Knoxville, TN -- In January, 2007, two young White people, Shannon Christian and her boyfriend, Christopher Newsome were found murdered in Knoxville, TN
Police investigators determined that Shannon and Christopher had been carjacked. Police say the carjackers took Shannon and Christopher to a local house, repeatedly gang raped BOTH the girl and her boyfriend; raping the guy in front of the girl and vice-versa!
After hours of gang raping him, the perpetrators took the young man out to nearby railroad tracks where he was shot and his body set on fire. His dead body was found on the railroad tracks.
The perpetrators then went back to the house and continued to gang rape the girl. When they were done, they poured cleaning fluid into her orifices - to destroy DNA - then stuffed her into five garbage bags and left her body in the garbage can.
So brutal was the repeated gang raping and oral sodomizing that the Medical Examiner found the rapists had torn the membrane that connected the girl's bottom lip to her lower gums of her mouth!
Black-on-White, but NOT a "Hate Crime?"
Four Black males and one Black female were arrested in connection with the case. Despite the clearest implications of this being a Black-on-White hate crime, the perps were NOT charged with a hate crime.
This fact spawned protest rallies in Knoxville, one of which I attended. Coverage of the story on this blog made national news when I appeared on "Paula Zahn Now" on CNN. (Video Below)
Lawyers for at least one defendant filed a motion in federal district court for a Change of Venue and cited THIS BLOG as one of the reasons they were seeking to move the case. The Federal District Court for the eastern District of Tennessee DENIED that request. The court papers mentioning me by name are available Here
Lawyers want the Internet Silenced too!
Having failed to get the case moved, the perps were forced to go to trial in Knoxville. But the lawyers didn't stop with their nonsense.
In a motion filed with the courts this week, the lawyers are demanding that Internet web sites be FORBIDDEN from allowing anonymous comments about the case to appear online!
They claim that anonymous comments - especially those which comment about the racial aspects of the case - are interfering with the Defendant's Sixth Amendment rights to a fair trial. The lawyers claim they cannot find a Juror anywhere in Tennessee who hasn't read or heard about the case!
Maybe if their clients weren't brutal murderer's they wouldn't have this problem!
The courts have yet to rule on whether or not YOUR free speech might be curtailed so the murderer can get a fair trial, but rest assured whatever the court ruling, THIS BLOG will allow anonymous comments.
If need-be, I will re-install my own server at a data center, beyond the reach of Tennessee Courts and Google "Blogger" Terms of Service, so the public will continue to have a place to speak.
Update Here 5/20/09
Live Feed From The Trial
