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Handing down a victory for Knox County prosecutors, the Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals today ruled Judge Jon Kerry Blackwood must recuse himself from presiding over retrials for three defendants convicted in the 2007 torture-slayings of a young Knox County couple. A stay previously entered in the retrial of these cases will remain in effect until the chief justice of the Tennessee Supreme Court appoints a replacement judge or pending further orders of this court of the Supreme Court, Judge Robert W. Wedemeyer wrote in the ruling for the three-member panel. "Upon that appointment, the new trial judge shall review...

KNOXVILLE — An order has been filed ordering new trials for the defendants in a January 2007 torture slaying, according to John Gill, special counsel to Knox County District Attorney General Randy Nichols. This comes despite a request from prosecutors that Special Judge Jon Kerry Blackwood recuse himself from the case of the killings of Channon Christian, 21, and Christopher Newsom, 23. . . . Late last month, the Tennessee Supreme Court ruled Blackwood's legal reasoning for granting new trials was faulty but left the door open for him to do so if he found different legal grounds.

All: I got a message from "Citizens for Tax Repeal," Ken Blackwood's group, yesterday. It appears our petitions, while getting 125,000 signatures (and needing only 94,000) is about 2,000 short due to dirty tricks and challenges by the unions and local Dems. In short, we need another 3,000 signatures, to be safe. Unfortunately, I deleted the web site and can't find it! Can someone post here, and all, please download a petition and just get another 20 or so signatures. If everyone does this, we'll be fine.