Death for Lemaricus Davidson

Knoxville News Sentinel

via knoxnews.com

By Jamie Satterfield

October 30, 2009

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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 punishment is death,” the jury foreman said.

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 for Newsom...

Davidson's brother, Letalvis Cobbins, 26, was convicted in August and is serving life without parole. He is in a protective safety unit away from the general population at a West Tennessee prison after expressing fears for his safety.

Pending trial are suspects George Thomas, 26, who will face a Hamilton County jury Dec. 1, and Vanessa Coleman, 21, whose case is on hold pending a pre-trial appeal.

A fifth suspect, Eric Boyd, 37, remains uncharged in the killings but is serving an 18-year federal prison term for hiding out Davidson after the slayings...

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Read entire article here

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My own prediction is that "G" Thomas will end up with life without parole, although I can't remember what DNA evidence the state has against him. Both Cobbins and Coleman stated in the initial interrogation that they heard/saw Davidson hand Thomas a gun and said he needed to do something that would allow Davidson to trust him, leading me to believe it was Thomas who shot Chris Newsom. I don't find Thomas' statement anywhere--maybe he lawyered up fast.

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Coleman probably will end up with life with possibility of parole in 51 years. That will make her about 70 if she lives that long. OK with me. As I see it she deserves that for stupidity if nothing else. What I understand is she was running from a warrant in Kentucky when she left with Cobbins for Knoxville. She seemed to have been taught to 'know her place' i.e., do the cooking, cleaning and provide Cobbins with sex on demand. She would have us believe that from Saturday night until Monday morning she was in an 800 sq. foot house and never heard a peep out of the woman on the other side of a sheet who was being tortured for hours.

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Instead she said she was pissed off that Cobbins was in there having sex with another girl. Particularly stupid is Cobbins telling Coleman he was just checking to see if the girl was alright; Coleman said, "how could she not be alright? She was tied up. Common sense." Did it ever occur to her that simply being tied up made her NOT alright? Or did she just not care, one way or the other?

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And in all the statements, they all claim to have 'humanely' provided Channon with cups of water. And no one yet has claimed any responsibility for anything. Just pointing fingers at the others.