Murders of Channon Christian and Christopher Newsom

Channon Gail Christian (born April 29, 1985, in Nacogdoches, Texas) moved from Louisiana to Tennessee with her family in 1997. She planned on graduating in December 2007. Channon was 21 years old when she was murdered. ==Murders==

On Saturday, January 6, 2007, Christian and Newsom planned to go for dinner together and attend a friend's party. That afternoon, Christian went to a friend's apartment to get ready. At around 8:00 pm, Christian's friend went to the party, and Christian stayed behind and waited for Newsom to pick her up. Newsom arrived, and he and Christian went to the apartment complex parking lot. The assailants observed Christian and Newsom standing close to Christian's vehicle in an embrace. They then decided to attack the couple. Both were forced into the backseat of Christian's SUV at gunpoint, had their hands tied behind their backs, and were taken to Davidson's house at 2316 Chipman Street. Both Christian and Newsom were raped. Newsom is believed to have been raped inside Davidson's house. According to the testimony of the Knox County Acting Medical Examiner, Newsom was sodomized with an object and raped by at least one of the perpetrators. He was then taken to a set of railroad tracks where he was forced to walk barefoot to the location where he was murdered. Prosecutors believe a mangled dog leash found on a hillside leading up to the railroad tracks was used to force Newsom to walk to his death. Christian was held prisoner inside Davidson's house, mostly in the north bedroom. The medical examiner testified that Christian died after hours of sexual torture, sustaining severe head injuries and suffering severe injuries to her vagina, anus, and mouth due to sexual assaults. Her injuries were consistent with being raped with an object. According to the medical examiner, the sexual attack Christian endured was "extreme" and "much more than a simple sexual assault." According to Davidson's confession, during Christian's captivity, she said she "didn't want to die." Christian, who was naked except for her camisole and sweater, was tied in a fetal position, placed inside a residential waste disposal unit inside the kitchen of the home, and covered with sheets. The medical examiner testified at trial that there was evidence that Christian slowly suffocated to death. Christian died between the afternoon of January 7 and the afternoon of January 8. As Christian was suffocating to death, Davidson left to spend time with his girlfriend and gave her Christian's personal items. Davidson also used Newsom's cellphone and was seen wearing Newsom's shoes. ==Investigation==

After Christian and Newsom did not show up at the party, the couple's friends began calling and texting them and received no response. Later, at around 11:00 pm, two of Newsom's friends went to the apartment where the couple had been kidnapped and found Newsom's truck in the parking lot. They were unable to locate Christian's SUV. A witness, who worked as a driver for Waste Connections, arrived at work on Chipman Street at around 12:30 am on January 7. He noticed that the lights in 2316 Chipman Street were on and that the house seemed busy for the time of night. He saw a 4Runner in front of the house with its porch lights on. The witness later observed the 4Runner drive slowly by him. The car slowed down for about 20 seconds as if the occupants were "checking him out". He saw four black men in the car. Another witness who lived around one block from 2316 Chipman Street heard three pops from the direction of the train tracks at about 1:45 am. Newsom's body was discovered near a set of nearby railroad tracks on January 7 at 12:20 pm by a Norfolk Southern Railroad employee. When police went to 2316 Chipman Street on January 9, they found the house unoccupied and Christian's body in a trash can in the kitchen. Davidson's semen was found in Christian's vagina and anus while Cobbins' semen was found in her mouth. Shell casings found at Davidson's house matched the bullets used to kill Newsom. On January 11, Davidson was arrested in the vacant house. There, police found Newsom's size 9½ Nike Shox athletic shoes and a .22-caliber High Standard revolver. Davidson was then interrogated about the murders. He told five different stories, first claiming that he had left the house on Friday and knew nothing of the crimes. He later told police that Cobbins and Thomas arrived at his house at around 10:00 pm on Friday or Saturday and informed him that they had carjacked some people who were in the vehicle. Davidson claimed he saw the victims tied up in the back seat, did not want any part of it, and left to smoke marijuana. He said he returned to the house about 20 minutes later to find Christian, who told him she did not want to die. He then used Christian's vehicle to deal drugs and wiped it clean. Davidson claimed that he did not go past the living room and that he never raped Christian. On January 11, Thomas, Cobbins, and Coleman were arrested in Lebanon, Kentucky. Police seized a computer on which Thomas and Cobbins had been viewing news coverage of the murders. Police also seized a purse that contained several of Christian's belongings, including her cosmetic bag and change purse. Additionally, police found Christian's overnight bag. Cobbins gave a statement to investigators claiming that he, Davidson, and Boyd drove to an apartment complex for someone to meet a girl. When they arrived, they saw an SUV with a female in the driver's seat. She was speaking to a male. Davidson and Boyd "basically carjacked them" and ordered Cobbins to drive back to Chipman Street. According to Cobbins, Davidson took the woman into a bedroom once they arrived at the residence, and Boyd drove away with the man. Boyd later returned without the male victim. Cobbins denied having any sexual intercourse with the female victim. Coleman admitted to being present in the house during the crimes, claiming that she had been held hostage by the other defendants. A forensic document examiner verified that the handwriting in the entry matched Coleman's handwriting. == Perpetrators ==

• George Geovonni "Detroit" Thomas (born January 23, 1983) faced a total of 46 charges. Thomas was indicted on 16 counts of felony murder related to the rape, robbery, and kidnapping committed against Christian and Newsom, two counts of premeditated murder, two counts of especially aggravated robbery, four counts of especially aggravated kidnapping, 20 counts of aggravated rape, and two counts of theft. • Letalvis Darnell "Rome" Cobbins (born December 20, 1982) faced the same 46 charges as Thomas. and had just, in August 2006, completed a five-year sentence in Tennessee on a previous felony conviction for carjacking and aggravated robbery. She faced 40 Tennessee state charges. Coleman was indicted on 12 counts of felony murder related to rape, robbery, kidnapping, and theft, one count of premeditated murder (of Christian only), one count of especially aggravated robbery (of Newsom only), four counts of especially aggravated kidnapping, 20 counts of aggravated rape, and two counts of theft. Later, Boyd was accused by Thomas and Cobbins of the rape and murder of Newsom and a search warrant was obtained for his DNA. He was tried on state charges more than a decade later in 2019. ==First trials==

The four suspects indicted in Knox County were scheduled to be tried separately at trials between May and August 2008. In February 2008, the trial dates for the subjects indicted in Knox County were moved to 2009. Judge Richard Baumgartner allowed Thomas and Cobbins to be tried by juries from Davidson County (which includes Nashville). The attorneys for Thomas filed a motion for a speedy trial, arguing there was no forensic link between their client and the crime scene. Thomas was granted the motion and was scheduled to go on trial on August 11, 2008. Baumgartner ruled that Thomas' phone calls from the jailhouse to his acquaintances were admissible as evidence. District Attorney Randy Nichols announced that the state would seek the death penalty for both Cobbins (the first to go to trial) and Coleman if convicted. Davidson was also indicted for the Pizza Hut robbery committed the day after the murders. The publicity against the accused led the defense to argue that a change of venue was required in order to ensure a fair trial. The state argued that an impartial jury could be found during voir dire, and the presiding judge subsequently denied the motion as "premature". Judge Baumgartner threatened to ban the Newsom family from the courtroom after they called Davidson's attorney, Doug Trant, a "jerk". Verdicts from the first trials On April 16, 2008, Eric Boyd was found guilty in federal court of being an accessory to a fatal carjacking and of failing to report the location of a known fugitive. Boyd was the first to go to trial, the only suspect not charged with murder. He was sentenced to a maximum of 18 years in federal prison. He is incarcerated at the Federal Correctional Institution, Yazoo City, a low-security federal prison in Yazoo County, Mississippi. On August 25, 2009, Letalvis Cobbins was found guilty of the murders of Channon Christian and Christopher Newsom. Cobbins faced the possibility of the death penalty because he was convicted of first-degree felony murder in the case of Christian. He was found guilty of facilitating the murder of Newsom, but he was acquitted of Newsom's rape. On August 26, Cobbins was sentenced to life without parole. On October 28, 2009, Lemaricus Davidson was found guilty. The jurors unanimously found Davidson should receive the death penalty on the four capital charges, two first-degree felony murder charges, and the two premeditated first-degree murders of Christian and Newsom. In June 2010, Davidson was sentenced to 80 years for other charges related to the murders. This sentence is to be served consecutively to the death penalty, while the death sentences are also consecutive. During sentencing, Judge Baumgartner said the crime was "one of the most incredibly outrageous, cruel and inhumane cases this court has ever seen." He also said, "how people can engage in this type of conduct is just unexplainable" and "there really is no sentence great enough to punish you for the conduct you have been convicted of." The Tennessee Supreme Court affirmed Davidson's conviction and death sentences in 2016. On December 8, 2009, George Thomas was found guilty on multiple counts. The jury returned a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole on each of the four capital convictions. Vanessa Coleman, the last defendant to face trial, was granted immunity by federal authorities for testimony in the federal case of the carjacking, but the state courts ruled that the federal grant of immunity could not extend to the state charges of murder and rape. On May 13, 2010, Coleman was acquitted of first-degree murder and found guilty of lesser charges. On July 30, 2010, she was sentenced to 53 years in prison. During sentencing, Christian's father stated, "for me, personally, you took my baby. You took my opportunity to say yes to a young man one day. You took my (wedding) dance away. You took my opportunity to hold her child, my grandbaby." ==Appeals and retrials==

The defendants in the four state cases from the 2000s all appealed their convictions. Sentencing judge Richard Baumgartner, one of Knox County's three Criminal Court judges, was forced to resign from the bench in March 2011, having admitted to drug addiction and purchasing prescription pain medication from convicts. A woman accused him of trading legal favors for sex during breaks in court sessions; Baumgartner pled guilty to official misconduct. It was held that his ability to conduct trials had been impaired during his prior two years on the bench, and he was disbarred in September. On December 1, 2011, Judge Jon Kerry Blackwood granted new trials to all four state defendants after the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation showed Baumgartner was likely impaired while presiding over their trials. Blackwood set retrials for between June and November 2012, pending appeals, and set bail at $1 million for Coleman, the only defendant whose sentence had the possibility of parole. He denied a change of venue but allowed for jurors to be brought in from outside Knox County. Due to double jeopardy, the defendants faced at maximum the sentences they had already received, and thus only Davidson was eligible for capital punishment. Prosecutors conceded Baumgartner had been impaired during Coleman's trial but appealed the decision to retry Davidson, Cobbins, and Thomas. The decision to hold retrials for them was affirmed in a two to one decision by the Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals on April 13. In May 2012, the Tennessee Supreme Court overturned Blackwood's ruling ordering new trials for Cobbins, Davidson, and Thomas, saying that a trial judge's misconduct outside the courtroom does not necessarily require a new trial unless the misconduct is shown to have affected the trial proceedings, but that its decision "should not be construed as condoning or excusing" Baumgartner's misconduct. Judge Blackwood was asked to consider the motions again for new trials. In June 2012, Judge Blackwood again granted new trials for Davidson, Cobbins, and Thomas, basing his decision on the "13th juror rule". Prosecutors filed to have Judge Blackwood recused from the case, citing Blackwood's emotional involvement, his ex parte communication with the defense, lack of candor with the local media, and Supreme Court guidance that recusal should be considered before any other action. Following Blackwood's recusal, Senior Judge Walter Kurtz was named to oversee the retrials and the decisions to grant them. Retrials were denied for Cobbins and Davidson, and granted for Thomas and Coleman. While the retrial was conducted in Knoxville, the jury for the retrial was selected from Jackson, Tennessee, more than 300 miles west of Knoxville. Coleman's lawyers argued that she should receive a 20-year sentence, while prosecutors asked for the maximum sentence of nearly 50 years. Blackwood sentenced Coleman to 35 years in prison on February 1, 2013, minus credit for time already served. Specifically, he sentenced her to 25 years for the facilitation of Christian's murder, six years for the facilitation of kidnapping, and four years for the facilitation of rape. During sentencing, Blackwood commented that "the psychological torture of this unfortunate victim was immense." He also called the crime "the most horrible" murder case he had seen. In 2014 the Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals denied Coleman's request for a new trial and upheld her sentence. Judge Thomas T. Woodall wrote in his opinion: "The facts at trial showed that (Coleman) was in the (Chipman Street) house for nearly two days where (Christian) was confined and brutally raped before she was tied up, wrapped in five plastic trash bags and stuffed into a garbage can, where she died from asphyxiation...In … journal entries (written after the slayings, Coleman) described 'one hell of an adventure in the big T.N.' and wrote that she 'loved her life!'. This evidence supports the trial court's finding that (Coleman) is a dangerous offender." On May 17, 2013, the retrial of George Thomas (with a jury empaneled in Nashville) ended in a verdict of guilty on all 38 counts. He was re-sentenced to life in prison by the jury, but with the possibility of parole after 51 years. On June 4, 2013, Judge Kurtz sentenced Thomas to two life sentences (consecutive) for the murders and 25 years (multiple concurrent) for the rapes. In 2015, the Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals upheld Thomas's conviction. In January 2016, Thomas appealed to the United States Supreme Court but the court did not agree to hear the case. ==State trial for Eric Boyd==

On March 20, 2018, eleven years after the murders, a Knox County grand jury returned a thirty-six-count indictment charging Eric DeWayne Boyd with first-degree felony murder, first-degree premeditated murder, especially aggravated robbery, especially aggravated kidnapping, and aggravated rape in the murders. Boyd was transported from a Federal Correctional Institution in Yazoo City, Mississippi, and booked into the Knox County Jail, where he was held on a $1 million bond. Boyd finally went to trial on the state charges in August 2019. Unlike the other trials, owing to a long passage of time between the murders and this trial, the jury was empaneled in Knoxville and not sequestered. Co-defendant George Thomas testified as a witness in the Boyd trial. In exchange for his testimony, Thomas was allowed to have his first-degree murder convictions reduced to second-degree murder, his aggravated rape convictions reduced to aggravated assault, and his sentence reduced from life in prison with the possibility of parole to 50 years (two 25-year terms with the opportunity to reduce his sentence by up to 15 percent based on good behavior during incarceration). On August 13, 2019, a jury found Boyd guilty on nearly all charges, including premeditated first-degree murder and rape against both victims. He was also convicted on charges of carjacking, robbery, and kidnapping. Boyd was found guilty of lesser charges on two counts. Instead of finding him guilty of especially aggravated armed robbery, the jury found Boyd guilty of aggravated armed robbery. The judge immediately sentenced Boyd to life in prison as this was automatic for a murder conviction. He was also sentenced to another 90 years for other crimes, including especially aggravated kidnapping, robbery and rape. Boyd's request for a new trial was denied by Knox County Criminal Court Judge Bob McGee in 2019. In 2021, Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals Judge Timothy L. Easter also denied Boyd a new trial. In March 2022, the Tennessee Supreme Court denied Boyd another appeal of his convictions. == Incarceration status ==

Vanessa Coleman, the only female charged and convicted in the crimes, is held at the Debra K. Johnson Rehabilitation Center in Nashville. Serving a 35-year sentence, Coleman was eligible for parole in 2017 and her sentence expires on April 18, 2036. In August 2014, the families of the victims were notified that with good behavior, Coleman's sentence was being reduced by 16 days per month of incarceration, making her eligible for parole consideration in October 2014. The parole hearing was rescheduled from October to December. At the December 2014 hearing, Coleman was denied parole and her next parole consideration date was set for December 2020. Coleman again went before a parole board on December 8, 2020. Christian's and Newsom's mothers and Christian's father gave statements to the board opposing parole. The seven board members voted unanimously to deny Coleman parole and ensure that she would not be eligible to go before a parole board again for ten years. Cobbins and Thomas were originally incarcerated at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville. After the Bledsoe County Correctional Complex in Pikeville opened in 2013, they were transferred to that facility. Cobbins is currently serving a life sentence without parole at the Northwest Correctional Complex. Davidson was sentenced to death on October 30, 2009, and is incarcerated at the Riverbend Maximum Security Institution. Boyd is incarcerated at the Turney Center Industrial Complex. ==Reaction==

According to the Associated Press, some bloggers and media critics claimed that the national media ignored the murders because the victims were white while all five suspects were black. Most news reports came from local media and online news sites. Erroneous early reporting made claims of dismemberment and mutilation of Christian's body. The District Attorney denied most of the original reports containing misinformation; the source was a federal deputy U.S. Marshal after the suspects' arrest in Kentucky. "There is absolutely no proof of a hate crime," said John Gill, special counsel to Knox County District Attorney Randy Nichols. "We know from our investigation that the people charged in this case were friends with white people, socialized with white people, dated white people. So not only is there no evidence of any racial animus, there's evidence to the contrary." Some commentators disagreed, claiming that such a crime represented motives of racial hatred. Conservative political commentator Michelle Malkin repeated this opinion on her blog and on Fox News' ''The O'Reilly Factor'' program. Newsom's mother also disagreed with the assertion that the offenders were not motivated by racism. "If this wasn't a hate crime, then I don't know how you would define a hate crime," said Newsom's mother. "It may have started out as a carjacking, but what it developed into was blacks hating whites. To do the things they did, they would have to hate them to do that." After the protest, columnist Leonard Pitts dismissed claims that the crime was under-reported. He cited a 2001 report by the Berkeley Media Studies Group, which found that "Blacks and Latinos are underrepresented in news media as victims of crime and significantly overrepresented as perpetrators." Reverend Ezra Maize, the president of the Knoxville chapter of the NAACP, addressed the case, saying: It doesn't make me uncomfortable speaking out against this crime because it was African Americans [allegedly] committing a crime against Caucasians ... It's not a black-and-white issue. It's a right-and-wrong issue. Those who committed this crime were unjust in doing so, and they should pay the penalty. A memorial to Newsom and Christian was created at the location where the house once stood. ==Legacy==

The Channon Gail Christian Foundation and the Channon Gail Christian Memorial Golf Tournament were established in Channon Christian's memory to provide a scholarship for a Farragut High School Senior to attend the University of Tennessee. A foundation has also been established in Newsom's name. The foundation holds an annual memorial baseball tournament at the Halls Community Park. A memorial scholarship is given annually in his name to a graduating Halls High School baseball player. Channon Christian's father, Gary Christian, speaks at churches proclaiming how, in Spring 2017, he asked God to restore him from his pervasive anger. He presents testimony of how he is overcoming the anger that most East Tennesseans saw played out during news articles throughout the trials and appeals. ==Legislative changes==

Thanks to lobbying from the families of the victims, two new laws were introduced in 2014 as a result of the case: • The "Chris Newsom Act" was introduced to eliminate the need for a judge's signature on a jury verdict after the delivery of a unanimous verdict. This thus eliminates the '13th juror' rule, which stipulates that a judge must validate a jury's verdict. Had such a law been in place during the case, the retrials would have been avoided. • The "Channon Christian Act" restricts attorneys and defendants in attempting to portray a victim in a negative light, such as making allegations about their behavior. During the trial, Davidson had alleged that his victims had come to his house to buy drugs. According to Christian's mother, her family felt great pain as a result of listening to defense attorneys question Christian's character during multiple trials. Meanwhile, due to laws protecting the accused, the jury was not allowed to be informed of Davidson's previous carjacking conviction. ==See also==