Cobbins gets life without parole [Channon Christian/ChristopherNewson murders]

Oakridger ^ | 08/26/09 | Duncan Mansfield

[freespirited]

The first of four defendants in the carjacking, rape and murder of a young Tennessee couple has been sentenced to life in prison without parole by the same jury that convicted him of murder.

The sentence for 26-year-old Letalvis Cobbins of Lebanon, Ky., was announced in Knoxville after less than three hours of jury deliberation Wednesday. Cobbins took a deep breath and then sat down after the jury foreman finished delivering the sentence.

The jury convicted Cobbins on Tuesday in the January 2007 attack on 21-year-old Channon Christian and her 23-year-old boyfriend Christopher Newsom, both of Knoxville

Earlier Wednesday Christian's parents pleaded for a death sentence for the torture their daughter suffered. Cobbins' sisters and cousins from Memphis begged the jury for mercy.

[freespirited]

Just as I predicted. Outrageous.

[AppyPappy]

Someone should get the death penalty.

[mowowie]

He should be slowly dipped in a vat of acid......Feet first.

[freespirited]

I wont be surprised if none of them get the death penalty.

[Clintonfatigued]

He deserved the death penalty. I can only take comfort in knowing he’ll never do this to anyone ever again.

[AppyPappy]

Someone should.

[dennisw]

Life is too good for him...far too good. He should die a hundred times

[Osage Orange]

None will.........

And I will bet you on that.

[Freedom_Isn't_Free]

The animals that tortured and killed those two young people deserve to be put to death for what they did. I hope his life in prison is not made too comfortable by the government or his fellow inmates.

The crime is sickening enough. But knowing what the media reaction would've been had the races been reversed makes it even worse.

[AppyPappy]

” I can only take comfort in knowing he’ll never do this to anyone ever again.”

What’s to stop him from doing in prison?

[Hoosier-Daddy]

My bet is he’s taken out inside of a year. He’s as sick and twisted as Dahmer, and will probably have the same fate.

[Minipax]

A lifetime of cable TV, basketball, talking crap with his homies, and sex on the down low. That's not punishment for someone like this, it's his usual daily routine.

[Clintonfatigued]

It’s highly unlikely he’ll get the opportunity. The prison he’ll go to will have a small cell where he’ll be isolated for around 20 hours a day.

[Osage Orange]

Cobbins' sisters and cousins from Memphis begged the jury for mercy.

What did they want? 2 years?

I just don't get people.....

If this was my cousin....I'd hope he got the death penalty..( And I'd hang him myself...with no regrets...) Considering what he did!!!

[steve8714]

As long as there are elected governors, there’s no such thing as “life without parole”. I predict within two years his family will be agitating for clemency because he “finds Jesus”.
Watch for the Danny Glover sightings.

[mojito]

I didn’t think a Tennessee jury would let a fiend like this live.

I guess I was wrong again.

[bushfamfan]

Dirty Harry was needed for something like this. This really was a gruesome crime and as evil as it gets and if the death penalty was made for someone it’s the demons who did this. But we live in a demented society now where there is no fear of consequences.

[DuncanWaring]

Ping.

[wac3rd]

Wow. Rape, torture and suffocation deaths are not enough?

[magslinger]

Had I been on the jury I would have been merciful.

I consider long term imprisonment to be unjustifiably cruel. Much kinder to put him down.