The murders of Christopher Newsom, age 23 and Channon Gail Christian, age 21, are a horrible example of how depraved humanity can be. They were tortured, raped and murdered in a cold blooded fashion. And now the first defendant to face justice has been sentenced. He was convicted last August of being an accessory to murder after the fact and failing to notify police of the whereabouts of someone he knew had committed a crime.
His sentence?
18 years.
Local station reports: Knoxville News-Sentinel, WVLT Channel 8, WATE Channel 6, and WBIR Channel 10
From our first post on this crime:
On Saturday January 6, 2007 Hugh Christopher Newsom, age 23 and Channon Gail Christian, age 21, both students at the University of Tennessee went out on a date.
They were driving in Channon’s Toyota 4-Runner when they were carjacked at gunpoint. Suddenly the
crime turned far more savage than an armed car theft. Chris and Channon were kidnapped and driven to 2316 Chipman Street where they were forced into the home at gunpoint. While Channon was forced to watch, her boyfriend was raped prison style and then his penis was cut off. He was later driven to nearby railroad tracks where he was shot and set afire. But Channon’s hell was just beginning. She was beaten; gang raped repeatedly in many ways, had one of her breasts cut off and bleach poured down her throat to destroy DNA evidence—all while she was still alive. To add to Channon’s degradation the suspects took turns urinating on her. They too set her body afire, apparently inside the residence, but for some reason left her body there—in five separate trash bags.
Eric Dewayne Boyd helped Davidson escape the scene and evade the law.
Christian’s father stood and faced the accused and his family:
Christian’s father, Gary Christian, did not initially address either the judge or Boyd. Instead, he directly addressed friends and family by name, recalling specific acts of kindness to them by his daughter. Then, he turned to Boyd. “I hate you,” he told Boyd. “My son hates you. My wife hates you. I’ve not prayed since the day you were arrested. Today, I’m going to pray. Don’t you think for a second I’m praying for you.”
Was Boyd a guy just caught up in the heat of the moment?
Boyd’s criminal career started at age 14 with a breaking-and-entering and vandalism charge. Boyd also admitted in police interrogation to involvement in 9 armed robberies in 1994, between March and May. In a transcript, he told police he was trying to raise $2500 to pay off money he owed a drug dealer, for drugs. In some of those robberies, Boyd admitted to being an armed robber. In others, he said a co-defendant robbed the store, and Boyd drove the get-away car.
Nope. He deserved to be placed behind bars long ago and now it comes at after the brutal murders of two young people.
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