Cobbins trial, day 1 -- Aug. 17, 2009:

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WVLT) -- The first witnesses have testified about what they saw and heard the night a young Knoxville couple was carjacked, raped, and murdered.

Channon Christian and Christopher Newsom were killed in January 2007.

Letavlis Cobbins is the first of four suspects to stand trial for their murders. His trial began Monday.

The jury heard from 11 witnesses.

Testimony was primarily focused on two things: Identifying what once were belongings of Christian and Newsom and developing a time line to show who saw what and when.

Friends of both Christian and Newsom were among the first few witnesses to take the stand.

Newsom's childhood friend Josh Anderson testified that Newsom dropped him off at a party where Newsom was supposed to later return with Christian. They never showed up.

Friends thought Christian and Newsom had just ditched the party, so, Anderson testified, friends called the couple multiple times but got no answer.

Christian's best friend, Kara Sowards, testified she and others became frustrated.

The frustration grew into fear the next day when the couple was still missing.

Soward joined other friends and family in a search.

She says that's when they found Christian's SUV near the Chipman Street home, where Christian's body was later found..

"When we first pulled up we could see the stickers on the back were gone," Sowards testified. "There were also stickers on the side gone. But we knew it was hers because she had a Texas longhorn sticker on the front, which was still there."

The day started with Cobbins pleading guilty to several lesser charges.

He plead guilty to facilitation of kidnapping both Christian and Newsom.

Cobbins also confessed guilty to raping Christian orally

He pleaded not guilty to other rape and murder-related charges.

Christian's dad, Gary Christian, testified that he talked to his daughter about 12:30 Sunday morning and she sounded fine, but he became worried when his wife called and said Channon didn't show up to work.

Gary Christian described the moment when his son found Channon's SUV abandoned.

"I told Chase to drive by it, and he went into an open field at the end of that intersection and put his lights on it. And he said, 'Daddy's that's her's.' "

Both the prosecution and defense say this trial is all about choices -- the choices Cobbins made.

Prosecutors say those decisions led to a sad and tragic end for two good kids.

In it's opening arguments, prosecutors described how Cobbin's version of what happened that January night changed multiple times.

The defense agrees this crime is horrific, but Cobbin's attorneys painted Cobbin's brother -- accused ringleader Lemaricus Davidson -- as a manipulator and user since a young age.

The defense said Cobbins was a coward who just couldn't stand up to his brother.

But the defense says Cobbins owned up to what he did wrong in the courtroom Monday.

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KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WVLT) -- The first trial has begun in the carjacking, rape, and murder of Channon Christian and Christopher Newsom.

Volunteer TV's Mike McCarthy is in the courtroom and will update this blog throughout the day. You can also follow Mike's updates on Twitter, just follow @WVLT.

You can watch the entire trial on VolunteerTV.com, just CLICK HERE.

For background and legal documents, CLICK HERE.

3:45-- Neighbor to Chipman street home where Christian was found has taken the stand. Discussing what he saw/heard January 6, 2007. Says he heard "three pops" outside around 1:45 in the morning of January 7th, 2007.

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3:30 -- Deena Christian, Channon's mom, has identified some of her daughters belongings in Channons' SUV. Waste Connections worker Xavier Jenkins now on the stand tesifying the Chipman Street home seemed "busy."

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2:40 p.m.--- Court breaks for 20 minutes. Back at 3:00.

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2:33 p.m. -- Gary ID's Channon's jeans. "I've ironed those 500 times."
Gary also testifies his daughter's SUV was full of clothes to be donated to Goodwill. But when found, all those clothes were gone

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2:15 p.m. -- Gary says Chanon was calm during phone call. No indication of problems. Channon's family worried when Channon didn't show up to work Sunday. Gary says he knew "somehing was wrong"

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2:08 p.m. -- Gary Christian, Channon's dad, now taking the stand.

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1:45 p.m.--Sowards indentifies the sweater she saw Christian wearing when they shared their final moments together alive.

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1:30 --Kara Sowards taking the stand. Christian's best friend and last to see her alive at Washington Ridge Apts.

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1:05 pm--- Court back in seesion Josh Anderson, Newsom's friend, now on the stand.

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12:00 pm-- Court breaks for lunch. Defense calls Cobbins a coward for not stopping the crimes, but says Cobbins isn't a killer.

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10:45 a.m.--Prosecution bases opening statements around what it calls a "sad, tragic end for two good kids." Details where, how Christian and Newsom were found and their condition.

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10:30 a.m-- Court prepares to swear in jury and begin opening statements.

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9:40 am-- Cobbins pleads guilty to lesser charge of facilitation in four counts of kidnapping in Christian and Newsom, pleads guilty in one count of lesser charge of rape, no bodily injury, of Christian, also guilty to facilitation of felony theft, pleads not guilty to all other charges

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9:15 a.m. -- The jury has entered the courtroom, and the District Attorney is reading the indictment to the court.

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9:00 am --- Letalvis Cobbins and the Christian and Newsom families have entered the courtroom.

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