In what is truly one of the most horrific murder cases Knoxville, TN has ever seen, another sad twist causing more heartbreak for the families involved...
Channon Christain and Christopher Newsome were a couple of college kids just getting serious about their relationship when fate ended their lives. They were carjacked and kidnapped in the early morning hours of January 7 2007. They were held prisoner, and each was raped, tortured, and brutually murdered. It was speculated in the local media that the reason this case didn't receive widespread national attention in the media because Channon and Christopher were white, and their killers were black. All 5 suspects were captured, tried, and convicted. Case closed right? Well, no unfortunately. It was recently discovered that the judge presiding over the case was addicted to prescription pain killers, and was using those pain killers during the trial. So, the convinctions were thrown out, and all suspects must be retried, despite mountains of physical evidence tying each suspect to the murders. Once again, it seems that criminals rights are better served and protected than the rights of their victims.
While I don't know as much about this case as you do,Navy,I hate the race card being played.It gets in the way of due process and stirrs up public sentiment and more often than not,hard for the accused to get a fair trial.
Having said that,from what I understand,they killed the couple in the most heinous and vile way and deserve to punished to the full extent of the law.These are the sociopaths that we need to get off the street for life.This is disgusting.
Shame on the entire system for screwing this up and putting the families through hell AGAIN.
What they did to the couple... well I can't even imagine having to go thru that. And then at the first set of trials the defense tried to say that Channon and Christopher brought this all on themselves.. that it was a drug deal gone bad, even though Channon and Christopher had no history of drug use or abuse. I know the defense had to put on some kind of defense, but wow.. saying well channon and christopher couldn't pay for the drugs so they deserve what they got.. unbelieveable.
Yep, but unfortunately, that in itself is another issue. I don't understand all the legal aspects or rules, etc. Something about there's double jepoard involved, so now, only one of the suspects will be able to receive the death penalty, if they are found guilty.
