KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - The senior judge who has again ordered new trials in the slaying of a young Knoxville couple has refused to step aside from the case.
The Knoxville News Sentinel reported Judge John Kerry Blackwood announced his decision during a hearing in Knoxville on Thursday.
Blackwood ordered new trials for defendants convicted in the torture slayings of 21-year-old Channon Christian and 23-year-old Christopher Newsom in 2007. His ruling came after it was revealed the judge who presided over the trials -- Richard Baumgartner -- had been addicted to prescription painkillers that he was buying illegally.
The hearing Thursday produced a sharp exchange during which Blackwood told Knox County District Attorney Randy Nichols to sit down and threatened to cite him for contempt.
(Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
