Torture-slayings trial: Cobbins guilty; jurors to consider death penalty

[Chris]

Gary and Deena Christian react to guilty verdicts in the trial of Letalvis Cobbins 
^{(Photo by J. Miles Cary)}

KNOXVILLE — Jurors this morning convicted Letalvis Cobbins of first-degree murder in the torture-slayings of Knox County couple Channon Christian and Christopher Newsom.

Jurors on Wednesday will begin a penalty phase in which they will consider evidence about whether Cobbins, 26, of Kentucky, should be executed for the January 2007 kidnapping and murders.

The jury concluded that Cobbins had responsibility in all the crimes committed against Christian, 21, including first-degree murder. That conviction carries the death penalty.

The same panel, however, convicted him of the lesser charge of facilitating the murder of Newsom and acquitted him of charges involving the rape of Newsom, 23.

http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2009/aug/25/torture-slaying-trial-day-8-jurors-resume-delibera/


No news on the other shitbag thugs he was with.  Hopefully, they will all be convicted and put to death by the good state of Tennessee.

[thundley4]

If I remember this case right, to call it torture/rape and murder is understating it.  The death penalty is too easy for these heinous butchers.

[Ptarmigan]

May these sick ****s rot in the worst layers of Hell. 

[Chris]

If I remember this case right, to call it torture/rape and murder is understating it.  The death penalty is too easy for these heinous butchers.

They only mention it as "other" charges.  These are the only details I can find that have an attributable source: http://www.wate.com/Global/story.asp?S=10968229

I came across a few blogs that all repeat an uncredited story about them both being raped/sodomized and the man having his penis cut off while he was still alive.

[SilverOrchid]

GOOD!

[thundley4]

Police, prosecutors and the victims' families maintain that Newsom and Christian were not victims of a hate crime, rather victims of a carjacking that went terribly awry.

*snip*

The couple had been out on a Saturday night date on Jan. 6, 2007, and were leaving a friend's apartment complex sometime after Channon made her last call, to her dad, around 12:30 a.m.

Channon was behind the wheel of her 2005 Toyota 4-Runner and Chris was standing in the open door kissing her when they were jumped at gunpoint in the parking lot, according to police accounts and Cobbins' statement.

They were bound, blindfolded and brought to Davidson's rundown rental home in an industrial inner-city neighborhood less than six miles and a world away.

According to defendants' statements, Newsom wasn't there long before he was taken away, sexually assaulted, shot in the back of the head, set on fire and left beside some railroad tracks a few blocks away.

Over the next 24 hours, Channon was raped in every conceivable way, bleach was sprayed in her mouth to destroy evidence and, Coleman told investigators, Davidson "snapped" her neck. Medical Examiner Darinka Mileusnic-Pochan testified at Boyd's trial, however, that the young woman died of suffocation after she was wrapped in plastic bags and dumped in a closed trash can.

Fox News

Car jacking gone awry? BS.  They found they had a white couple and a good looking woman at that .  It was a hate crime.

Channon Christian and her boyfriend Christopher Newsome, who were kidnapped, raped, bound and murdered in 2007.

[DixieBelle]

This case had me speechless with rage then and it still does. God rest their souls.

And may all of the evil murdering scumbags involved die a slow painful death in prison at the hands of someone named Bubba.

[Ptarmigan]

These scumbags are in the same league as the 9/11 Hijackers and Eric Harris/Dylan Klebold. Worthless is thy name. Hell, if these killers were Asian, I still would be piss as Hell.

[April 19]

This slaying had to be one of the worse in American history, yet most Americans have never heard of it.  Thanks to our state run media.  Had the murders been white, the entire world would know every minute detail of this case.

A little known problem in this country is black on white crime.  It is exponentially higher than white on black crime.  The state run media hides it just like this awful case.

[thundley4]

This slaying had to be one of the worse in American history, yet most Americans have never heard of it.  Thanks to our state run media.  Had the murders been white, the entire world would know every minute detail of this case.

A little known problem in this country is black on white crime.  It is exponentially higher than white on black crime.  The state run media hides it just like this awful case.

I just did a Google News search:

News results
Results 1 – 10 of about 768 for Channon Christian. (0.07 seconds)

I don't know why this wasn't covered more, maybe a fear of rising racial tensions?  Black on white crime is much more prevalent than white on black but neither compares to black on black crime.

[NHSparky]

If more people knew of this, the outrage would be immense.

[thundley4]

If more people knew of this, the outrage would be immense.

And that is why there is not much coverage of it.

[debk]

Where to start....

I live in Knoxville.

Friends of mine were neighbors of Chris Newsome and his family. Chris was close buddies with two of her sons.

It is believed that this was not so much a hate crime....to start with....but these black guys wanted Channon's car. Chris and Channon were basically in the same place as these animals ....and they decided they wanted Channon's car. It went from a carjacking to a kidnapping.....to unspeakable acts by animals on two young white adults. Not so much because the kids were white....but because they "had" and the black animals didn't "have".

Chris was raped- anally and orally, sodomized with a broom handle among other things, attempt was made at dismemberment, his body was stuffed in a big drum container and set on fire.

Channon was tortured, repeatedly raped however possible, both by 4 men and with inanimate objects. There was enough semen recovered from her body for positive DNA matches with the animals.

This horrendous event has been covered extensively in the local newspaper and on all local channels.

The animals are being tried individually.

The first animal was found guilty on almost all counts today....except for the rape(with his penis) of Chris Newsom, however I believe he was found guilty of raping him with an inanimate object.

The next trial is scheduled to start in January.

One of the reasons for the delay has been to guarantee fair trials....everything is being done very carefully to reduce chances of misconduct to come up for appeal.

Knoxville has approximately a 6% black population. The amount of black on white crime is nothing compared to the black on black or white on white crime that we have here. Fear of "racial tensions" is not an issue here.

My neighbors on one side are black, on the other white husband/Chinese wife. If you know who the actor David Keith is, he lives down the street and his wife is Asian. While Knoxville is still predominantly white, there are many heritages here due to University of TN being here, Denso, Panasonic,  and we are 20 minutes from Oak Ridge National Labs which is extremely diverse.

I can't explain why there hasn't been more coverage of this tragedy. It's in the news here....

Maybe because there haven't been any racial tensions...the news media couldn't sensationalize it and put their own "spin" on it. It has been on Fox.









 

[Ptarmigan]

Where to start....

I live in Knoxville.

Friends of mine were neighbors of Chris Newsome and his family. Chris was close buddies with two of her sons.

It is believed that this was not so much a hate crime....to start with....but these black guys wanted Channon's car. Chris and Channon were basically in the same place as these animals ....and they decided they wanted Channon's car. It went from a carjacking to a kidnapping.....to unspeakable acts by animals on two young white adults. Not so much because the kids were white....but because they "had" and the black animals didn't "have".

Chris was raped- anally and orally, sodomized with a broom handle among other things, attempt was made at dismemberment, his body was stuffed in a big drum container and set on fire.

Channon was tortured, repeatedly raped however possible, both by 4 men and with inanimate objects. There was enough semen recovered from her body for positive DNA matches with the animals.

This horrendous event has been covered extensively in the local newspaper and on all local channels.

The animals are being tried individually.

The first animal was found guilty on almost all counts today....except for the rape(with his penis) of Chris Newsom, however I believe he was found guilty of raping him with an inanimate object.

The next trial is scheduled to start in January.

One of the reasons for the delay has been to guarantee fair trials....everything is being done very carefully to reduce chances of misconduct to come up for appeal.

Knoxville has approximately a 6% black population. The amount of black on white crime is nothing compared to the black on black or white on white crime that we have here. Fear of "racial tensions" is not an issue here.

My neighbors on one side are black, on the other white husband/Chinese wife. If you know who the actor David Keith is, he lives down the street and his wife is Asian. While Knoxville is still predominantly white, there are many heritages here due to University of TN being here, Denso, Panasonic,  and we are 20 minutes from Oak Ridge National Labs which is extremely diverse.

I can't explain why there hasn't been more coverage of this tragedy. It's in the news here....

Maybe because there haven't been any racial tensions...the news media couldn't sensationalize it and put their own "spin" on it. It has been on Fox.

The lack of racial tensions is a good thing because everyone is outraged as everyone should be regardless of race. I don't care if this was a hate crime or not. This crime is worthy of the worst punishment humans can come up with. Black on Black crime is WAY more common.

[Rebel]

If I had my way, they'd be hung upside down in the desert, their throats slit....just a little bit, and left to bleed out.

[debk]

If I had my way, they'd be hung upside down in the desert, their throats slit....just a little bit, and left to bleed out.

That would still be too good for them.

In 20 years or so....someone MAY stick a needle in them and let them humanely die. 

[vesta111]

That would still be too good for them.

In 20 years or so....someone MAY stick a needle in them and let them humanely die. 

This is on topic, please bare with me.

Watching a silly program about ghost hunting a 17 th. century prison being investigated,

Quite an eye opener, those folks sure knew how to change a person around right smartly.

Worse punishment for the animals was to be given 40 years or so in solitary.  When found guilty the prisoner was allowed one last look at their family and led away as he was not allowed any kind of communication with them, for any reason at any time.

He was placed in a special cell that made the presence of anyone else impossible to see hear or feel.

The guards wore face masks so prisoner could not get an accidental peek of a human face. IF he had to be moved ,he wore a hood to block out all living creatures.

When food was brought to their cells they had to eat it by hand as NO reflective surfaces allowed in cells.  The prisoner was not allowed to even see their own face.

No one could speak to him ,guards or medical personal, Not even a rat or spider was allowed to visit him. 

In all reality they took from him the things that his victims could not have, their family, the sound of a human voice, the sight of another humans face.

Cruel and inhumane---NO WAY.   This is a way of telling miss behaved Big Boys to go to their room.

The prisoners family know they will never see him again, same as if he were hung.  ---Yet they also know he is alive, healthy, being fed 3 meals, has a soft bed and toilet facility's.

When the prisoner finishes doing time, gets out, if he has any living family left, they will wish he had been hung in the first place.

[lastparker]

I hope the jury got more information than that rotten article gave up. IIRC, those two kids were brutally tortured for a long time.

How long beofre the DUmmies are calling for compassion?

[jtyangel]

I hope the jury got more information than that rotten article gave up. IIRC, those two kids were brutally tortured for a long time.

How long beofre the DUmmies are calling for compassion?

The sickest part?

The only reason they will be calling for compassion is because of the racial makeup of everyone in question. DUmmies are transparent as a spider web.

[debk]

The sentencing phase of the trial has been on TV all day long on all the local channels.

This is the first I have watched of any of the trial except for yesterday when the verdict came in.

Channon's parents spoke....and it made my heart hurt. It was so painful to watch their grief. They spoke because he admitted to raping her, and not helping her escape when he could have, and participated in torturing her. He also stood by as his brother held her by the throat until she passed out, tied her up and dumped her in a trash can. She was still alive at this point. I don't know how she could have been, as she had been tortured for a bit more than 24 hours ( I thought it was 3 days, but if I remember correctly, that's how long it took to find Chris)

Chris's parents did not speak....because this animal was not guilty of the actual act of killing him.

The animal's sisters spoke, cousins (all female) and an aunt. As did a forensic psychologist.

While I agree that he had a horrendous life growing up, he continued to make wrong choices when faced with opportunities to make right/wrong choices.

Both the defense attorney and two prosecuting attorneys had closing arguments against/for the death penalty.

One of the prosecuting attorneys is black....she spoke first. I thought she was quite compelling.

The defense attorney then spoke....he is pro bono....and I would not have wanted his job.

The other prosecuting attorney then spoke. He was more forceful than his partner...yet I felt the fact that she was female, black and very soft spoken ...where one had to pay close attention to hear every word...was much more effective than he was.

Both of the prosecuting attorneys were very descriptive in describing what was done to Channon.

The judge then read all the instructions for what the jury was do determine and how in the sentencing phase.

Both prosecuting attorneys had reminded the jury that each one had said when questioned prior to selection that they could decide for the death penalty if the preponderance of evidence pointed to guilt.

At one point when the judge was reading the instructions, the camera flipped to Channon's parents.

Her father was sitting with his hands clenched together on the back of the bench in front of him....just rocking rapidly back and forth. Almost like a severely disturbed individual that must rock themself for comfort. The anger on his face....as he stared straight forward....made his face quite red. It was like it was all he could do to keep from leaping over the benches and the rail and killing the animal.

Just on what I heard today....if I was on the jury....I would have no trouble sentencing this animal to death.

None.

If it had been my daughter or son....

I would be the one on trial.....

...but I would be at peace....


The animals would be dead.

[Ptarmigan]

There are lot of people who have rough childhoods and turn out fine. There are lot of people who have good childhoods and turn out evil. Look no further than Eric Harris/Dylan Klebold or Ted Bundy.

[Ptarmigan]

If I had my way, they'd be hung upside down in the desert, their throats slit....just a little bit, and left to bleed out.

Too easy. Make them do hard labor in Siberia.

[thundley4]

Thanks for the update.

[debk]

FYI....this jury was brought in from Davidson county....which is in the Nashville area....in order to give the animal a fair trial.

The jury's choices are:

life with possibility of parole after 51 years imprisionment

life with no possiblity of parole

death by lethal injection....however in TN the electric chair is still a possibility

[Chris_]

FYI....this jury was brought in from Davidson county....which is in the Nashville area....in order to give the animal a fair trial.

The jury's choices are:

life with possibility of parole after 51 years imprisionment

life with no possiblity of parole

death by lethal injection....however in TN the electric chair is still a possibility

How 'bout released by the judge on an especially weak "technicality", and then locked out of the courthouse by the sheriff's department for an angry mob to string up from a lamp pole?