Posted on 08/25/2009 7:40:09 AM PDT by jessduntno
Torture-slaying trial, Day 8: Jurors resume deliberations By News Sentinel staff Posted August 25, 2009 at 9:11 a.m.
KNOXVILLE — Jurors in the torture-slaying trial of Letalvis Cobbins resumed deliberations this morning.
The panel from Davidson County deliberated about seven and a half hours Monday, ending the day without a verdict before returning to the hotel where they have been sequestered for more than a week.
Testimony wrapped up Saturday with Cobbins, 26, taking the stand in his own defense.
Cobbins is accused of taking part in the January 2007 kidnapping, rape and slaying of Channon Christian, 21,and Christopher Newsom, 23. The young couple were carjacked while outside a Washington Pike apartment complex and then taken to a Chipman Street house where Cobbins’ brother Lemaricus Davidson lived.
Newsom was shot to death and left along railroad tracks near the house. Christian was left to suffocate to death in a trash can inside the home.
Cobbins has admitted raping Christian inside the house, although he testified Saturday that she offered him the oral sex if he could help ensure her freedom. Christian and Newsom did not know Cobbins, Davidson or their co-defendants, George Thomas and Vanessa Coleman, who await trial.
If jurors convict Cobbins of first-degree murder, they will shift into a penalty phase in which they will consider evidence about whether he should be executed. Prosecutors will try to show his crimes are so heinous he deserves death, while defense attorneys will try to counter with mitigating facts.
Sixteen people were impaneled last week at the trial’s start. A woman juror, however, bowed out after Friday’s graphic photographic evidence of the couple’s rape injuries. Fifteen jurors remain, but only 12 are taking part in the deliberations.
More details as they develop online and in Wednesday’s News Sentinel.
(Excerpt) Read more at knoxnews.com ...
About hate crime--crime is crime, but the media see "hate" when it is white on black. Black on white is "understood" in view of our history of suppression of blacks.
I cannot tell you how sick of this I am and I refuse to take it quietly any more. The media are causing racism to fester in people who never felt it before, because the people can plainly see the unfairness of accusations and the utterly blatant bias on the side of the media. Media are siding with these "poor black victims of institutional racism"--these victims who have opportunities not even open to whites--special consideration and preference to everything in our society. If they choose to live in the public housing, drop out of school, become criminals, they are excused because they are victims!
If they choose to use their victimhood to apply to ivy schools, they will be considered on race and be admitted above more qualified applicants who are white or oriental--that's okay, though, they are victims.
Rant off--sorry, but this horrible crime and the media are just too much!
vaudine
i thought the same thing at first,why so long. what we don’t know is how many charges there are they have to go over.
A panel of 16 people has been selected: 5 black women, 3 black men, 2 white women, 5 white men, and 1 Asian man.
Twelve of those 16 will decide Cobbins' fate. The other four are alternates.
Gender/racial layout of jury:
•Juror 1: Asian man
•Juror 2: Black man
•Juror 3: Black woman
•Juror 4: White man
•Juror 5: White man
•Juror 6: Black woman
•Juror 7: White woman
•Juror 8: Black woman
•Juror 9: Black man
•Juror 10: Black female
•Juror 11: White woman
•Juror 12: Black woman
•Juror 13 (alternate): White man
•Juror 14 (alternate): White man
•Juror 15 (alternate): White man
•Juror 16 (alternate): Black man
“Rant off—sorry, but this horrible crime and the media are just too much!”
I haven’t seen it often here (or anywhere) probably because it is so disturbing and so deeply disgusting. Holder, in my opinion, used his “cowardice” speech to chill us even further, or worse...to provoke us...and I wonder how many people are actually AFRAID to speak out about this because they will be charged with racism?
Eric Holder, the nation’s first black attorney general, said Wednesday the United States was “a nation of cowards” on matters of race, with most Americans avoiding candid discussions of racial issues. In a speech to Justice Department employees marking Black History Month, Holder said the workplace is largely integrated but Americans still self-segregate on the weekends and in their private lives.
“Though this nation has proudly thought of itself as an ethnic melting pot, in things racial we have always been and I believe continue to be, in too many ways, essentially a nation of cowards,” Holder said.
Race issues continue to be a topic of political discussion, but “we, as average Americans, simply do not talk enough with each other about race.”
Holder’s speech echoed President Barack Obama’s landmark address last year on race relations during the hotly contested Democratic primaries, when the then-candidate urged the nation to break “a racial stalemate we’ve been stuck in for years” and bemoaned the “chasm of misunderstanding that exists between the races.” Obama delivered the speech to try to distance himself from the angry rhetoric of his former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright.
Holder cited that speech by Obama as part of the motivation for his words Wednesday, saying Americans need to overcome an ingrained inhibition against talking about race.
“If we’re going to ever make progress, we’re going to have to have the guts, we have to have the determination, to be honest with each other. It also means we have to be able to accept criticism where that is justified,” Holder told reporters after the speech.
I also could give a rat’s hind end what color they are. Terminate them in a way equil to their crime with extreme prejudice.
vaudine
You’re right of course, it’s just the anger talking. I actually think the death penalty apparatus of the US is quite excellent in that you flush these turds and nobody hears from them again.
Actually, the national MSM have not covered this atrocity AT ALL. Outside Knoxville, it is not even a story. Had the facts been reversed, of course, and a gang of white low lifes had tortured, raped and murdered two innocent Blacks, we would have heard nothing else for months. One of many reasons Americans no longer believe the MSM. Warning: the jury includes many “minorities” who could ignore the overwhelming evidence and vote to acquit. These vermin could walk yet.
This should've been decided within 1 hour, they have the evidence, a death penalty verdict should have been the next step. This makes me nervous that this guy is going to get off with life in prison. He'll be a celebrity in prison when he should be worm food.
average Americans, simply do not talk enough with each other about race.”
What my black/brown friends and I discuss:
1) sports
2) Our crappy jobs
3) The Texas drought
4) Family
5) beautiful women
6) Music
7) Guns
8) traffic
9) vacation
10) beer
A meaningful and thought provoking discussion on race is rather far down on the list of the most important conversation topics.
Most of working people I know have more going on in our lives than singing “I like to Teach the World to Sing in Perfect Harmony “ while sitting in a large field with Eric Holder holding court.
WOMEN ARE 5 AND BEER IS 10?
Conservatives are still not in favor of that classification in crimes. On the other hand as long as there is such a classification (hate crime)on the books, we feel it should be administered equitably and fairly,without racial bias, as should all laws.
Understand?
guess that answers my question
GUILTY!
What ethnic or religious group did the victims belong to but the perpetrators did not, and where and why did the hate factor come in? Spare me the righteous indignation and give me some facts I can use to understand the issues.
You mean the victims were white and the perpetrators were black? Well, then, why not say so?
Sorry. I got the racial make up wrong. One of those jurors resigned last Friday. Does anyone know the race of that one? There are only 15 left. Of course, you only need one to throw the trial.
Don’t get your panties all bunched. I’m asking a simple question, and it requires a factual answer. What is your problem? This is the first I hear of the case, and nobody says in the article that it was black on white. OK?
Replies #5 and #6 clearly reported the races of those involved.
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