Woman in W.Va. Torture Case: I Lied

Black Woman who Claimed Torture by White Group Fabricated Story to Get Back at Abusive Boyfriend, Her Attorney Says

(AP)  An attorney for a black woman who claimed torture by a white group in West Virginia says his client fabricated the story to get back at a boyfriend who had beaten her up.

Megan Williams' attorney, Byron Potts, said at a news conference Wednesday that Williams came forward because she no longer wants to live a lie. Potts encouraged West Virginia authorities to re-evaluate the case.

Williams told authorities in 2007 that she had been beaten, raped, forced to eat animal feces and taunted with racial slurs for days. She now lives in Columbus.

Seven white men and women were convicted in the case, and most are serving long prison terms.

Prosecutors, who knew about the relationship even during the case, dismissed Williams' new claim, and lawyers for the defendants would not discuss their plans. Williams' supporters were cautious about responding to the statement by a woman whose mother described her during the 2007 case as "slow."

Brian Abraham, the former Logan County prosecutor who pursued the cases, said authorities realized early in the investigation that they could not rely on statements from Williams, who tended to embellish and exaggerate details. Instead, he said, the seven defendants were convicted on their own statements and physical evidence.

"If she's going to say that she made it all up, that's absurd," Abraham said. "This looks like another attempt to generate more publicity."

The assaults occurred in September 2007 at a trailer in a rural area of Logan County, about 50 miles from Charleston. In an interview the following month, Williams told The Associated Press she thought she was going to a party and tagged along with a woman she barely knew.

Williams said she was held captive for several days and was tortured, beaten, and forced to eat rat, dog and human feces. She was also raped by a group of white men and women.

A passer-by heard cries from the shed where she was kept, and sheriff's deputies responding to an anonymous tip found her hours later, limping toward the door, her arms outstretched, saying, "Help me."

The Rev. Al Sharpton, who donated $1,000 to Williams' family as a Christmas gift, and a group called Black Lawyers for Justice had urged prosecutors to pursue hate-crime charges.

The lawyers group organized a march on Williams' behalf in November 2007. Sharpton addressed a rally in Charleston a month later.

At the time, Abraham said that because Williams had had a relationship with one of the defendants - Bobby Brewster - it would be difficult to prove that a hate crime occurred. Even so, one of the defendants, Karen Burton, pleaded guilty to a state hate-crime charge.

In a phone call to the AP on Wednesday, Sharpton said the matter should be handled delicately, citing "psychological issues" with Williams.

"This isn't cut and dried either way," he said. "Right is right, but I have no idea if tomorrow her story will change back."

In a January interview with The Call & Post, a black newspaper in Cleveland, Williams acknowledged she had been mistreated but said her mother made her embellish the story for exposure and financial gain. Williams told the newspaper that she was afraid of her mother, who knew some of the defendants.

Williams' mother, Carmen Williams, died in June.

Those convicted were Brewster, his mother, Frankie Brewster; Danny Combs; George Messer; Burton; and Burton's daughter Alisha Burton and son Linnie Burton Jr.

Linnie Burton Jr. was the only defendant not to serve jail time. He was convicted of a misdemeanor battery charge and given a six-month suspended sentence.

Lawyers for the seven did not immediately return phone calls Wednesday or declined to comment. Abraham said none of the seven have appealed.

"This was a very detailed criminal investigation," he said.

It will be up to the defendants to decide how they will respond to Williams' statements, said Philip Morrison II, executive director of the West Virginia Prosecuting Attorneys Institute.

Morrison questioned whether Williams' actions would be sufficient to overturn their confessions, saying, "What are they going to say, 'I didn't really mean that?"'

In late August, a woman who claimed to represent Williams arrived at the offices of the AP in Columbus and said new information on the case would be released at a downtown rally Oct. 21. A flier announced that Williams was "coming out with the truth." There were no signs of a rally Wednesday afternoon.

The AP 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.

People who supported Williams were guarded Wednesday.

"We did have some concerns about what was being done at the time and how it was carried out by Megan and the family, because of her mental condition," said the Rev. Audie Murphy, president of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People in Logan and Boone counties in West Virginia.

"We feel the legal system will handle it accordingly," Murphy said. "We didn't rush to judgment then, and we're not rushing to judgment now."

Sharpton said Potts told him Tuesday that Williams wanted to apologize to him for lying.

Sharpton has sent a letter to Logan County prosecutor John Bennett asking him to look into the new claims.

"If Ms. Williams has, in fact, fabricated her story, then I urge your office to vindicate any wrongfully convicted individuals," Sharpton wrote.

Bennett said Wednesday that he would not be able to investigate the case because he represented one of the seven who were convicted, but Morrison said that would be for a judge to decide.

[toldyouso21]

ONE OF THE CONVICTS SAYS MEGAN IS LYING, THAT THE TORTURE, RAPE AND BEATINGS WAS REAL, THOUGH NOT RACIALLY MOTIVATED:

http://www.rr.com/news/topic/article/rr/9000/9275042/Convicted_woman_says_WVa_torture_case_was_real FUNNY HOW CBS IS NOT CARRYING THIS TURN IN THE STORY YET....

[longtree-2009]

there is already enough hatred, racism, among all the races. this woman just incited more racism, more divisiveness. she should be punished severely and anyone else that participated in her lies. what a piece of horse manure. actually, horse manure is above her.

[SusanStoHelit]

Hmmm - a thought. Is it her that want's publicity, attention? Or is it her lawyer, who sees an opportunity to get his name out there, by using a mentally retarded woman as a patsy?

[SusanStoHelit]

She's mentally retarded, and likely is just looking for some attention. The physical evidence - she was indeed found chained up, beaten, stabbed, etc. - is solid. The confessions are from enough people that they are unlikely to all be false, and match the forensic evidence.

The case was never about her words - she was too obviously an unreliable witness - it was about what the evidence said.

[justsane-2009]

i'm inclined to believe that she is lying about lying. i went back and read some of the reports issued at the time of the assault. the young woman was rescued from a shed, had some stab wounds (can't find how many), and her hair had been ripped out. she claimed to have been held captive for a number of days (the police determined that it had been six.) she was hospitalized after her rescue. it seems logical that the physical exam made at the time would either confirm or refute many of the charges that were made, like the multiple rapes, stabbings, and beatings.

while there is no doubt that innocent people are convicted of crimes that they didn't commit, and do in fact sometimes confess to crimes they did not commit, it seems pretty unlikely that seven defendants would all do so. it also appears that there was far too much physical evidence of the crimes for it to have been staged by a woman of limited mental capacity.

[timing20002000]

I don't know what to believe. I say do the case over again and see if there is enough evidence to keep these people in or out. She is "slow" so who knows what the truth is.

[toldyouso21]

SHE'S LYING NOW..FOR SOME REASON. A least part of the story is true because she was found after a neighbor called about a black woman being chained up in an old trailer. She was found chained to the inside of the trailer, naked, covered in feces with stab wounds and at least 2 of the people admitted to raping her and cutting her. So why is her story changing now? Threats to her family?

[djseavy]

Does anybody seriously believe that prosecutors are out for justice? They are politicians - period. Look at what's going on in Texas. Prosecutors are just as dirty as every other politician. The 7 confessions? A simple and realistic explaination - they were under the threat of even more prison time if they went to trial. And trials are won by innuendo and inference by prosecutors - the facts and truth mean nothing.

[Blatensphere]

How do 7 people confess to something that didn't happen?

Sounds like something happened.

[presjfk]

Anyone charged with a crime and given the choice of life in prison or a plea deal, and this happens every day, often opt for the plea even if they are innocent.

[SusanStoHelit]

People confess to things they didn't do all the time - pressure, fear, etc. However - there's a lot of physical evidence in this case to say that's not what happened here.

[Questionews]

Prosecutors could care less about whether or not someone is innocent or guilty. They are there to get a conviction, period. They only way they climb the ladder is to have as many convictions as possible and if an innocent person is sent away to prison, they really don't care as long as they can have one more notch on their pistol.
I would bet any amount of money that if all prosecutors were given a polygraph test & denied that they ever knowingly sent an innocent person to prison, 99% would fail.

[endurorob_5]

stuart-johns2 October 21, 2009 1:03 PM EDT
by endurorob_5 October 21, 2009 11:14 AM EDT
Since thay have confessions and testimony from the perpetrators what is the point of her recanting her testimony. Even if as gramto8 says that she has been threatended what good would it do for her to recant when it is their own words that convicted them.
-------------

Shockingly, I agree with you.
Reply to this comment by endurorob_5 October 21, 2009 1:15 PM EDT
That is shocking and disturbing. I will now go meditate to try and understand this anomaly.



I have meditated and determined the obvious answer is that as a result of our conversations on this site you have begun to see things from a more centrist/independent point of view and are on the verge of denying your liberal/progressive idealogy.

[stuart-johns2]

You so don't know me. lol

[mjlewis6]

Incredible? Not hardly. Once a person is recalcitrant and moved to correct the error of their need for atention...guess what? The State has no mercy.

Example: the Ballon Boy Hoax. Look at the over-expansive response to the hoax...a lot like calling "Wolf" and the response is more dangerous than the attention sought.

There is no such thing as a fair trial for those who are convicted by such testimony ENCOURAGED by the state. Thereafter, they are DISCOURAGED from setting the matter straight since it does not fit with current political correctness that the state makes no mistakes.

Jesus endured 3 trials for his life and in no instance did his innocense have any weight for the 'judge' in each case to just let him go nor for the people who feel they must act when accusations are made. If you want mercy, go to church. If you are just looking for blood, you can find it in any courtroom, but do not expect that ideal of justice to exist. The state in the prosecutor's tradition does not seek justice, but convictions.

[stuart-johns2]

by louiville2_5 October 21, 2009 12:58 PM EDT
Well I suspect the whole county has the same disease (stupidity).
------------

Yeah man. And they need three new laws on the books: Capital, Felony and Misdemeanor Stupidy and they need to begin charging suspects accordingly.

[stuart-johns2]

by endurorob_5 October 21, 2009 11:14 AM EDT
Since thay have confessions and testimony from the perpetrators what is the point of her recanting her testimony. Even if as gramto8 says that she has been threatended what good would it do for her to recant when it is their own words that convicted them.
-------------

Shockingly, I agree with you.

[endurorob_5]

That is shocking and disturbing. I will now go meditate to try and understand this anomaly.

[Ms_enza]

"That is shocking and disturbing. I will now go meditate to try and understand this anomaly." by endurorob_5 October 21, 2009 1:15 PM EDT

Simple, for once you screwed up and got something correct -- something with which more intelligent people than youself agreed.

But then you've screwed up again with thinking you could get something right twice in a row.

[stuart-johns2]

by TheSkirtLifter October 21, 2009 6:40 PM EDT

Dream on girl. I am in no competition with anyone. I come here to post my opinions on matters. And besides, rob is'nt much really but then again, I suppose it would depend on the subject.

[MPHgrad]

What CBS has left out of this story & is EXTREMELY SIGNIFICANT is that this young woman is mentally retarded. That is why the prosecutor stated the convictions were based upon evidence & confessions, not the testimony of the victim. This is egregiously irresponsible reporting.

[bill0bob]

"What CBS has left out of this story ..."

As is often the case, this is an AP story. CBS didn't write it. Did the original AP story contain the info and did CBS edit it out? If not, there is no sense in blaming CBS.

[presjfk]

This woman belongs in jail for perjury and a host of other crimes. The fact the prosecutor doesn't want to pursue this is cya on his part and should at the very least be fired.

[stuart-johns2]

Before you all go off on this woman too much, have you considered her only lie may be that she's saying she lied?

And the presecutor did not say he would'nt re-examine the case. He just said the press event was a publicity stunt.

It helps when you read the articles carefully, without bias and pre-concieved notions before you post comment on them.

[MPHgrad]

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/09/12/national/main3253257.shtml

[presjfk]

I don't know what really happened but I can imagine one scenario. The media is killing these guys, and the prosecutor comes to them with a plea deal. Either take the deal or risk losing the trial and going to jail forever.

Please deals often lead to the guilty getting off lightly.


This happens all the time across America. The prosecutors use a, "lose it all or plea approach" to keeping trials short and easy. The results are often injustice to all parties.

Imagine you are wrongly accused of a crime and faced with a long prison term. What would you do, plea or take your chances they will find you innocent? A choice nobody should have to make.

[toldyouso21]

The FACT is, this girl was found at the perps home chained up like a dog with stab wounds and the residual of ***** from several men. her body had whip marks and she had been burned with cigarettes. She was found by a Sheriff Deputy who was responding to complaints. She can say she made up anything--she is retarded, and on top of that, her testimony was not used to convict, those who are threatening her and her family need to try again--and this time, go with something better that sticks.

[stn_sage]

OH, isn't this lovely?!

The 'victim' is recanting her story?! And the prosecutor...who got a conviction...doesn't want any re-examination of the case?!

SO, it's not important that SEVEN people may have been WRONGFULLY convicted and jailed...if it means reversing this conviction?!!

So, does anyone REALLY believe they can get "justice" in an American
court anymore?!!

[stuart-johns2]

stn-sage,

Where in the story did the prosecutor state they did'nt want to re-examine the case? All he said was that the press conference is a publicity stunt. I did'nt know those words were antonyms for the words, "does'nt want any re-examination of the case".

And the seven people who may have been wrongly convicted the story says:

"Abraham says the seven, who all pleaded guilty, were convicted on physical evidence and their own statements, not statements from Williams."

So I am not sure that one can believe they did'nt get justice. Not on the lack of detailed info in this article, anyway.

[displeased]

It's stories like this that remind myself how fortunate I am to have grown up in an environment that allowed me to develop cognitive abilities.

[jclark7613]

Even if it's true and she is recanting her story she needs to go to jail and the case should be tried as a hate crime. I can just imagine what the community had to go through.

[hologram5]

I agree with you totally. She should be the one in prison now, not the poor men she said attacked her. Too much of this c*ap is going on today. Where does it stop? Where do we draw the line?

[displeased]

Wouldn't it be nice if people who lie to have someone wrongfully convicted would receive the same punishment? Maybe they would think twice about it.

[toldyouso21]

She was found chained up, stabbed and covered in feces, the perps admitted to the crime.She did not call the police herself. An officer went to the property and found her chained up like a dog. She did not lie. She is lying now--now, they need to discover why--my guess is--someone is threatening to kill her, someone in her family or someone she knows in prison and she is lying now to protect them--she thinks--but if they get out--they will pay her and her family back anyway. The girl is retarded.

[endurorob_5]

Since thay have confessions and testimony from the perpetrators what is the point of her recanting her testimony. Even if as gramto8 says that she has been threatended what good would it do for her to recant when it is their own words that convicted them.