle this BS.

http://www.wate.com/Global/story.asp?S=11153132

(snip)
Sources tell 6 News the evidence was tested after Letalvis Cobbins' trial ended. It's a cloth strip with Channon Christian's blood. TBI agents tested the cloth and found DNA. But, the DNA does not belong to Davidson or Cobbins. TBI agents discovered it was a third unknown party.
Davidson's defense team has filed a motion to delay his trial based on this new evidence.

This morning the judge ruled jury selection could begin on Monday as scheduled.

SuziQ said:

I don't know how the parents handle this BS.

http://www.wate.com/Global/story.asp?S=11153132

(snip)
Sources tell 6 News the evidence was tested after Letalvis Cobbins' trial ended. It's a cloth strip with Channon Christian's blood. TBI agents tested the cloth and found DNA. But, the DNA does not belong to Davidson or Cobbins. TBI agents discovered it was a third unknown party.
Davidson's defense team has filed a motion to delay his trial based on this new evidence.

Click to expand...

Boyd's DNA possibly????

steelergirl said:

Boyd's DNA possibly????

Click to expand...

The authorities have been trying to find a DNA match for Boyd, but have been unable to. This latest DNA may well not be related to the murders at all. According to a quote I saw from one of the parents, the prosecution isn't going to use this DNA in Davidson's trial anyway.

Questioning continues for Davidson jury pool

http://www.wate.com/Global/story.asp?S=11174779