Christian-Newsom Murders – Wow, Score One For The Victims!!!

Holy cow!  Tennessee’s Supreme Court just vacated Judge Jon Kerry Blackwood’s decision to order new trials for three of the four defendants in the Christian-Newsom murders.

The December ruling by Blackwood that said all four defendants deserved new trials, brought pain and angst to the families, state residents and the nation at large, has been struck down!

The Supreme Court disagrees and while they don’t “condone or excuse” Baumgartner’s behavior they couldn’t find evidence that it directly affected the trials.  They threw it back to Blackwood, telling him to review what he ruled and to look at his own decisions on Baumgartner’s behavior and how it did or didn’t affect the verdicts in the Davidson, Cobbins and Thomas trials!

There is no order to halt the retrial of Vanessa Coleman.

A small victory for the families of Channon Christian and Chris Newsom, but a proper and just ruling, none-the-less!!!

Happy dance!!!

WVLT

Knox News

Christian-Newsom Murders and Baumgartner’s Fall From Grace

OK, so as we all now know, disgraced judge Richard Baumgartner was busted Tuesday by the Feds.  He was brought into court sporting shackles after an indictment was handed down for seven counts of misprision of a felony.  The charges stem from favors he granted his mistress, Deena Castleman, a supposed ‘graduate’ of the Drug Court founded by Baumgartner.

Misprison of a felony is an old English law which means, “is the concealment of a felony without giving any degree of support to the felony.  It is the government’s responsibility to show, “the principal had committed and completed the felony alleged; that the defendant had full knowledge of that fact; that the defendant failed to notify authorities; and that the defendant took affirmative steps to conceal the crime of the principal.

The elements of misprision of a felony, both of  which must be proved to support conviction, are: concealment of something, such as suppression of evidence or some other positive act; and failure to disclose. (USLegal.com)

Baumgartner interceded on Castleman’s behalf by vouching for her to Anderson County Criminal Court Judge Don Elledge as a candidate for leniency.  He also asked two other judges and the Knox County ADA to give Castleman judicial favors, all the while covering up her involvement in a prescription pill drug conspiracy.

Baumgartner’s decent into addiction to pain pills and his subsequent actions means he faces seven counts, each of which,  carries a maximum three-year prison term as well as a fine of $250k and will probably cost Baumgartner his state pension – a pension allowed by Judge Jon Kerry Blackwood after Baumgartner stepped down having pled guilty to misconduct.

OK, he’s a druggie, lied and used his office for misdeeds and while we can say, ‘good, they nailed the SOB and he should be punished’, where does that really leave us?

I will not argue Baumgartner’s apparent impairment during Vanessa Coleman’s trial – we saw him nod-off and witnessed his obvious disorientation.  As for the trials of Lemaricus Davidson, Letalvis Cobbins and George Thomas, I cannot attest to any impairment.

Judge Jon Kerry Blackwood overturned all four convictions and ordered retrails for all four defendants, a step that has led the state AG to appeal to the State Supreme Court to overturn that ruling for all but Vanessa Coleman.

So, if this has been going on since 2009:

What the hell were the county and State doing during all that time? (Not to mention, Baumgartner had already gone through alchohol rehab!)

Why was Baumgartner even allowed to preside over court proceedings?

Has anyone reviewed the transcripts and proven ‘judicial misconduct’ in any of these trials?

Were the jurors so incorrect in their convictions after sitting through weeks of testimony, forensics and DNA evidence?

Why didn’t any of the numerous defense attorneys step up and claim foul?

If the retrials move forward – jury selection for Davidson begins next month – what Pandora’s box will that open for the thousands of cases Baumgertner presided over?

What financial cost will be born by the taxpayers?

What emotional cost does this inflict, not only on the Christian and Newsom families, but on all victims, their families and the public at large?

Baumgartner’s trial is slated to begin in July.

KNOXNEWS.com

WBIR

Christian-Newsom – Battle To Block Retrials Continues

The Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals voted 2-1 not to overturn Judge Blackwood’s ruling to allow retrials for Lemaricus Davidson, Letalvis Cobbins and George Thomas who were convicted and sentenced in the torture killings of Channon Christian and Chris Newsom.

Now, Tennessee Attorney General Bob Cooper is attempting a last effort to halt the retrials by asking the state Supreme Court to intervene and grant an appeal of  Judge Jon Kerry Blackwood’s decision to upend convictions.  The fourth perpetrator, Vanessa Coleman, is not included in the appeal.

While acknowledging Judge Baumgartner’s criminal activity, senior counsel for the AG’s Office, John Bledsoe,  argues Baumgartner’s misconduct doesn’t prove prejudice during the original trials.

Bledsoe wrote, “The sweeping breadth of the lower court’s ruling — that Judge Baumgartner’s out-of-court misconduct warrants new trials, without suggesting any nexus between the misconduct and the actual conduct of the trials — has ominous repercussions for the finality of judgments in all criminal court cases presided over by Judge Baumgartner.”

“Moreover, the ruling, based exclusively on the judge’s behavior outside the courtroom without a scintilla of evidence suggesting actual prejudice, establishes a dangerous precedent, paving the way for virtually a Pandora’s box of future challenges based solely on a judge’s character or extraneous misbehavior, which precedent could also easily be extended to a juror or prosecution.”

Although the state Supreme Court has yet to weigh in, Blackwood has postponed a pretrial motions hearing this week in the cases of Davidson, Cobbins and Thomas.  He will however decide issues in Coleman’s case.

With jury selection in Davidson’s retrial is set to begin in early June, this may indicate Davidson’s retrial will be delayed.

KnoxNews

WVLT

Timothy Morgan Found Guilty Of Murder

After listening to closing arguments this morning, it only took jurors a short time to come back with a finding of second-degree murder with a deadly weapon in the April 2010 killing of Eric Preimesberger.

Prosecutors said because Morgan and his sister were not in imminent danger of death or great bodily harm, Morgan’s ever-changing story claiming he acted in self-defense did not fit.

Michael Becker, Morgan’s attorney, said Morgan was a peaceful, spiritual man who witnessed Eric and Kristi in an argument.  Morgan wasn’t used to violence in the home when he grabbed a baseball bat and bashed in Eric’s skull.  Eric was then dragged into the laundry room where he died of his wounds.

Kristi, his wife and Morgan’s sister, and Morgan cleaned up the blood and moved the body multiple times prior to disposing it.  Both Kristi and Morgan repeatedly lied to police about Eric’s disappearance.

Kristi was not charged in the murder or coverup due to an insane “sibling law” in Nevada which only allows for only one sibling to be charged!

How insane is that????  If there’s a law that needs to be immediately changed, this is it!

It must be a shallow victory for Eric’s family because many believe Kristi played a major role in Eric’s demise and she was allowed to walk free.  Many also question why Morgan offered himself up as the ‘sacrificial lamb’ for the benefit of his sister to walk away scot-free!

Just sad, all the way around!

RGJ

NEWS4

KOLO TV

Timothy Morgan Murder Trial – Day Four – Wow!

Thursday – May 3

Pretty much as expected, the prosecution finished their Case in Chief.

We know now, Kristi and Morgan placed Eric’s lifeless body in Morgan’s rental car where it stayed for several days while they moved  it to multiple parking lots. Morgan and Kristi purchased a commercial freezer to store the body, but that broke when they were moving it into a storage unit. They proceeded to buy salt and fertilizer from Walmart, and Morgan transferred the bagged body into the freezer.  Kristi then went on the run and moved to Oregon.

She still (WHY?) has not charged in the case and now lives in Southern California.

What came as a surprise and shock to most of us who have followed and prayed for justice for Eric Preimesberger, shortly before 10 a.m, the defense rested without calling a single witness or presenting any evidence!

Adding insult to injury, Eric’s mom, Kay, was on the witness list and was kept cooling her heels in a hallway and excluded from the proceedings against the accused murderer of her son, Eric.

The defense either didn’t feel they had a case because of Morgan’s ever-changing lies during numerous interrogations or they are strongly relying on that Kristi Preimesberger and Timothy Morgan were totally believable to the jury.

An unsettling day came to a quick end and closing arguments will begin on Monday morning.

Source

NEWS4

RGJ

Timothy Morgan Murder Trial – Day 3

Wednesday – May 2

For months after his arrest in the murder of Eric Preimesberger, Timothy Morgan told investigators that Eric had just walked away from his family and that he was unaware of any foul play.

Prosecutors presented a video tape of Morgan’s confession to the jury yesterday.  On the tape, Morgan is heard saying that it was all an accident and that he killed Eric in self-defense.

Morgan claims he and Eric got into a fight and Eric became belligerent and violent.  He also added Eric was abusive to his sister, Kristi.

During the police interview, Morgan repeatedly asked what the self-defense laws were in Nevada and asked “What’s going to happen to me?”

What was interesting is, Morgan claims it was Kristi who made him cover up Eric’s death because she was concerned police would think she’d done it because Preimesberger was abusive.

This was just one of many versions Morgan told investigators.  He told several versions that death was attributable to a drug gang!

Have to wonder what the jury is thinking after hearing from Kristi and watching Morgan’s taped ‘confession’.

Source

NEWS4

KTVN

Timothy Morgan Murder Trial Continues

Tuesday, May 1

Kristi

For a second time, Kristi Preimesberger took the stand.  She admitted to repeatedly lying to LE and she took awhile before telling police she witnessed Morgan murder Eric Preimesberger.

I know that Kristi ultimately assisted LE in their efforts to locate and arrest Morgan, but I strongly believe she was cut way too sweet a deal!  Her cooperation pretty much got her a ‘get out of jail, free’ card! 

What about the fact she witnessed a murder and never reported it?  What about she helped hide Eric’s battered body prior to his death and never sought medical attention for him and still never contacted authorities when he died?  How about the fact she went on the lam with Morgan?  What about the fact she and Morgan hide out in a hotel with a significant stash of dope while dragging along Eric’s beloved children, Ivy, 6 and Damion, 22-months?

Eric and kids

Do I, and a gazillion other folks believe Kristi?  There remain too many questions in many minds – was it really Kristi who wielded the baseball bat?  Was Morgan the one who helped clean up?  Why is Morgan willing to take the rap for his sociopath sister?

Morgan

Another witness, James Wyrick, testified he helped Morgan move a freezer that smelled of decay to a wooded area near Frenchman’s Reservoir. Wyrick said Morgan, who is a ‘spiritual advisor’, told him the freezer contained items that were connected to bad ‘entities.’

Morgan, a ‘spiritual advisor’???

Sources

KOLO TV

NEWS4

Day One Testimony Heard In Timothy Morgan Murder Trial

Timothy Morgan

Timothy Morgan is charged with first-degree murder, in the April 21, 2010, death of Eric Preimesberger.

On the opening day of the trial, the jury heard from Kristi Preimesberger – Eric’s wife and Morgan’s sister.  She said she and her husband had a rocky relationship often plagued with domestic violence and sudden bursts of anger from her husband.

Reportedly, Morgan came to Reno to help his sister and her husband move to Oregon where they had planned to operate a business together.  Kristi claims because she and Eric had been fighting she needed her brother’s help to move because she wasn’t sure her husband was going to follow through with the move.

Kristi testified that the fight began on their anniversary, April 20, 2010.  She didn’t feel well enough

Kristi Preimesberger

to go out to celebrate and claims Eric got mad and left.  Eric returned the next night and the fight continued with Kristi claiming Eric pushed her and threatened to “kick my ass.”  It was at this point, Morgan emerged from hiding in a closet and confronted Eric.  Now why would Morgan have been hiding in a closet to begin with? 

Kristi testified after the scuffle between Eric and Morgan began to subside, Eric was seated on the couch and Morgan reportedly went into the kitchen to wash a hand that got injured during the confrontation.  She claims she turned around just in time to see her brother hit Eric a fatal blow.  “I saw him hit him in the head with a baseball bat.”  DDA Derek Dreiling said Morgan then swung at the front of Preimesberger’s face, shattering his orbital bones and breaking his jaw.

Eric Preimesberger

Kristi said she and Morgan moved her husband’s body into a rental vehicle parked in their garage and later bought a commercial freezer which would serve as his coffin.  Neither Kristi or Morgan ever called police.

Kristi’s testimony continues today.

Related Articles

Where Is Eric Preimesberger?

Eric Preimesberger Beaten To Death

Timothy Morgan Confession To Be Used As Evidence

Source

RGJ.com