Horrific Murders of Channon Christian and Christopher Newsom

[Teacher]

Crime

According to news reports, Christian and Newsom had gone on a date at a local restaurant on Saturday, January 6, 2007, but did not return home. During their night out, the couple were carjacked, bound and blindfolded by three males, and "taken back to Lemaricus Devall 'Slim' Davidson's rented house on Chipman Street."[6]

Christian's parents found her abandoned Toyota 4-Runner two blocks away from the Chipman Street house the following Monday with the help of her mobile phone provider. An envelope recovered from the vehicle yielded fingerprint evidence that led police to Lemaricus Davidson and 2316 Chipman Street. When police went to the address on Tuesday, January 9, they found the home unoccupied and Christian's body in a trash can in the kitchen.

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 sodomized with an object 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.

Channon's death came only after hours of sexual torture, medical examiner Mileusnic-Polchan testified. Channon 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 Channon 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. Channon died slowly, suffocating, the medical examiner said.

/Murders_of_Channon_Christian_and_Christophe...en.wikipedia.org


In my local paper is an article stating that 4 of the defendants are going to get a new trial due to official misconduct by the judge, Richard Baumgartner. These murders were extremely grisly, cruel, and inhumane to say the least.

[Lady Cop]

oh God, i remember this horrible case. fucking judge should be hung on the courthouse steps! if these monsters got a new trial and went free due to his wrongdoing, i hope lynching is brought back. these crimes were beyond horrific. the details would gag a maggot.

Knoxville News Sentinel

KNOXVILLE — Knox County District Attorney General Randy Nichols said today he will appeal new trials ordered for the killers of Channon Christian and Christopher Newsom.

The couple was carjacked, robbed, tortured, raped and murdered in January 2007.

Special Judge Jon Kerry Blackwood on Dec. 1 ordered new trials for the four defendants.

Nichols said in a news release this afternoon that after conferring with the Tennessee Attorney General's Office and discussing the matter with the families of the victims, he has determined he will file appeals.

He said his office is working with Tennessee Attorney General Bob Cooper and his staff on preparing these appeals.

The deadline for filing these appeals is shortly after the first of the year, according to the release.

Because these are open cases, Nichols declined to comment further.

He did say in the release that there are related motions with some of the same issues as in the Christian/Newsom murder case pending in the Knox County Criminal Courts.

Rulings by former Judge Richard Baumgartner have been upheld in some of these and several are still pending.

Nichols expects that his office will appeal many if not most of the cases, should they be dismissed.

Blackwood, in granting new trials, agreed with lawyers that presiding judge Baumgartner's conduct led to fundamental structural flaws in the prosecutions.His voice at times rising to a shout, Blackwood said Baumgartner was obviously intoxicated in 2009 and 2010 while Lemaricus Davidson, Letalvis Cobbins, George Thomas and Vanessa Coleman were being prosecuted.

Baumgartner used defendants under his influence to procure pills to satisfy his habit, Blackwood said, citing a TBI investigation. He engaged in sex with one defendant, Deena Castleman, who helped him satisfy his drug habit, driving her around in his car, taking her to Chattanooga during jury selection for one of the torture-slaying defendants, and lying on her behalf after she tested positive for drugs.

Baumgartner went so far as to visit Castleman in her hospital room in 2009, posing as her lawyer when questioned by a nurse, according to the investigation. Whenever he visited the hospital, he always shut the door, the investigation showed.

Despite efforts by friends and colleagues including his secretary Jennifer Judy and a longtime friend and fellow officeholder, District Attorney General Randy Nichols, the judge denied he had a problem, Blackwood said.

Blackwood said he hated to publicly humiliate a colleague, but the evidence of Baumgartner's wrongdoings was a matter of public interest.

Lawyers for the four defendants argued Baumgartner was responsible for fundamental flaws for which their clients deserved new trials.

Baumgartner pleaded guilty in March to official misconduct and resigned. He admitted using drugs secured for him by Chris Gibson, a defendant with a case in his courtroom. According to Blackwood, the TBI file showed Gibson and Castleman were acquainted.

Blackwood said a sealed TBI file shows Baumgartner was deeply addicted to hydrocodone while handling the cases in 2009 and 2010.

"What's significant about this is the clear implication, the clear implication that he was doctor shopping," he said.

Prosecutors also noted during at least one of the prosecutions that Baumgartner seemed impaired, driving erratically and appearing out of touch with proceedings, according to Blackwood.

Davidson is serving a death sentence, Cobbins and Thomas are serving life sentences and Coleman is serving 53 years in the January 2007 attacks against Channon Christian, 21, and Chris Newsom 23.

Christian and Newsom were carjacked, sexually tortured and then killed after being brought to a rental house on Chipman Street near Cherry Street in North Knoxville. Newsom's killers set his body on fire on nearby railroad tracks. Christian's killers left her body in a trash barrel at the house.















the dirty judge

[Lady Cop]

On Saturday January 6, 2007 Hugh Christopher Newsom, age 23 and Channon Gail Christian, age 21, both students at the University of Tennessee went out on a date. They were driving in Channon's Toyota 4-Runner when they were carjacked at gunpoint. Suddenly the crime turned far more savage than an armed car theft. Chris and Channon were kidnapped and driven to 2316 Chipman Street where they were forced into the home at gunpoint. While Channon was forced to watch, her boyfriend was raped prison style and then his penis was cut off. He was later driven to nearby railroad tracks where he was shot and set afire. But Channon's hell was just beginning. She was beaten; gang raped repeatedly in many ways, including use of objects like a chair leg, had one of her breasts cut off and bleach poured down her throat to destroy DNA evidence-all while she was still alive. To add to Channon's degradation the suspects took turns urinating on her. They too set her body afire, apparently inside the residence, but for some reason left her body there-in five separate trash bags.

[Lady Cop]

WBIR

A woman who investigators said sold pills to Former Knox County Judge Richard Baumgartner was sentenced to prison in court on Wednesday.

According to the Knox County Criminal Court Clerk's Office, Deena Castleman was sentenced to six year in prison for aggravated burglary, DUI, Simple possession and theft.

The investigation into former Judge Baumgartner showed he had sex with Castleman at his office in the city county building.

In addition to purchasing pills. Investigators also said Baumgartner used his influence to keep Castleman out of jail.

[Harvest Moon]

I wish I had not read this... belated but heartfelt RIP to these two young adults.

[Lady Cop]

this horror made the Johnny and Lisa murders look like soft kills.
and those were awful.

[Duchess]

I thought they would be black before I even got to the photographs.

[Lady Cop]

there was a lot of controversy and discussion back then about this case not being covered like the Duke LaCrosse "rape" story at the time. people barely heard of it. sharpton and jackson didn't speak out for THESE victims.

[ttownclown]

I wish that I didn't read this either...I just don't understand how people are capable of such horrendous things...This just made me sick...I can't even begin to imagine how the families feel...

[Harvest Moon]

All of the suspects have the same blank expression on their faces. Like something inside them died and is rotting their souls.

[Lady Cop]

i have so far been unable to locate autopsy reports for these crimes, they may be sealed. there is a question in some published reports about whether Newsom's penis was cut off. in any event, it was brutal, barbaric and cruel.

detailed graphic contemporaneous Medical Examiner's report:

http://www.wate.com/Global/story.asp?S=10968229

[Lady Cop]

[Duchess]

Those animals need to die.

[Jezreel]

This is horrendous, they are seriously sick, twisted creatures. I will never get how people 'get off' on doing things like this. Its amazing how these people find others like them.... a car jacking is one thing, how do you get from that to all of you deciding, 'hey lets rape and torture this couple' and they all go along with it?!?!?!
I can't stop thinking how Channon must have felt being alive through all of that, even while they stuffed her body in the trash and how their parents must have felt through the trial listening to all the sick disgusting details of how their babies were taken from them.
I would say they should all be raped and tortured just like they did to this couple, but even that is not enough for these sick bastards!

[Kip]

I can't believe the Christian and Newsom families are forced to go through all of this again. I've been following this case since it happened - after reading about it, I couldn't sleep for several nights. This case has gotten virtually no national coverage.

What I don't understand is how the misconduct of the judge affected the trial. You could have a competent judge who makes better decisions drunk than a sober incompetent judge. The trial transcripts should show whether the victims received fair trials.

[sharit]

i followed this case from day one watched the trials every day on the internet. it was a horrible crime and if any of them walk, trust me they wont walk for long. God i hope they dont put these families through this again. Honestly the judge did not appear to me to be on drugs. all the scums should have got the death penalty.

[sally]

Jesus Christ, why did I read this. That made the Texas Chainsaw massacre sound like a Disney movie.

[gatorfankim]

Jesus Christ! I agree... I should never have read this horrific story, though I do remember hearing about it a few years back. This heinous, barbaric, inhumane case reminds me of the Carr brothers case (The Wichita Horror) in the winter of 2000. Makes you wonder where such depravity comes from?!

[Lady Cop]

a 2009 docu about the case, very touching interviews with the parents. (NO gore!) 17 minutes in length.

[lawheeze]

a 2009 docu about the case, very touching interviews with the parents. (NO gore!) 17 minutes in length. [/video]

Wow. Thanks, LC. Very moving. What a tragic case.