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Photos of Cobbins, Davisdon, and attorneys and original piece here
Day 2 Cobbins' trial: Accused killer's ex-girlfriend breaks down on the stand
Updated: 8/18/2009 8:43:37 PM
Posted: 8/18/2009 6:33:48 AM
On the second day of Letalvis Cobbins' trial for the murders of Channon Christian and Chris Newsom, prosecutors Takisha Fitzgerald and Leland Price will continue to set the stage for what they hope will amount to their burden of proof.
On Monday, the state called 11 witnesses to establish a timeline and perimeter for the crimes that left Channon Christian and Chris Newsom brutally murdered.
Letalvis Cobbins is the first defendant to go to trial to face a long list of charges to include robbery, kidnapping, rape, and premeditated murder.
Cobbins, his brother Lemaricus Davidson, his friend George, Thomas and girlfriend Vanessa Coleman all face execution if they are convicted of the crimes.
The state is calling more witnesses Tuesday morning.
Among the witnesses expected to testify on Tuesday, the state is expected to call Daphne Sutton to the stand.
Sutton is Davidson's ex-girlfriend who also testified in Eric Boyd's federal trial.
Boyd was convicted as an accessory after the fact for helping Davidson hide from police. Boyd was sentenced to 18 years.
Day 2 of the Cobbins trial started with testimony from Roy Thurman. Thurman is a sandblaster who was working in the Chipman Street area at 7:45 Sunday morning on January 7, 2007.
During direct questioning, Thurman said he saw smoke coming from the railroad tracks while he was working.
He later heard that a body had been found in the area where he saw the smoke rising. Newsom's body was discovered by a train engineer that same day.
KPD Fingerprint analyst testifies
Don Crenshaw will not soon forget the morning he was called to investigate a silver Toyota Four Runner.
Crenshaw told the court, he was called to Chipman Street at 2 a.m. Monday January 8, 2007. He took pictures, fingerprint samples and inventory of the items in the SUV that he believed belonged to a missing girl named Channon Christian.
During questioning, Crenshaw told the prosecution that he believed the Four Runner had been wiped down and he could not get any reliable fingerprint samples off the hard surfaces of the vehicle.
The case stuck in his mind hours after he had the SUV towed and impounded in the police parking lot. He began to rack his brain about what he could do to help find the girl and her suspected abductor.
The civilian fingerprint analyst remembered the bank envelope he photographed in the SUV and the fact that most people don't realize that paper can hold fingerprints really well.
Crenshaw told the court that he went back to the impound lot on his way into work Monday night and collected the envelope. With the help of some chemicals, Crenshaw instinct was correct. He discovered a fingerprint. After inputting his findings into a database, Crenshaw soon discovered that he had found the right thumbprint of Lemaricus Davidson.
Crenshaw told the court he also found Davidson's latest residence was at 2316 Chipman Street. He e-mailed the information to investigators but couldn't help but think about Christian.
The unarmed civilian went against protocol and went by himself to the house to see if he could see or hear anything. However, the house was quiet with only a dim light shining through the windows.
After Crenshaw heard about officers going into the house later that day, he immediately wanted to help. He started to ask questions and was told Christian's body was found in a trash can but her body and the container had already been removed.
That didn't stop Crenshaw. He went to the medical examiner's office and started fingerprint analysis on the trashbags and trash can used to kill Christian. Once again, Crenshaw said he found fingerprints on the bags that belonged to Davidson.
Finding Christian's body
Sergeant Keith DeBow is a SWAT officer with the Knoxville Police Department. He told the court on Tuesday morning that he remembered being called about going into 2316 Chipman Street on January 9, 2007.
Sergeant DeBow said he was told they were looking for Lemaricus Davidson who was he leaseholder at the house at the time.
The Knoxville Police officer said he went into the house with the SWAT team, but while searching the house for Davidson, he saw a bulging trash can.
Sergeant DeBow said he and another officer raised their guns as he removed the lid and found Christian's lifeless body. He said he reached forward, touched her arm and knew that she was dead.
Jury sees crime scene
KPD Officer Joe Cox remembers being called to 2316 Chipman Street on January 9, 2007. Cox told the court he was called after Christian's body was found in a trash can inside the house.
Cox told the court he took crime scene pictures and video that day.
Prosecutors showed the video which showed officers outside of the house, shell casings on a book shelf, piles of clothes throughout the house, and several air mattresses. Cox's video also showed a gas can next to a refrigerator in the kitchen and the trash can where Christian was found.
The crime scene pictures also show a burned driver's license in Christian's purse.
After jurors saw the video and photographs the state gave them a 3D demonstration.
Assistant District Attorney Leland Price put the actual trash can on top of the witness stand where Cox confirmed it to be the container used to hold Christian's body.
Jury sent out of the courtroom
Moments after prosecutors announced Stacey Lawson's name, the defense asked for a bench conference. Shortly after, Judge Richard Baumgartner sent jurors out of the courtroom so he could hear Lawson's testimony.
Lawson identified a silver revolver that she said belonged to "Rome". She pointed at "Rome" in the courtroom who is also known as Letalvis Cobbins.
Lawson told the court that she saw Cobbins cleaning the gun in the bathroom at the Chipman Street house back in December.
The judge allowed the jury to hear Lawson's testimony.
During Lawson's courtroom testimony she said she was George Thomas' girlfriend and visited the Chipman Street house 3 times during December 2006 and January 2007.
According to her testimony, Cobbins told her that his brother gave him a choice of two guns, and he chose the chrome revolver. Lawson knew Davidson as "Gutta", "Slim" and "Marcus".
While she was testifying, Lawson mentioned that she left the house on January 2, 2007 after Davidson pointed a rifle at her face.
Lawson testified that she saw Cobbins, Coleman and Thomas after the murders and asked them what was wrong. She said Cobbins told her that his brother killed two people. During cross-examination, Lawson told the defense that Cobbins had tears in his eyes as he talked about the crimes committed by his brother.
After Lawson finished testifying and left the courtroom, she broke out in tears in the hallway as she spoke to court officials.
Washington Ridge connection revealed
Ethel Lynn Freeman said she was friends and neighbors with Lemaricus Davidson. During direct questioning, Freeman told the court that Davidson and his friends Letalvis Cobbins, George Thomas, Vanessa Coleman and Stacey Lawson helped her move into her apartment at Washington Ridge Apartments in December 2006.
Freeman said she sold and gave some things to Davidson and his girlfriend Daphne Sutton. Davidson owed her money for some furniture.
On Saturday January 6, 2007, Freeman said she expected Davidson to bring money to her Washington Ridge Apartment, but he never showed up.
Investigators believe that Christian and Newsom were carjacked from the Washington Ridge Apartments the night they disappeared.
Freeman said she called Davidson on Sunday and he sounded different.
Shortly after she reached Davidson by phone, Freeman told the court she went to Chipman Street to collect her money and she saw George Thomas also known as "G" walking back from the train tracks with a hoodie pulled up over his head.
During cross-examination things got heated when Scott Green asked Freeman if Davidson owed her money for more than furniture. The prosecution objected, then Green asked the judge to remove the jury from the courtroom for the second time.
Green told the judge he was trying to find out if Freeman was high on crack-cocaine when she saw Thomas at Chipman Street and he is testing her credibility.
Freeman denied Green's allegations that she traded oxycontin for crack-cocaine with Davidson.
Davidson's ex-girlfriend takes the stand
In 2006, Daphne Sutton she met Lemaricus Davidson and they quickly began a serious relationship.
She told the court she and her two children moved in with Davidson at 2316 Chipman Street in the fall of 2006.
However, the former Fulton High School student said their relationship was explosive and the couple fought often, even getting physical on several occasions.
Sutton told the court that Davidson hit her on Friday January 5, 2007. She got fed up and left the house that night to go stay with some friends.
On Sunday, Sutton says Davidson called her to go pick up some clothes he had for her.
A couple of friends gave Sutton a ride to the house because her car was broken down in front of the Chipman Street home.
When she arrived Sunday night, Sutton says someone was locked in the bathroom with the water running. Davidson grabbed her arm and wouldn't let her go into the kitchen either.
After Sutton left the house, she realized the clothes Davidson gave her in a Sears bag, were used.
During cross-examination Davidson's ex-girlfriend became emotional as Scott Green asked her about her realization that the clothes that Davidson gave her actually belonged to Christian.
"Is part of what is so upsetting about this case is not only what happened to Ms. Christian, but the thought that it could have been you," Green asked.
"Yes," Sutton said as she cried on the witness stand.
Sutton told the court room that Davidson had a short fuse and lost his temper often.
"On a number of times when Marcus would beat you up, would bruise you, would choke you, Rome was present wasn't he," Green asked Sutton.
"Yes," she responded.
Green's questions kept coming as he tried to establish Davidson as the bad guy. "He never stood up to his big brother, did he?" "Never tried to stop him did he?"
"No," Sutton answered.
"But after every single one of those times Rome would come and put his arm around you and say how are you doing," Green continued.
"Yes," Sutton replied.
Sutton told Green that her ex-boyfriend was a drug dealer and she saw him give crack-cocaine to Freeman, which is what Green was eluding to during Freeman's testimony.
Inmate with Knoxville connection befriends Davidson
Fulton High School graduate, Vinnie Wernimont admitted to being a convicted felon and good friend to Lemaricus Davidson during his testimony on Tuesday afternoon.
The Knoxville native said he met Davidson while they were inmates in Memphis at the West Tennessee State Penitentiary. When Wernimont left prison he returned to Knoxville.
Then in 2006, Wernimont says Davidson was released from prison and was looking for a place to live. The former inmates became Knoxville roommates.
Green became extremely aggressive with Wernimont during cross examination. You did penitentiary time for shooting a man didn't you, sir? And that's where you met Mr. Davidson was in West Tennessee Penitentiary."
"Yes sir," Wernimont replied.
"So, I guess we have you to thank for bringing Lemaricus Davidson to Knoxville," Green continued.
"Yes, you do and I feel horrible about that every single day," Wernimont answered as he swiveled repeatedly in his chair.
The state called 14 witnesses on Tuesday.