KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WVLT) -- Thursday was a day filled with emotional testimony in a Knox County courtroom, as prosecutors called Christian and Newsom family members to explain why Lemaricus Davidson should die for killing Channon Christian, 21, and Christopher Newsom, 23, in January 2007. Davidson's foster family asked the jury to spare his life.

Those who knew Lemaricus Davidson as brother or son, and those who know him as convicted killer were face-to-face in the courtroom.

Before a jury called Lemaricus Davidson a killer, the Rudd family called him a foster son.

"I was never afraid of Lemaricus," Flo Rudd said.

Davidson now faces the death penalty for the killings.

Davidson's defenders questioned his temporary foster family to try to save his life.

"What did Lemaricus Davidson mean to you?" Defense attorney David Eldridge asked Rudd.

"He's like my son to me and we loved him very much," she replied. "I know he had a rough beginning. We were trying to do something to better him."

But Defense attorney David Eldridge argued the Rudds' love came just too late after years of a cruel, chaotic childhood.

"Mr. Davidson, by the time he was 16, was so damaged, so exposed, the course of his life had been set," Eldridge said.

Davidson's biological sister testified that their teenage mom was a neglectful, abusive crack addict who often beat Davidson.

"She would fist fight him with her fist or whatever she could grab," said Davidson's sister, Lequitta Boddie. "She would hit him with it. Throw it against him against the wall."

But prosecutors say Davidson could have turned his life around.

They said he had chances in a boys' group home, and then with the Rudds.

But his foster parents kicked him out because of consistent pot use.

"I didn't know if I could undo the scarring he had done, but I was committing him to give it a try," Carl Rudd testified. "And did you give him that chance? I gave it a try."

The victims' families took the stand, describing the how their children's deaths haunt them daily.

"Channon was taken from us far too early," Deena Christian said. "She suffered more than any one person should have to endure."

"My life will never be the same because of senseless crime buy people who have no respect for life," Mary Newsom said.

Davidon's life will soon be up to the jury, which will begin deliberating his fate Friday.

The jury also learned it would cost more to send Davidson to death row than to sentence him to life in prison, once the additional attorney fees and appeals process is taken into consideration. The defense wanted the jury to know, trying to head off any jurors who might favor the death penalty because they believe it to be cheaper on taxpayers.

Both the defense and prosecution in this case say they've not heard of this happening in any other Knox County capital case.

The judge told jurors not to consider the economics of penalties when deciding Davidson's sentence, but he also said he didn't want the jury to be misinformed.

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KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WVLT) -- The defense has rested their case in the sentencing hearing of Lemaricus Davidson. Deliberations will begin Tuesday, after both sides present their closing arguments.

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KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WVLT) -- The defense is calling members of Lemaricus Davidson's family to the stand to testify about his troubled childhood, a similar strategy used by Letalvis Cobbins' attorneys. Cobbins was not sentenced to death for his crimes, nor was he convicted of killing Newsom.

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KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WVLT) -- Responding to defense concerns about the perceived cost of sentencing someone to death versus sentencing someone to life in prison without parole, Judge Richard Baumgartner, in an unusual move, instructed jurors not to consider any economic factors when they're deciding whether Lemaricus Davidson should be sentenced to death for murdering Channon Christian and Christopher Newsom in January 2007.

Judge Baumgartner told the jury about a state comptroller's office study that shows that sentencing someone to death is more expensive than sentencing them to life in prison without parole because of the added costs for attorneys and appeals associated with capital cases.

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KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WVLT) -- Prosecutors have rested their case in Lemaricus Davidson's sentencing hearing.

The jury, once both sides have presented their proof, will decide Davidson's fate. The premeditated first degree murder counts and the felony murder counts have been merged so that the jury will consider sentences for the first degree premeditated murder of Christian, the first degree premeditated murder of Newsom, the first degree felony murder of Christian, and the first degree felony murder of Newsom.

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KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WVLT) -- The sentencing hearing for now-convicted killer Lemaricus Davidson begins today. He faces the possibility of the death penalty for killing Channon Christian, 21, and Christopher Newsom, 23, in January 2007.

The couple was carjacked, kidnapped, raped and murdered.

Volunteer TV's Mike McCarthy as at the courthouse. You can watch a live feed from the courtroom on VolunteerTV.com, and get courtroom updates from Mike McCarthy on Twitter by following @WVLT.