Torture-slaying sentence: Death for Davidson (Christian/Newsom Murderer)

KNOXVILLE - A Knox County jury this afternoon sentenced convicted torture-slaying ringleader Lemaricus Davidson to death by lethal injection for the January 2007 murders of Channon Christian and Christopher Newsom.

The jury of five women and seven men deliberated about four hours before returning its decision to a packed courtroom.

The victims' families gasped at the verdict, but Davidson showed no reaction. Criminal Court Judge Richard Baumgartner admonished those in the courtroom to control any outburst.

“The murder was especially heinous, atrocious and cruel,” the foreman said, reading from the verdict form.

Davidson, 28, most likely will be taken to Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville where death row is housed. Some male inmates, however, are incarcerated at Morgan County Correctional Complex in Wartburg for security reasons. Two inmates with the death penalty are currently housed at that prison.

The jurors this morning heard closing arguments in the penalty phase of this 11-day trial before getting a final round of legal instructions from Criminal Court Judge Richard Baumgartner.

Prosecutor Takisha Fitzgerald told jurors Davidson killed Christian, 21, a University of Tennessee student and her boyfriend Newsom, 23, to save his own neck.

"The only thing Chris had left was the knowledge of who his attacker was," Fitzgerald said. "(Davidson) took everything else. The only thing (Channon) had left was the knowledge of who her attacker was."

Defense attorney Doug Trant asked jurors to spare Davidson's life, noting the abuse he suffered and the foster parents who still love him.

From the last paragraph of the story in the Corrupt Liberal Media coverage of this story:

“prosecutors and police have said race was not a factor, contending the carjacking that led to their deaths was random.”

The carjacking was a minor crime compared to the sadistic gang rape and torture murder of these victims:

“According to the testimony of the Knox County Acting Medical Examiner Dr. Darinka Mileusnic-Polchan at the subsequent trial of Eric Boyd, Newsom was repeatedly raped and then blindfolded, gagged, arms and feet bound and his head covered. Barefoot, he was either led or dragged outside the house to a set of nearby railroad tracks. He was shot in the back of the head, the neck, and the back, and his body then set on fire.

Christian’s death came only after hours of sexual torture, medical examiner Mileusnic-Polchan testified. Christian suffered horrific injuries to her vagina, anus and mouth. She was not only raped but savaged with “an object,” possibly a broken chair leg, the doctor testified. She was beaten in the head. Some type of chemical was poured down her throat, and her body, including her bleeding and battered genital area, likely scrubbed with the same solution - all while Christian was alive, the forensic expert said. She was then “hog-tied,” with curtains and strips of bedding, her face covered tightly with a small trash bag and her body stashed inside five large trash bags before being placed inside a large trash can and covered with sheets. Christian died slowly, suffocating, the medical examiner said.”

“Actually, the word around Knoxville is the first one has already been placed in solitary confinement due to multiple threats on his life in prison. It seems the wheels of justice may turn faster in prison than the system in tennessee!”

I read this morning that Tim Burchette, Knox County Mayor candidate, made some phone calls and now Cobbins will be removed from a medium security prison to a maximum security site. This is good news for the parents and eveyone else who were outraged at the thought of the scum having all the privileges of a medium security prison.

Thanks for the ping. Reread what happened to the couple. It’s so horrific one doesn’t even want to believe it. His demon brother should have gotten the death penalty too. If a white person was as obviously guilty as all the members of this gang are, I would have no problem saying that such a beast deserves the maximum.

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.