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/BIG CREEK, W.Va./ September 12, 2007, 11:23 p.m. ET · 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. The Associated Press generally does not identify suspected victims of sexual assault, but Williams and her mother, Carmen Williams, agreed to release her name. Carmen Williams said she wanted people to know what her daughter had endured. 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 he 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 Williams in Charleston recalled her as sweet-natured but said her family members 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." [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > Hate crime indeed. If you look at those people, several look a little--off, > to be kind. I know mugshots dont' usually catch your best side, but daaamn! > Remind me of the family members from the original "Texas Chainsaw Massacre". > I can easily see one of the boys yelling "Hit her again, Ma!" > > If there's anything approaching good coming out of this, is that this young > lady's plight brought these cockroaches to light. If not, I fear before too > long we'd have been reading about bodies of victims being buried on their > property--assuming that hasn't already happened with some other hapless > woman... > > 6 arrested, charged in woman's weeklong torture > Authorities believe racism played role in ordeal > By Gary Harki > Staff writer > http://sundaygazettemail.com/section/News/2007091022 > Carmen Williams doesn’t understand why her 20-year-old daughter was tortured, > raped and tied up in a shed. > Police tell her that what happened was probably a hate crime, that it > happened because Megan Williams is black. > “Every time they stabbed her, they called her ‘nigger,’” her mother said. > But whatever the reason, Carmen Williams wants people to know what happened > to her daughter. She agreed to talk to a reporter from her daughter’s room at > Charleston Area Medical Center General Hospital. > She said a man and a woman — who Megan Williams thought were her friends — > took her to the house of Frankie Lee Brewster in Pecks Mill, Logan County. > Megan Williams was held in the house for about a week, police said. > According to criminal complaints filed against six people in this case, she > was beaten, stabbed, choked, sexually assaulted and threatened with death. > The details are even more horrible. According to the complaints, she was > forced to eat dog and rat feces and to lick up blood. She was made to lick > parts of Brewster’s body, under the threat of death. Her hair was pulled out. > She was made to drink from the toilet. She was sexually assaulted while hot > water was poured on her body, and while a man held a knife to her. > A woman allegedly cut Megan Williams’ ankle and said, “That’s what we do to > niggers around here.” > Six people had been charged Monday evening, including Brewster, the > 49-year-old woman who owns the home where the alleged assault happened. She > is charged with sexual assault, kidnapping, malicious wounding and giving > false statements to an officer. > Bobby R. Brewster, Frankie Brewster’s 24-year-old son, is charged with > kidnapping, sexual assault, malicious wounding and assault during the > commission of a felony. > Danny J. Combs, 20, is charged with sexual assault and malicious wounding. > George A. Messer, 27, is charged with assault during the commission of a > felony and battery. > Karen Burton, 46, is charged with malicious wounding, battery and assault > during the commission of a felony. Her daughter, Alisha Burton, 23, is > charged with assault during the commission of a felony and battery. > - advertisement - > Each was being held Monday at Southwestern Regional Jail on $100,000 bail. > Carmen Williams said the two people who took her daughter to the Pecks Mill > house did it so she could be tortured. Police are looking for those people, > Logan County Chief Deputy V.K. Dingess said Monday evening. > “Apparently once they got her there they planned to do this,” Dingess said. > Carmen Williams said she has barely left her daughter’s side since police > found her Saturday. > “She wakes up in the middle of the night screaming, ‘Mommy,’” she said. > “What’s really bad is that we don’t know everything they did to her. She is > crying all the time.” > She said her daughter has been a little better since she learned that the > people who hurt her have been arrested. > The FBI has been called in to investigate the incident as a hate crime, > Dingess said. All six of the people charged so far are white. > Megan Williams was found Saturday at Brewster’s house. Police, acting on a > tip, went to the residence to check on a female who was reportedly being held > against her will, according to the criminal complaint filed in Logan County > Magistrate Court. > “Frankie was sitting on her front porch with her door open. We asked Frankie > who else was at the residence and she stated no one else was here, that she > was alone,” according to the complaint. “As she was talking, she got up and > stepped toward her door when a female inside the residence limped toward the > door with her arms out, saying, ‘help me.’ ” > The woman, Megan Williams, had four stab wounds in her left leg. Her eyes are > bruised. > - advertisement - > Brewster told police that she didn’t know how that had happened to Williams. > She told police she had been away with friends, and that Williams came to her > house on Saturday already in that condition. > Megan Williams was taken first to Logan Regional Hospital and then to CAMC > General, where she underwent surgery for her leg wounds, Dingess said. > “We have all been praying and asking the Lord to take us through this,” > Carmen Williams said. “It’s hard to deal with it. We are very angry. ... She > will be scarred for a long time.” > Megan Williams has some “mental issues,” including attention deficit > hyperactivity disorder, her mother said. > “She was always pretty happy,” she said of her daughter. “She wants to be on > her own. She is a good person.” > Carmen Williams said it will take a long time for her daughter to recover. > “People don’t realize that people will call themselves your friends but they > are not really your friends,” said Matthew Williams, the woman’s father. > “People have to be aware that things like that will happen.” > > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] > > > > > Yahoo! Groups Links > > > > > >
