Christian-Newsom Murders: Lemaricus Davidson Guilty on 35 of 38 Counts, May Face Death Penalty
Lemaricus Davidson has been found guilty by a Knox County jury on 35 of 38 counts in the brutal kidnapping, rape and murder of Channon Christian and Christopher Newsom.
Returning guilty verdicts on all murder counts, the five-woman, seven-man jury set the stage for the state’s bid Thursday to seek Davidson’s life as punishment for the January 2007 deaths of Christian and Newsom.
“The people of Knox County are the ones who took care of our kids today,” said Deena Christian, mother of Channon Christian.
“We finally have the justice our kids deserve,” said Mary Newsom, mother of Chris Newsom.
Jurors also found Davidson, 28, guilty of kidnapping and robbing the young couple. The jury also returned a verdict of guilty on several counts of rape of Channon Christian, 21. With no DNA evidence to directly link Davidson to the rape of Christopher Newsom, and forensic evidence that suggested the rape was committed with an object, jurors opted for convictions of the lesser charge of facilitation of aggravated rape.
With sweeping guilty verdicts returned, the jury now faces the task of deciding whether the convicted ringleader in these heinous murders receives a life sentence or the death sentence.
Read complete trial coverage by Jamie Satterfield at knoxnews.com:
