Updated: 4/17/2009 10:13:57 PM
Attorneys for carjacking and double murder suspect Letalvis Cobbins filed motions Friday asking that another suspect in the case, Vanessa Coleman, be granted immunity so that she could testify in Cobbins' case.
Additionally, Cobbins' attorneys asked that if Coleman is not granted immunity, that Coleman's trial be moved before Cobbins.
Attorneys for Cobbins argue that because Vanessa Coleman was compelled by subpoena to testify before a federal grand jury, she is now immune from state prosecution, due to the way the state and federal investigators worked together.
In the motion, defense attorney Scott Green asked that if Coleman is not granted immunity that her trial be scheduled first.
"The State of Tennessee has offered no justification, nor reason for it's insistence on setting Mr. Cobbins case first for trial," Green wrote in the motion.
The memorandum goes on to say, "of the four defendants before this Court the evidence pointing to Ms. Coleman's culpability is considerably weaker than that of any remaining defendant. Her acquittal is a foreseeable consequence of a jury's deliberation."
Green gives examples on how his client is depending on Coleman's testimony. "For instance, Ms. Coleman corroborates Mr. Cobbins assertion that he was present with her, and accordingly had no role in Mr. Newsom's death."
"Vanessa Coleman is a critical witness whose testimony may mean the difference between life and death for Letalvis Cobbins. Her testimony corroborates that of Mr. Cobbins in significan and critical details," Green adds in the motion.
You can read more on the rationale in the supporting memorandum on wbir.com.
10News also learned on Friday that Coleman's attorney Theodore Lavit, plans to file a motion to dismiss all charges against her in the coming weeks.
The Newsom family is upset about the motion for immunity for Coleman. "None of them should be immune to anything no, they were all apart of it they are all guilty," Hugh and Mary Newsom said during an interview on Friday.
Meantime, the judge in the notorious double murder case ruled on Friday that family members of the victims can wear their pictures in court.
"It wouldn't have mattered they would have to put me in jail they would have had to take it off," Channon Christian's mother Deena said. "Our buttons were coming with us regardless," Gary Christian added.
"The audacity that defense lawyers would quesetion whether or not I can wear this badge," Chris Newsom's father Hugh said holding up a button with his son's picture in it. "I think this has reached a rediculous stage and they should be ashamed of bringing that subject up."
Defense attorneys had asked Judge Richard Baumgartner to bar people in the courtroom from wearing pictures of Channon Christian and Chris Newsom, for fear it would be inflammatory to the jury.
In a response from the state, Assistant District Attorney Leland Price wrote "if Chris Newsom and Channon Christian had survived, they would have a constitutional right to attend the trial of their alleged kidnappers. How can their death mean their mere images are to be excluded?"
Friday, Baumgartner ruled that the victims' immediate family members could wear photos of the slain couple, but not while they were on the stand.
The judge also ruled that court officers would be in uniform during the trials, but additional officers used for additional security during the high profile proceedings from the Knox County Sheriff's Office would be in plain clothes.
The ruling came in response to motions filed by attorneys representing Coleman and George Thomas asking to exclude members of law enforcement from sitting in the courtroom in uniform.
Wrangling over search warrant to continue
Arguments over a critical search warrant were to continue on Friday.
Defense attorneys for Lemaricus Davidson say a search warrant on 2316 Chipman Street was not valid.
Davidson is one of four defendants accused of carjacking, raping, and killing Channon Christian and Chris Newsom in January 2007.
Letalvis Cobbins, Vanessa Coleman and George Thomas are also charged with the crimes.
In October 2008, attorneys filed a motion to suppress the search warrant and all the evidence recovered from the search at the Chipman Street house.
Officers found Channon Christian's body stuffed in a trash can in the house. Investigators also say they found DNA evidence on Christian's body and her clothes from Davidson and Cobbins.
The first page of the search warrant dated January 9, 2007 was not signed by Officer Todd Childress. The signature line was cut-off.
Childress said he printed the search warrant on the wrong size paper. Instead of printing the legal document on legal paper, Childress used letter sized paper. It was his first search warrant.
Attorneys started the legal tug of war over the warrant last month.
On Friday, Childress said he got a call from an assistant district attorney while officers were searching the Chipman Street house letting him know there could be a problem with the search warrant because the first page of the affidavit was not signed. Officer Childress said he pulled all the officers out of the house and went to get a second search warrant.
Childress testified for about 3 hours about the investigation as it unfolded after finding Newsom's partially nude burned body along the railroad tracks near Cherry Street. The KPD investigators said a sweatshirt was wrapped around the victim's head which is why he was not identified at the scene.
Attorneys walked the investigator through the days that followed that discovery, to the moments leading up to finding Christian's body.
Childress said the officers did not do a rigorous search using the first warrant. However, they did find Christian's body in the trash can and her ipod in a clear uncovered tupperware container. The ipod had her name engraved in the back along with the words "mom and dad, we love you."
The Christian family believes officers handled the search for their daughter appropriately. "Those people in my opininon were looking for my daughter alive and in my opinion they didn't need a search warrant at all," Gary Christian said.
Judge Richard Baumgartner is not expected to make a decision on the validity of the search warrant until a later date.
The next motions hearing is scheduled for April 23.
