Note: Jurors are deliberating.
***
Eric Dewayne Boyd, 47, stands trial in Knox County, Tennessee in the 2007 deaths of Channon Christian, 21, and her boyfriend Christopher Newsom, 23. Opening statements are set to begin at 9:30 a.m. ET on Tuesday, August 6. You can see that, and the rest of the trial live in the player above.
The couple were victims of a carjacking on January 6 of that year, authorities said. They were taken to a home in East Knoxville where a group was responsible for assaulting and raping both of them, authorities said. Newsom was slain first, and his body was set on fire, investigators said. Christian lived longer but suffocated to death after the attackers left her to die in a trash can while stuffed in garbage bags.
Lemaricus Davidson was convicted of first-degree murder and other charges. He was sentenced to death. Letalvis Cobbins was sentenced to life without parole plus 100 years for murder. George Thomas was sentenced to life plus 25 years for his murder case. Vanessa Coleman was acquitted of murder, but sentenced to 35 years in prison in a retrial for kidnapping, facilitation of rape, and facilitation of Christian’s murder.
Boyd was already found guilty the year after the deaths, but only in federal court. Charges were accessory after the fact and misprision of a felony. Newsom’s family reportedly believes that the defendant raped their relative. The defendant is being charged for this, according to records obtained by Law&Crime.
Boyd was indicted in 2018 on 36 counts. Charges included felony murder, first-degree murder, especially aggravated kidnapping, and aggravated rape. Thomas is expected to testify in exchange for getting his life sentence dropped to 50 years.
The jury features seven women and five men. There are four alternates: three men, and one woman.
[Mugshot via Knox County]