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Old April 8th, 2008 #21
Jimmy Dean
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Jury Selection In Christian-Newsom
Murder Accessory Case

Apr 7, 2008

VolunteerTV.com

KNOXVILLE, Tenn (WVLT) -- A jury is being selected in federal court to decide whether Eric DeWayne Boyd is guilty of hiding one of the four suspects in the carjacking and murder of a you Knox County couple.

Judge Tom Varlan is telling prospective jurors up front that this trial will probably last all this week and into next week.

Some would-be jurors were sent home quickly for obvious reasons. One was a close friend or the victim, and another was a high school classmate of the prosecutor. But for most, the question of whether they will sit on this jury is not answered so easily.

After waiting more than a year for the first of five trials they'll have to endure, the victims' families are waiting again. This time, they must wait for a jury to be selected. That process is moving very slowly in Boyd's case.

Here's why:
  • -Almost everyone has heard about the brutal murder of Channon Christian and Christopher Newsom, and the defense is concerned about that publicity. Simply knowing about the murders on Chipman Street in January 2007 will not disqualify jurors. It does invite additional questions from lawyers.
  • -Boyd is not charged with the murder or the carjacking, he is accused of hiding Lemaricus Davison from police. What makes this thing sticky is that the state must prove what Davidson's role in the carjacking, kidnapping and murders was. The kicker is that they'll have to do that before Davidson has had his trial in Knox County Criminal Court.
So far, the only questions to jurors have been about racial bias, and pre-trial publicity. The victims are white, Boyd and the four people actually charged with the carjacking and murder are African-American.

In addition to Davison, Letalvis Cobbins, Vanessa Coleman, and George Thomas are also charged. They are set to go to trial in four separate death penalty cases beginning next year.

In Boyd's federal case, jury selection is expected to last much of Tuesday, and evidence could start being heard by Wednesday.

Source:
http://www.volunteertv.com/home/head...17357069.html#
 
Old April 8th, 2008 #22
jimbo!
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Jimmy Dean View Post
Raise your hand if you are a racist.

The question put to potential jurors today in U.S. District Court likely won't be that blunt, but the aim is the same: Ferret out anyone who cannot be color-blind when deciding the fate of accessory to fatal carjacking suspect Eric "E" Boyd

It is an unusual inquiry in what U.S. District Judge Tom Varlan is already foreseeing as an uncommon method to seat an impartial jury in an inflammatory case involving a headline-grabbing crime and a resulting racial firestorm......
"are you a racist?" (or similar) is/are illegitimate, improper and, probably, un-constitutional "question" (s) to ask jurors....firstly: "racist" is a totally relative term....there is no absolute, hard & fast "definition" of what "a racist" actually is!....secondly: the personal beliefs of a juror are totally irrelevant....you may as well ask them if they are "catholic" or "protestant"......if such a question is permitted, then it should be legitimate for the prosecutor to request an all-white jury on the grounds that an all-black or mixed jury could not deliver an objective verdict!...........(the only judicial objections to jurors are: personal knowledge of/acquaintance with either the accused, the victim[s]/if any and/or any-one connected with the trial process such as judges, lawyers, court officials, police &c....ohh....and, of course, whether or not the potential juror has a criminal record...that's IT!)....one wonders if a white man/men accused of similar crimes would be afforded such excessive latitudes?

(jimbo!)

 
Old April 8th, 2008 #23
Itz_molecular
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Jim Crowe View Post
I gets me ill to think of what those white kids had to endure at the paws of those dark demons. Fuck the trial. Kill those boons now. Not later. NOW!!
Ahmen ,

Just pillory them . I'll be the guy selling bricks , 2 cents each and the first fifty are free .
 
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