Posted on 09/18/2007 6:53:30 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
LOGAN, W.Va. - Prosecutors filed amended felony charges Tuesday in the case of a woman tortured for days in rural West Virginia, changes that mean the six defendants could face life in prison if convicted.
Graphic details of the crime were described in court for the first time. Carmen Williams, the woman's mother, left a hearing in Logan County Magistrate Court in tears after listening to the allegations.
Magistrate Jeffrey Lane referred the case against Frankie Brewster, 49, to a grand jury for action. She owns the home where the suspected assault took place. In addition to charges of kidnapping, sexual assault and giving false information to police, the prosecutor filed three counts of misdemeanor battery against Brewster and dropped a charge of unlawful wounding.
All six defendants now face charges of kidnapping, which carries a maximum life sentence. Four of the defendants had faced only lesser charges before Tuesday's filings.
The six, all white, are accused of assaulting Megan Williams, who is black, for more than a week at a ramshackle trailer in Big Creek.
Police say Williams, 20, was tortured, sexually assaulted, forced to eat animal feces and taunted with a racial slur. Her ordeal ended when an anonymous tip led police to the home Sept. 8.
The Associated Press generally does not identify suspected victims of sexual assault, but Williams and her mother agreed to release her name. Carmen Williams said she wanted people to know what her daughter had endured.
No hate crime charges were filed, though some of Williams' supporters have urged the state to file such counts. Prosecutors have not ruled out such a move but have said they are focused on crimes with the toughest penalties and note that the maximum sentence for a hate crime is just 10 years.
Reading from a statement Williams gave deputies that day, Sheriff's Deputy Jeffrey Robinette said Megan Williams had been stabbed with what she described as a butcher knife and beaten with wooden sticks and fly swatters. He said the woman was sexually assaulted, doused with hot water and taunted with racial slurs.
Williams said in her statement that she was raped at knifepoint by Danny J. Combs in the trailer's bathroom, tied with a cable cord and choked by Karen Burton, doused with hot wax by George A. Messer, and stabbed by Brewster's son, Bobby.
The statement also said the defendants told Williams that they didn't like black people and that they were going to hang her.
"They told me if I tried to get out they was going to hit me and stuff. I was scared of them," Robinette read from Williams' statement.
Williams said two of her captors forced her to drink a cup of their urine, Sheriff's Deputy Rick Goodman testified.
Deputies are still trying to determine how long Williams was held.
In a statement to deputies, Brewster detailed her role and implicated others, saying "I just want to come clean." Brewster also is accused of forcing Williams to perform oral sex on her.
Goodman testified that Brewster told deputies that the six were afraid to let Williams go because she might tell on them. They also talked about killing her.
Combs, 20, now faces a kidnapping charge that carries life in prison. He originally was charged with sexual assault and malicious wounding. Prosecutors added two more sexual assault charges.
Kidnapping and sexual assault charges, along with additional counts of battery, were filed against Burton, 46, her daughter, Alisha; and Messer, 27, all of Chapmanville.
Karen Burton, who was arraigned by video teleconference from jail, said, "Oh, hell no," when informed of the sexual assault charge against her. The other defendants said only "yes, sir" and "no, sir" during their arraignments.
Karen Burton had been charged earlier with malicious wounding, battery and assault during the commission of a felony. Alisha Burton, 23, and Messer were charged earlier with assault during the commission of a felony and battery.
A hearing for Bobby Brewster, 24, was held Monday in Logan County Circuit Court. He is charged with kidnapping, sexual assault, malicious wounding and assault during the commission of a felony. Police have said he had a previous relationship with Williams.
Meanwhile, Williams appeared in a Charleston courtroom Tuesday afternoon to answer outstanding warrants from three counties charging her with crimes involving worthless checks. She was released on $8,000 bond.
Williams, who clutched a small teddy bear in court, was wearing a brace on her right hand and a bandage on her left ankle. She was accompanied by her parents, and her mother held her through portions of the court proceeding. Williams' mother also accompanied her during a brief period in a holding cell.
Hearings on the charges will be held in each county. Williams' father, Matthew, told Magistrate Ward Harshbarger, "She'll be there."
Megan Williams, left, accompanied by her mother, Carmen Williams, is arraigned at the Kanawha County Magistrate Court in Charleston, W.Va., Tuesday, Sept. 18, 2007 on at least seven charges, mostly for allegedly obtaining under false pretenses and writing bad checks, according to court records. Megan Williams is the woman at the center of international media attention after her torturous ordeal in a Logan County earlier this month. (AP Photo/Bob Bird)
Interesting tidbit there.
Depending on what that means it could put the whole “Hate Crime” thing in a different light.
Did these idiots think they were going to get away with this?....unbelievable!
Considering where they live it is not entirely out of the question that had they killed the girl and disposed of her body in the remote parts of mountainous West Virginia it is quite possible that they would have gotten away with it.
Logan County has a population density of 82 persons per square mile. Not a lot of witnesses there.
Considering the girl was held in a trailer and was missing for long enough that they are not sure how long the girl was held, I think they could easily have gotten away with it.
Fortunately these people were not totally without moral compasses and they did not kill her.
But had they I think they would have escaped justice at least for some time. But I also think that because there are so many involved I think eventually someone would have talked and they would be found out.
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