KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - A plea deal has shortened the sentence of a man convicted in the case of a couple who was kidnapped, tortured and killed in a 2007 carjacking in Tennessee.
News outlets report 36-year-old George Thomas was resentenced Monday in Knoxville to 50 years in prison with the possibility of parole. Thomas testified against co-defendant Eric Boyd who was found guilty last month in the deaths of 21-year-old Channon Christian and her boyfriend 23-year-old Christopher Newsom.
Newsom’s parents thanked Thomas for his testimony. Boyd had been serving an 18-year sentence for harboring a fugitive. He’ll be sentenced Sept. 18 on for the new conviction.
Thomas’ first-degree murder charge was reduced to second-degree murder, and rape charges were reduced to aggravated assault. He could be released in as little as 37 years.
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