KNOXVILLE, Tenn. - A senior judge will not give the families of a murdered Knoxville couple access to investigation files involving a former judge in the case.
Richard Baumgartner left the bench in disgrace after it was revealed he was buying painkillers from a felon in his drug court. His drug addiction led to the retrials of two people in the torture and murder of Channon Christian and Christopher Newsom.
WATE-TV reports Judge Walter Kurtz on Friday ruled the Christian and Newsome families lack standing to ask for the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation files on Baumgartner to be unsealed.
In the court order, Kurtz acknowledged that the parents were emotionally involved in the case but said that did not give them the right to access files protected under court orders.