Christian-Newsom Case: A Note from David in TN

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I Will Attend The Coleman Retrial
On Monday I will drive to Knoxville to attend the retrial of Vanessa Coleman for facilitating the rape and murder of Channon Christian. Coleman was acquitted of all charges concerning Christopher Newsom and was convicted of facilitation, along with robbery, of Channon Christian.

I will be away from my computer for around five days and I don't have a laptop. I will write about my notes on attending the trial for Trials & Tribulations the following week.

The trial will be streamed online. The Knoxville TV stations WBIR and WATE have live streamed the previous trials.

David in TN

Christian-Newsom Murders: Jury Selected in Vanessa Coleman's Retrial

 Vanessa Coleman, center, at jury selection for her new trial.

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Jury selection took place Friday for the upcoming retrial of Vanessa Coleman in the torture-murder of Channon Christian and Christopher Newsom.

I followed Knoxville News Sentinel reporter Jamie Satterfield's tweets from the courtroom.

Judge Jon Kerry Blackwood started the proceedings with a speech on the civic responsibility of jury duty. The majority of prospective jurors ignored the speech and asked to be excused for hardship.

The jury pool is from Jackson, Tennessee in Madison County. Jackson is in West Tennessee, some 300 miles from Knoxville. Being on this jury means spending a week away from job and family. Blackwood ruled the jury must come from West Tennessee because of the extensive publicity the case has received.

Once, Vanessa Coleman gave Jamie Satterfield a mean look, according to a tweet by Ms. Satterfield.

The final panel of 12 jurors consisted of four black women, three black men, two white women, and three white men. Six alternates were picked. These are three white women, one white man, one black woman, and one black man.

Although the jury is majority black by seven to five, Coleman's defense attorney, Ted Lavit, accused the prosecution of bouncing blacks from the jury pool. Lavit made a "Batson challenge," accusing the state of excluding jurors for race alone.

Prosecutors Takisha Fitzgerald and Leland Price used seven out of eight peremptory challenges to exclude blacks but argued that each of them had a criminal record.

Judge Blackwood rejected Lavit's argument.

The panel chosen Friday will travel by bus to Knoxville on Monday and will be sequestered in a hotel.

Few potential jurors admitted to knowing about the case. One had seen the Nancy Grace program on the Christian-Newsom case the night before.

Following jury selection, Lavit again tried to prevent the panel from hearing anything about Christopher Newsom's death. Coleman was acquitted of all charges regarding Newsom's rape and murder and cannot be tried again on those counts. She is being tried for facilitation only in the crimes against Channon Christian because that was what she was convicted of in the first trial.

Blackwood ruled that one facilitation of felony murder charge against Coleman alleges Christian was killed during the kidnapping of Newsom. The state will be allowed to present evidence Newsom was carjacked and kidnapped.

"Mr. Newsom then falls away (from the state's case)," Blackwood said.

Opening statements are set for Tuesday, November 13.

WBIR.com video

Christian-Newsom Torture Murders: Vanessa Coleman Retrial

Vanessa Coleman at a prior court hearing.

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This is a delayed post from David.  He originally wrote it on Oct. 26th, but I was dealing with a sick husband and trial coverage ground to a halt. Sprocket.

October 26th, 2012
On October 25th, 2012, the Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals ordered Judge Jon Kerry Blackwood removed from the cases of three of the four defendants in the January 2007 torture-murders of Channon Christian and Christopher Newsom.

There has been a series of hearings and decisions regarding the case since the original judge, Richard Baumgartner, was removed after he was discovered to be perpetrating crimes while on the bench.

The Tennessee Attorney General's office asked the appellate court to remove Blackwood from three of the cases on the grounds Blackwood was so upset over Baumgartner's misdeeds that he could not be objective.

The appellate court ruled a "reasonable" person would conclude Blackwood could not be objective and a new judge must be appointed.

"In summary, this Court acknowledges that Senior Judge Jon Kerry Blackwood undertook difficult tasks in presiding over the cases involved in this appeal and the State prosecution of former Judge Richard Baumgartner. We have no doubt that Judge Blackwood subjectively has made every effort to approach these cases in an unbiased manner. We, however, are required to review the record to determine if Judge Blackwood's impartiality could reasonable be questioned by an objective person."

Blackwood took over the case when Baumgartner confessed in March 2011 to official misconduct for buying prescription drugs from a probationer in his court. Blackwood gave Baumgartner official diversion, which kept him out of prison and "spared his pension."

Baumgartner, coincidentally, is now on trial in federal court.

In December 2011, Blackwood ordered new trials for all four defendants. The numerous back and fourth decisions, along with an outburst in court by Blackwood, was enough to bring in a new judge to take a fresh look at the cases.

The state did not challenge the decision for a retrial for Vanessa Coleman or Blackwood's denison in that case. Her trial is still scheduled for next month. That may change after this ruling.

There is a chance the new judge will still order new trials for the other three defendants.

Here is a video report from WBIR with comments from the parents of the victims. It includes a clip of Blackwood's outburst in court several months ago.

November 3rd, 2012
At the last motions hearing for her upcoming retrial, Vanessa Coleman had a prison hair dye of "cherry red." Now, Judge Jon Kerry Blackwood has ordered Knox County Sheriff Jimmy Jones to allow a local private hairdresser to give Coleman a new look prior to next week's jury selection for her November 13 retrial.

At first, Sheriff Jones refused without a court order. Defense attorney Russell Greene went to Judge Blackwood, who obliged. Greene said Coleman's parents will foot the bill. 

November 8th, 2012
Here is a report on jury selection which takes place tomorrow. Opening statements are scheduled for Tuesday, November 13. I have a hotel room booked for five days.

David in Tennessee

I'm very excited that David will cover the first week of Vanessa's trial for T&T! Sprocket.

Sources:
KnoxNews.com

WBIR.com