Posted on 04/16/2008 5:36:09 AM PDT by Travis McGee
The defense in the case of an accused accessory to a fatal carjacking rested its case in U.S. District Court just before noon.
Defense attorney Phil Lomonaco sent only two witnesses to the stand, one of whom was a government witness from Monday.
The first witness was a carpenter whose sole job was to measure the distance from the Chipman Street house where a Knoxville couple was slain to the parking lot of a nearby business where an employee earlier testified he saw a car linked to Eric Dewayne "E" Boyd soon after the January 2007 fatal carjacking.
The second witness was Leesa Greer who testified Monday that she saw Boyd taking food to a vacant house where alleged ringleader of the fatal carjacking was hiding out.
Lomonaco recalled her largely to show that she had a sexual relationship with alleged ringleader Lemaricus "Slim" Davidson.
He accused her - instead of Boyd - of taking food to Davidson. She denied it.
Closing arguments will begin after lunch.
The government rested its case this morning.
"At this time, the United States of America rests its case in chief," said Assistant U.S. Attorney David Jennings.
The announcement came after graphic testimony from Knox County Acting Medical Examiner Dr. Darinka Mileusnic-Polchan about injuries sustained by Channon Christian, 21.
Authorities say Christian and her boyfriend, Christopher Newsom, 23, were carjacked, tortured and killed in January 2007. Newsom's burned boy was found along railroad tracks off Cherry Street.
Mileusnic-Polchan testified this morning that Christian suffered a slow death, suffocating inside a trash can in the kitchen of the nearby house on Chipman Street.
Boyd is accused of hiding out Davidson, who lived in the house.
Christian had been beaten with enough force to cause bruising on her brain, but the worst injuries, Mileusnic-Polchan said, were sustained in what she described as a savage sexual assault.
"It's much more than a simple sexual trauma," she testified. "It's extreme."
She said Christian was not only repeatedly raped both orally, vaginally and rectally, but that it appears an object was used in the attack.
Christian had extensive injuries in the genital region and her mouth, including the tearing of the membrane that connected Christian's lips to her gums.
She said Christian suffocated because she was placed into a forced fetal position inside the trash can as well as because of a plastic garbage bag that had been pulled tightly over her face.
"It was a slow asphyxia death," she said. "My conclusion was she actually died in the trash can."
Tennessee Bureau of Investigation serology expert Jennifer Millsaps linked brothers Davidson and Letalvis "Rome" Cobbins to the sexual attack on Christian.
Lomonaco asked U.S. District Judge Tom Varlan to toss out the case this morning, arguing that either the government had not proven its accessory-to-carjacking case or should be punished for race-based decision-making in charging Boyd but letting go Davidson's white girlfriend, Daphne Sutton.
Lomonaco made a similar claim on the eve of trial.
Jennings repeated his assertion that, at most, evidence suggested Sutton could have been an accessory to murder for allowing Davidson to stay with her after she learned of the discovery of the body Newsom.
However, murder except in limited circumstances is not a federal crime, and Jennings said there is nothing to suggest she knew about the carjacking.
"She didn't know it was a carjacking when she heard about the body being found near the railroad tracks," Jennings said, referring to Newsom, whose body was found burned along tracks near Chipman Street.
"We have to prove, to bring federal charges of accessory to carjacking, actual knowledge of the carjacking. We've proven that with regard to (Boyd), clearly, possibly, right after the crime itself."
In a videotaped statement played for jurors Monday, Boyd indicated Newsom and Christian never saw the attack coming.
Still, the young couple might have escaped the horrors that would follow but for a passing car.
"They weren't able to carjack them," Boyd recalled in a videotaped statement played for jurors. "They just, I guess, a car was coming (so they) pushed them in, right in the car, because dude was giving the girl a kiss."
Just how Boyd knew those details and more he offered up in a Jan. 11, 2007, interview with Knoxville Police Department Investigators Patty Tipton and Greg McKnight is the subject of vigorous debate between federal prosecutors trying in a week-old trial to see Boyd convicted and a defense attorney hoping to see him go free.
In addition to Davidson and Cobbins, their friend George "Detroit" Thomas and Cobbins' girlfriend, Vanessa Coleman, face state charges, including first-degree murder, in the couple's deaths.
Although those suspects implicated Boyd in the slayings and Boyd's own cousin, Nicole Mathis, offered up last week testimony linking him to the crimes, he currently is only charged as an accessory to the fatal carjacking.
To prove their case, Jennings and Tracy Stone on Monday began the day with Boyd's own words captured on police videotape and then set out to construct a timeline of Boyd's alleged assistance to Davidson in the days following the slayings.
On the videotape, Boyd insists his knowledge of the crimes came from Davidson, who he said initially blamed his brother but eventually confessed to a small role.
"He said he didn't (rape Christian) and, well, he did say he choked her," Boyd said in the interview.
A skeptical McKnight responded, "They had sex with her, but he choked and killed her? Does that make sense to you?"
"No, no it don't," Boyd answered.
DNA tests have since linked both Davidson and his brother to the rape of Christian.
According to Boyd, Davidson and the others were in a beef with drug dealers over a debt and went out on the night of Jan. 6, 2007, in search of a car. He did not explain, however, how the pair managed to travel without a vehicle. Earlier testimony suggested it was Boyd who provided the crew a ride that night. Defense attorney Phil Lomonaco denies that.
Boyd's interview with police was replete with apparent contradictions. For instance, he admitted going to Davidson's Chipman Street house. Christian would still have been alive, but Boyd insisted he never saw her.
"They had her in the back bedroom," he said Davidson later told him. "I stayed strictly in the living room."
However, he later said Davidson greeted him on the porch to warn him away and insisted he never made it past the doorway.
He initially insisted Davidson was only a casual acquaintance. But when questioned why Davidson would reveal details of the slayings to someone he barely knew, Boyd said he and Davidson spent a lot of time together.
Boyd said he had a firm alibi for the carjacking and slayings but, when pressed, could not provide the specifics he promised.
"They ain't no telling what I did," he said. "I be ripping and running. ... Walking up and down the streets of Ridgebrook, just drinking, smoking and drinking and smoking weed, that's all I do every day. I may go to Labor Ready on occasion so I can get a little more buzz money."
(Much more at the link)
Knoxville horror trial winds up. Truly a horror for the victims.
TN ping
Is it me or is the article written structurally confusing.
If I were the judge, I’d opt for a very slow, agonizing death for each member of this crowd.
No, it's not you.
Yesterday I thought about this.
Structure is important.
Tomorrow I'll check this afternoon note to see if it's there.
It’s not just you. This article is one of the most poorly written pieces I have ever read.
It's a pity there's not 'Mad Dog' rule for feral humans.
L
Where the murder occurred however has always been a rough area at least as long as I can remember and I've lived in the Knoxville area 50 years. These thugs join a list of people who have terrorized East Knoxville and were made very high profile cases. Another one was a killer named Zoo Man who raped and killed.
The two carjacking victims both died slow and painful deaths. There was no excuse for the killers act and like mad animals they need to be put down. They showed no mercy and none should be given them. Unfortunately their crime places them to where all they will get will be a needle in the arm rather than a seat in Old Smokey.
I only wish Tennessee had an open carry law. I don't have a CCW but at times when I know I'm headed to bad areas or will be out late I carry anyway. In these parts a substantial portion of the population does the same. I also sleep with a Security Six under my pillow these days. That is something I started doing recently. I live outside of Knoxville in a rural area. But rural areas are not immune to thugs either.
Where the murder occurred however has always been a rough area at least as long as I can remember and I've lived in the Knoxville area 50 years. These thugs join a list of people who have terrorized East Knoxville and were made very high profile cases. Another one was a killer named Zoo Man who raped and killed.
The two carjacking victims both died slow and painful deaths. There was no excuse for the killers act and like mad animals they need to be put down. They showed no mercy and none should be given them. Unfortunately their crime places them to where all they will get will be a needle in the arm rather than a seat in Old Smokey.
I only wish Tennessee had an open carry law. I don't have a CCW but at times when I know I'm headed to bad areas or will be out late I carry anyway. In these parts a substantial portion of the population does the same. I also sleep with a Security Six under my pillow these days. That is something I started doing recently. I live outside of Knoxville in a rural area. But rural areas are not immune to thugs either.
Nobody who ever got carjacked, home invaded etc. ever expected it to happen. You have to be on your toes every single day. Feral humans are out there, who look at you like a piece of meat with cash in your pocket.
I have to skim through most of the articles (and I can’t bear to watch any TV coverage) because it sickens me so much. But it looks like this website does a lot of cutting and pasting of articles. When there are updates, they run first, then the previous article just gets tacked on behind it. The story is so bizarre, convoluted, and vile though that even the best reporter would have a hard time keeping it all straight I think. This Jamie Satterfield seems to be doing her best.
As far as the crime goes, “horror” is an appropriate word. Brings back memories of Wichita although I never thought I would say that paled in comparison to this! It is nothing short of a war crime style atrocity. I’ve been using that term for a year now. Though these butchers could also be lumped in with modern day terrorists like the guys who executed Nick Berg.
Despite this being one of the most horrible crimes on record in this country, CNN, Fox, MSNBC et al are essentially silent on this trial. Maybe when the state trials of the rapist/murderers get under way next year it will be a different story but I seriously doubt it.
Were it my friends or loved ones .........lord help em they would go slower with a lot more hurt.
Labor Ready needs to clean up it’s act in hiring people who are needed for temp jobs.
I know what you mean. Sometimes you can't do it though because of the cause and effect it would have on those dependeding on you being there. I know someone I'd dearly love to beat the living snot out of. Reality though forbids it :>{
As a civilian I never go armed where I wouldn’t go unarmed......:o)
Lesson taught too me long ago an only violated to save life of family , friends etc . Example: ...never used an ATM at 0300 when you didn’t have a gun and don’t if you do have one now.
Awareness is key IMHO and the firearm is 1% of my personal security plan. 1% no predator wants to experience. But rest assured that I am within arms reach of a firearm 24/7 these days......
Stay safe !
Uncle Sugar taught me how to create accidents......(retired EOD)......a skill they will never be able to get back in the bottle.
Stay safe !
Some of the original stories suggested they were carjacked near where the murder occurred - begging the question if true, what were they doing there? If they were in the area to buy drugs (as white suburban kids tend to do in ghettos all over the country) it puts a different slant on why the crime occurred. I had the impression intially that this was a drug buy gone bad, but stories hinting at that vanished in a hurry.
But the racially-motivated news blackout and subsequent poor reporting on this case has made it hard to know exactly what happened.
Actually they could have been on their way to the mall. If they had been in the Fountain City or Broadway I-40 area to eat, shop, or something there is a short cut to the mall that would put them within a few blocks of that neighborhood. I used to work in the area about 18 years ago as a convience store night clerk and it wasn't safe then even though it's a residential area. A guy working in a store a block away got capped one afternoon. If they were near an area called North Hills, Alice Bell, or Whittle Springs, that is pretty darn close to where the murders happened. People including myself have used that route a lot of times to get to the mall.
They weren't rich kids as the area they lived in is middle class. Most persons wanting drugs in Knoxville drugs can get them a lot safer {via friends} than going into bad parts of town. That's usually the junkies who take such risk as that. I really doubt the drug deal angle to it. Sounds more like a defense rumor to try and discredit the victims name. Two of the killers IIRC were convicts from the Memphis area.
Too many of our kids are raised PC today, like naive bliss-ninnies.
Good karma ain’t enough. 360* alertness and a firearm are required today.
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