�
 |
|
 |
|
|
| Details emerge in W.Va. torture case - Goto page Previous 1, 2 |
| View previous topic
:: View next topic |
pax
 Posted:
Wed Sep 19, 2007 1:56 pm |
|
|
|
Thank you wvgirl.
I trust the magistrate will find it in his / her heart to drop the charges.
Megan Williams needs to recover. She's in my thoughts.
|
|
Joined: 23 Mar 2006
Posts: 16084
Location: Wish You Were Here
|
|
|
 |
 |
 |
|
| tulsad
Posted:
Wed Sep 19, 2007 2:06 pm |
|
|
|
| pax wrote: | Thank you wvgirl.
I trust the magistrate will find it in his / her heart to drop the charges.
Megan Williams needs to recover. She's in my thoughts. |
I agree; they're all misdemeanors except the failure to appear. If her family could simply pay restitution, there would be no accusations of favoritism.
It is heart-wrenching to read about her. As you said Pax, she needs to recover; I hope that the media allows her peace and quiet.
|
|
Sparkly Tree
Joined: 19 Aug 2006
Posts: 10139
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| SavannahStar
Posted:
Wed Sep 19, 2007 2:40 pm |
|
|
|
| pax wrote: | Thank you wvgirl.
I trust the magistrate will find it in his / her heart to drop the charges.
Megan Williams needs to recover. She's in my thoughts. |
It was a horrific, unspeakable crime against her.
Unfortunately the courts are not usually prone to drop charges against someone solely due to them being a victim themselves of a crime. And I've read examples of this fairly recently, but I can't think of them off the top of my head right now, darn it. The justice system isn't very forgiving.
|
|
**SuperStar**
Joined: 24 Mar 2006
Posts: 20849
Location: Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| wvgirl
Posted:
Wed Oct 24, 2007 8:51 am |
|
|
|
October 24, 2007
‘I just hope they fry for what they did to me’
Williams tells of her captivity in Logan shed
By The Associated Press
Megan Williams thought she was going to a party.
That’s why she tagged along with a woman she says she hardly knew, up a remote Southern West Virginia hollow to a run-down trailer surrounded by beer cans, broken-down furniture and bad vibes.
“But there wasn’t no party,” Williams told The Associated Press. “I realized I’d made a bad mistake.”
For days, the 20-year-old black woman was allegedly tortured, beaten, forced to eat feces — rat, dog and human — and raped by six white men and women who held her until Sept. 8. A passer-by heard cries from the shed where she’d been kept, and Logan County sheriff’s deputies found her hours later.
Perched in a rocking chair in her mother’s living room, about 50 miles from that shed, the slight woman with cocoa-colored skin says she was outnumbered by people who just wanted to hurt a black person.
“I just hope they fry for what they did to me. That’s really all I got to say,” she says when asked what should become of her captors. “I hope they fry.”
West Virginia does not have a state death penalty, but the six could spend the rest of their lives in prison if convicted of rape and kidnapping charges.
Williams and her family want the torture prosecuted as a hate crime, but state or federal prosecutors have not filed those charges. In West Virginia, a hate crime carries a 10-year maximum penalty.
Prosecutors also say hate-crime charges could complicate their case. Hate crimes are typically prosecuted in situations involving strangers, they say, and Williams knew one of the suspects before her captivity, filing a charge of domestic assault against him in July.
“They just kept saying, ‘This is what we do to niggers down here’ and ‘You’re never going to see your family ever again,’” she recalled.
Megan’s adoptive mother, Carmen Williams, says her daughter was trusting.
“She’s a little slow, so it’s kinda hard for her to comprehend sometimes,” she said. “So I think that played a big part in it.”
When Megan Williams does detail her alleged torture, it comes in fits. Horrifying, disjointed memories of all that she allegedly endured spill forth while she fidgets and frowns.
“They braided some switches together and beat me across the back when I was pickin’ peas out the field,” she said.
“They tore my clothes off of me and everything, and then they took me up to the lake and they said that was the place they were going to cut my throat and throw me in, and I was never coming back to see my family again,” she said.
She looks off into the distance at the end of each recollection. She often falls quiet, reverting to yes and no answers, each response softly punctuated with “ma’am.”
At times she reaches up to touch her scalp, where her hair was cut off and yanked out during her ordeal.
For legal and mental-health reasons, there are some details Williams has been advised not to discuss, such as the timeline of her captivity, the more graphic details of her experience and what, if any, relationship she had with the defendants before the assaults.
However, statements in the case outline a series of sexual crimes.
Statements from Frankie Brewster and her son Bobby Brewster allege that Williams was forced to perform oral sex on Frankie Brewster under threat of death, that she was forced to perform oral sex on Danny Combs at knifepoint, that she was made to lick their toes, that she was raped and humiliated.
“They said I was never going to see my family again,” Megan Williams said.
It was that fear that led her to cut her duct-tape constraints with a knife she ferreted away, and hang her tiny arms out of the small window of the shed she was kept in, yelling for help.
Williams says “a guy named Eddie” heard her calls, and she believes he called for help. Within hours, deputies responded to an anonymous tip, and came to the Brewster trailer asking for Williams by name.
She has no doubt that if the police hadn’t shown up, she would be dead.
Charges against the six suspects are expected to go before a grand jury in January.
The defendants are: Bobby Brewster, 24; Frankie Brewster, 49; Danny Combs, 20; Karen Burton, 46; Burton’s daughter, Alisha Burton, 23; and George A. Messer, 27.
Kidnapping carries a possible life sentence in West Virginia. Sexual assault is a crime punishable by up to 35 years in prison.
A coalition of civil-rights organizations and black leaders are now uniting behind the Williams family, and it is receiving legal counsel from Black Lawyers for Justice co-founder Malik Shabazz.
“This case deserves national concern and national outrage,” Shabazz said. “Megan Williams’ case is 10 times, maybe 50 times, worse than what happened in Jena, La.”
Hundreds are expected to attend a hate crime awareness march in Charleston on Nov. 3, an event endorsed by the Rev. Al Sharpton, Nation of Islam Minister Louis Farrakhan, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, the National Conference of Black Mayors and the NAACP.
On the Internet, a Facebook.com group supporting Williams has more than 230,000 members.
Healing for Williams, however, has been a slow process.
She has received hundreds of cards and gifts from as far away as Iraq. She hopes to use donations to her trust fund to obtain a GED and attend college. She speaks of becoming a nurse’s assistant.
She is slowly gaining weight, and her face lights up when asked about her favorite food.
“Ribs, from Save-a-Lot,” she says, grinning. Then she looks to her mother and laughs.
Yet there are large scabs on her left leg, where her ankle was cut and her thigh was stabbed three times. She walks with a slight limp.
And the nights are still difficult, memories filling her mind in the form of terrifying dreams. She usually awakens to find her mother lying next to her.
|
|
Joined: 23 Mar 2006
Posts: 3708
Location: Almost Heaven
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| wvgirl
Posted:
Wed Oct 24, 2007 10:09 pm |
|
|
|
FULL INTERVIEW
Uncut Video of Megan Williams' First Televised Interview
Reported by: Deborah Linz
Videographer: Brad Rice
Web Producer: Martin Hicks
October 24, 2007 7:38pm
In her first televised interview, Megan Williams talks with Deborah Linz about her ordeal in Big Creek, West Virginia.
This is the uncut interview of Megan and her mother, Carmen.
Hear her side of the story in her own words
EYEWITNESS NEWS ONLINE VIDEO
C L I C K T O P L A Y
http://www.wchstv.com/newsroom/eyewitness/0710/071024_3409b0fe.shtml
|
|
Joined: 23 Mar 2006
Posts: 3708
Location: Almost Heaven
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| wvgirl
Posted:
Thu Oct 25, 2007 1:33 pm |
|
|
|
October 25, 2007
Hate, racist charges fly
Mayor, march organizer question other’s motives
By Gary Harki
Staff writer
Charleston’s mayor and the leader of a march to support Megan Williams traded insults and accused each other of promoting hate on Wednesday, 10 days before the event to support the 20-year-old black woman who was allegedly tortured by six white Logan County residents.
Mayor Danny Jones said Malik Shabazz, leader of the Black Lawyers for Justice group that is organizing the march, was a “hater” and was using the event to promote himself. Shabazz called Jones a racist and compared him to “a modern-day Bull Conner.”
Shabazz also wondered if city officials who want them to have $1 million in insurance for the event are singling them out. City officials say they are not.
Shabazz said his group will buy the insurance if need be, but he is looking at whether the insurance requirement is being handled fairly.
“We really want to know that all groups of persons, regardless of class, creed or color, have been charged insurance fees for rallies or marches,” he said. “If some have and some have not and we have, that is a fairness issue that is serious with us.”
Jones said that the insurance is required of everyone who marches in Charleston and shuts down city streets, without exception.
“They have to hold us harmless to any liability,” he said. “During a march like this, people could get sued. We want to protect the city.”
He said a similar insurance policy for events that close city streets for days can cost about $800.
Besides the city, Shabazz said, the state also requires a $1 million policy for the rally at the state Capitol after the march. State officials could not be reached to confirm that Wednesday evening.
“This is not a carnival, not a fair. It truly is First Amendment expression. Although we have the ability to produce the insurance policy, it is an uncomfortable precedent to set to pay to exercise our First Amendment rights,” Shabazz said.
Jones also questioned why Shabazz, attorney and former leader of the New Black Panther Party for Self Defense, has organized the march.
“Shabazz is a hater. We have no objection to anyone coming in and having a lawful march but people who live here have a right to know who they are standing up with,” Jones said.
Shabazz has been criticized by some, including the Anti-Defamation League, as being anti-Semitic. The Anti-Defamation League Web site has a page devoted to Shabazz, listing anti-Semitic quotes by him dating back to 1994.
Shabazz said the quotes are taken out of context and in some cases wrong and the subject of litigation.
“Our position is that we constantly stand for human rights ... for the suffering of the Palestinians. I don’t believe in hatred or racism,” he said.
During a lecture at a black history museum in Richmond, Va., Shabazz was videotaped making a speech. The speech is available on the YouTube Web site.
“Al-Qaida is not the world’s top terrorist organization,” Shabazz says in the video, speaking to a black audience. “The number one terrorist on the planet is the president of the United States of America, George W. Bush. And the number one terrorist organization is the Unites States government. And the number two organization is that snake of Israel. I am not talking about black Israel. I am talking about white Israel, Zionist Israel. For you are the true Jew of the Bible. You are the true black Hebrew.”
It was not clear when Shabazz gave the speech.
The statement was a passionate defense of the Palestinians, who are greatly suffering, Shabazz said.
“The Malik Shabazz you may read about is forceful and passionate. He does not like to do any injustice to people,” Shabazz said. “[The march] has nothing to do with any of that, Jews, Zionism, at all.”
The New Black Panthers will be at the march as security, Shabazz said.
Jones says he has watched Shabazz since 1995, when Jones was a talk radio host in Charleston.
“I think if you want to watch Mr. Shabazz you have to follow the money. He is trying to create an industry of himself,” the mayor said. “This is all about attracting attention for himself. I think this has very little to do with Megan Williams.”
Shabazz called Jones’ comments “an insult to the black community.”
“He doesn’t know me. ... He is trying to act like a modern-day Bull Conner,” Shabazz said, referring to the Alabama sheriff who became infamous for turning fire hoses on civil rights protestors in the 1960s.
“He is the one who has not stood up for Megan Williams, hasn’t said or done anything substantial to help Megan Williams since this started. He should thank me for helping one of his residents that he is failing to help and he should shut his mouth,” Shabazz said.
Jones said he’s not worried about violence at the march, and wonders how many local people will take part.
“I believe that people around here, if they find out what he really stands for, I don’t think very many of them will stand with him,” Jones said. “If he wants to see hate, all he has to do is look in the mirror.”
Shabazz said that if Jones wants to see racism, all he has to do is look in the mirror. “[The mayor] tries to pick and choose who black people should organize around and listen to,” he said.
To contact staff writer Gary Harki, use e-mail or call 348-5163.
Click to Search for Related Stories in our Library
Talk Back: [write to the editor]
http://www.wvgazette.com/section/News/2007102421
|
|
Joined: 23 Mar 2006
Posts: 3708
Location: Almost Heaven
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Isanah
Posted:
Fri Oct 26, 2007 1:26 pm |
|
|
|
What always blows me away is that a group of people can conspire to do such a heinous crime. It's hard enough to imagine that one person could be so despicable!
|
|
Joined: 23 Mar 2006
Posts: 7573
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| victims cry
Posted:
Sun Nov 04, 2007 1:53 pm |
|
|
|
| Isanah wrote: | | What always blows me away is that a group of people can conspire to do such a heinous crime. It's hard enough to imagine that one person could be so despicable! |
It is.. mob mentality plays into it though as well. convincing each other its "ok" 
What she went through is horrific and that people are willing to do this to another... im thinking this family has a reputation that is scary as well. Just from the fact that she knew who heard her but the person called it in as an anonymous tip. Probably afraid to get the family mad.
These ppl are animals.
|
|
On Vacation!
Joined: 22 Mar 2006
Posts: 9299
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| wvgirl
Posted:
Thu Feb 07, 2008 10:11 pm |
|
|
|
Megan Williams on Montel Williams Feb 7 2008
I didn't get to watch the show, but my daughter said Montel hooked Megan up with support with obtaining her GED and ITT at WV Tech has given a 2 year scholarship. And that someone had formed a support group on Facebook (?) I think that's what she said. I have no new info on the case. Emily also said Montel was outraged that this is not considered a hate crime.
What constitutes a hate crime? Will we ever be able to live alongside our neighbors without fear of prejudice? On today’s show, we'll speak with guests who have survived unimaginable torture and explore how hate crimes affect America today. Megan's story recently made headlines after she was rescued by police after a week being held captive at the hands of six people who raped, tortured and humiliated her. Her mother, Carmen, was horrified when she discovered what happened to her daughter. For the first time, we’ll hear from Megan about the torture she experienced and meet a young woman who was so shocked by Megan’s story, she started a support group for Megan online.
http://www.montelshow.com/show/today/thursday/
|
|
Joined: 23 Mar 2006
Posts: 3708
Location: Almost Heaven
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| wvgirl
Posted:
Thu Feb 07, 2008 10:55 pm |
|
|
|
http://wvgazette.com/latest/200802070319
February 7, 2008
Logan woman pleads guilty to hate crime
A white Logan County woman has pleaded guilty to malicious wounding, assault and violating the civil rights of a black woman allegedly held captive for days last summer.
Karen Burton, 46, of Chapmanville entered her guilty plea today in Logan County Circuit Court, said her lawyer Betty Gregory.
Burton is the third in a group of seven people charged to plead guilty in the case, and the only one charged with a hate crime.
Prosecutors say 20-year-old Megan Williams was held captive at a trailer in the Big Creek area of Logan County, where she was forced to eat animal feces, sexually assaulted and stabbed. She was rescued Sept. 8 after an anonymous caller alerted Logan County sheriff's deputies.
Logan County Prosecuting Attorney Brian Abraham said Burton stabbed Williams in the ankle while saying, "This is what we do to niggers down here.''
Burton does not remember much of the abuses against Williams, but she does not deny them, Gregory said.
Burton's confusion stems from a childhood marred by physical and sexual abuse, she said. As a 7-year-old, Burton was abused and left in an open grave.
"It does not excuse it,'' Gregory said. "And it's not that she didn't do the acts, but at some point she has been victimized so many times in her life, and she felt helpless and gave up and joined in.''
As part of the plea agreement, a charge of kidnapping -- which carries a possible life sentence -- was dropped.
Burton faces up to 30 years in prison during sentencing, which is scheduled for March 3.
Authorities angered many of Williams' supporters by initially refraining from charging any defendants with a hate crime. The hate crime charge against Burton came Tuesday when grand jury indictments in the case were handed up.
Abraham has said that although other defendants used the same racial slur Burton used, her use of the word while stabbing Williams made her act more clearly a hate crime.
Karen Burton's daughter, 23-year-old Alisha Burton, and 27-year-old George A. Messer pleaded guilty last week to kidnapping and assault and will serve 10 years in prison.
Felony charges including kidnapping and sexual assault are pending against Bobby Brewster, 24; his mother, Frankie Brewster, 49, of Big Creek; and Danny Combs, 20, of Harts. All have denied wrongdoing. A seventh defendant, Burton's son, Linnie Burton Jr., 21, was indicted this week on a misdemeanor battery charge.
|
|
Joined: 23 Mar 2006
Posts: 3708
Location: Almost Heaven
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| wvgirl
Posted:
Fri Feb 08, 2008 11:25 am |
|
|
|
Black leaders react to indictments in Williams case
Local and national black leaders had mixed reactions to the news that one person was charged with a hate crime in the case of Megan Williams, who was allegedly raped, tortured and held against her will last fall in Logan County.
By Gary Harki
Staff writer
"I think that it is good that we got one but she wasn't there hating by herself," said the Rev. Al Sharpton, who attended a Charleston rally for Williams in December. "They all should have been charged with a hate crime. I don't think one charge would have been filed had it not been for the public outcry."
Others focused on all of the charges, not just hate crimes.
"I know that many people in the community wanted to see hate crime charges brought. We are happy to see that at least one individual was charged with a hate crime," said Coston Davis Jr., president of the Charleston chapter of the NAACP. "Our biggest focus is to get these individuals off the street for the maximum amount of time."
Of the seven people charged in the case, Karen Burton was the only one to be charged under West Virginia's hate crimes law. She allegedly stabbed Williams in the ankle while saying, "This is what we do to niggers around here," according to Logan County Prosecuting Attorney Brian Abraham.
Williams was discovered by police at a trailer near Big Creek on Sept. 8, 2007. She was allegedly raped, tortured, beaten and forced to eat animal feces, among other acts.
Five people were indicted Tuesday for crimes against Williams.
Bobby Brewster, Frankie Brewster, Karen Burton and Danny Combs were all charged with the kidnapping/holding hostage of Williams. The four were also charged with various other offenses, including malicious assault, sexual assault and conspiracy.
Linnie Burton Jr. was indicted on one count of misdemeanor battery. He was not among the original six people arrested in the case.
George Messer and Alisha Burton both pleaded guilty Friday to one count of kidnapping and one count of assault during the commission of a felony. Each faces up to 10 years in prison and has agreed to testify against the other defendants.
Local and national black leaders rallied in Charleston in late 2007, asking prosecutors to bring hate crime charges against the defendants in the Williams case. Abraham had said such charges could take away from other charges with stiffer penalties that could be easier to prove.
Davis, whose group did not participate in the rallies, said he was not happy that two of the defendants had been allowed to plead guilty, but he understood.
"We kind of assume some deals are going to be cut here or there," he said. "Unfortunately that is just part of the justice system now. Everyone cuts a deal. Unfortunately that is the only way to find out truly what went on behind closed doors
The NAACP will continue to monitor the case and watch how it develops from here, he said.
The Rev. Paul Dunn, who pastors the First Baptist Church in Charleston, said that events held for Williams were done to get the issue of hate crimes in the forefront.
"And that happened," said Dunn, whose church held one of the rallies. "I was in several of the meetings with Abraham and saw how he was looking at prosecuting the case."
Dunn said Abraham assured him that he would use the hate crime charge if needed.
"He said he wanted to keep that in the back burner and see if he could get more serious offenses to stick first," Dunn said.
But Sharpton said one hate crime charge is not nearly enough.
"I think that you could have other motives and still qualify for a hate crime," he said. "From what I know, I think that they are taking a long time and that there is a lot of politics involved.
"They are wondering what the reaction of the West Virginia community is going to be rather than upholding justice. That is why we have to keep the pressure up."
Malik Shabazz, who organized the rallies for Williams through his group Black Lawyers for Justice, said he was pleased by the hate crime charge.
"At least there is a sign here that some justice will be done," Shabazz said. "Our reading of the evidence dictates that more, all of the defendants should have been charged with a hate crime charge. But for West Virginia standards of justice it seems historical that even just one hate crime charge is being filed."
Shabazz said this appeared to be the first time the state's hate crime law was used to charge someone.
"In the history of West Virginia, I think that is significant," he said. "I think our interest in the case, our advocacy has been vindicated. ... We will stay active in the case to see that those that harmed Megan will be brought to justice."
|
|
Joined: 23 Mar 2006
Posts: 3708
Location: Almost Heaven
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| wvgirl
Posted:
Wed Feb 27, 2008 7:34 pm |
|
|
|
Megan Williams' Family Angered by Plea Deals
Posted Wednesday, February 27, 2008 ; 05:31 PM
Updated Wednesday, February 27, 2008 ; 05:39 PM
Advocates for the torture victim say Logan County defendants aren't going to do enough time.
Story by Nicky Walters
CHARLESTON -- Advocates in the Megan Williams torture case aren't happy with plea deals reached with some of the Logan County defendants.
Four of the six people involved in the case have pleaded guilty to lesser charges.
On Wednesday, the Black Lawyers for Justice and Williams' family voiced their concerns.
They're asking people to go with them to the sentencing hearings for Frankie Brewster and Karen Burton in Logan County.
"We hope to show the judge and the prosecutor that she does have support that people do love her and stand behind her," said Carmen Williams, Megan's mother.
The group is planning to meet at the First Baptist Church on Shrewsbury Street in Charleston on March 3 and March 12 at 8 a.m. to travel together to Logan for those sentencing hearings.
Police say Williams was sexually assaulted, tortured and held against her will in a Logan County home last year.
Copyright 2008 West Virginia Media. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
http://wowktv.com/story.cfm?func=viewstory&storyid=35362&printview=1
|
|
Joined: 23 Mar 2006
Posts: 3708
Location: Almost Heaven
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| pax
Posted:
Wed Feb 27, 2008 10:54 pm |
|
|
|
Thank you for all the updates wvgirl. If I lived anywhere near there I'd drive to that hearing. Not to join a movement or demand retribution, but just to show quiet support for Megan Williams.
|
|
Joined: 23 Mar 2006
Posts: 16084
Location: Wish You Were Here
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| gwen
Posted:
Thu Feb 28, 2008 1:33 am |
|
|
|
Thanks, wvgirl. This is just horrendous and what a shame that more media attention has not been given to this.
|
|
AKA Gagal_05
Joined: 24 Feb 2007
Posts: 14481
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| yankee-in-france
Posted:
Thu Feb 28, 2008 8:10 am |
|
|
|
I just read this thread, and OMG, there really are people in this world with absolutely no humanity in them. The crimes against this young woman are horrific and unbelievable. I agree with VC that these people -- all of them -- are sub-humans even the one that claims that she was abused early in life.
Just horrible, I would not want this pack out on the streets again. 116 criminal charges between six people since 1991. Most of us couldn't even rack up that many parking tickets.
I hope that there is justice here. 
|
|
YIF
Joined: 30 Mar 2006
Posts: 6599
Location: France
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| pax
Posted:
Thu Feb 28, 2008 12:08 pm |
|
|
|
| gwen wrote: | | Thanks, wvgirl. This is just horrendous and what a shame that more media attention has not been given to this. |
So true.
|
|
Joined: 23 Mar 2006
Posts: 16084
Location: Wish You Were Here
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| pax
Posted:
Thu Feb 28, 2008 12:23 pm |
|
|
|
| yankee-in-france wrote: | I just read this thread, and OMG, there really are people in this world with absolutely no humanity in them. The crimes against this young woman are horrific and unbelievable. I agree with VC that these people -- all of them -- are sub-humans even the one that claims that she was abused early in life.
Just horrible, I would not want this pack out on the streets again. 116 criminal charges between six people since 1991. Most of us couldn't even rack up that many parking tickets.
I hope that there is justice here. |
Sadly, they are all human beings.
|
|
Joined: 23 Mar 2006
Posts: 16084
Location: Wish You Were Here
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| wvgirl
Posted:
Tue Mar 04, 2008 9:28 pm |
|
|
|
03/04/2008
Bail Set For Logan Six Defendant
Staff
Logan
One of the original Logan Six will remain in jail until he can post bail of $100,000. The amount was set for Danny Combs by a circuit judge during a hearing in Logan Tuesday morning.
Combs and five others were originally charged with last year's alleged kidnapping and sexual assault of Charleston resident Megan Williams.
Combs has been in jail without bail for several months. The judge set a trial date for April 28th.
In a related story, Logan County Prosecutor Brian Abraham will report Wednesday for active duty at Fort Campbell, Kentucky. Abraham will be gone for up to a year. He'll consult with his assistant prosecutor on the Logan Six cases.
http://www.wvmetronews.com/index.cfm?func=displayfullstory&storyid=23766
|
|
Joined: 23 Mar 2006
Posts: 3708
Location: Almost Heaven
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| wvgirl
Posted:
Tue Mar 04, 2008 9:34 pm |
|
|
|
Karen Burton awaits Sentencing in Megan Williams Case
Posted Monday, March 3, 2008 ; 12:38 PM
Updated Monday, March 3, 2008 ; 05:05 PM
Burton's sentencing has been moved to March 13.
LOGAN -- One of the women who's convicted in connection with charges stemming from the Megan Williams torture case was back in court Monday, but she'll have to wait a few more weeks to learn her fate.
Karen Burton was scheduled to be sentenced in Logan County. She has already pleaded to a hate crime charge.
The Logan County prosecuting office says because Burton's pre-sentencing report is incomplete, her sentencing date had to be moved to March 13.
She faces 10 to 25 years in prison.
Copyright 2008 West Virginia Media. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
http://wowktv.com/story.cfm?func=viewstory&storyid=35543
|
|
Joined: 23 Mar 2006
Posts: 3708
Location: Almost Heaven
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| wvgirl
Posted:
Thu Jul 17, 2008 11:23 am |
|
|
|
July 17, 2008
Another Plea Deal in Megan Williams Case
Bobby Brewster, one of the people who allegedly abused Megan Williams last year, pleaded guilty this week to second-degree sexual assault, malicious assault and conspiracy to commit kidnapping or holding hostage.
By Gary Harki
Staff writer
CHARLESTON, W.Va. - Bobby Brewster, one of the people who allegedly abused Megan Williams last year, pleaded guilty this week to second-degree sexual assault, malicious assault and conspiracy to commit kidnapping or holding hostage.
Brewster's sentences will run one after the other, putting him in jail for at least 13 years and possibly up to 40 years. He was sentenced Tuesday by Logan Circuit Judge Roger Perry.
Williams' case drew national attention last fall, after police said the young black woman was tortured, raped and held against her will by several Logan County residents, including Brewster. Authorities have said that Williams originally moved to the trailer near Big Creek of her own volition, with Brewster, before the abuse began.
Brewster's plea deal was reached in consultation with the Williams family, said Robert Ilderton, Logan County's chief assistant prosecutor.
Matthew Williams, Megan Williams' father, said Wednesday that he had not talked with prosecutors, but said his wife, Carmen Williams, could have.
Brewster received 10 to 25 years on the sexual assault charge, 2 to 10 years on the malicious assault charge and 1 to 5 years on the conspiracy to commit kidnapping charge.
When Brewster was indicted in February, Logan County Prosecutor Brian Abraham said Brewster stabbed Megan Williams in the leg two or three times, and "by threat of force, coercion or compulsion he required her to perform oral sex [on] his mother, Frankie Brewster."
Frankie Brewster, 49, was sentenced in March to 10 to 25 years in prison for second-degree sexual assault. When he sentenced her, Perry said he took her prior conviction on voluntary manslaughter into consideration. Brewster also must register as a sex offender for the rest of her life.
One person, Danny J. Combs, faces charges in the case. Combs, who is charged with kidnapping, first-degree sexual assault and conspiracy, will go to trial in September, Ilderton said.
Karen Burton, the only person charged with a hate crime in the case, was sentenced in March to 10 years on that charge and 2 to 10 years each on two assault charges.
In February, George Messer and Alisha Burton each pleaded guilty to one count of kidnapping and one count of assault during the commission of a felony. Each faces up to 10 years in prison.
Linnie Burton Jr. pleaded guilty to battery June 9 as part of a deal approved by Williams. Burton was given a six-month suspended jail sentence and placed on one year of supervised probation.
|
|
Joined: 23 Mar 2006
Posts: 3708
Location: Almost Heaven
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| wvgirl
Posted:
Sat Sep 27, 2008 5:56 pm |
|
|
|
Final guilty plea ends Williams torture case
Danny Combs will spend 4 to 20 years behind bars
The last of seven Logan County residents accused of abusing Megan Williams entered a plea deal in the case Friday.
By Gary Harki
Staff writer
The last of seven Logan County residents accused of abusing Megan Williams entered a plea deal in the case Friday.
Danny Combs pleaded guilty to three charges - conspiracy to commit kidnapping or holding hostage, assault during the commission of a felony, and first-degree sexual abuse.
A kidnapping charge was dismissed and a sexual assault charge was lowered to sexual abuse as part of the plea deal, said Robert Ilderton, Logan County's chief assistant prosecutor. Combs entered the plea this morning before Logan Circuit Judge Roger Perry, Ilderton said.
Combs received one to five years on the conspiracy charge, two to ten years on the assault charge and one to five years on the sexual abuse charge, Ilderton said. He said the sentences will run consecutively, meaning that Combs must be paroled on his sentence for one conviction before he begins serving the sentence for the next. Combs will be in jail for at least four years and up to 20.
Upon release, Combs will have to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life, Ilderton said.
Williams was discovered by police at the trailer on Sept. 8, 2007. She had been raped, tortured, beaten and forced to eat animal feces, among other acts.
Everyone else accused in the case agreed to plea deals earlier.
"Essentially, this was like the previous cases," Ilderton said of Combs. "We looked at the evidence generated throughout the course of this investigation, the subsequent briefings of the co-defendants and looked at what we believed was an applicable sentence based on this defendant's culpability, taking into account the best interest of Megan and her family."
Megan's father, Matthew Williams, said he is happy with the plea deals.
"There was a lot of stuff involved in that, and I'm not going to get into [it]," Williams said, "but we are very well satisfied."
He said Megan is in Charleston and doing well.
In February, George Messer and Alisha Burton each pleaded guilty to one count of kidnapping and one count of assault during the commission of a felony. Each faces up to 10 years in prison.
Messer admitted to slapping and punching Williams in an effort to intimidate her while she was confined to certain areas of the trailer, Logan Prosecutor Brian Abraham said at the time. Messer said he slapped her five times, punched her once with a closed fist and poured hot wax on her, the prosecutor said.
Alisha Burton admitted to slapping Williams on several occasions, punching her once, striking her with a sandal so hard that it broke and hitting her across the buttocks with a stick, Abraham said.
Also in February, Frankie Brewster, 49, pleaded to second-degree sexual assault for forcing Williams to perform oral sex on her, Abraham said. She owned the trailer where Brewster was held. She was sentenced to 10 to 25 years in prison.
Karen Burton, the only person charged with a hate crime in the case, pleaded guilty to that charge and two assault charges. She was sentenced in March to up to 30 years in prison.
In July, Bobby Brewster pleaded guilty to sexual assault, malicious assault and conspiracy to commit kidnapping. He faces up to 40 years in prison.
The prosecutor said Brewster stabbed Megan Williams in the leg two or three times, and "by threat of force, coercion or compulsion, he required her to perform oral sex [on] his mother, Frankie Brewster."
Linnie Burton Jr. pleaded guilty to battery June 9. Burton was given a six-month suspended jail sentence and placed on one year of supervised probation.
Reach Gary Harki at gha...@wvgazette.com or 348-5163.
Gallery [+] Enlarge
File photo Megan Williams was discovered by police at the trailer where she had been raped, tortured, beaten and forced to eat animal feces.
Alisha Burton admitted to slapping Williams on several occasions, punching her once, striking her with a sandal so hard that it broke and hitting her across the buttocks with a stick, Abraham said.
|
|
Joined: 23 Mar 2006
Posts: 3708
Location: Almost Heaven
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 |
|
You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum
|
�
Jasidogdotcom template v.1.0.4 © jasidog.com
Powered by phpBB
© 2001, 2004 phpBB Group
|
