Judge Jon Kerry BlackwoodKNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - A senior judge in Knoxville is giving prosecutors a second chance to argue that he should step down from his appointed position in the 2007 slaying of a Knoxville couple.
The Knoxville News Sentinel reported that Senior Judge Jon Kerry Blackwood issued an order on Thursday setting an October 8 hearing on the state's request to remove him from the trials of defendants in the killings of 21-year-old Channon Christian and 23-year-old Christopher Newsom in 2007.
He has ordered new trials in the case after the judge who presided over the original trials, Richard Baumgartner, was found to be addicted to painkillers.
In a contentious hearing last week, Blackwood threatened to hold a state prosecutor in contempt and refused to step aside.
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