By ALEXIS ZOTOS
6 News Reporter
KNOXVILLE (WATE) - A courtroom outburst Thursday between Senior Judge Jon Kerry Blackwood and District Attorney General Randy Nichols has people wondering if the judge is too emotionally involved in the Christian-Newsom murders case.
The outburst may have looked like a scene from a legal drama, but a Lincoln Memorial University professor says the Christian-Newsom case has everyone involved working overtime and tension is at an all time high.
Channon Christian and her boyfriend, Chris Newsom, were carjacked, raped and murdered in January 2007.
Judge Blackwood has twice ruled for new trials in the case after he overturned the verdicts of the four defendants.
The ex-Knox County Judge who presided over the trials, Richard Baumgartner, is disbarred and facing federal charges for a pill buying and sex scandal that took place during that time.
As the DA and Judge Blackwood faced off Thursday about a motion for the judge to recuse himself from the case, the judge told Nichols, "You will sit down or I will hold you in contempt."
Professor Richard Gaines said, "It's very rare we have an explosion like this down in criminal court."
However, Gaines says Judge Blackwood was in the right for trying to maintain order. "Attorneys that make an outburst in the courtroom should expect that the judge needs to control the courtroom," he said.
But the outburst raises questions over Judge Blackwood's emotional involvement with the case.
"I trust him enough to know that he'll know if he's reaching that limit," Gaines said.
He added that he believes Judge Blackwood would recuse himself if he was no longer able to be impartial. "I have faith in judges. Of course I had a lot of faith in Judge Baumgartner as well," Gaines admitted.
The professor says while the outburst might have seemed dramatic, it won't amount to anything. "What I really think will happen is they'll take a moment, count to 10 and as professionals do they'll get back to work."
Gaines says there are two ways to handle a situation where there's belief that a judge isn't being impartial. One is to contact the board of judicial conduct. The other is to appeal his judgement not to recuse himself.
DA's officials say they haven't made a decision on whether to appeal Judge Blackwood's decision.
"You will sit down or I will hold you in contempt.," said Senior Judge Jon Kerry Blackwood.
