Double Homicide in Knoxville
Here in Knoxville, a young couple was brutally murdered following what appears to be a carjacking and yesterday, "persons of interest" were found and are being interviewed:
US Marshal Knighten refers to these persons of interest in the article as gentlemen--you see that a lot, suspects or persons of interest in this case referred to as gentlemen by law enforcement. What is that about? Why not just call them men? Why add the gentle part?
Read more about the murders here.
U.S. Marshals say Channon Christian was raped numerous times leading up to her death. Federal Marshals from the Western District of Kentucky say this whole thing started as a carjacking and ended up as rape and murder. However, it's important to note that the men taken into custody are still persons of interest. They are not being considered suspects at this time....
Davidson was renting this home on Chipman Street. That's where police found Channon Christian's body Tuesday. Her boyfriend, Christoper Newsom's, body was found just blocks away on Sunday. Local police are tight-lipped about what happened but the U.S. Marshal's office in Western Kentucky tells us this is a brutal, brutal murder.
"Before they killed her they reportedly raped her numerous times and then killed her and dumped her in a garbage can from what I understand," Knighten said.
US Marshal Knighten refers to these persons of interest in the article as gentlemen--you see that a lot, suspects or persons of interest in this case referred to as gentlemen by law enforcement. What is that about? Why not just call them men? Why add the gentle part?
Read more about the murders here.
posted by Helen at 9:35 AM
40 Comments:
Er, "innocent until proven guilty".
Gentlemen no longer means gentle-men, it is more often meant sarcastically than literally.
Also, do we know that the victims weren't armed?
Also, in a case like this, the last thing the cops want to do is go off half-cocked...
Must be a Knoxville or southern thing. I've never heard that usage before, and I was a crime reporter for a short spell.
I'm with John Doe: the word "gentleman" is now a term of derision. I was just discussing this in another forum last week. Some of the other forum menbers pointed out that the term "lady" is an honorific for a woman, but there is no honorific term for a man, since "gentleman" no longer has that connotation.
My impression is that "gentleman" is less a term of derision than simply a generic label for a male human being. Means about the same thing as "guy," except maybe he's wearing a suit or something. It can, as in this case, be used sarcastically.
Gentleman used to mean something specific. Since the 60s and feminism, it means very little. Still, we tend to know a gentleman when we see him. Just can't say what makes him one.
Most women I know are uncomfortable with being called "ladies." It implies advanced age, kind of like "ma'am" or "sir." Other than that, like "gentleman" I think it's used as a generic reference to women. Derisive when it refers to prostitutes.
Right now, according to the article these people are persons-of-interest, which could mean they have information that could lead to a suspect or they could be a suspect themselves. We don't know the relationship these people have to the case. Because these people might be able to provide information and maybe help incriminate an actual defendant they should be shown a certain level of respect until their status changes. Or maybe Helen suggests person-of-interests should be treated disrespectfully?
I don't reckon cham is deconstructing any more than helen is with the original question. Either way, it's a silly conversation.
Does anybody want to speculate about the two teen boys found alive in MO?
I'm guessing chloroform, and a porn or pedophile into them young. If the older one was 15 now (God help him), maybe he was getting too "old" so they went after the 13 year old. I hope the 15 year old gets help, and was not involved in the recent kidnapping.
This reminds me too much of what is speculated about Johnny Gosch, and as a society I wish we weren't too afraid to ask questions and get answers and bring things like this into the open. And get help for those boys, especially the one held for 4 years. He's grown up fast, no doubt.
Re "gentlemen";
Sometimes it helps to become overly formal in doing things where you might be tempted to be emotional. Thus, if you're thinking this guy is a dirty dog and deserves to die, but you are smart enough to treat him fairly as not to jepordize the case, you might fall into such formality. "The gentlemen is a person of interest" protects you from revealing your actualy thoughts.
In a similar way, studies show students' behavior is often better when they are required to "dress up formally" for special occassions. Maybe it helps the officer here similarly to be overly formal.
Also, I'd caution against assuming that "gentlemen" is only used sarcastically nowadays. It doesn't just apply to gentiles either. There are still some that exist, though our crude Borat culture is making snark and trickery more acceptable. Indeed. Heh.
Well, not only does "gentleman" have an awful bureaucratic connotation to it, but it defines the negation of heirarchies that bolstered ideas once preferred a long time ago.
What has replaced them? In an age whose icon is as much the unrepentant flatulent women, cackling as they noisily contract, tolling sulforous dirges for a strictures long past, we can hardly discern what we've been dealt.
Wow!
Two people are brutally murdered and
the thought for the day is "Why did a US Marshal refer to two people of interest as gentlemen, and not just men!
Excuse me ma'am, I think your slip is showing!
captdmo:
My point exactly, two people are brutally murdered, the persons of interest the Marshals pick up have long rap sheets, yet they are referred to as "gentlemen"? Isn't that a little odd?
"Why add the gentle part?"
Sarcasm?
It's possible to read too much into this. To make a proper judgment you would have to read a larger sampling of this reporter's writing to see the context in which he/she uses the term. It could just be a generic term for men for this reporter. Maybe the reporter thinks this term makes him look more polished, or like any writer wants to see his work take up more room on the page than others. Ego motives can be more powerful than political convictions.
I'm reminded of those writing assignments I had in school where I had to fill up five pages. I broke out the thesaurus to find the longest words that said what I wanted to say.
Isn't that a little odd?
Not if you read the thread and consider "why".
Why ask questions but not listen to the answer? Oh yeah. You're hoping for a bigger engine on the next rented boat. lol.
I certainly hope you are not asking this to demonstate the speaker is any way in the "wrong" for his choice of words. That would be "odd". Why not consider some of the reasons given up, before continuing to denigrate his choice of words? He's a copper, not a blogger, and probably does his job first and mulls over his words... never.
Get over it. No slur. No harm. No foul. No more pretty prom pictures to post? You run out of stories already? lol
Duck,
Certainly I might be reading too much into this, but I have noticed in other crime stories that the perpetrator is referred to as a gentleman. It's just an observation. I notice too, that they rarely refer to victims as "gentlemen."
Here's an idea Helen.
Why not ask someone in law enforcement? I suspect it is because they have been trained to bend over backwards treating suspects/prisoners with respect and remaining professional in their duties. Even if it's a cop killer. Hence the excessive formality -- a distancing from emotion. Try it.
Or call a cop and ask them?Instead of speculating
As a friend of Channon's I find it insulting and disgusting that they would refer to them as gentlemen. It's actually rude to the victims' loved ones.
Perhaps they don't realize it. It needs to be called to attention.
As a police officer, let me offer some perspective. I admit that I tend to spend a little more time cogitating on these things than the average cop, but still...
Erie County, New York, Sheriff Higgins, addressing a graduating class of the Erie County Police Academy, told the recruits “Treat ‘em like gentlemen”.
There is sound logic here. If you take the attitude that the people you deal with are “mutts” or “chucks”, you effectively dehumanize them. It is essential to treat our clientele with politeness. Just because we have probable cause to arrest does not mean that they are guilty in the eyes of the law.
I tell my recruits to treat people as they would expect one of their family members to be treated if they screwed up and got arrested. That can be pretty brutal depending on circumstance, but you get my point.
I tend to be rather formal with my arrestees: “Sir”, “Ma’am”, “Ladies”, “Gentlemen”, etc. It is my job to bring them into the system, not punish them. Abuse and disrespect are not useful tools to accomplish my mission.
Having developed these standards of conduct, the piece of human debris, that really deserves nothing more than the injection of a 12 cent piece of lead into his cranium, is “Sir” and he and his equally worthless comrade are “Gentlemen”.
The point is that we are the beginning of the process, not the Judge or Jury, regardless of our personal feeling or convictions. If we forget that, the whole house of cards collapses.
Well said Dio. Know your role.
You sound like a true professional, one of the good guys. I too have noticed this speech pattern around experienced officers, and suspected the respect was a way of continuing to do a good job, instead of getting emotional and possibly burned out.
and in some countries, even here in Israel where the Wild West is not just a figure of speech, killing in self-defense gets you a murder charge:
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/812908.html
Out of Step in Kfar Saba:
Well, actually in the Wild West, you could defend yourself without worrying that you would be jailed, apparently, in this case in Israel, only the criminals had any rights. I would rather take my chances with living in Wild West times than one where the laws are so strict that protecting oneself is a crime.
anonymous 9:23 and 11:11:
Please don't waste time waiting for Helen to actually engage in a discussion here. That's not what she does. Hang around, though, and she'll post another pretty picture of herself.
Just imagine if this situation was flipped and 4 "white" men had killed a black couple.... the NAACP, ACLU and etc would be all freakin over this...Instead this will be just another trial and 2-4 of these "thugs" will spend the next 10-15 years fighting the trip to the chair....while the other 1-2 plead out because they dont want to loose their pathetic "little" lives.
As the father of two beautiful, wonderful daughters and a wonderful son who mean everything to me, I just can't put my own feelings into words.
I will say this. If they are caught, whoever they are, and proved guilty beyond reasonable doubt, then (I say) a fitting punishment would be to have inflicted the same horror and pain they caused to those whose lives they took, and their loved ones who are left behind to re-live it over and over. Complete with the symbolic trash can disposal.
It was an act of absolute evil. His / their lives should be forfeit. No second chance, no future opportunity to repeat the act.
Just so you know, I read it over three times before pushing "send".
It matters none to me the race of the killers in the case of Chris and Channon. It also seems absurd to go on and on about the word usage of gentlemen considering the severity of this crime. Words are just that, words. Let us focus as a community on hoping true justice and swift punishment is served to those responsible for this horrific crime. Let the English majors debate the politically correct manner of addressing the accused. Get real.
anonymous 12:09, words come out of the mind. They have multiple layers of meaning. Sure, each word like Heisenberg's electron which may be in one place or another, may mean one thing or another. I have observed what Dr. Helen says too though; you don't often get sincerely called a 'gentleman' until you become a serial killer. Not cool if you don't want to encourage criminal behavior.
The part that I find interesting about this case, and I might add, down right irrational, is the lack of media coverage of this crime. When 3 White male college students were charged with raping a Black whore ( yeah she was a whore they found 5 different semens in her vagina, none belonging to ANY lacrosse players) the media is STILL going on and on about it despite the fact that it is pretty obvious a while back that this was a race related false alligation.
Meanwhile, the brutal carjacking, rape and murder of two white college students by several Black men hardly makes any news at all. I wonder why.
If it had been a couple White guys raping a black woman and killing her and her boyfriend we wouldnt hear the end of it.
It is sad that the media is so biased against Whites.
Prussianblue,
"If it had been a couple White guys raping a black woman and killing her and her boyfriend we wouldnt hear the end of it."
That is ridiculous, I am assuming you don't live in the Knoxville area. This story has been jammed downed our throats since these murders took place. As well as it should have, these were brutal murders but the fact that they were black should not even be an issue.
With that said, I believe it is absurd for you to insinuate that the media would ignore a murder case because it involved black suspects and white victims. I know here in the south the media usually loves feeding peoples fears and assumptions when it comes to racial matters. That sort of a racial garbage fuels the fears and stereotypes that people already have around here and sadly that is what sells newspapers. I think its pretty sad how our media on local and national levels exploit peoples fears and judgmental attitudes...Lets just prey justice is served and that these victims families can retain some sense of normality back to their lives.....
god bless....
Er, did I miss something? This never made it beyond local news coverage and the reason for that is the nothing more or less tha n the fact these murderers were BLACK. Indeed, It IS a race issue.
May they burn.
If it had been a couple White guys raping a black woman and killing her and her boyfriend we wouldnt hear the end of it."
That is ridiculous, I am assuming you don't live in the Knoxville area. This story has been jammed downed our throats since these murders took place. As well as it should have, these were brutal murders but the fact that they were black should not even be an issue.
With that said, I believe it is absurd for you to insinuate that the media would ignore a murder case because it involved black suspects and white victims. I know here in the south the media usually loves feeding peoples fears and assumptions when it comes to racial matters. That sort of a racial garbage fuels the fears and stereotypes that people already have around here and sadly that is what sells newspapers. I think its pretty sad how our media on local and national levels exploit peoples fears and judgmental attitudes...Lets just prey justice is served and that these victims families can retain some sense of normality back to their lives.....
god bless....
It certainly IS being ignored in the media...the national media. Like it or not there definitely is a racial bias where it comes to crime. The Duke non-rape case continues to be a national news item because white boys were lied about a year ago. I heard nothing of this alleged black on white crime until now...through a blogger that reads this blog.
I shudder to defend anything Prussianblue would say but I believe they are talking about the national media and not the local one. I haven't heard anything about this case till today. They have a point even if their name is based on a musical hate group. Of course the race of everyone involved shouldn't matter anyway since the crime is so horrendous. I hope these people get the death penalty.
Where be the Revs Al and Jesse? Are they providing counsel and help to the families of the victims?
Of course not - the victims were WHITE!
Why hasn't this received National coverage by the news media like the Duke "rape" case?
Oh, that's right - the victims were WHITE!
Why hasn't the NAACP, ACLU, New York Times etc., called for an investigation?
Must be cause the victims were WHITE!
Why hasn't the FBI been called in to investigate this as a hate crime?
Oh, that's right - the victims were WHITE!
All of the bleeding heart liberals are so busy trying to outlaw the word nigger (but not words such as cracker, honky, white trash etc.), but it seems to me that this crime certainly justifies its use!
I can't wait to hear the spin the lawyers for the five animals will put on this - the white's brought it on themselves - the accused are victims of an oppresive white society - the accused came from broken homes - they all have learning disabilities - they are disadvantaged - they never finished school - they be po - yaddam yadda, yadda.......
Rev AL---Rev Jackson---Where the HELL are you now??????????
Oh it's only white people that were raped, sodomized, tortured and murdered. I can't hear you.
I agree with ronin 1516 I am and have been a concealed carry advocate I carry legally every time I leave the house for my and my 88 year old mothers safety police can't be every where. These people are not gentle by any means.
I agree with ronin 1516 I am and have been a legally licensed concealed carry advocate police can't protect everybody these people are not gentlemen they are animals and should be treated as such. Put them in a cage for the rest of their miserable lives.
I find it disturbing and infuriating that they do not write about the fact that they sexually mutilated the man before killing him, and yet face no charges specifically for that, and then cut off the woman's breast before killing her, as well. Why is this not being publicized? Why has no one here in Memphis even HEARD of this case?
We are not going to execute anyone because we are cowards. The bad guys probably aren't going to get us, statistically, so why take the chance on being wrong. "Only God has the right to judge", etc. What if were wrong, blah, blah, blah.
Its interesting to read about this horrific crime, and to read the following blogs....it seems the people who have blogged are more interested in the social definition of "gentleman" than about the crime itself and the atrocities that were alleged. And yet others wonder what happened to "society".
I must say, I live in CA and just stumbled upon this story in a forum.
This is horrific in the true meaning of the word; it makes me not want to leave my house and put bars on all my windows.
I'm not racist (I have black, Mexican, Asian, Indian (Native American and East), Jewish, and yes, white friends and see each of them for the personality they have) but I do believe that the lack of national media coverage is simply due to the race of the victims and "alledged" murderers.
This reminds me of the sodomy/murder case that was kept out of the national media since it was an attack by two gay men against a teenaged boy.
The fact remains that good people everywhere should not have such horrible things happen. In-human monsters like the filth that tortured, mutilated, raped, and murdered these young people should all be fully punished, regardless of sexuality or race.
Air Jordan ShoesCheap Air JordanAir Jordan shoes
Air Jordan shoescheap jordan shoesAir Jordan Shoes
Air Jordan Shoeswholesale jordans
Air Jordan shoesAir Jordan shoesWholesale Jordan shoesAir Jordan Shoes
Air Jordan ShoesAir Jordan WholesaleAir Jordan shoes
Air Jordan ShoesJordan Shoes WholesaleAir Jordan shoes
Air Jordan ShoesCheap JordanAir Jordan shoes
Air Jordan shoes Air Jordan shoesjordan shoes
Air Jordan shoesjordans shoes
Cheap Jordans
wholesale jordan
Air Jordan shoes
wholesale air jordan
Nike Jordan Shoes
Nike Shoes Wholesale
Post a Comment
<< Home