Welcome Guest [Log In] [Register]
Add Reply
Blog and Media Roundup - Friday, March 5, 2010; News Roundup
Topic Started: Mar 5 2010, 05:32 AM (742 Views)
abb
Member Avatar

http://www.heraldsun.com/view/full_story_news_durham/6576122/article-Council-approves-zoning-revision?instance=main_article


Council approves zoning revision
03.04.10 - 09:33 pm
Neighboring land's owner relents, says he trusts developer

By Ray Gronberg

gronberg@heraldsun.com; 419-6648

DURHAM -- City Council members on Thursday agreed to revise the zoning for an ongoing condo project off Farrington Road, despite qualms over a drainage issue that's been affecting a neighbor.

The 7-0 vote came after members received assurances that the Ohio company that's building the condos would make amends with the neighbor, an administrator in UNC Chapel Hill's medical school.

Planners cautioned that they wouldn't be able to enforce that promise, a problem that prompted one councilwoman, Diane Catotti, to say she was "not completely comfortable" with the deal.

But the council went ahead with the vote because the neighbor, UNC Associate Dean for Medical Alumni Affairs James Harper, had relayed word that he trusted the situation would be "resolved satisfactorily."

Council members had previously signaled they weren't happy that city and county regulators had somehow managed to approve blueprints that aimed two 30-inch-wide culverts from the property of Epcon Farrington LLC toward Harper's land.

Harper told members on Monday that water blasting out of the culverts had essentially rendered unusable a pasture on his land that borders Epcon's 133-home project.

He added that he'd complained to a number of people and officials, including David Moreau, a UNC professor who sits on the N.C. Environmental Management Commission.

"I have not been a quiet bystander in the effort to get this resolved," said Harper, whose land is off George King Road near Creekside Elementary School.

The former cardiologist's comments to the council produced a three-day delay of the approval vote that gave him a chance to confer with officials from Epcon, the city and the county.

An administrator from the city stormwater office defended local regulators' work in comments to the council on Thursday.

The culverts were placed as they were because Harper's land is in the path of the site's natural drainage, said Robert Joyner, manager of development reviews for the Stormwater Services Division.

About five acres of land drains to a swale on Harper's property, Joyner said.

He added that the Epcon project, when complete, will include sufficient drainage controls to ensure that post-development water flows are no greater than those that were happening before the project started.

Epcon and Harper are discussing corrective measures that could include underground piping or a "spreader" that would work in "higher-level storm events" to widen flows so they don't do as much damage, Joyner said.

Harper prefers the underground piping, but either solution is acceptable to regulators, Joyner added.

The dispute was ill-timed from the city's standpoint, given Harper's reported complaint to Moreau. The Environmental Management Commission has to pass judgment on anti-pollution regulations affecting the Falls Lake watershed in northern Durham.

The regulations will touch on drainage issues, and city officials worry that strict rules under a worst-case scenario could have long-term compliance costs of around $1 billion.

Epcon's requested zoning change amended design guidelines for the condo project that formerly restricted it to building quadruplexes. Company officials said they needed a different mix of units to satisfy customers.
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
abb
Member Avatar

Today in History.
Two years ago today.

Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
abb
Member Avatar

http://www.heraldsun.com/view/full_story/6576948/article-Back-together-again-for-Eve?instance=main_article


Back together again for Eve
03.04.10 - 11:00 pm
UNC junior Laura Hartley writes a message to former UNC student body president Eve Carson after the dedication of the Eve Marie Carson Garden on Thursday. “She was the first person I met here,” Hartley said about Carson, who was her counselor at summer freshmen camp. “You told me to GO FOR IT! and I have. Thanks Eve,” Hartley’s message read.
Over 400 people gather to dedicate garden at UNC in her memory

By Gregory Childress

gchildress@heraldsun.com; 419-6645

Chapel Hill -- Eve Carson, the UNC student body president who was murdered in March 2008, had a reputation for bringing people together.

She did the same Thursday, bringing more than 400 people together to dedicate the Eve Marie Carson Garden created in her memory.

"Isn't this a beautiful space," said UNC Chancellor Holden Thorp. "This is a perfect spot for people to sit in quiet contemplation, to read, to visit with one another and to enjoy the day."

While named after Carson, the garden, located on Polk Place behind the Campus Y, honors all UNC students past and future who die before they graduate.

"In honor of their lives, the garden is a place for reflection and celebration," Thorp said.

The garden was a project of UNC's Student Government, Division of Student Affairs, Auxiliary Services and Facilities Services.

It was funded by private donations from Student Affairs, Auxiliary Services, past student body presidents and friends of Carson.

"This project is an outstanding example of the best efforts of collaboration at UNC, people coming together with ideas and creativity under difficult circumstances to envision a place of hope, community and of life," said Peggy Jablonski, vice chancellor for student affairs who read a moving poem titled "Ordinary Miracles' that she wrote for the dedication ceremony.

The garden includes a seating area that orients people toward Polk Place. The seating area features a blue stone seat set in a traditional campus Chatham stone wall, and the inscription wall is made of Georgia marble in honor of Carson's home state.

Students and others joined to plant about two dozen ferns and other plants shortly after the ceremony.

Bob Winston, chairman of the UNC board of trustees, noted that March has become Carson's month on the UNC campus.

"What better month to connect with Eve's memory than this one, when spring comes to the South," Winston said. "And what better way to remember and celebrate than with a garden."

Winston said Carson inspired her family (her mother, father, brother and an aunt attended the ceremony but did not take part in the dedication), fellow students, trustees and professors to work harder.

"We will always remember her enthusiasm and her persistence," Winston said. "She was a wonderful person and this garden is a fitting way to remember someone who has made such a special impact on this university."

UNC student body president Jasmin Jones said Thursday was a day for reflection, and a time to "pause and appreciate the people around us and the greatness of the world."

She said she remembers Carson as a compassionate and knowledgeable leader.

"I remember Eve as my leader who could talk for hours about the chancellor search and who had tears in her eyes after an event that my committee held about diversity."

Seth Dearmin, UNC's student body president during the 2005-06 academic year said students learned to become better people through Carson.

"Eve was about leading us to give, teach and act more for our fellow citizens," Dearmin said. "She embodied the best characteristics of leadership. She believed in us and we believed in her."

Dearmin and about 50 other former student body presidents joined to raise about $50,000 for the garden.
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
abb
Member Avatar

http://falserapesociety.blogspot.com/

Friday, March 5, 2010
Women Against Rape 'alarmed' at the number of women being prosecuted for false rape claims
If the organization called Women Against Rape is indicative of modern feminism, then I can say beyond any doubt, reasonable or otherwise, that feminism is a cesspool, an open sewer, a pit of putrefaction, a treasonous, slimy gathering of all that is rotten in the debris of human depravity. Why? Because Women Against Rape criticised the police and the Crown Prosecution Service for bringing the false rape case against Gail Sherwood. Read our prior reports about Gail Sherwood and tell me that Women Against Rape has a valid point in any rational world. Please. Educate me, all you man-hating, despicable, people. I'm serious.

Get it straight, misandrists: if anyone should be prosecuted for any crime, it is this serial false accuser. That we are even forced to write this is almost beyond belief.

That awful group shows its true colors when it complains about the number of women being prosecuted for false rape claims. Given their complaint, I would say that things might be looking up for the falsely accused. I would also say that my guess is that the percentage of convictions in false rape cases is very high. The reason it is very high is that not nearly enough rape liars are prosecuted, and the ones who are prosecuted are typically clearly guilty.

If Women Against Rape is indicative of modern feminism, then we need to do what is necesary, under law, to completely eradicate modern feminism from the face of the earth, because no male is safe.

Despicable.

Read the news story here:

Woman gets two years for false rape claims

More than 60 people had written to the judge insisting that Gail Sherwood, a former childminder and dog breeder, had not invented the story

A mother-of-three was today jailed for two years for falsely claiming she had been harassed and raped by an unknown stalker, despite protests from her family and anti-rape campaigners that she had been telling the truth.


More than 60 people had written to the judge at Bristol crown court insisting that Gail Sherwood, a former childminder and dog breeder, had not invented the story and that they believed there was a dangerous sex attacker free in Gloucestershire.

Maureen Till, a friend, had told the hearing Sherwood had been the victim of a "despicable" miscarriage of justice.

But sentencing, Judge Julian Lambert said Sherwood's "perverted mind" had invented a "malicious fantasy world". She was a "cunning and highly deceitful" woman responsible for a "huge waste" of police resources, he said.

Sherwood, 52, was found guilty of perverting the course of justice after a six-week trial. She twice claimed she had been raped at beauty spots in Gloucestershire, prompting police investigations. She also told detectives she had received strange calls, had been followed home, and that flowers had been left at her door.

But police began to doubt her and launched a covert surveillance operation that the prosecution said proved she was making the attacks up. Simon Morgan, prosecuting, told the court that "many hundreds" of police hours had been spent investigating Sherwood's claims and the trial had cost £100,000.

In mitigation, Alan Kent QC said that even since her conviction the stalker had continued to plague Sherwood, who lives with two teenage daughters and a partner in Thrupp, near Stroud in Gloucestershire. On Wednesday someone had broken into the family home, set off a burglar alarm and disturbed ornaments, Kent said. A hooded figure in a nearby field had been captured on the family's CCTV cameras.

Kent said that Sherwood "could have taken the easy option", told police she had lied and escaped with a caution or conditional discharge, but "she decided she would stand up and tell the truth".

Outside court the campaign group Women Against Rape criticised the police and the Crown Prosecution Service for bringing the case. It claimed Gloucestershire police had made mistakes.

The group said it was "alarmed" at the number of women being prosecuted for false allegations of rape, and that it intends to campaign to have Sherwood released.

Detective Chief Inspector Paul Shorrock, the senior investigating officer, said the police and CPS had dedicated significant resources to the case before concluding the rapist did not exist.

He said one reason why they prosecuted Sherwood was to reassure other people living nearby that there was no stalker on the loose.

Link: http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2010/mar/04/rape-claims-gail-sherwood
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
abb
Member Avatar

http://dukechronicle.com/article/police-arrest-suspect-series-campus-bank-robberies

Police arrest suspect in series of off-campus bank robberies
By Michael Shammas
March 5, 2010


Police are still investigating a string of Durham bank robberies in recent weeks. The latest robbery, which occurred at SunTrust Bank on University Drive Feb. 25, marked the sixth such incident within a span of 16 days.

Chapel Hill resident Mario Shawn Johnson, 32, has been charged with a Feb. 17 robbery of the BB&T bank on Duke Street, Durham Police Department officials announced Wednesday. Johnson remains at large as of Thursday night.

Durham police suspect that the robberies may be related, but are not sure which of the six may be connected, DPD Public Information Officer Kammie Michael said. She added that in the robberies, the suspect usually entered the bank and handed a teller a note demanding money and implying use of a weapon.

“Our investigators are trying to determine which, if any, of those robberies are related to each other,” Michael said. “We have had people charged with committing more than one bank robbery.”

News releases from DPD Feb. 17 and Feb. 25 described the suspect as a black male about 6 feet tall wearing a dark ball cap.

Durham County Sheriff’s Lt. Stan Harris also confirmed that police are investigating the possibility that some of the robberies were committed by one man. He added that some of the suspects from the robberies before last Thursday may have been operating in tandem.

“We’re looking into it to see if there is a nexus between the suspects from last week and the previous week,” he said. “We have more than one suspect.”

Police named Willie Mortez Daniel, 41, as the suspect Feb. 26 and charged him with the SunTrust robbery the day before. He allegedly entered the bank around 12:35 p.m. Thursday and handed the teller a note with instructions demanding money. He then reportedly left with an undisclosed sum and fled in a Jeep Grand Cherokee containing another man and a woman.

Police arrested Daniel Saturday in Granville County for robbery with a dangerous weapon. He was also charged with breaking and entering, possession of stolen property and larceny from an incident in Granville County Jail last week.

Banks have been told to exercise extra caution, Michael said. Several banks declined to comment.

“We have notified local banks and shared photos of the suspects with them,” she wrote in an e-mail. “We have also sent the photos to the media hoping someone would recognize the suspect(s).”

Despite the robberies in Durham, several Duke students said they still feel safe on campus.

“I actually feel very safe within Duke because we have the campus police and other students around during most hours of the day,” said freshman Anamika Saha.

She added that this sentiment does not, however, extend outside the University’s campus.

“Once you go outside the walls, you don’t feel as safe anymore,” she said. “If it’s towards the evening, you definitely feel like you shouldn’t be off-campus at that time.”
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
abb
Member Avatar

http://www.newsobserver.com/2010/03/05/371142/trials-are-still-months-away.html


Published Fri, Mar 05, 2010 05:29 AM
Modified Thu, Mar 04, 2010 11:23 PM
Trials are still months away

As friends of Eve Carson take time today on the second anniversary of her death to remember her, the two men accused of killing her still are months away from trial. .

Court officials and others familiar with the North Carolina legal system say the pace of the legal case is not unusual. Murder cases can often take two years to resolve, what with lab tests and reports and the typical back-and-forth of prosecutors and defenders. If the death penalty is a possible punishment, extra defenders are assigned to the case and the court process can take even longer.

"It just simply takes time," said Orlando Hudson, the chief resident Superior Court judge in Durham County. "People look at all these TV shows, and everything's done in an hour. In real life, in this day and age, these kinds of cases take time."

On March 5, 2008, early-morning reports of gunshots brought police to the quiet, wooded Chapel Hill neighborhood where Carson's body was found. Almost a mile from the campus where Carson was admired for her charisma, top-notch grades and drive to help others, the esteemed achiever from Athens, Ga., was cloaked in anonymity. With no ID on her, much of the day passed before law enforcement officers knew for certain who the victim was.

Another week passed before police arrested the suspects, two young men who were supposed to be under the watch of the state's probation system. Demario Atwater, 23, and Laurence Alvin Lovette Jr., 19, both of Durham, face state murder charges.

Atwater, the older of the two, has been charged in federal court, too, with kidnapping and carjacking, crimes that could be punishable by death. He also faces the death penalty at the state level.

Lovette, who was 17 at the time of the fatal shooting, does not face the death penalty, because the U.S. Supreme Court deems anyone under 18 at the time of an offense too young to be executed. Lovette also faces a charge of murder in the death of Abhijit Mahato, a Duke University graduate student found shot to death in Durham several weeks before the Carson homicide.

Atwater, whom court documents has describ as the suspect who fired the fifth and final shot to Carson's head, could be the first to go to trial.

Jury selection began last month in the federal carjacking and kidnapping case and will continue later this spring. That trial is set for May.

But Atwater's defense team has asked for the trial to be moved to Virginia. With a poll to bolster their case, they say the potential jury pool has been influenced by extensive media coverage of the case.

Federal public defenders are seeking a dismissal of the federal carjacking and kidnapping charges, saying the prosecution is unconstitutional and based on racial bias.

Racial bias alleged

In one of dozens of court documents filed in the federal case, the defense team wrote: " The overriding reason that Mr. Atwater was indicted in federal court was that he was a young, black male accused of killing a young, white female."

In the 24-county federal court jurisdiction where Atwater is charged, there were 1,098 murders committed from 1998 to 2007 in which a firearm was used, according to federal court documents. Atwater's case is only the second in which death was a possible penalty brought in the district that includesOrange and Durham counties, the defense lawyers said. Death was not sought in the other case, the lawyers said.

No trial date has been set for the state murder case against Atwater or Lovette.
anne.blythe@newsobserver.com or 919 836-4048
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
abb
Member Avatar

http://www.newsobserver.com/2010/03/05/370969/garden-at-unc-honors-carson-on.html


Published Fri, Mar 05, 2010 05:28 AM
Modified Fri, Mar 05, 2010 05:30 AM
Garden at UNC honors Carson

CHAPEL HILL Two years ago, UNC-Chapel Hill student Katie Hukill thought nothing of walking alone through her neighborhood late into the evening.

Then Eve Carson was shot dead.

"I definitely don't walk alone at night," said Hukill, one of many students who say Carson's killing two years ago today forever changed their perception of Chapel Hill as a cloistered town free from random acts of violence. "I'm definitely more careful."

This heightened awareness is one of the many legacies Carson left to a campus still mourning her. The opening dedication of a new garden built in her name drew hundreds to a red-brick walkway off the main campus quadrangle Thursday afternoon.

There, they celebrated Carson's life again, noting all the ways her influence has lasted. Interest in public service, which Carson championed, has risen, officials say. So too has the profile of student government. In the two years since the student body president's death, scores of students have expressed interest in running for leadership posts.

"It has expanded the awareness of student government," Chancellor Holden Thorp said. "When I ask a lot of people why they're running for student body president, they say it's because of Eve."

Carson's successor, JJ Raynor, used her position to shine a spotlight on public safety, pushing student government to institute "Safe Walks," a buddy system of sorts for students who would otherwise walk home alone at night, said Jonathan Tugman, the student body secretary.

The garden, at the base of a massive oak tree, features a semicircular stone seating area facing a low, flat wall made of marble from Georgia, Carson's home state. It is inscribed with one of her favorite sayings: "Learn from every single being, experience and moment. What joy it is to search for lessons and goodness and enthusiasm in others."

Carson was shot dead in a neighborhood near campus. Two Durham men, Demario Atwater, 23, and Laurence Lovette, 19, are charged with her murder.

Atwater also faces federal kidnapping charges and is scheduled to go on trial in May. His lawyers have asked a federal judge to move the trial from North Carolina to Virginia, saying it would be too difficult to find jurors who have not been influenced by extensive media coverage of Carson's death.

Atwater and Lovette weren't mentioned at the garden dedication. Rather, the short program was filled with smiles, laughter and reflection. In the minds of many on campus, Carson is still very much alive.

"The impact she had on campus was unmistakable and unforgettable," said Stephanie Mazzucca, a 2008 UNC-CH graduate who works on campus. "She was a wonderful person."
eric.ferreri@newsobserver.com or 919-932-2008.
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
abb
Member Avatar

http://crdaily.com/2010/03/the-revolution-against-reality/


The Revolution Against Reality
2010 March 4
tags: budget cuts, protests, SDS
by Christopher Jones

Today as part of the national day of protest against funding cuts at universities, we had our very own protest here at UNC-Chapel Hill. Here, the protest appears to have been organized by Students for a Democratic Society. So predictably, instead of promoting a serious discussion about university budget cuts, the event quickly degenerated into a farce.

I encountered the small crowd of about 30 of the usual suspects as they crossed Polk Place, rudely interrupting the people at the dedication of the Eve Carson Memorial Garden with loud drumming and chanting.

Stealing a page from the recent student body president campaign of Carolina Review Editor in Chief Nash Keune, the protesters called for the abolition of all tuition charges as well as the firing of the university’s upper level administration. They accompanied this with creepily totalitarian chants of “the people, united, will never be defeated!”

In the crowd, many of the usual suspects in the gang of thugs known as Students for a Democratic Society could be seen. This is the same group responsible in the past year for attacking Tom Tancredo, threatening UNC faculty, and stealing copies of the Carolina Review.

The protest moved to the steps of South Building, where a woman with a loudspeaker proclaimed that “you cannot legislate civil disobedience” and stated that the protesters fully intended to break the law by protesting inside South Building after it closes at 5 PM. The potential of trespassing charges did not seem to deter them as 15 more daring protesters entered the building. The rest of them stood outside and listed grievances against the system barely related to the current budget crisis, including calls for unionization of campus workers and admission of illegal immigrants under in-state tuition rates.

“Education is a right, not a privilege.” “A Job is a Right” “Repeal Jim Crow” (!?)…just a sampling of the intellectual level we are dealing with here.

In the meantime, University officials observing the protest could but stand and laugh and the juvenile nature of it all.

Don’t get me wrong, budget cuts are a serious issue. They affect all of us negatively. They affect me negatively. But the fact is we are in an economic recession. In a recession, people spend less money. When people spend less money the state collects less revenue in sales tax. This causes the state to have a budget shortfall and requires it to cut spending. Hence, the need for budget cuts. To pretend that the state of North Carolina can do otherwise in the current situation is to deny the basic laws of addition and subtraction. Apparently SDS has decided that trying to launch a social revolution is not enough and now they intend on launching a revolution against mathematics.

We can debate where the wisest place to cut the budget is. But these sorts of juvenile protests calling for completely unrealistic goals such as the abolition of tuition (because a free education is “a right not a privilege”) or the firing of administrators is completely pointless, and will change nothing. It’s just an excuse for some leftist activists to yell in the streets and pretend to be doing something of importance.

PS -- I guess it could have been worse. According to the CNN article on the nationwide protests, police at UC-Davis had to fire rubber bullets at protesters to keep them from blocking an interstate highway, while police at Wisconsin-Milwaukee arrested 15 people after they tried to storm the main administration building.

Update: No arrests were made as the protesters agreed to leave the building peacefully. A short video of part of the protest can be viewed here:
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
abb
Member Avatar

http://www.browndailyherald.com/with-national-hype-national-championship-hopes-for-m-lacrosse-1.2179013

With national hype, national championship hopes for m. lacrosse

By Zack Bahr

Sports Staff Writer
|

Published: Thursday, March 4, 2010

Updated: Thursday, March 4, 2010
mlax

Jonathan Bateman / Herald

Julian Musikant ’13 will play hard his first season for the Bears.

The chatter around the Brown men’s lacrosse team in anticipation of this season goes far beyond College Hill. ESPN recently said that Brown is “one of the most overlooked teams.” Bruno is ranked 15th in the Nike/Inside Media poll. But Head Coach Lars Tiffany ’90 isn’t letting the nationwide hype get to his team.

“I hate the word expectations. We will not be expectant. We will work for anything we achieve. Our motto: expect nothing, earn everything,” Tiffany said.

The man at the helm of the Bears has coached his alma mater for four years now. In 2008, Tiffany led his squad to an Ivy Championship, and in 2009, Brown made a run in the NCAA Playoffs.

But the road back to the NCAAs won’t be smoothly paved for the Bears. They’ll have to battle with No. 9 Duke, No. 10 Hofstra and three Ivy foes ranked in the top 20. The first stop on the trip back to the playoffs will be this Saturday at Hofstra.

“We are the last team in Division I to play a game so we are really fired up to travel to Long Island this weekend to play against a team who has become one of our rivals,” quad-captain Reade Seligmann ’10 wrote in an e-mail to The Herald.

Along the way, the Bears will have to take on No. 6 Princeton, No. 8 Cornell and No. 11 Harvard. The last stop of the season before the NCAAs will be the Ivy League Playoffs — a new postseason tournament which will pit four national powerhouses against each other.

“That gives us a chance to get some more top-20 games,” said attacker Rob Schlesinger ’12. “We’re all real excited to have a tough schedule this year.”

With the loss of two-time All-American and two-time Ivy League player of the year Jordan Burke ’09, the Bears will turn to a largely untested goalie, Matt Chriss ’11.

“We couldn’t be more confident in our goalie,” defenseman Peter Fallon ’11 wrote in an e-mail to The Herald. “He has had the opportunity to learn the system and gain some confidence for the past two years, so we are excited to have him get the chance to prove himself.”

The Bears are hoping not only to take the Ivy League Championship but also to win a National Championship for the first time in the program’s 84-year history. Behind the strong leadership of captains Seligmann, Charlie Kenney ’10, Thomas Muldoon ’10 and Jake Westerman ’10, Brown may make a deep run into the playoffs.

“I think it’s pretty realistic,” Schlesinger said about the chance of a National Championship. “You look at a team like Cornell last year — who we beat — and they made it to the National Championship, so I definitely think it’s a realistic goal.”

The Bears will have a chance to play in a high-profile game against Princeton on April 3.

Bruno will play the Tigers at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, Mass., for the New England Lacrosse Classic. The series will also feature a matchup between fellow Ivy Leaguers Cornell and Dartmouth.

“Gillette Stadium provides our program the opportunity to play in a championship venue, in front of the New England lacrosse community against one of our biggest rivals,” Tiffany said in an interview with the New England Lacrosse Classic directors.

But before they take the big stage, Brown plays its home opener on March 10 against Hartford at 3 p.m.
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
abb
Member Avatar

http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2010/mar/04/thomas-briefly-speaks-sentencing/


Thomas briefly speaks at sentencing
50 years added to life terms for role in torture slayings

By Jamie Satterfield

Thursday, March 4, 2010

For the first time since a Knox County couple were tortured and slain three years ago, convicted killer George Thomas defended himself publicly Thursday — albeit briefly.

Pressed by the father of slaying victim Christopher Newsom about statements co-defendants made implicating him of shooting Newsom to prove himself to convicted ringleader Lemaricus Davidson, Thomas angrily denied it.

“It’s not true,” he said. “That’s a lie.”

He did not defend himself when facing Criminal Court Judge Richard Baumgartner, however, as the judge mulled his fate for crimes related to the killings, including kidnapping, robbery and rape.

Asked if he wanted to speak on his own behalf, Thomas merely shook his head.

Thomas was convicted in December of killing Newsom, 23, and Channon Christian, 21, and a jury served up two sentences of life without parole, one for each death. On Thursday, Baumgartner ordered those two life terms stacked one on the other. He also sentenced him to 50 years on the related crimes but allowed that time to clock off at the same time as the life sentence.

The decision came after prosecutor Leland Price urged the judge to send “a message to the community.”

“I think it’s important to think about that Chris Newsom was killed fairly early (in the crime spree),” he said. “But Channon Christian was kept alive for a good while. They’re two distinct events. There was no reason Channon had to die just because Chris did.”

Baumgartner offered a rare glimpse at the impact the case has had on him.

“I’ve had to sit here and listen to the evidence and see the photographs, and it affected me just like it does other people,” he said. “The difference is I have a job to do. I believe, and will take it to my death bed, we have the best justice system in the world. … I will continue to the best of my ability to uphold the law and ensure people get a fair trial.”

As for Thomas, Baumgartner made clear his assessment of the 27-year-old Michigan native.

“When the prosecution boxed off the courtroom to show the size of this house on Chipman Street … what we had was a square that took up less than half of this courtroom,” he said. “Mr. Thomas was there for the entire time essentially when Ms. Christian was being held captive and being sexually assaulted. He allowed those assaults to go on and took absolutely no steps to stop them or offer her assistance. He is as culpable as Mr. Davidson, as Mr. (Letalvis) Cobbins.

“Mr. Thomas, you are the kind of individual who should not be out on the street forever with the rest of us,” the judge concluded.

Cobbins was convicted last August and is serving a life term with another 100 years added on for related crimes. Davidson was convicted in October and sentenced to death. Suspect Vanessa Coleman faces trial in May.

Jamie Satterfield may be reached at 865-342-6308.
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
abb
Member Avatar

http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2010/mar/04/torture-slaying-suspect-may-have-kept-journal/


Torture slaying suspect may have kept journal
Prosecutors hope to use writings against Coleman

By Jamie Satterfield

Thursday, March 4, 2010

In a shocking case that has served up plenty of twists and turns, another startling revelation emerged Thursday: Torture slaying suspect Vanessa Coleman may have chronicled the crimes in a journal.

The journal has not yet been made public, so it's not clear what it says. But its contents are damaging enough that prosecutors want to use it against her at trial, and Knox County Criminal Court Judge Richard Baumgartner said from the bench that it is replete with references to the January 2007 slayings of Channon Christian, 21, and Christopher Newsom, 23.

"I've read it, and it certainly seems to be relevant to this incident," Baumgartner said.

Coleman faces trial in May. She is the last of four defendants charged in the murders to be tried.

At a motions hearing Thursday, defense attorney Ted Lavit sought to bar prosecutors from using the journal.

"The state has the burden to prove it's hers," he said.

Baumgartner responded by brandishing a photograph of the journal in a purse prosecutors say belonged to Coleman.

"You mean the photograph of her purse with the journal in it?" Baumgartner told Lavit, a note of sarcasm in his voice.

"A purse," Lavit replied.

"It's got her stuff in it," prosecutor Leland Price countered.

Prosecutors Price and Takisha Fitzgerald will have to legally connect the journal to Coleman before they can use it as evidence against her.

Lavit and defense attorney Russell Greene also are attacking a statement Coleman gave federal authorities, who were then treating Coleman as a witness. The statement indicates that agents talked to Coleman for two hours before turning on a tape recorder. "We allege there was coercion of the defendant," Lavit said.

Price countered that Coleman was not being interrogated in those two hours.

"Ms. Coleman was declining protective custody," Price said. "She wanted to go home to Kentucky, so they decided to talk to her (on tape) one more time."

Baumgartner set a March 26 hearing on the issue.

Jamie Satterfield may be reached at 865-342-6308.
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
abb
Member Avatar

http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2010/mar/04/judge-stacks-prison-sentences-thomas-torture-slayi/


Judge stacks prison sentences for George Thomas in torture-slayings

By Jamie Satterfield

Thursday, March 4, 2010

KNOXVILLE - They died separately, and George Thomas should die in prison for both, a judge ruled today.

Knox County Criminal Court Judge Richard Baumgartner opted after a sentencing hearing to stack the two life without parole sentences handed Thomas by a jury in December.

He also sentenced Thomas to 25 years for crimes related the January 2007 slayings of Channon Christian, 21, and Christopher Newsom, 23, but that sentence will run concurrently to the life terms.

The move came at the request of prosecutor Leland Price who said that he had reconsidered his position on sentencing after last week's hearing for co-defendant Letalvis Cobbins.

In that case Price pushed the judge to stack the sentences for the related crimes, which netted Cobbins an additional 100-year sentence.

Price said he now believes that a "message" needs to be sent to the community that "just because Chris died that did not mean that Channon had to. They were two distinct acts."

Baumgartner agreed, saying that Thomas was just as culpable as Cobbins and convicted ring leader Lemarics Davidson.

"I'm of the opinion Mr. Thomas along with Mr. Cobbins and Mr. Davidson are dangerous offenders who had no hesitation, absolutelyy none, when these two young people were raped and killed," Baumgartner said.

The remaining defendant, Vanessa Coleman, faces a May trial. The judge is this afternoon hearing various defense motions in her case, including a motion to keep jurors from hearing a statement she gave when she was being treated as a witness by federal authorities.

Christian and Newsom were headed out on a date when they were carjacked and kidnapped at the Washington Ridge Apartments complex in North Knoxville. Authorities say they were taken to Davidson's Chipman Street house, raped and beaten. Newsom was shot and his body set on fire. Christian was stuffed inside a trash can in Davidson's house, where she suffocated.

Davidson has been sentenced to death in the case. Cobbins is serving life without parole in the murders as well as the additional 100 years for the kidnapping, robbery and rapes leading up to the deaths.

More details as they develop online and in Friday's News Sentinel.
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
BCLD22

Collin Finnerty on 2010 Tewaaraton Award watch list
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
BCLD22

The Tewaaraton Award was formally established in August of 2000 and is the pre-eminent lacrosse award, which is given annually to the NCAA men's and women's lacrosse player of the year.
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Kerri P.
Member Avatar

http://www.wralsportsfan.com/duke/story/7173018/
Coach K admits he was "pretty close" to the Lakers job
Posted at 12:45 p.m

Duke hoops has a lot of good things going for it right now. It's 25-5, tied for first place in the ACC, and on the verge of having a second-straight 30 win season. Not to mention it has a Hall of Fame coach in Mike Krzyzewski that at this rate will become the all-time wins leader in less than two seasons.

Imagine if Duke didn't have Krzyzewski right now. We all know about the rumor that the New Jersey Nets wanted to make Coach K their number one target to take over the team next season. He's already shot that down. But it turns out the Duke coach was very serious about taking than L.A. Lakers job last season.

snip....
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
1 user reading this topic (1 Guest and 0 Anonymous)
ZetaBoards - Free Forum Hosting
Create a free forum in seconds.
Learn More · Sign-up for Free
Go to Next Page
« Previous Topic · DUKE LACROSSE - Liestoppers · Next Topic »
Add Reply