But this time I thought I’d handle things differently. Many updates are inspired by comments from supporters of on of our featured members, protesting one of our stories on their friend or family member and claiming their innocence. That forces me to dig into their friend or family members case.

That’s exactly what happened here, only I had to do quite a bit of research in Randy P. Aaser’s case. Not because it was difficult to find, but because there was so much of it, all pointing directly at his guilt.

Now before we go one, I should refresh people’s memories on what Randy P. Aaser actually did. According to the Criminal Complaint, after a night of partying to celebrate his wife Meg Lundeen’s birthday, Randy slashed her throat during an argument over Meg smoking a cigarette. The crime happened during the early morning hours of June 13th, 2007, in the Minneapolis, MN suburb of Brooklyn Center. This video will provide all the details for you:

Anyway, after I posted my reply, I thought it might make a pretty good update too, so I came up with this format. I hope you guys enjoy it.

Carrie H says:
November 7, 2009 at 12:26 am

I know Randy personally. I’ve known him for 14 years. When we first heard what happened we thought the psycho bitch did it to herself! She is THAT crazy! I hope SHE rots in hell! This is NOT the whole story.

Max The Cat says:
November 7, 2009 at 2:48 am

So please, enlighten us Carrie H. Explain to us how a woman can slash her own throat so badly she severs her tongue.

Because I gotta be honest, it’s not her I’m thinking is the psycho bitch right this minute.

From what I’ve found out, he admitted he did it. According to the official Criminal Complaint against him, Aaser called a friend around 3 a.m. and said Lundeen had pulled a knife on him. he said he grabbed and then cut her neck. He said he was sorry, the complaint said. Police arrested him around 3:20 a.m. Police found a bloody 8-inch knife in the couple’s kitchen.

BTW Carrie, have you seen you seen Randy lately? I have.

Minnesota Department of Corrections – Offender Information

And wait just a minute. It looks like Randy pled guilty to Assault in the First Degree. He got himself 12 and a half years.

Behold, Randy P. Aaser’s Court Records:

Case No. 27-CR-07-037701
State of Minnesota vs RANDY PAUL AASER
Case Type: Crim/Traf Mandatory
Date Filed: 06/12/2007
Location: Hennepin Criminal/Traffic/Petty Downtown

Party Information

Lead Attorneys:

NELSON, ERIC JOHN
BARRY, LEE W, III

Defendant:

AASER, RANDY PAUL
BROOKLYN CENTER, MN 55429
Male, DOB 10/05/1973

Charge Information

1. Assault-1st Degree 609.221.1 Felony 06/09/2007

2. Attempted Murder in the Second Degree -Intentional (Attempt to Commit – GOC) 609.19.1(1) Felony 06/09/2007

Events and Orders of the Court

DISPOSITIONS

08/01/2007 – Plea (Judicial Officer: Oleisky, Allen)

1. Assault-1st Degree – Not guilty
2. Attempted Murder in the Second Degree -Intentional (Attempt to Commit – GOC) – Not guilty

01/08/2008 – Amended Plea (Judicial Officer: Oleisky, Allen)
Reason: Court Order, Plea agreement

1. Assault-1st Degree – Guilty

02/20/2008 – Disposition (Judicial Officer: Oleisky, Allen)

1. Assault-1st Degree – Convicted

2. Attempted Murder in the Second Degree -Intentional (Attempt to Commit – GOC) – Dismissed

02/20/2008 – Sentenced (Judicial Officer: Oleisky, Allen)

1. Assault-1st Degree – Commit to Commissioner of Corrections – Adult: MN Correctional Facility – St. Cloud 150 Mo

Report on: 02/21/2008
Credit for Time Served: 28 Days
Departure: Dispositional
Status: Active 02/20/2008
Condition: Adult

1. Restitution reserved, 02/20/2008, Active 02/20/2008

Trust me girlie, he’s guilty as hell. Now don’t you regret coming on this website and accusing the victim of faking the crime just to frame this asshole, without any proof whatsoever that things happened the way you say they did? People like you make me physically ill. Meg Lundeen has already suffered enough without some jackass like you starting rumors about her sanity and her integrity, based in absolutely nothing.

Now shut the fuck up.

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A Galveston County jury deliberated for more than fours hours today before finding Royce Clyde Zeigler II guilty of capital murder in the death 2-year-old Riley Ann Sawyers, who became known as Baby Grace.

Prosecutors portrayed Zeigler as helping his wife kill his stepdaughter during a cruel disciplinary session and then concocting elaborate lies to help cover up the slaying and disposal of the body.

The defense countered in final arguments that Zeigler, 26, was a good man who had nothing to do with the death of Riley Ann Sawyers, but loved his wife so much that he helped her pack Riley’s body in a box and eventually toss it into the Gulf of Mexico.

The arguments on the eighth day of Zeigler’s capital murder trial before District Judge David Garner were made with dramatic flourishes by both sides before the nine men and three women on the jury began deliberations.

“If you’ve never seen the face of a man who killed a child, get a good look,” Galveston County District Attorney Kurt Sistrunk said as he pointed to Zeigler at the defense table.

“We don’t have a video of what Royce Clyde Zeigler and the co-defendant did in the house that day,” Sistrunk told the jurors.

Causing a loud bang by kicking the blue, plastic box that Riley’s body was found in on Oct. 29, 2007, and scattering dirt from it onto the courtroom floor, Sistrunk said, “It’s not the state’s fault that there was 12 pounds of rotting flesh in this box.”

Assistant District Attorney Kayla Allen held up a photo of the blond, blue-eyed girl, saying, “This is the Riley that came to Texas. Then Allen held up a second photo of Riley’s skull showing three fractures. “In six weeks, this is what they reduced her to,” she said.

It took the jurors exactly four and a half hours to decide the guilt of Royce Clyde Zeigler II. I wonder what took them so long? I guess there was a juror or two who wanted to look at all the evidence before making a decision, as if they weren’t in the trial for the past week. No matter, they got it right. Royce Zeigler will now spend the rest of his life in a Texas state prison without the possibility of parole. That the only sentence available to the judge, since the Death Penalty is not on the table.

I don’t understand why that is. Royce Clyde Zeigler II, along with his wife, Kimberly Dawn Trenor, Beat, tortured and killed two-year-old Riley Ann Sawyers in an attempt to teach her manners. Little Riley suffered this abuse for a full 8 hours – she was beaten with a leather belt. Her head was held under water until she nearly passed out, allowed to recover, then dunked again, over and over. She was slammed against a bathroom wall so hard her head left an indentation. This is cruel and heinous treatment by adult standards, but Riley Ann Sawyers was just a baby.

As far as I’m concerned, both Royce Clyde Zeigler II and Kimberly Dawn Trenor should be thinking about a date with the needle. Kimmy should already have her appointment, and Royce should be worrying about when his will be. But none of that will happen, for reasons only the District Attorney understands.

Thanks To insaneinthesfv For The Tip On The Verdict

TRIAL OF ROYCE CLYDE ZEIGLER II BEGINS FOR MURDER OF “BABY GRACE”
by Harvey Rice – The Houston Chronicle

October 28th, 2009 — Royce Clyde Zeigler II was portrayed alternatively today as a killer who lied repeatedly to cover up the death of 2-year-old Riley Ann Sawyers or a man so in love with his wife that he tried to protect her even after learning that she had slain her daughter.

The prosecution and defense presented those contrasting portraits during opening statements on the first day of Zeigler’s capital murder trial before District Judge David Garner.

Zeigler, 26, and his wife, Kimberly Dawn Trenor, 21, both of Spring, concocted an elaborate web of lies that began unraveling when a fisherman discovered Riley’s body in a blue plastic box that washed onto an island in West Galveston Bay on Oct. 29, 2007, Assistant District Attorney Kayla Allen told the nine men and three women on the jury.

Allen told jurors that investigators called the then-unidentified girl Baby Grace.

Zeigler attorney Neal Davis II countered that his client was guilty of nothing more than helping his wife conceal evidence. Davis said that on the day Riley died, Zeigler walked into the living room and found Trenor with Riley, who already was unconscious.

“There is not one iota of evidence that Royce Zeigler knowingly, intentionally or in any way caused the death of Riley Sawyers,” Davis said. “He is not only not guilty, He is innocent.”

Don’t you just love defense attorneys? Every one of them has an innocent person for a client. Unfortunately for them, this time the prosecution has a pretty good case against their client, including the testimony of his wife and convicted co-defendant Kimberly Dawn Trenor.

Of course, Royce Clyde Zeigler II is claiming that Kimberly Dawn Trenor killed her daughter Riley by herself, and Royce only did what any good husband would have done and helped her cover up the crime. What a guy, eh folks? Even if he’s a disgusting fat bastard.

Oh I’m sorry, that was pretty biased of me to say that. Well, this time I don’t care if I come across as biased and unfair. Royce Clyde Zeigler II and Kimberly Dawn Trenor whipped Riley Ann Sawyer with a leather belt because, at 2-years old, she would sometimes forget to say “Yes sir”, “No Sir”, and “Please”. When that didn’t produce the results they were looking for, they filled the bathtub with water and held Riley’s head under water, effectively “waterboarding” a two-year-old girl. Finally, frustrating because Riley forgot what little she had learned about etiquette because of the torture, slammed he against the bathroom wall, fracturing her skull in three places and killing her.

And as if to add insult to injury, these two bullies, these two sacks of human excrement, put her battered, broken body in a plastic box and threw her into the Gulf Of Mexico, denying Riley even a proper burial, until her decomposed remains were found months later washed up on the shore of an island off Galveston, TX.

So yeah, I’m biased against this fat fuck. In fact, I hate his ever living guts. If anyone has a problem with that, feel free to debate me about it in the comments section.

Trenor was convicted of capital murder in February and sentenced to life in prison. As in the Trenor case, Galveston County District Attorney Kurt Sistrunk is not seeking the death penalty for Zeigler.

The prosecution will try to convince jurors that Zeigler killed Riley during a July 25, 2007, disciplinary session in which she was beaten with belts, her head held under bath water and a pillow placed her face. Trenor said in a videotaped statement played during her trial that Zeigler hurled Riley onto a tile floor. The medical examiner testified that any one of three cracks in Riley’s skull could have killed her.

Allen said Zeigler helped pack Riley’s body in a plastic box and later tossed it off the Galveston Island railroad bridge.

The prosecution will challenge Zeigler’s assertion that Trenor alone killed Riley with testimony from Riley’s paternal grandmother. Sheryl Sawyers of Mentor, Ohio, will testify that Trenor never beat Riley while the family lived with her, Allen said.

Allen said evidence will show that Zeigler was party to deceptions that included telling his parents that Riley was with one of Trenor’s relatives, inventing a story about Riley being abducted by an Ohio welfare worker and forging an Ohio welfare document.

The prosecution rested on Tuesday, November 4th, and the defense began their case Wednesday. Most of the testimony appears to be about how great a guy Royce Zeigker III is and what an evil bitch Kimberley Trenor was when Riley was alive. If we believe the witnesses for the defense, Royce Zeigler II doted over Riley Ann Sawyers as if she was the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, and he was the only thing that stood between the toddler and Kimberley Trenor’s anger and jealousy.

Yeah, we’ll get back to you guys on that.

If you’d like to follow the trial on a day by day basis, The Police News has the most thorough coverage of the courtroom proceedings. Here are the links to each days coverage of Royce Zeigler II trial:

Royce Zeigler II Trial, Day 1

Royce Zeigler II Trial, Day 2

Royce Zeigler II Trial, Day 4

Royce Zeigler II Trial, Day 5

Royce Zeigler II Trial, Day 6

Royce Zeigler II Trial, Day 7

I’ll let you know as soon as there’s a verdict in this case.

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June 12th, 2009–State prosecutors will unveil the crux of their case against accused murderer Leon Davis in a hearing next month, although the hearing essentially has nothing to do with proving him guilty or innocent.

Circuit Judge Michael Hunter ruled Friday that prosecutors must prove that they have enough evidence to keep Davis in jail. When he was arrested on Dec. 13, 2007, the day two women were fatally burned during an attempted robbery at a Lake Wales insurance office, prosecutors had 21 days to officially charge him with those crimes.

Hunter ruled Friday that the state missed that deadline, which means Davis is eligible for a preliminary hearing on the allegations against him.

Prosecutors must prove there’s reason to believe Davis committed the murders he’s charged with, but at this point, that proof doesn’t have to meet the higher reasonable-doubt standard, which will come at trial.

If Hunter rules that the state didn’t prove its case to hold Davis in custody, Davis will be eligible for release, but the criminal charges against him will stand while prosecutors continue to build their case.

Assistant State Attorney Paul Wallace said Friday that he’s certain the state has enough evidence to keep Davis in custody.

“I have no doubt that we can prove probable cause at this point,” he said.

During Friday’s hearing, Wallace argued that the 21-day period began when each of the victims died, which happened several days after the failed robbery on Dec. 13.

Davis’ court-appointed lawyer Bob Norgard argued the 21-day period began the day Davis was arrested, which was Dec. 13.

Prosecutors allege that Davis, 31, walked into the Headley Nationwide Insurance office that December afternoon and demanded money. When the two employees said they had none, he ordered them into the bathroom, splashed gasoline on them and set them afire.

Yvonne Bustamante and Jane Luciano, who was five months pregnant, died from injuries related to their burns. Luciano’s son, who was delivered prematurely the night of the crimes, died three days after his birth.

Davis also faces two counts of first-degree murder for the deaths of two convenience store clerks at a BP station on County Road 559 near Interstate 4 in Lake Alfred six days before the Lake Wales attacks. Both Pravinkumar Patel and Dashrath Patel died of gunshot wounds to their heads.

The killings have been described as the worst murder rampage in Polk County history.

Davis is being prosecuted separately on the two crimes, and the state is seeking the death penalty in each case.

He’s scheduled to stand trial on the two cases later this year. The trials have been delayed repeatedly because Davis has changed lawyers. He represented himself last summer.

Leon Davis Junior’s Criminal Records

Wow, this guy’s crimes left me stunned. And speechless. How cold and heartless does a person have to be to shoot two innocent men in cold blood? How evil was Leon Davis when he poured gasoline on two helpless women, one of them very pregnant, set them on fire, and watch them writhe and scream in agony as they burned? Who does that?

1. Leon Davis Jr.
2. from left to right – Pravinkumar Patel and Dashrath Patel
3. from left to right – Jane Luciano and Yvonne Bustamante

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A judge yesterday tossed a one-year prison deal offered to a teenage girl accused of burning her ex-lover’s cat to death.

Judge Margaret Clancy, who had earlier approved the plea deal, said “nobody realized” at the time that reducing a violent felony charge to a nonviolent charge was illegal.

Prosecutors in July let Cheyenne Cherry, 17, plead guilty to attempted burglary and animal cruelty after investigators said her 14-year-old accomplice was the one who put the helpless Tiger Lily in the oven.

The judge yesterday said Cherry could plead guilty to a reduced charge and still be sentenced to a year in prison.

But Bronx prosecutors quickly pounced on the legal snafu to offer Cherry two years behind bars in exchange for a guilty plea.

That prompted Cherry’s lawyer, Danielle Follett, to accuse the prosecution of playing to animal-rights activists gathered in the courthouse.

“They are succumbing to public pressure,” Follett said.

Cherry is due back in court on Dec. 2.

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The gates of Tennessee’s only death row prison opened wide for Lemaricus Davidson tonight, hours after a Knox County jury sentenced him to die for his role as the ringleader in the January 2007 carjacking, torture and killings of Channon Christian and Christopher Newsom.

Davidson arrived at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution’s Unit 2 in Nashville around 6 p.m. local time, said Dorinda Carter, spokeswoman for the Tennessee Department of Correction. He’ll spend 23 hours per day alone in his cell every day, with just one hour of daylight in a caged yard.

That status won’t change for at least 18 months, Carter said. Depending on his behavior, Davidson could eventually be upgraded to allow occasional phone calls or the chance to apply for inmate jobs such as cleaning, she said.

“Regardless of their status, they don’t ever leave that building,” she said.

The jury of five women and seven men deliberated about four hours before returning its decision this afternoon to a packed courtroom.

“The punishment is death,” the jury foreman said.

Chase Christian, Lamaricus Davidson, Channon Christian, Deana Christian, knoxville torure murders, Christopher Newsom

The victims’ families gasped at the verdict, but Davidson showed no reaction. Criminal Court Judge Richard Baumgartner admonished those in the courtroom to control any outburst.

“The murder was especially heinous, atrocious and cruel,” the foreman said, reading from the verdict form.

Davidson, 28, most likely will be taken to Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville where death row is housed. Some male inmates, however, are incarcerated at Morgan County Correctional Complex in Wartburg for security reasons. Two inmates with the death penalty are currently housed at that prison.

The jurors this morning heard closing arguments in the penalty phase of this 11-day trial before getting a final round of legal instructions from Baumgartner.

Prosecutor Takisha Fitzgerald told jurors Davidson killed Christian, 21, a University of Tennessee student and her boyfriend Newsom, 23, to save his own neck.

“The only thing Chris had left was the knowledge of who his attacker was,” Fitzgerald said. “(Davidson) took everything else. The only thing (Channon) had left was the knowledge of who her attacker was.”

Defense attorney Doug Trant asked jurors to spare Davidson’s life, noting the abuse he suffered and the foster parents who still love him.

“I’m going to ask you to spare Lemaricus Davidson’s life,” he said. “I’m going to ask you to do it for that little boy who was sexually abused … I’m going to ask you to do it for that little boy who was whipped by extension cords and paperweights.”

The jury, chosen from Knox County at Davidson’s insistence, considered death by lethal injection, life without parole or life, a mandatory 51-year sentence.

Davidson’s brother, Letalvis Cobbins, 26, was convicted in August and is serving life without parole. He is in a protective safety unit away from the general population at a West Tennessee prison after expressing fears for his safety.

Pending trial are suspects George Thomas, 26, who will face a Hamilton County jury Dec. 1, and Vanessa Coleman, 21, whose case is on hold pending a pre-trial appeal.

A fifth suspect, Eric Boyd, 37, remains uncharged in the killings but is serving an 18-year federal prison term for hiding out Davidson after the slayings.

Davidson is the first defendant from Knox County to be sent to death row since 1997. Executions in Tennessee are carried out by lethal injection.

Dennis Suttles, 57, was convicted of first-degree murder for cutting the throat of a woman in a fast-food parking lot in 1996.

Death row currently has 89 inmates, six from Knox County. All but two of the inmates are men.

The female inmates are housed at the Tennessee Prison for Women in Nashville. One of those is Christa Gail Pike, 33, who was sentenced to death in 1996 for the torture-slaying of Colleen Slemmer, then a fellow 19-year-old Job Corps student.

On Thursday, two women who offered Davidson a better life as a teenager asked the jury to spare his life.

Foster mother Flo Rudd and group home mother Alice Rhea told jurors Davidson was worth saving despite the fact that he turned to robbery and, ultimately, murder despite their efforts to rescue him from a troubled upbringing.

“He’s my son,” Rhea said. “I love him. He has such potential. If you put him in a structured environment, he does everything he should. I think he can be an influence to young men for years to come.”

The defense called 11 witnesses on Thursday on Davidson’s behalf in the wake of his convictions.

Jurors on Wednesday deemed him guilty of the top count in 35 of 38 charges, ranging from the murder of both Christian and Newsom to kidnapping to robbery. They also found Davidson guilty of multiple counts of raping Christian.

Davidson’s only reprieve – and it was largely irrelevant because of the murder convictions – came in the rape of Newsom. With no DNA evidence to directly link him to a rape that forensic evidence suggested was committed with an object, jurors opted for convictions of the lesser charge of facilitation of aggravated rape.

He will be sentenced at a later date on those charges.

Davidson chose not to testify in his own behalf either during the trial or sentencing phase.

The victims were white and all four defendants are black, and that raised some racial tension, including a protest in Knoxville.

A lot was made of race on the Internet, but prosecutors and police have said race was not a factor, contending the carjacking that led to their deaths was random.

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The very first part of the verdict by a Knox County jury made Lemaricus Davidson eligible for the death penalty.

Davidson has been found guilty on each of the most serious of the subsequent charges, with the exception of the charges accusing him of directly raping Chris Newsom.

Instead, he has been convicted of facilitating the rape of Chris Newsom.

Hugh and Mary Newsom, parents to Chris Newsom; and Gary and Deena Christian, parents to Channon Christian; said today that their children finally had the justice they deserved.

The four said unanimously that the death penalty was the only acceptable punishment for Davidson.

They expressed outrage at the defense’s characterization of the murder victims.

Sentencing is set to begin Thursday morning.

Comprehensive Rundown Of Conviction

* GUILTY: First degree felony murder of Chris Newsom during perpetration of robbery of Newsom
* GUILTY: First degree felony murder of Chris Newsom during perpetration of robbery of Channon Christian
* GUILTY: First degree felony murder of Channon Christian during the perpetration of robbery of Newsom
* GUILTY: First degree felony murder of Channon Christian during perpetration of robbery of Christian
* GUILTY: First degree felony murder of Chris Newsom during perpetration of kidnapping of Newsom
* GUILTY: First degree felony murder of Chris Newsom during perpetration of kidnapping of Christian
* GUILTY: First degree felony murder of Channon Christian during perpetration of kidnapping of Newsom
* GUILTY: First degree felony murder of Channon Christian during perpetration of kidnapping of Christian
* GUILTY: First degree felony murder of Chris Newsom during perpetration of rape of Newsom
* GUILTY: First degree felony murder of Chris Newsom during perpetration of oral rape of Christian
* GUILTY: First degree felony murder of Channon Christian during perpetration of rape of Newsom
* GUILTY: First degree felony murder of Channon Christian during perpetration of oral rape of Christian
* GUILTY: First degree felony murder of Chris Newsom during perpetration of theft from Newsom
* GUILTY: First degree felony murder of Chris Newsom during perpetration of theft from Christian
* GUILTY: First degree felony murder of Channon Christian during perpetration of theft from Newsom
* GUILTY: First degree felony murder of Channon Christian during perpetration of theft from Christian
* GUILTY: Premeditated first degree murder of Chris Newsom
* GUILTY: Premeditated first degree murder of Channon Christian
* GUILTY: Especially aggravated robbery of Chris Newsom
* GUILTY: Especially aggravated robbery of Channon Christian
* GUILTY: Especially aggravated kidnapping of Chris Newsom, accomplished with deadly weapon
* GUILTY: Especially aggravated kidnapping of Chris Newsom with serious bodily injury
* GUILTY: Especially aggravated kidnapping of Channon Christian, accomplished with deadly weapon
* GUILTY: Especially aggravated kidnapping of Channon Christian with serious bodily injury
* GUILTY: Facilitation of aggravated rape of Chris Newsom by coercive anal penetration while armed with a weapon (NOT GUILTY of aggravated rape of Chris Newsom while armed with weapon)
* GUILTY: Facilitation of aggravated rape of Chris Newsom by anal penetration with bodily injury (NOT GUILTY of aggravated rape of Chris Newsom by anal penetration with bodily injury)
* GUILTY: Facilitation of aggravated rape of Chris Newsom by coercive anal penetration while aided and abetted by one or more persons (NOT GUILTY of aggravated rape of Chris Newsom by coercive anal penetration while aided and abetted)
* GUILTY: Aggravated rape of Channon Christian by coercive anal penetration while armed with weapon
* GUILTY: Aggravated rape of Channon Christian by coercive anal penetration while armed with a weapon
* GUILTY: Aggravated rape of Channon Christian by coercive vaginal penetration while armed with a weapon
* GUILTY: Aggravated arpe of Channon Christian by anal penetration with bodily injury
* GUILTY: Aggravated rape of Channon Christian by oral penetration with bodily injury
* GUILTY: Aggravated rape of Channon Christian by vaginal penetration with bodily injury
* GUILTY: Aggravated rape of Channon Christian by coercive anal penetration while aided and abetted by one or more persons
* GUILTY: Aggravated rape of Channon Christian by coercive oral penetration while aided and abetted by one or more persons
* GUILTY: Aggravated rape of Channon Christian by coercive vaginal penetration while aided and abetted by one or more persons
* GUILTY: Theft of property from Chris Newsom, valued at $500 or less.
* GUILTY: Theft of property from Channon Christian, valued at $10,000 or more but less than $60,000.

Previous: Verdict In

After a night’s rest, jurors were ready to continue their deliberations by hearing from an accused killer.

At around 8:30 a.m. Wednesday morning, the Knox County jury asked to listen to Lemaricus Davidson talk to officers the day he was arrested on January 11, 2007.

During the interrogation, Davidson changed his story several times about how much he knew about the crimes that led to the murders of Channon Christian and Chris Newsom.

Judge Richard Baumgartner announced the jury would watch the 2 hour tape in the open courtroom, but that would still be part of deliberations.

He warned court spectators not to make remarks or show emotion during the time the tape would be played for the jury.

The judge’s decision to show the interrogation in open court did not come without an objection from the defense.

David Eldridge said because the jury is still deliberating, the courtroom should be closed to spectators, to include the victims’ families.

However, the judge disagreed and proceeded to bring the jury in to listen to the tape.

The video and sound quality on the tape make it difficult to get a good look at the defendant or understand what he said.

Prosecutors added highlighted subtitles to the video, but the foreman asked the judge Wednesday morning if there was any way to increase the volume or zoom in on the video.

The judge said nothing more could be done to the tape.

Jurors will have to sort through 41 pages of a verdict form make decisions about Davidson’s guilt on 38 charges. There are 46 counts, but earlier this year some of the rape charges were merged.

Victims Families Outraged

On Wednesday morning, the Christian and Newsom’s gathered in a corner of the court house to take aim at a Knox County judge, the media and the defense for an accused killer.

Gary Christian had to take several deep breaths as he explained his frustration with the legal system and how his family and his murdered daughter have been treated.

“I can not fathom when we screwed up so bad our system, that it allows what happened in that court in the last week, you saw it you know what they did,” Gary Christian said. “And my wife can’t say in a victims impact statement that they should have not been put on trial. What is up with that?”

Then Channon Christian’s father criticized the defense strategy used by David Eldridge and Doug Trant. “Can attempt to drag our children through the mud, make them into dope dealers and hookers,” Gary Christian added. “There are two trials here. I didn’t do this i didn’t start this but i am my daughter’s attorney.”

Chris Newsom’s older sisters stood by Deena Christian’s side as she began to explain her frustration about the defense’s allegations that her daughter used drugs.

Christian said her daughter worked for a clinic called Specialty Select for 2 years or more. Channon Christian was drug tested for the job and her mother held up the results for the cameras to see.

Deena Christian also dissected her daughter’s drug test that showed she had oxymorphone in her system. She said her daughter was on a prescription called Roxicet for a tonsilectomy as she also revealed that to the cameras.

During the proof portion of the trial, Deena Christian testified Channon Christian could not take hydrocodone because it made her extremely ill.

But defense attorneys continued to focus on an empty hydrocodone bottle found in Christian’s SUV.

“We’re all Channon has,” Deena Christian said. “She’s not here to tell you the truth herself we are her voice.”

Davidson’s attorneys have also alleged during the trial that Christian had consensual sex with the defendant.

“If it was consensual, look at the pictures that you can’t even show on TV, do you think consensual sex looks like that when you get through,” Deena Christian said. “She would roll over in her grave today if she thought anybody thought that of her either using drugs or being promiscuous because she was a young lady that cared about herself and she would not do that.”

David Eldridge and Doug Trant, the lawyers who represented Lamaricus Davidson, should both burn in hell for what they put the the the parents of Channon Christian and Christopher Newsom during this trial. The diabolical strategy they used to defend their client was almost as bad, from the point of view of Gary and Deanna Christian and Hugh and Mary Newsom, as the crimes perpetrated against their children by this animal Lamaricus Davidson.

First they suggested that Channon and Chris were both drug addicts, and that they were at the murder scene voluntarily looking for drugs. They made these claims in spite of evidence they had in their possession that proved beyond a doubt that Channon was drug free at the time of her death and, although he tested positive for marijuana, Chris had no cocaine in his system (Davidson was a crack dealer).

That was bad enough, but then they crossed the line completely. With absolutely no evidence, they told the jury that Lemaricus Davidson and Channon Christian were lovers, and that the sex that occurred between the two was consensual. It’s a common mantra of the rapist, but to use it in a case where the victim suffered the types of injuries to her vagina and anus that Channon Christian did is despicable.

As I watched Gary and Deanna Christian give their statement in the video I posted for this article, I was moved to tears. I couldn’t even begin to imagine what they’ve gone through the last couple of years, but I could certainly feel their pain as they was forced to defend the honor of their daughter, who’s only crime was being in the wrong place at a time when Lemaricus Davidson and his pals forgot their humanity and destroyed her body and life and the body and life of of Chris Newsome.

Final arguments for the Penalty Phase are supposed to take place today (Friday), and Davidson’s fate should be in the hands of the Jury by Monday. I will let you all know as soon as there is a decision.

The pictures are, from top to bottom:

1. Lamaricus Davidson
2. Channon Christian and Christopher Newsom
3. from left to right – Cathy St. John (Channon’s Aunt), Deena Christian and Gary Christian
4. Hugh and Mary Newsom, after Mary’s Victim’s Impact Statement
5. Lemaricus Davidson and his Lawyers, David Eldridge and Doug Trant, having a good ol’ time in court.

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James Allen Wamsley apologized and told a Benton County Superior Court judge on Friday that he accepted responsibility for raping a 9-month-old boy he was baby-sitting.

Then Judge Robert Swisher sentenced the Richland teen to spend at least 13 and a half years in prison.

Wamsley, 17, pleaded guilty in September to first-degree child rape. According to court documents, he was looking after the baby and a 3-year-old for about nine hours on May 28 when he sexually assaulted the infant.

When the infant’s mother, Tabitha McBean, returned home, she saw blood in the baby’s diaper and took him to Kadlec Medical Center in Richland. Later, the infant was transferred to a Spokane hospital for surgery.

Benton County Superior Court Judge Robert Swisher said the case is the “type you lose sleep over.”

The victim was “the most vulnerable of humans,” he said. “And a child himself is charged with a hideous crime.”

Wamsley remained seated and stoic, eyes dropped, as a tearful McBean talked about the impact the crime has had on her family.

“I trusted him like my brother — and so did my kids,” she said. “It hurts to see him go away, but he has to pay. I’m never going to be the same and neither will my son.”

Wamsley’s mother, Teresa Moen, traveled from her home in southwest Montana to attend the sentencing. She also addressed Swisher, but made no excuses for her son’s behavior.

“I know what James has done and I wish it never would have happened,” Moen said. “I just hope he gets the help he needs and I hope things can get better for him. We all love him.”

As Moen returned to her seat, she leaned down to hug McBean and kissed her on the cheek.

After the hearing, McBean said she didn’t hold any grudge against Wamsley’s family and still considers Moen a friend.

But the events have taken an emotional toll on the young mother. “I’ve been fired from two jobs,” she said. “I don’t get along as well with people.”

McBean said it’s harder for her to trust people. She’s also seen differences in how her son, now 18 months old, behaves. He’s fine physically but she worries if he has healed emotionally.

“He’s very clingy and has nightmares,” she said.

She’s not the only concerned mother.

Moen, who said she drove McBean and her baby to the hospital after the incident, also worries about her son, who will be 31 years old before a state board considers giving him freedom.

She said her son is bipolar, and she wants him to get counseling and proper medication so he might someday have a normal life.

“He was a great wrestler, an avid skateboarder and loved riding bikes,” she said.

Wamsley’s attorney, Shelley Ajax, told Swisher the teen has been very remorseful and has asked for help.

“His history includes sexual abuse,” Ajax said. “He’s not telling the court that’s why he did this. He’s been confused and oftentimes emotional.”

Swisher said although the standard range for the offense is 93 months to 123 months, he was imposing an exceptional 162-month sentence requested by Deputy Prosecutor Terry Bloor.

“The facts just warrant it,” Swisher said.

Swisher also recommended sexual offender treatment for Wamsley and signed an order prohibiting him from having any contact with the victim for the rest of his life.

Bloor said Wamsley will be in jail for at least 13 and a half years, but that could be extended to life if the sentencing review committee chooses.

McBean said friends of the family have set up an account at Banner Bank for donations for her son. Donations can be made to the “9-month-old victim” fund at any Banner Bank.

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Seven people pleaded guilty for their part in abusing Megan Williams — but now Williams says that abuse never happened.

She will hold a press conference Wednesday in Columbus, Ohio, to recant her claims of abuse, attorney Byron L. Potts, who represents Williams, told The Charleston Gazette on Tuesday night.

“She has decided she has been living this lie for approximately two years and she has decided to tell the truth,” Potts said. “She fabricated the story and she did this in retaliation because she was having a relationship with one of them.”

But former Logan County prosecutor Brian Abraham, who was in charge of the case, said no one ever went to jail because of Williams’ statements.

Instead, Abraham said Tuesday night, he decided early in the case not to rely on Williams’ statements, but on the physical evidence and the statements of the co-defendants.

“It’s ironic to me that today she’s saying she made all this up. At the time she was criticizing me for offering them plea agreements,” Abraham said.

“This isn’t to rejuvenate her 15 minutes of fame, but to regurgitate her 15 minutes of fame. Is she proposing to give back all the donations she got?”

State Police found Williams at the mobile home of Bobby Brewster and his mother, Frankie Brewster, on Sept. 8, 2007. She was in a relationship with Brewster.

According to the admissions of those eventually convicted, Williams was physically and sexually abused. She was beaten repeatedly, held against her will, burned with hot wax, stabbed in the leg, and forced to perform oral sex on at least two defendants.

“Each of them made statements incriminating themselves and others. When you sat back and looked at it in its entirety, there was a pretty clear picture of what had taken place,” Abraham said.

“As she got hooked up with her family and with additional handlers joined in, she continued to embellish. But we had her original statements that she gave. For the most part, they were consistent with what the co-defendants said happened.”

The Brewsters and Logan County residents George Messer, Alisha Burton, Karen Burton, Linnie Burton Jr. and Danny Combs each plead guilty to crimes for abusing Williams. The crimes ranged from simple battery to kidnapping, sexual assault and one hate crime charge.

Burton pleaded guilty to a hate crime charge for stabbing Williams in the ankle while saying, “This is what we do to niggers around here.”

At the time of the plea deals, Megan Williams, her adopted mother Carmen Williams, and her adviser Malik Shabazz criticized the plea agreements, claiming they were too light a punishment. Shabazz, co-founder of Black Lawyers for Justice and a member of the New Black Panther Party, gave Williams and her family legal counsel.

The Williams family, Shabazz and others criticized Abraham for only pursuing a hate crime charge for Burton.

Now Williams claims she wasn’t abused at all, Potts said.

“They did plead guilty, I don’t know why,” he said of the defendants. “This is what she’s telling me.”

Potts said he contacted current Logan County Prosecutor John Bennett to tell him Williams was recanting her testimony. The prosecutor gave Potts contact information for the lawyers of the defendants. Potts said he plans to contact each of them.

“It sounds to me that there are innocent people held in jail for something they did not do,” Potts said. “I have no idea what convinced them to plead guilty.”

He said Williams knows that by recanting her testimony, she could be prosecuted for lying about the incident.

“She still wants to come forward. She’s been fully advised that she could potentially be charged and end up in the penitentiary herself,” he said.

Potts said Megan Williams was manipulated by Carmen Williams and others after she was found at the Brewster home. Carmen Williams has since died. Megan’s adoptive father, Matthew Williams, could not be reached late Tuesday.

“I know for a fact she has been manipulated,” Potts said. “People raised money for her, she never received that money.”

Abraham also believes Williams has been manipulated.

Six days after Williams was found, Abraham met with NAACP and black church leaders to discuss hate-crime charges in the case.

“I remember specifically telling them, ‘Look fellas, be careful how far you go out on this limb, you may get sawed off. Be careful of what she’s saying and what her family is saying,’” Abraham said.

You have to pay close attention to what Mr. Abraham, the prosecutor who originally handled this case says about Megan Williams and about the defendants. I’ll keep my opinion to myself for the time being, and watch as you guys make your own minds up about what’s going on here, but it’s clear that if you don’t at least do this you’ll never get the full story.

Much Appreciation To Alisha And Stela For Sending In This Update.

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