Posted on 11/02/2009 10:00:16 AM PST by jessduntno
By Duncan Mansfield Associated Press Posted Nov 02, 2009 @ 09:00 AM KNOXVILLE, Tenn.
The convicted ringleader in the 2007 carjacking and torture slaying of a young Tennessee couple has been sentenced to death.
Memphis native Lemaricus Davidson, 28, showed no reaction after jurors concluded four hours of deliberations and announced the sentence Friday in a case that raised racial tensions and inflamed Internet bloggers because the victims were white and the defendants are black.
The same jury convicted Davidson on Wednesday of more than 30 charges, including premeditated murder and felony murder, for the January 2007 attack on University of Tennessee student Channon Christian, 21, and her boyfriend Christopher Newsom, 23.
"May you find peace with your maker," Knox County Criminal Court Judge Richard Baumgartner told Davidson after the sentence was read -- the first death sentence by a Knox County jury since 1997.
"That was hard for those 12 people to do, I know. It would not have been hard for me to do," Christian's father Gary Christian said of the jury sentence.
"I have to ask the thousands and thousands of people that have been praying for our families to pray for (the jurors)," he said.
Gary Christian's wife, Deena, added: "The Christians, the Newsoms and all of Knoxville got justice today."
The victims were on a date when they were carjacked from her sport utility vehicle by several armed men, including Davidson.
(Excerpt) Read more at oakridger.com ...
Nothing to see here, folks. Just white folks tortured, raped and murdered.
Quick, stick a needle in his arm before some wise Latina gives him the benefit of her unique life experiences.
Gee, I guess I missed the riots and the preachers demanding a boycott and all the claims of racism and how all Blacks and their "racist society" caused all of this and the need for more laws and all the rest from the "inflamed racial tension"
The skin color of the people involved is irrelevant. What is relevant is the utter barbarism perpetrated here. If the skin color were reversed between victims and perpetrators our rage would burn just as bright. Meanwhile because of skin color, you junk media clowns are making excuses for barbaric perpetrators.
The US "News" Media, the hive of hypocrisy.
That may be,
but tell that to the family and friends of those
brutally raped, sodomized, tortured, and murdered
The pendulum is starting to swing to the right and it’s about time.
I think there’s a warm spot in hell waiting for this group. I hope the state makes a point of expediting their trip.
With Tennessee’s death sentence appeals process, if he is put to death before he turns 50, we will be lucky.
The victims.
May they rest in peace.
I’ve followed this case since it happened. Glad to see there is some justice for these two young people. Real justice would be if their killers suffer a terrifying, horrific death like the victims did.
Not that I agree with hate crime legislation. It's just amazing to me that it's never a hate crime when the victims are white.
Maybe Obama will state the jurors “acted stupidly”.
Am I reading this right? Christopher Newsom was raped before he was killed?
If I were the appellate judge:
Sentence confirmed! Appeales denied! Next!!!
Why is he still here? Stick a needle in him! Next, Next!!!
Yes, horrifically. Out of consideration of the families, let’s not dwell on details.
Am I reading this right? Christopher Newsom was raped before he was killed?
Yep...and they say it wasn’t a hate crime...
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