I, like many other people, have followed with overwhelming sadness the horrific carjacking and brutal torture, rape, and murder of Channon Christian and Christopher Newsom as reported in the Knoxville News-Sentinel.
Yesterday, I happened to be handling civil cases in Knox County General Sessions court on the day that the jury verdict in the trial of Eric Boyd was announced.
Boyd was charged with two federal crimes--accessory to carjacking and failing to report a felony. Boyd was the first to be tried in connection with the Christian-Newsom case. The other four individuals--who face murder charges--will be tried in state court in 2009.
Before I went back to my office, I went into the federal courtroom to see and hear the jury verdict in person.
The federal courtroom is huge but with very little seating. Yesterday, one side of the courtroom was filled with the Christian and Newsom families and friends. The other side had a row of reporters and courthouse employees and others who came in just to hear the verdict. There were a number of law enforcement officials there as well---some of whom had participated in the investigation.
In the early afternoon, the Judge considered a question raised by the jury regarding a difference in the wording of the indictment and the statute under which Boyd charge. You can read the N-S story for a full explanation. The short version is this: the jury wanted to know if the indictment that used the word "and" or the statute that used the word "or" should guide their deliberations.
The Judge brought the jury in and advised that the indictment is just a charging instrument. He then read the statute.
They jury went back out for a short time and then returned with a guilty verdict.
News-Sentinel reporter Jamie Satterfield has provided extensive coverage of the trial of Boyd over the past 1-1/2 weeks. Her article on yesterday's verdict is online. There are also links to other information that can be pulled up.
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