KNOXVILLE, Tennessee — Inconsistencies, new facts, glaring omissions, big questions.
George Thomas, 36, offered all that and more Wednesday afternoon as he testified against co-defendant Eric D. Boyd, 47.
It's the first time Thomas has taken the stand, but not the first time Thomas has offered his version of what happened when Channon Christian, 21, and Chris Newsom, 23, were carjacked, raped, robbed, and murdered in January 2007.
Thomas has been previously convicted in the killings, although he'd always insisted he stayed passively at the Chipman Street house in Knoxville smoking marijuana and played no direct part in murdering the victims.
The Michigan native is to get a new, shorter sentence for his testimony this week in helping the state try to convict Boyd. He's to get a total 50-year sentence, to be served at 85 percent, for an effective term of 42 1/2 years.
He'll have a shot at parole in his mid-60s. He's already served 12 years.
Right now he's serving two life sentences plus 25 years, meaning he's not eligible for parole until he's in his 80s.
Boyd's lawyer Clinton Frazier told jurors during his opening statement Tuesday that Knox County prosecutors made a "devil's bargain" to get Thomas to testify.
The ultimate judge of that will be Boyd's jury.
On Thursday morning, Frazier gets to cross-examine Thomas. He'll aim to tear holes in Thomas's story, make him look like a liar, and raise doubts in jurors' minds about what they heard Wednesday from Thomas.
Different stories, different facts
In early January 2007, Thomas was staying at Lemaricus Davidson's rental house on Chipman Street with Letalvis Cobbins and Vanessa Coleman. Thomas, Coleman and Cobbins had caught a ride down to Knoxville from their homes in middle Kentucky.
Thomas said he'd first met Boyd a few days before the Jan. 6, 2007, carjacking and killings. He knew Boyd, a career felon, and Davidson, also a felon, were friends.
He told jurors that on Jan. 6, 2007, his buddy Cobbins told him that his brother had decided he wanted to steal a vehicle. Davidson had no car of his own and relied on people like Boyd to help him get around.
Hours later, authorities allege, Cobbins, Davidson and Boyd went off and carjacked Newsom and Christian and brought them back to Chipman Street.
Thomas has said he wasn't involved in the carjacking. He said he stayed behind at the Chipman Street house.
RELATED: Boyd trial, Day 1: A burned body by the tracks, a final glimpse of the victims before the murders
RELATED: Boyd Trial, Day 2 | Convicted killer George Thomas takes the stand to testify against Eric Boyd
Thomas told investigators in 2007 and he reiterated Wednesday that he remembers seeing Boyd come back from the carjacking that night -- likely after 10 p.m. -- with a blindfolded and bound Chris Newsom in hand.
He's also been consistent in saying he saw Davidson bring a blindfolded and bound Christian into the house after the carjacking. She was taken to a bedroom.
Back in 2007, however, Thomas insisted he did little relative to the crimes, remaining in the house and trying to distance himself.
On Wednesday, he offered testimony that conflicted or differed with his 2007 statement and even differed from what authorities have always suspected.
For example, Thomas testified he was directed by Davidson to leave the house and go help Boyd with Newsom. He said Boyd drove Christian's Toyota, with Newsom bound in the back, and that they went a short way to an industrial area and parked. Being from out of town, he wasn't sure of his surroundings.
He testified that Boyd tried to make him help deal with Newsom but that he declined. Thomas said he stayed behind in Christian's vehicle.
He told jurors he saw Boyd leading Newsom into the night. The next thing he recalled was seeing three gun flashes.
Thomas then said he saw Boyd again with Newsom, saw him with a gasoline can and then saw and heard a "whoosh" as a fire was set.
He testified that Boyd came back alone to Christian's vehicle and they returned to the Chipman Street house.
Thomas previously never has admitted having anything to do with killing either victim.
His testimony Wednesday also differed from what authorities and co-defendants have said.
Authorities believe at least two people were involved in leading Newsom to his death. They suspect at least two people shot Newsom.
Evidence indicates someone shot Newsom twice with one .22-caliber pistol. Someone else may have fired another shot with another gun, authorities suspect.
A co-defendant previously has suggested that Davidson actually forced Thomas to take part in the shootings and that Thomas went back to the house and washed blood off his clothes.
Thomas's testimony Wednesday reflected none of that.
He also testified that Boyd's .22-caliber pistol was not a revolver, like the two pistols found after the killings.
"I know guns," he said.
Boyd's .22-caliber gun, if it exists, has never been offered into evidence. A holster with his prints on it was found later hidden in his cousin's white Pontiac.
Thomas testified that after he and Boyd returned to Chipman Street, Boyd told Davidson, "That's taken care of."
Coleman previously has told investigators she heard Davidson say to Thomas that Newsom "had been taken care of."
Thomas also testified he never heard Christian say anything while they were all in the house, although she was kept in a two-bedroom house that had hardly any doors and was only 800 square feet in size.
Evidence has previously shown that Christian, while surely under duress, called her parents about 12:30 a.m. Jan. 7, 2007. The call is thought to have been a ruse to help appease her attackers.
Coleman previously has told investigators she had Christian tell Davidson in the house to "stop, don't, quit."
Thomas also said he never heard any indication that Christian was raped while held in the house. Medical evidence has shown that both Cobbins and Davidson raped her in encounters that likely took some time.
Cobbins also previously has testified that he spoke with Christian before forcing her to give him oral sex in a bedroom at Chipman Street.
But Thomas claims he's heard none of that.
The defendant also said at one point after Newsom's murder that Davidson, Coleman, Cobbins and he drove off to go look for an acquaintance named Vince. They left Boyd in the house alone with Christian, according to Thomas's version of events.
When they discovered that Vince wasn't home, they headed back to Chipman Street, Thomas said, where Boyd waited with Christian.
Coleman told investigators that she, Davidson, Thomas and Cobbins drove off for awhile, leaving Christian alone in the house.
Authorities have said they have no forensic evidence that puts Boyd in the Chipman Street house.
Thomas testified he wasn't present when Christian was hogtied, beaten, wrapped in trash bags and stuffed into a trash can in a corner of Davidson's kitchen.
He said he, Coleman and Cobbins eventually caught a ride home to Kentucky with a woman who Coleman later described as a "crackhead."
Thomas told the jury no prosecutor and no police officer told him what to say Wednesday. He also said attorney Les Jeffress has been present as he's discussed his memory of the case with attorneys and police.
On Thursday, it'll be up to Frazier to point out inconsistencies in Thomas's story and to make him appear to be an unbelievable witness.
