Maximum Sentences In W. Va. Torture Case

Two defendants charged in connection with the torture of a black woman in Logan County last summer have received the maximum sentences possible.

Forty-six-year-old Karen Burton and 49-year-old Frankie Brewster were sentenced Thursday for their roles in the kidnapping and assault of Megan Williams. Both pleaded guilty last month.

Brewster and Burton were among seven white Logan County residents who were charged in the Williams case.

Logan County Circuit Judge Roger Perry sentenced Burton, of Chapmanville, to three consecutive sentences. She received separate 2-10 year sentences for malicious assault and assault during the commission of a felony and 10 years for the civil rights charge.

Brewster received a 10-to-25-year sentence for second-degree sexual assault.

Authorities say Williams was held captive for several days last summer at Brewster's trailer in Big Creek. In addition to the beatings and assaults, authorities said Williams was forced to eat animal feces and stabbed.

The 21-year-old Charleston woman was rescued by Logan County sheriff's deputies on Sept. 8 after they received an anonymous tip.

Williams and her parents were in the courtroom Thursday and wept as the sentences were read.

Carmen Williams, Megan's mother, and several of her supporters following the sentencing. They told CBS News affiliate WOWK-TV in Huntington that they are not satisfied with the outcome and they say they have not seen justice in the case.

"I just believe the (prosecutor Brian Abraham) shouldn't have plea bargained with any of them," her mother Carmen Williams said during a press conference after the sentencing, according to the Charleston Daily Main. "She (Megan Williams) wanted them to do life."

Two other defendants had already pleaded guilty and been sentenced.

Burton's 23-year-old daughter, Alisha, and George Messer, 27, both of Chapmanville, both pleaded guilty in February to kidnapping and assault and received 10-year sentences.

Felony charges including kidnapping and sexual assault are pending against Brewster's 24-year-old son, Bobby of Big Creek, and Danny Combs, 21, of Harts.

A seventh defendant, Karen Burton's son, Linnie Burton Jr., 21, was indicted on a misdemeanor battery charge.

The Associated Press generally does not identify suspected victims of sexual assault, but Williams and her mother, Carmen, agreed to release her name. Carmen Williams has said she wanted people to know what her daughter had endured.