No Hate Crime Charges In Torture Case
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."
© 2009 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report. 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."
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Michael Vick wasn't just dog fighting. He purchased a place to host these fights. He had fences built to cover up what was going on inside. He had space that was only used for disposing of the canine carcasses. These dogs were beaten or killed if they didn't perform by the people attending these "events". When the dogs would fight, thewiner was the dog that was still alive. Picture the ripped flesh, splattered blood, the entrails torn out, the feces/urine. Then imagine the smell. Then imagine the people that were in charge of clean up. Imagine the people that came back for more. That takes a certain type of mind-set, masters at disassociation. Think of the type of planning and funds it would take to keep something like that a secret and financially successful. This secret and success wasn't maintained for a few weeks, it was maintained for at least a decade. It started small and grew into a dog-fighting "retreat". NOW think of the man in charge of it all. He didn't need the money, he's a millionaire. So that means he did it cause he liked it. Liked the power, the popularity, the designing and construction of his "secret place", and the ripped, flesh, exposed entrails, splattered blood, the smell of urine and feces. That is not a sane. It's a disturbed person trying to satisfy some urge and would only be able to stop if he was caught. The things he made himself a party to were the acts of a person w/ mental disorders. He needs treatment, not the NFL. If he wasn't a talented athlete the NFL would have let him rot. Hopefully he will seek treatment, otherwise he'll find a new outlet for when his urges surface. It will only escalate.
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.
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.
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.