The Johnson City Press
Accused double-murderer Howard Hawk Willis is scheduled to appear in court before Hamilton County Special Judge Jon Kerry Blackwood on Tuesday, according to the Washington County Circuit Court Clerk’s Office.
Deputy Clerk Tammy Tipton said the office was told to notify all parties involved in the case and the media.
Judge Lynn Brown recused himself from Willis’ case earlier this month after Willis filed a $2 million federal lawsuit against him.
Willis, of Ringgold, Ga., is charged with two counts of first-degree murder and two counts of abuse of a corpse in the October 2002 deaths of Adam and Samantha Christmer, newlyweds from Chickamauga, Ga.
He has been appointed more than a half-dozen attorneys during the last seven years, and finally Brown ordered him to represent himself with the assistance of attorney Jim Bowman.
Willis appealed that decision to the Criminal Court of Appeals, but he lost and requested permission to appeal to the Tennessee Supreme Court. That request was denied, and the case was proceeding forward – at least until the federal lawsuit.
The state contends that the Chrismer’s deaths occurred three days apart in October 2002 at the Brentwood Drive home of Willis’ late mother, Emma Elizabeth Hawk, who was charged with two counts of abuse of a corpse, being an accessory after the fact and soliciting another to destroy evidence before her death.
The state is seeking the death penalty against Willis.