from the link...
[J]uries have convicted the five people who authorities say were involved; the judge who initially oversaw the first trials experienced his own fall from grace; and state leaders have passed judicial laws somewhat connected to the tragic murders.
. . . . In late January that year, a Knox County grand jury returned a 46-count indictment against the small crew. The allegations included various degrees of murder, robbery, kidnapping, theft and rape.
Named were Davidson, who was 25 at the time; Cobbins, 24 then; George Thomas, also 24 at the time; and Vanessa Lynn Coleman, who was 18 and dating Cobbins.
A fifth suspect, then 35-year-old Eric Boyd, was charged in federal court with being an accessory to carjacking. He was the only one of the five who didn’t face murder charges. He also was the only one not tried in Knox County Criminal Court.
The state presentment said Davidson, Cobbins and Thomas participated in the carjacking and Coleman was at the house when they brought Christian and Newsom there by gunpoint.
In April, 2008, a federal jury found Boyd, who had a felony record, guilty of hiding Davidson after the slaying. He was sentenced to 18 years in prison
In August 2009, a jury found Cobbins guilty of murder and the facilitation of murder. He was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
In October 2009, a jury found Davidson – the man prosecutors called the ringleader – guilty of 35 counts, including murder, robbery, kidnapping and rape. The jury recommended death.
In December 2009, a jury found Thomas guilty of 38 counts, including murder, robbery, kidnapping and rape. He was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
In May 2010, Coleman was found guilty of facilitation in Christian’s murder, kidnapping and rape. She was sentenced to 53 years in prison.
In early 2011, Thomas, Cobbins, Davidson and Coleman appealed their convictions.
The move followed Judge Richard Baumgartner stepping down as details began to emerge that he had carried on an affair with a woman in the drug court that he supervised, using her to secure prescription pills for a drug habit.
The judge’s judgment and competency were questioned, so many in this monstrous gang got retrials.
WBIR continues:
The courts determined that Baumgartner’s drug addiction impaired his ability to conduct trials and ordered retrials for a number of them, including Thomas and Coleman.
In November 2012, a jury convicted Coleman on similar but lesser charges and she was sentenced to 35 years in prison.
In May 2013, a jury convicted Thomas on almost every one of the same charges, although he was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole after 51 years.
Thomas appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court in early 2016, asking the justices to review his case. His attorneys argued that Thomas was homeless at the time of the slayings and only staying at the home where the crimes took place. They argued he was not a willing participant. No DNA was presented in court linking him to the crimes.
Thanks.