No Hate Crime Charges In Torture Case

But Charges With Stiffer Penalties Sought After Black Woman Was Allegedly Beaten And Raped By 6 Whites

(CBS/AP)  Authorities decided Wednesday not to pursue hate crime charges in the kidnapping and weeklong torture of a black woman, instead going after the suspects, who are white, on state charges that carry stiffer penalties.

While federal civil rights or state hate crime charges remain an option, a state kidnapping count that carries a sentence of up to life in prison will provide the best chance for successful prosecution, officials said.

"As a practical matter, sentenced to life, what else can be done?" U.S. Attorney Charles T. Miller told The Associated Press.

Six people face charges, including kidnapping, sexual assault and lying to police in the torture of Megan Williams, 20, at a remote hillside home in Big Creek.

State hate crime charges, which carry a sentence of 10 years, could come later, prosecutor Brian Abraham said. State sexual assault charges carry a penalty up to 35 years in prison.

The woman's captors forced her to eat rat droppings, choked her with a cable cord and stabbed her in the leg while calling her a racial slur, according to criminal complaints. They also poured hot water over her, made her drink from a toilet, and beat and sexually assaulted her during a span of about a week, the documents say.

Williams was not a random target, prosecutor Brian Abraham said Wednesday. She had a "social relationship" with one of the suspects, he said.

"She has a history of kind of drifting off every once in awhile, and so I just thought she was just running around town," her mother, Carmen Williams, told CBS affiliate WOWK.

News organizations don't usually release the names of victims of sexual abuse, but in this case, Megan's mother says she wants people to know the horror that was done to her daughter, reports CBS News correspondent Susan McGinnis.

"I want other parents and other mothers to realize, I guess, that people are out there like that, keep a close eye on their children. You never think it would happen to your child. Obviously, I never thought that, but here we are," Carmen Williams told WOWK.

At one point, a suspect cut the woman's ankle with a knife and used the N-word in telling her she was victimized because she is black, according to the complaints.

It wasn't until an anonymous tip led Logan County sheriff's deputies to the property on Saturday that her ordeal ended, authorities said. She limped toward the deputies, her arms outstretched as she cried, "Help me," officials said.

Williams remained hospitalized Wednesday in Charleston. The hospital declined to release any information about her condition.

The victim had a previous relationship with Bobby Brewster, one of the six in custody, Abraham said. He was charged in July with domestic battery and assault after a domestic dispute involving the same woman.

"She obviously had some sort of social relationship," Abraham said. "That is based on the fact that she was present at his residence on a prior date."

The suspects have arrest records going back several years, according to records from Logan County Magistrate Court, and Abraham said was familiar with all of them.

"Most of the charges are minor things," Abraham said. "Basically on weekends they get in trouble and by the middle of the week they make up with each other."

Since 1991, police have filed 108 criminal charges against the six.

Brewster's mother, Frankie Brewster, 49, faced the most serious charges among them. She was charged in 1994 with first-degree murder but pleaded guilty to manslaughter and wanton endangerment. She was released from prison in 2000 after serving five years in the death of an 84-year-old woman, court records show.

In Williams' case, Frankie Brewster is charged with kidnapping, sexual assault, malicious wounding and giving false information during a felony investigation.

Bobby Brewster, 24, also of Big Creek, is charged with kidnapping, sexual assault, malicious wounding and assault during the commission of a felony.

In March, Brewster was accused in criminal complaints of attacking his mother with a machete at her home, according to court records. The outcome of those charges - domestic assault, brandishing a deadly weapon and obstructing an officer - was not immediately clear.

Danny J. Combs, 20, of Harts, is charged with sexual assault and malicious wounding. Karen Burton, 46, of Chapmanville, was charged with malicious wounding, battery and assault during the commission of a felony.

Burton's daughter, Alisha Burton, 23, and George A. Messer, 27, both of Chapmanville, are charged with assault during the commission of a felony and battery. She previously faced charges of assault during the commission of a felony and battery; in May, she was accused of striking Messer with a shovel and smashing the window of a woman's car. The charges are pending.

All six remained in custody Wednesday in lieu of $100,000 cash bail each. Bobby Brewster is scheduled to appear before a Logan County Circuit Court judge on Monday to be arraigned on the kidnapping charge, according to court records. A date for his mother's appearance on the kidnapping charge has not yet been set.

Public defender Dwyane Adkins, appointed to represent Bobby Brewster, and public defender Betty Gregory, appointed to represent Karen Burton, declined to comment. The other defendants' court-appointed lawyers were either in hearings or did not immediately return telephone calls Wednesday.

Neighbors of Megan and Carmen Williams in Charleston recalled the mother as friendly and her daughter as sweet-natured but said they kept largely to themselves.

"They were isolated, in a way," said the Rev. Norman Jones of the Greater Emmanuel Gospel Tabernacle, which Carmen Williams attended. "Carmen was very protective of Megan, so it was hard to know her well."

[klingon69]

At one point, a suspect cut the woman''s ankle with a knife and used the N-word in telling her she was victimized because she is black, according to the complaints.

sounds like a hate crime to me.

[logan_baf]

I think that white people think they can do whatever they want to do just because they are white and they think they are better than every one else. Look at what is happening in Louisiana. Once again black people are getting railroaded by whites and the white boys who started it all, get off with just a slap on the wrist. ENOUGH!!!!

[likeitis5050]

Posted by logan_baf at 06:29 PM : Sep 12, 2007

Please don''t generalize. I am outraged and have written letters regarding the Jena situation. If you truly believe there are no white people out there speaking up and speaking out against this kind of behavior, you are the one looking at the world in a very narrow way which will surely breed contempt. Everyone is accountable for their own behavior in this world...everyone.

[sy2502]

At one point, a suspect cut the woman''''s ankle with a knife and used the N-word in telling her she was victimized because she is black, according to the complaints.
sounds like a hate crime to me.
Posted by Klingon69 at 06:26 PM : Sep 12, 2007

Of course it is. But if you bother to read the article you''ll see that they are pursuing the course that will get these *** the maximum penalty. I don''t care what their crime gets called, what''s important is that they get punished for it to the full possible extent of the law.

[wvagirl07]

the whole reason they are not treating this as a hate crime anymore is because the victim had a previous relationship with one of the attackers.

But if you bother to read the article you''''ll see that they are pursuing the course that will get these *** the maximum penalty. I don''''t care what their crime gets called, what''''s important is that they get punished for it to the full possible extent of the law.
Posted by sy2502 at 07:01 PM : Sep 12, 2007
The maximum penalty in the state of WV is just life in prison. So if the Feds would have tried them instead of the state they would have been able to be sentenced to death.

[missut2]

How could this be anything but a hate crime? They used a racial slur every time they abused and stabbed her with a knife!
It''s hard to imagine that people (and I use that term loosely) like this still exist in America. It looks as though some of them had a prior criminal history. These people should never see the light of day again...prison is too good for the vermin that they are.
My thoughts and prayers for the young Ms Williams and her family. I hope that some day she will be able to put this in the past and move on with her
life. I look forward to the day she sits on the witness stand and points her finger toward this scum and they are whisked off to long prison terms. It is there that I hope they rot...
My hope is that Ms Williams will not judge all white people by these creatures...and that she will recover from her injuries, both physical and mental. Best wishes...

[azmka]

sy2502: I agree!

[wvagirl07]

SBBM- If the feds would have charged them with anything they would have been able to go for the death sentence. Seeing as how the Feds said they wouldn''t press charges but work with the state they are just wanting to let these peoople get at the most life in prison. Like I said AT THE VERY MOST. Being from WV my entire life I have seen few people actually get life in prison. Infact just recently a guy in my home town of Buckhannon(yes the same town as the Sago Mine disaster) shook his 6 week old son to death and he was found not guilty.

[my2centss]

Why can only white people be tried for hate crimes? There should be no such law. Do we not have enough laws that punish people already for the same crimes?

[wvagirl07]

Why can only white people be tried for hate crimes? There should be no such law. Do we not have enough laws that punish people already for the same crimes?
Posted by my2centss

Granted it seems that most hate crimes are with whites against blacks but there is more to a hate crime. It can be a hate crime to discriminate against a person based upon race, gender, or sexual preference.

[my2centss]

"It can be a hate crime to discriminate against a person based upon race, gender, or sexual preference."
Posted by WvaGirl07 at 07:28 PM : Sep 12, 2007

That is already illegal under a different law. It is redundant. Just a way to prosecute someone twice for the same crime, which goes against Amendment V of the Bill of Rights.

[blondmadison]

Why are we the taxpayers paying to keep them alive until dead?

If they prosecute for kidnapping, that is a life sentence. After that they prosecute for hate crime, that is 10 years added to a life sentence. Then there is another conviction which is eminent (I forgot that one) but it carries 25 or 35 years, added to the life sentence.

Put them to death and be done with it.

Life sentences equate to death so what is the big deal? Keeping them in a concrete and steel cage for the duration of their lives is a waste of time, energy, money and sanity for all concerned.
It is also dangerous, violent and weird.

Watch "Lock-up" it''s on cable. Put lifers to death, it is more humane.

[wvagirl07]

That is already illegal under a different law. It is redundant. Just a way to prosecute someone twice for the same crime, which goes against Amendment V of the Bill of Rights.
Posted by my2centss at 07:43 PM : Sep 12, 2007

Yes it is illegal under the law of discrimination aka Hate Crime. These 2 are not different they are the exact same thing. The Media calls it a hate crime because of 2 reasons. 1 Every Joe Schmo understands what a hate crime is and 2 Hate Crime is the media lingo for breaking the law on discrimination.

[blondmadison]

Look at the history of violent criminal behavior.

It is with zero deniability they are mentally ill in such a way as to be harmful to whoever they are around.

Prisoners would be in harm''s way being aroung them! What would they come up with to do in jail for God''s sake??!!

Quit the bs and put them to death.

They didn''t harm a normal person. They intentionally tortured a mentally challenged young girl. They are dangerously sick.

It would be far more humane to simply put each of them in solitary confinement with out food or water until dead. That would take less than a month. Have the balls to do it.

[joyce1001]

I think a hate crime for people in general should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. What I have a real problem with is that white on black crime is always immediately categorized as a hate crime and black on white crime isn''t. If you go the Justice Department Crime Stats, you will find that black on white crime is far larger than white on black crime, but never reported as such. A case in point, the Tennessee report on the 2 white college students who were abducted by 4 black guys and a black woman. They sexually assaulted both the girl and the guy, shot him and left him on the railroad tracks burned. The girl was kept alive a few more days tortured, continuously sexually assaulted then stuffed in a drum and suffocated. They cannot speak for themselves, like, stating that "racial slurs" were exacted on them,- they''re not alive anymore. Then we wonder why there is retribution...Stop this senseless violence and start prosecuting everyone. This country HAS GOT to get over this racial "Hatfield & McCoy"mentality.

[speakup2]

I am sorry this crime was committed against this woman and hope that with time she is able to recover mentally, physically and emotionally. My prayers are with her and her family.
I am curious as to why this story has made wide media coverage, however the gruesome torture,rape,and murders of the young Knoxville couple Channon Christian and Jason Newsome were not covered? If you havent heard about this crime, I suggest doing a search on them and then question the difference.

[joyce1001]

I meant to say "reported as such BY THE MEDIA"...

[michellem99-2009]

Hate
By Barbara Ann
Hate,
Where did it come from.
I have asked that many times.
I am white but hated.
As a legally blind.
I know they mean skin colour.
It never dawned on me that.
I can''t see the skin,gendar.
Yes my world is different.
But we all one race.
That being human.
When I hear race it is human.
We are all differet shades of colour.
White,black, and brown.
So they call America the meiting pot.
Yet her people hate .
It make no sense to me.
If yer learnt hate.
Then
Yer can learn to love.
Yes I know it is taught at home.
Caretakers should know better.
As should the church.
The Golden Rule to all.
Treat others as you wish to be treated.

Please give Barbara Ann credit if you use this verve. Thank you.

[speakup2]

My appologies to the Newsom family. In a hurry in my earlier posting I miss-posted the young mans name and should have posted Christopher Newsom.

[yamuttya]

Inbred hillbillies, looks like Britney Spears'' family reunion.
They all voted for Bush ( those that can read ) and they want jobs at Abu Graib, or another Club Cheney

[missut2]

I am curious as to why this story has made wide media coverage, however the gruesome torture,rape,and murders of the young Knoxville couple Channon Christian and Jason Newsome were not covered? If you havent heard about this crime, I suggest doing a search on them and then question the difference.
Posted by speakup2 at 08:05 PM : Sep 12, 2007
------------------------------

There was some national media coverage of the Christian-Newsom torture and murders. Bill O''Reilly and Nancy Grace both had limited coverage. I think part of the problem is that the families of the couple are not speaking with the media, they have refused offers. The Knoxville police are very closed-mouthed and are not releasing any information about the murders or the investigation of the scum involved.
However, the trials are scheduled to begin in May, 2008 and concluded in August, 2008. Each of the defendents are being tried separately.
We can only hope that these pieces of filth will be put to death or sent to prison for the rest of their miserable lives.

[angel0043]

my prayers r with the family- there is so much hate in this world its getting crazy-bad enough we r dealing with other countrys-call it what u want crime hate is hate no matter what color u r-yes people will hate me forever cause im black and a male and that will not make me hate other races for wat somebody else do of other nationality-i work in a prison and believe this they will wish they were dead once they get time- as for joyce1001 think about wat u say before talking cause if u realy think this country has got to get over racial hate then u would not compare this to other incident that happen to someone of caucacian nationality- stop comparing and start SOLVING------- ANGEL0043---- GOD BLESS

[colonieny]

Sick yes.
but where is the MEDIA on all the rest ?

/// What bothers me is that similar cases, not fitting the LIBERAL template are buried.
ITEM: July 2006, 11 year old white girl is held captive by 10 Black men and raped for days. She wandered onto a college campus in Fresno, hosting a football camp, grabbed, and the team - "players" thought it was all right to rape and sodomize her over and over again. Rippingher *** and ***.
.... She escaped.... The news items were about 1 inch print. So far the story is fogotten, not even one guy has gone to trail.much less jail /// All still playing football. If that is not racist PC reporting ???
ITEM. LA Times and Riots. 55 people were murdered. Taken from their car on the home commute, and killed by Blacks. No trials. And worse, LA Times have erased their names and those days or rioting from the data base. Go look yourself. Can you find their names anywhere ?
We live in a strange world where some events are reported, some buried, all due to a template set by a room full of people. Thank G and Al for the internet.

[teeus]

I feel this is a hate crime, yes, but not racial in nature. This is a hate crime against the special needs community.

If the girl is, fact, "retarded" she''s not responsible for any part of this--she''s can''t knowingly choose to have relationship with this scum. They abused her and tortured her because they could. And because they thought no one would care about her. Or maybe because they were all dropped on their heads as children...I''m not sure.

[michellem99-2009]

I am a poorly educated Maine hillbilly. They choose to hurt this sp needs girl..not because they are hillbillies but due to the fact the girl is handicapped..There are people who hate us. Why. The busers think they are so much better than a poor child who is a lovely soul that can''t read,write, so what. I can''t that well. They could hurt her so easy.. the blacks and whites there are hillbillies..She be an easy target..just awful. I am glad you liked the verse.

[dunja29]

***!!! This is a racial hate crime people...only a *** white person would think otherwise dammit! They did not stab her and call her handicapped or lady...the called her a "N"! If that is not raciasl what is...you knowwhat...I would love for these white *** to be dropped in the middle of a huge black crowd so they can be beaten to death...that is what they deserve to be beaten to death! No human is better than the next...if I ever ran into these hillbilly crack heads...as I white woman...I would blow their dman head off...*** all racist people espeically white ***!!!!

[schumpec]

I don''t understand how the law can be so hard on Michael Vick for dog fighting when they have allowed six people, treat a human being like a dog and set them free with only a 100k bond. These people have been charged over a 100 times for hate related crimes. Please tell me that a african american human life is more important than that of a dog. Society wants to take Vick''s career away from him but set these true criminals free. Then society wants to send six teenagers to prison for life basically because they had an altercation with some other high children that were white. Racism still exist in the united states. It is a shame that we are still judged by the color of our skins. In this game of life, we are all delt cards that we must play. Why must we make up our own rules when the game is played the same.

[drfoster2]

I think the comments regarding Williams'' appearance are totally inappropriate. Calling a person "retarded" based on the person''s appearance is inappropriate. Look at the facts and the information that is available. The 6 people involved should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law if the facts on the documents with the charges are true. No one asks to be kidnapped, raped, tortured or mentally abused. Please think before posting a comment.

[peace2all1]

We can only feel peace to God. No matter who you are? what race''s you are? God loves us. In His kingdom we are all the same. We are all His children. We are judge according to our works. What we did on this earth. I know that those people who commit this kind of crimes; They are posses by the devil. Devils dwell with them. We just pray that is not gonna happen to us and to our relatives. And pray to all races to love one another.

[peace2all1]

Why God love America? The reason why in bringing everyone in this country So that people can see the works of God. American puts as step closer to heaven. God not looking into outside appearance but in the heart. No matter how you look. Races is not from God it''s devil work.