The Raven Knocks
True Crime/Missing Persons/Cold Cases- I decided to begin a podcast regarding true crime because I feel like some of the victim's story never gets told due to it being to graphic or not admissible in court. I also think that Justice is lost in some of these cases and it's not right. I hope I can be a voice for the ones who lost theirs and perhaps make this world a slightly better place, and have you thinking more cautiously.
The Raven Knocks
Confronting the Silence That Nurtures Evil
What if the justice system's failures had a direct hand in the tragic events of January 6, 2007, in Knoxville, Tennessee? Join me, Amy Prince, on "The Raven's Knock" as we confront this profound question through the harrowing story of Channon Christian and Christopher Newsome. Their evening started like any other but ended in unspeakable horror at the hands of Lamarcus Davidson, Latavus Cobbins, and Eric Boyd – men who should have been stopped long before that fateful night. Knoxville, a city of community spirit and college pride, was left grappling with the aftermath of a crime that could have been prevented. Through chilling details and a critical examination of systemic flaws, we piece together the events and their impact on a town now forever changed.
The episode takes you into the heart of the tragedy, exploring the brutal reality of Channon’s murder and the subsequent emotional trials that followed. As we navigate the labyrinth of legal proceedings involving multiple defendants, including Boyd and Davidson, the failures and frustrations of the justice system come to the forefront. With a focus on the victims' families and the unbearable burden they carry, this story challenges us to question the nature of evil and the silence that allows it to thrive. Prepare to be confronted by unsettling truths and the haunting question of what might have been if justice had prevailed sooner.
On the evening of January 6, 2007 in Knoxville, tennessee, the third largest city in the entire state, would soon hear the most horrific, violent and tragic event the town had ever seen. Make sure you're sitting down, have your smokes or whiskey handy. This is the story that changed my life. Therefore, I'm going to open my first podcast with a story that I cannot get off my mind. This is a story of Shannon Christian and Christopher Newsome. Welcome. Welcome to my channel. I'm your host, amy Prince, and this is the Raven's Knock. If you like what you see and hear, please like, subscribe and donate to this channel. It really helps me and I cannot continue without your support. Please note that the content of this recording may contain graphic material, including death, torture of every kind and explicit language. The opinions are of my own and may be offensive to some listeners. Right or wrong, they are my opinions. We all have them. If you do not agree, then ignore them like an adult and move on. Listener, discretion is strongly advised.
Speaker 1:Knoxville, tennessee, is the third largest city in the state, with a population of over 500,000. It's the largest city in the Appalachian area, where the median age range here is 34 years old, household income is approximately $70,000 and property values in 2024 average around $372,000. Mountain Dew was first marketed here in 1948 as a whiskey mixer. Just so you guys know, we love our moonshine and we love our whiskey. Most people who were born in and around Knoxville stay here their entire lives. A lot of people move here to retire, but we're full y'all. We're one of those towns that have those folks who tell you their life story in the Walmart checkout line. Sometimes this is good, sometimes it's not so good, especially if you're in a hurry. Crime rate in Knoxville in 2022, we had 32 murders. In 2024, we had six within the first quarter. Now Knoxville has shootings every single day, but we just have one really good trauma center. Overall crime, we ranked 20th in violent crime, 20th in property crime and 19th compared to everyone else. With that said, knoxville is the home of the Tennessee Vols and we are serious football fans.
Speaker 1:The university sits right in the middle of downtown and it's where 21-year-old Shannon Christian attended college as a senior majoring in sociology. Senior majoring in sociology. She graduated from Farragut High School in 2003 after moving to Tennessee from Louisiana with her family in 1997. Shannon was born on April 29th 1985 in Texas, to Gary and Dena. Christian. Shannon was a very beautiful girl and came from a very good family.
Speaker 1:At the time, shannon was dating a local guy by the name of Christopher Newsome who was 23 years old and a graduate from Halls High School. He, just like Shannon, attended college, but he chose to go to Pellissippi State Technical College where he became a carpenter. Their friends had decided to hook Chris up with another friend, but when he laid eyes on Shannon, that was it. He was smitten. The feeling was mutual and the two became inseparable and love began. Both families approved of the relationship and all seemed to be perfect until it wasn't.
Speaker 1:It all began on that January day and, according to wondergroundcom, the average temperature on that day was 40.9 degrees with no rain. Shannon and Chris decided they were going to go on a dinner date and then attend a friend's party. Shannon decided to go to a friend's apartment to get ready and around 8 pm her friend left to attend the party, but Shannon stayed behind to meet up with Chris because they were planning on attending together. When Chris arrived, shannon was in the driver's seat of her Toyota 4Runner, with the driver's side door open, and Chris was standing in that doorway when they were observed by three unknown men who were driving around the apartment complex hunting a car to steal. Those men were Lamarcarius Davidson, latalvis Cobbins, who were brothers, and Cobbins' best friend, eric Boyd.
Speaker 1:Lamarcarius Davidson aka Slim, was born on June 13, 1981, and was known to the local police department. He was a violent felon who was on parole for another carjacking and had just gotten out of prison. For that he was sentenced to eight years, but he was out in six. He also had a warrant for his arrest for failure to appear. Now, one thing that burns my biscuit is the fact that we had an address for this guy and if they would have picked him up maybe this would have never happened. He would become the ringleader aka Rome was born December 20, 1982, and he was also not an angel. In 2003, he was convicted of third-degree attempted robbery in New York, a felony in Kentucky, assaulting an officer and disorderly conduct. Eric Boyd aka E was born on February 18, 1972. He had a NOSRAP sheet of aggravated robbery, aggravated assault, driving on revoked and a violation of probation. From this point on, I'll refer to the defendants in this case by their first and last name and then by their last names thereafter, and the victims by their first name Latavus.
Speaker 1:Cobbins had decided to take a trip to Knoxville to celebrate the new year and to see his brother, lamar Carey as Davidson, and he brought along his girlfriend Vanessa Coleman and his best friend Eric Boyd. They also decided to stay with Davidson for a while Once he arrives at Davidson's home at 2316 Chipman Street. Davidson decided to take Cobbins with him and Boyd to go see a girl. To take Cobbins with him and Boyd to go see a girl. George Thomas later testifies that Davidson told Cobbins to go with him and Boyd to steal a car. Now none of them had a job, none of them had a car. So what in the world could these guys do besides sit at home? Boyd ends up borrowing a little white sunbird from his cousin, and at the time this is how they were getting around. So Cobbins, davidson and Boyd leave in the sunbird and head home to some apartments.
Speaker 1:Cobbins explains that Davidson was smoking a wet blunt. Cobbins explains that Davidson was smoking a wet blunt. Apparently a wet blunt is embalming fluid that has been dried and rolled into the marijuana and smoked. Cobbins ended up smoking some as well, but thought it was a regular joint. That tasted funny. Now I'm not sure why this matters, but he thought it was important and he wanted to make sure that the entire court knew as well. I don't know if he was wanting to gain sympathy for what they were going to do, but it didn't work.
Speaker 1:Once they got to the apartment complex, they happened to spot the perfect vehicle, a new Toyota 4Runner. And how lucky for them. A beautiful girl in the driver's side and a handsome young man standing in her doorway kissing. They were both totally distracted. As you can imagine, boyd and Davidson approached the couple by gunpoint. Now, according to testimony, it was said that Davidson saw headlights and panicked and forced the couple into the vehicle, that they only wanted to steal a car. However, in my opinion, I see two men who see an easy target and knew how easy it would be to get rid of the boy and take advantage of the girl. Regardless, they were now hostages. One of them told Cobbins to follow them back to the house on Chipman Street because Cobbins wasn't familiar with Knoxville familiar with Knoxville.
Speaker 1:Once in the house, according to Thomas, davidson walks in with Shannon, who was blindfolded, and bound into the living room of the house. He also saw Chris, who was bound and blindfolded, who was behind Davidson but in front of Boyd. He asked his brother to take him, thomas and Coleman to a friend's house named Vincent, because he wanted no part of this, but he was told he would have to wait because they had shit to do. Boyd and Chris stayed in the sunroom of the tiny house while Davidson took Shannon into the front bedroom. Now this house is less than 900 square feet. It's very tiny.
Speaker 1:At that time, according to Thomas, davidson told Thomas to go with Boyd. When he asked what was going on and why, davidson told him just go. So Boyd led Chris, still bound and blindfolded, to the SUV and Thomas followed. They put Chris in the back seat and they hopped in the front and Boyd began to drive. They drive a few miles down the road and behind an abandoned building next to a drainage ditch and some railroad tracks. Depending on whose testimony you believe, cobbins stated in his testimony that Davidson and Thomas leave with Chris Later. Thomas testifies that it was him and Boyd, but someone was back in that house with Shannon and didn't call for help.
Speaker 1:Regardless, they take Chris out of the SUV. They use a dog leash to lead him as he is still bound. They use a shoelace to guide Chris with his own sock, force him to walk up to the tracks now barefoot. They wrap his head in a sweatshirt and at some point one of the men raped him as sperm was found inside of him, but unfortunately it was damaged to a point that they couldn't determine which male was responsible. Which male was responsible. They also raped him with an object. They bind his feet with a belt, stood above him and fired a shot into his neck as he bent forward. They took another shot to his back which severs his spinal cord, and finally the shot that killed him. They put the gun, pressed it up against his head and fired.
Speaker 1:The medical examiner stated that he was raped one to two hours before he was killed because of the vital reaction to the area, which means anti-inflammatory cells had responded to the bleeding, and this takes approximately one to two hours for that to happen. But no one knew when this occurred, nor did they see anything, and God forbid anyone admit to it. Admit to it. After Chris was shot, he was rolled in a comforter, gasoline was poured and he was set on fire. There wasn't any soot in his lungs and his blood showed normal carbon monoxide, so that proved that he was already dead when they lit him up. Thank God, this happened at approximately 1 45 am, as a neighbor testified that he was up watching TV when he heard three pops, he looked at his watch, noted the time, but he didn't think much of it because New Year's had just passed and he assumed someone had left over firecrackers. Fair enough Happens all the time. A sandblaster employee noticed some smoke coming from the tracks around 7.45 am and soon an employee with the railroad company spotted a body along the tracks.
Speaker 1:Remember that Coleman and Cobbins or Boyd, depending on who you are to believe were in that house the entire time. The others were torturing Chris. I believe that Cobbins and Coleman are back at that house because of what happens next. Coleman has stomach issues and goes into the restroom, while Cobbins goes into Davidson's room with Shannon and brings her some water. Shannon is blindfolded, her hands are bound over her head, her feet are also bound and her bondings are tied to a duffel bag of weights. He unties the bonds that are used to tie the weights, allowing her to sit up and drink. Just when you think there may be a glimpse of kindness, think again. She asks why are you doing this? And he says it's not him, it's his brother and he doesn't know. They were hostages too. Really, you're a hostage. Your brother's not there, who you seem to be afraid of, no one's holding you and you have a gun. How can you be a hostage? She begs him and says that she will do anything to be set free. So Cobbins has her perform oral sex and as he ejaculated, his sperm got on her shirt and pants. He then ties her back up and leaves the room. What a nice piece of shit. The men come back to the home and this is where no one wants to admit anything. Back to the home, and this is where no one wants to admit anything.
Speaker 1:Shannon had suffered so much over the course of hours and to think in that small house no one heard a peep is complete bullshit. The evidence showed how much she suffered. The tiny tissue that connects your upper lip to your gum was detached and the medical examiner concluded that this was due to blunt force consistent with oral sex that was extremely violent. Dna would match semen in her mouth from both Cobbins and Davidson Davidson. She had suffered multiple contusions on both sides of her head and suffered a subdural hemorrhage, which indicates blunt force trauma. The medical examiner concluded that while she suffered the head trauma.
Speaker 1:It's about the same time she suffered the trauma to the genital area and I'll just let you use your imagination there. There, in the genital area, she found that she had several deep bruises, abrasions and a hematoma in her vaginal, cervical and anal area. According to the medical examiner, this was no ordinary rape, as if any rape is ordinary. This was extreme blunt force trauma which was consistent with being kicked or punched. Who kicks or punches someone in the vagina? I don't understand that, or any of this. I don't understand that or any of this. Sperm was also found inside her mouth, her vagina and her anus. But was that enough torture? Oh no.
Speaker 1:They then sprayed bleach into her mouth and they scrubbed her genital area with bleach. Can you imagine? They have obliterated your vagina and your mouth? You're bleeding and they spray bleach on you. Can you imagine how bad that hurts and the burning? Oh, my goodness, I just I'll let you marinate on that a few. How's that whiskey and those smokes coming along? I'm not done. She had carpet burns to her lower back and upper buttocks and a cut on her right hand, which the cut that Emmy concluded happened as she was dying, possibly due from when they were binding her.
Speaker 1:She was then bound in such a way that she couldn't move out of a fetal position. She is still blindfolded. When they put a small trash bag, like a grocery bag, around her head, they tied it in the back, placed her in five large trash bags and then stuffed her head first down into a large trash can. She was nude from the waist down. They threw some material on top and closed the lid down. They threw some material on top and closed the lid.
Speaker 1:The medical examiner stated that she was still alive due to all the condensation in the trash can that made her clothes wet. The autopsy photos were so graphic. The assistant prosecutor almost fainted. The medical examiner said that she was alive for hours and repeatedly raped. It took approximately 10 to 30 minutes for her to suffocate in that trash can. In that trash can I can be on a treadmill for like five minutes and it seems like 15. Can you imagine being bound to where you can't move, you can't see, you're stuffed into this trash can, you can't breathe and you know you're going to die? I bet she wondered what was happening to Chris. I bet she thought about her mom and dad, about her friends, the fact that she was never going to get married, she was never going to get a chance to be a mother. And I can't help but think that she asked the question why? Why me? What did I do for this to happen? And, honey, you didn't do anything. There is so much evil in this world. She died with her eyes open. Her cause of death was asphyxia and positional asphyxia. Shannon suffocated to death and no one went for help. No one heard or saw a thing, and some people think the devil doesn't exist. And did I mention that Cobbins still had a gun At some point before Shannon died?
Speaker 1:Davidson did take Cobbins, Coleman and Thomas to Vincent's house, but he wasn't at home, so they returned back to the house Later. The next morning, according to Cobbins, they ended up walking to Vincent's home and Vince called up a friend and drug client and asked her to take them back to Kentucky. A friend and drug client and asked her to take them back to Kentucky. This client stated in her testimony that she went to another friend's house and picked the three up and drove them. Small talk was made, but she asked no questions and was told nothing. Well, now we know that crackheads mind their business. Yeah, I said it. Y'all should have listened to my disclaimer. Once she dropped them off she drove back to Knoxville. It wasn't until that evening she saw the three on the news. She never called police but they eventually called her.
Speaker 1:Another witness from Waste Connections, a trash service in Knoxville, stated that he reported to work around 12.30 am at the site next to the Chipman house. He observed that the house seemed busy and noticed a new forerunner. He found this odd because usually the house is quiet and the vehicle seemed really out of place, as it was way too nice of a vehicle to be in that neighborhood. As he was waiting on a co-worker, he observed four men in the vehicle. As they began to drive toward him, they slowed down to get a good look at him before turning around in front of the building. This spooked him so much that he called his father. Shortly afterwards his coworker arrived to open the gate. They clocked in and began their day.
Speaker 1:While this is happening, shannon and Chris's parents and friends were frantically calling and trying to locate them. A few of Chris's friends found his truck still in the parking lot of the apartment complex, but Shannon's forerunner was missing. Shannon's parents had called the police and both sets of parents tried to file a missing persons report but were told they couldn't do anything, that they needed to go look for themselves. Now I respect our police and I know that their college age, but the police really need to listen to parents when they tell them. This is out of character and to say I'm frustrated at this is an understatement. But Shannon's dad was on a mission. He knew this was unlike his daughter and he knew that something was wrong and it wasn't good. The parents gathered up some friends and began looking. Shannon's dad had her cell phone pinged and it pinged in a bad part of town.
Speaker 1:Now, everyone who lives anywhere in or around Knoxville knows that the east side, mainly around Cherry Street, is a no-go after dark or really during the day, if you can help it. It's where you'll find your crack dealers, your ladies of the night trying to make a living or support their addiction. Lately a string of robberies had been happening in the area and I'll let you guess who's doing those. This is happening after 12 hours of not hearing from Shannon and after her employer called to state concern, as she didn't show up and you guessed it it was out of character. You see, shannon held two part-time jobs while going to school and gave up dorm life to save money and remain in her parents' house. Yeah, she was that responsible at 21. She was that responsible at 21.
Speaker 1:The search party met up at a nearby gas station and Shannon's dad had a friend in the police department who was off duty that day and was willing to help. He coordinated the search. They were to start on one street and then go street by street until they moved closer to a tower. As they searched, shannon's daddy found her car. The police buddy called it in and, wouldn't you know it, the police are now interested. Her father had thought it had been stolen, but the police department treated it as if it was an abandoned vehicle so they could impound it and process it.
Speaker 1:The 4Runner had been wiped clean, except for something inside. Inside they found the seats pushed all the way back and reclined, and they knew that Shannon couldn't drive that way. Mud was found in the floorboard and she kept a clean car. All of her belongings were missing, but there was a piece of mail that they got a print on. Now I'm going to tell you right now. You might want to take a swig and light up that cigarette and probably bite your tongue, but the police let 24 hours pass before they process the SUV. Yeah, let's do on that one minute.
Speaker 1:The medical examiner stated that she was more than likely deceased at this point. But still 24 hours Like what do you need for the police department to take this seriously? When they ran the prints, they had a hit Seems the person had just gotten out of prison for a carjacking and had an outstanding warrant. Do you remember who those awards belonged to? Yep Davidson. Did you figure out that they had a current address for this joker? Yeah, I'm still bullying on that one.
Speaker 1:This led them to a house at 2316 Chipman Street, a block or two from where Shannon's SUV was found. When the police arrived, they found the house empty. They obtained their first of three search warrants and went inside. It was there where they found an abundance of evidence Shannon's pink high heels, a red skirt, her personal belongings, along with a large plastic trash can. Upon opening the trash can, they found bedding material and saw Shannon's arm. When the officer touched the arm, he knew she was already gone. They backed out of the house and obtained the second search warrant, as this was now a homicide, as officers were in the house. Another group of officers were a few miles away responding to the body that was found along the tracks. At the time they wasn't sure who it was, but it didn't take long to piece in the evidence found in the house to Chris.
Speaker 1:The medical examiner was brought to both scenes to begin her investigation. I must say we have one hell of a medical examiner. She is extremely brilliant and very thorough. Shout out to Dr Polchan Polchan. Dna testing and forensics were done on both bodies the car as well as the house and the search was on for Davidson.
Speaker 1:The US Marshals got involved and began to study Davidson. They found some acquaintances of his, eric Boyd, and decided to go to his mother's apartment and just wait and see if he showed up there. Sure enough, they spotted him getting into the car with two females and since he was driving and had revoked license, they pulled him over. After talking to him for a while, boyd decided that Davidson wasn't good enough for him to go to jail. So he told them where Davidson was. He was holed up in an abandoned house that they had broken into Trying to be the outstanding citizen he was. He gave them a layout of the house and informed them that Davidson had a gun Swalt was called in and Davidson was brought into custody without incident. In the house they found Chris's shoes and a .22 caliber
Speaker 1:revolver. Once in custody, davidson gave several stories. His first story is that he knew nothing, of course. His second story was that Cobbins and Thomas arrived with Chris and Shannon saying that they had carjacks in people and they were in the vehicle. The third story was that Cobbins and Thomas left with the victims for less than 20 minutes, then returned with Shannon. He denied having sex with Shannon or Chris and said that his DNA would not be found. Really, put that one in your rat hole. It's coming out a little later, your rat hole, it's coming out a little
Speaker 1:later. In his trial he would say that Chris and Shannon came over to his house to buy drugs and Shannon and him had consensual sex in exchange for drugs. Again, we are talking about two outstanding college students who, by every essence of the word, was responsible adults who had a bright future with no record and no history of drugs. The talk screen would find nothing in Shannon's system and the only thing that was found in Chris's was an occasional amount of marijuana. But you know what? Let's just say that happened. I don't believe consensual sex involves that much trauma. Bleach to be poured and a body to be scrubbed All of the blunt force, trauma. And since when did consensual sex involve stuffing someone head first into a trash can that is bound with a garbage bag tied around their head? Wtf, man, you stooped way past the bottom of the slot bucket on that
Speaker 1:one. As you can imagine, this angered the family so much, as well as myself, as it seemed that the victims were on trial and not him. This would not work and the jury would see right through it. And guess what? Davidson's DNA was found inside Shannon and on Shannon On her belongings. He gave away to Coleman the fabric used to bind them, both His palm and fingerprints on the trash bags used to put Shannon inside before placing her into the trash can. Yeah, his DNA wouldn't be found anywhere. He's such a lying ass piece of shit who doesn't have the balls to man up to what he's
Speaker 1:done. The US Marshals had let Boyd go after they had arrested Davidson, but about 20 minutes after doing so, the police that had tracked down the others called them and said hey, you need to go pick Boyd back up. Luckily, they found him again at his mama's house asking to come down for a statement, which he agreed, and then they held him. While the US Marshals were on the hunt for Davidson, they had also found another acquaintance named Stacy. Stacy was a girlfriend of Thomas and she told them that they were at a woman's house in Kentucky named Natasha. As SWAT, kentucky Police, knoxville Police ATF was heading to the address, they found the homeowner, natasha, leaving the residence. They did a traffic stop and found out that the other three were inside the house. After surrounding the home, coleman came out and then Cobbins. The last to come out was Thomas. They had to go in and drag him out. When inside officers found more evidence, including the gun the same gun that Cobbins had with him the entire time. He was quote unquote a
Speaker 1:hostage. For my peeps, who are all about how people grew up, let me drop you some crumbs here. Davidson was a drug addicted baby, born to a drug addicted and abusive mother and had no father. But he went into foster care and apparently had some great foster parents. He was intelligent, went to private school, played football, had tutoring, went to church and had a lot of friends. Yet despite all of that, he went on to commit aggravated robbery and carjacking when he was 19 years old. At this point he had began rough, but he seemed to have a lot of opportunities that other kids don't have, like private school and tutoring. Again, I will mention that he is described as intelligent, so I'm going to creep out on a limb here and say at 19 that he knew right from wrong and chose to make the wrong decision. He had choices and so he gets absolutely no sympathy from me. So he gets absolutely no sympathy from me. Some people grow up in terrible, abusive families and do not do the things that he
Speaker 1:did. On April 16, 2008, eric Boyd was sentenced to accessory to a fatal carjacking and failing to report the location of a fugitive, and was sentenced to a maximum of 18 years in federal prison. Yes, at the time, that was it, but hang on to your panties because more is to come later. On August 25, 2009, latavis Cobbins was found guilty of the murders of Shannon and Chris. Thomas Cobbins was found guilty of the murders of Shannon and Chris and got two death sentences, plus another 80 years for the other charges in the case, all of these to be ran consecutive. During the sentencing, judge Richard Bumgardner said the crime was one of the most outrageous, incredibly cruel and inhumane cases the court had ever seen, and there was really no sentence great enough to punish them for the conduct that they have been convicted
Speaker 1:of. On May 13, 2010, vanessa Coleman was acquitted for the murders of Shannon and Chris, but was found guilty of lesser charges and was sentenced to 53 years. I have issues with this because, even though she may not have participated in the rapes or the killing, she was there the entire time. She had cell phones and she could have called for help at any given time. Therefore, I think she is just as guilty as the others and should have been punished as such. Shannon's father told them for him personally you took my baby. You took my opportunity to say yes to a young man one day. You took my wedding dance away and you took my opportunity to hold her baby, my grandbaby. Just when you think it's over, it's not. Of course, they all appealed their convictions, but Judge Bumgardner was forced to resign from the bench on March 2011,. Having admitted to drug addiction and purchasing prescription pain medication from convicts, bumgardner pled guilty to official misconduct. It was held that his ability to conduct trials had been impaired during his prior two years on the bench, and he was disbarred in
Speaker 1:September. On January 1st 2011, judge John Kerry Blackwood granted new trials for all four defendants. He set retrials for between June and November 2012, pending appeals, and set bail at $1 million for Coleman, the only defendant whose sentence had the possibility of parole. Due to double jeopardy, the defendants faced the maximum sentence they had already received and thus only Davidson was eligible for capital punishment. So basically, on the double jeopardy, they could all get lesser sentences, but they couldn't get any more time than what they were previously given. Therefore, the only one eligible for the death penalty was Davidson, because that's what he had gotten
Speaker 1:beforehand. On May 2012, the Tennessee Supreme Court overturned Blackwood's ruling ordering new trials for Cobbins, davidson and Thomas, saying that a trial judge's misconduct outside of the courtroom does not necessarily require a new trial unless the misconduct is shown to have affected the trial proceedings, but that its decision should not be construed as condoning or excusing Bumgarner's misconduct. June 2012, again, blackwood ordered new trials based on the 13th juror rule. For those of you that do not know what this is, it is when the trial judge independently reviews the evidence and, acting as kind of like a 13th juror, decides whether he agrees with the verdict of the 12 jurors. If he does not, he must retry the
Speaker 1:case. Let me just pause here and vent a second. First of all, in my opinion, when you take a life of someone, you automatically take all their rights away. Therefore, in my opinion, when you took their rights, you took your own as well and you shouldn't have any other rights other than one fair trial yeah, one unless you can prove that your counsel was ineffective. Secondly, a lot of things in this case were not admissible, like Davidson's previous carjacking. I believe that the defendant's past should be relevant. It shows character, who they are, and it sometimes shows a pattern. Did you know? In some cases the jury isn't shown all of the evidence, like the crime scene photos and things like that. They should be shown that it is what happened, no matter how gruesome it is. I also believe you should have a right to win appeal within I don't know, maybe three years. That's way too long for me, and if that fails, then you're shit out of luck. Buddy, you now go on to the electric chair, injection, firing squad, life in prison.
Speaker 1:Whatever. My opinion is that the law should have a minimum sentence for murder or pedophile or basically any, If it is proven without a doubt that you are guilty. If this happened to a family member, I believe the family should be able to decide their punishment, regardless of how inhumane or torturous it is. And the reason I say that is because the defendants did not care how much torture and how inhumane they treated the victims. So why in the hell would anybody care about how they're treated? And the thing is, they chose to do it. These victims did not. This shit would stop if that
Speaker 1:happened. Imagine if this was your daughter and son. These poor parents had to come into court over 200 times and relive this horrible tragedy, all because of appeals, judge misconduct. And you know if you watch the court videos, he is perfectly fine. I watched Shannon's daddy rock back and forth staring at the defendants. I saw and read on Facebook his anger. They took a great man and taught him how to hate. Thankfully he's a changed man now, but just to see him ripped out my heart. They had to relive this over and over and then to sit in the court and allow Davidson's attorneys to bad mouth and try to taint the reputation of two amazing kids and it was allowed Blows my mind. I don't care if the victim is a horrible human. A victim is a victim and their lives should never have to be on trial. In my opinion, if you do the offense, then you just brought your entire house of skeletons out in the open public for that to be on display. End rant. The verdict in the retrial of George Thomas was on May 17, 2013. He was found guilty on all 38 counts. He was resentenced to two life sentences in prison, plus 25
Speaker 1:years. On March 20, 2018, 11 years after the murders, eric Boyd goes back on trial. Eric Boyd, who was originally sentenced to 18 years, was found guilty on a 36-count indictment charging him with first-degree felony murder, first-degree premeditated murder, especially aggravated robbery, especially aggravated kidnapping, and aggravated rape. On August 13, 2019, he was sentenced to life in prison plus another 90 years. His request for a new trial was denied. Thomas testified against him. In an exchange to a lesser sentence, his first-degree murder charge dropped to a second-degree murder. His aggravated rape was reduced to aggravated assault and this gave him a sentence of two 25-year sentences, with the opportunity to reduce that up to 15% with good behavior. So he went from two life sentences plus 25 years to 50 years, with the opportunity to reduce that up to 15% with good behavior, vanessa Coleman's sentence was reduced from 53 years to 35 years, minus credit for time served. Her sentence is reduced by 16 days a month with good behavior. She was up for parole December 2014 and again on December 2020. Both times her parole was denied. She goes up for parole in another 10
Speaker 1:years. This was the largest set of indictments in the history of Knoxville and if you had any sympathy for the female in this mess, let me just dash it here. In her diary for the weekend this all took place, she made a few entries. She wrote how interesting is your life? I bet it won't compare to mine. I love my life. We had a crackhead take us back to Knoxville and the whole way back she was complaining because she didn't have any drugs. She was driving kind of crazy, but it was straight, though. Wake up and know what's really going on. I love the fun adventures and lessons that I've learned. It's going to be an interesting year and finally, I've had one hell of adventure since I've been in the Big T
Speaker 1:Inn. As you can imagine, racial tensions grew in and around the town, as some believed it was a hate crime and the case would have gotten more attention if it had been white people doing this to black people. Have hatred in your heart to do such a thing, but I personally don't believe race was an issue due to the fact that they had white friends and some of the defendant's girlfriends were white. I believe that they decided to go steal a car they find a nice car and the perfect victims, who were an easy target. I also believe they got rid of Chris just so they can take advantage and have their way with Shannon, but only they truly know they didn't tear down Shannon's daddy. After all, over the years, he's been able to overcome his hatred and holds a memorial bike ride every year for his
Speaker 1:daughter. And if any good can come out of this story, it's two new laws that were introduced in 2014, one being the Chris Newsom Act, which was introduced to eliminate the need for a judge's signature on a jury verdict after the delivery of a unanimous verdict, thus eliminating the 13th juror rule. If this had been in place, the retrials would have been avoided. The second is the Shannon Christian Act that restricts attorneys and defendants in attempting to portray the victim in a negative light, such as making allegations about their behavior. According to Shannon's mother, the family felt great pain as a result of listening to a defense attorney question Shannon's character during multiple trials. And I have to say it again, due to the loss protecting the accused, the jury was not allowed to be informed of Davidson's carjacking conviction. It seems we have laws protecting the accused and who gives a shit when they violate the laws in place, for the innocent Waste Management Company bought the house on Chipman Street and tore it down and built a memorial for Shannon and Chris. Hopefully this is the end of that tragic
Speaker 1:story. Next week I have another wild, crazy story for you in regards to an adult son who comes home for the Thanksgiving holiday only to stab Thanksgiving holiday, only to stab, dismember his parents and leaves his mother's head in a stock pot stewing on the stove. That's coming up next week. In the meantime, if you have a story you would like to hear, please email me at theravensknockthought at gmailcom. Please like and subscribe. It really helps me bring new content out to you. You can also follow us on Facebook and see photos of the people in our stories at the Raven Knocks. And until next time, be safe the Thank you.
