Mrs.PatsFanInVa

Megan Williams, Woman in Torture Case, Says She Lied

What a quandary for someone!!!

Here's the gist of the story - back in 2007 a 20 year old woman in W. Va. accused 6 people of holding her captive, chaining her, beating her, raping her and vaious other atrocities. The woman was "slow" according to her mother but she was bruised and beaten and she was acquainted with the family, having previously dated one of the men accused. She had been found in a shed located on the accused's property based upon a tip given to the sherrif's office.

The 6 people were tried and found guilty based upon evidence presented and the fact that they had all confessed to the various crimes of which they were accused. The victim did not testify at the trial.

Here's where the quandary - now the girl has come forward and said that she fabricated the entire story.

Remember, the girl was never put on the stand, she never testified. The 6 were convincted upon physical evidence and each of them had confessed.

How strange and how sad?

Harry Boy

No Comment.

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Harry Boy (Genius)

In The Absence Of Law And Order Society Will Surely Destroy Itself

DarrylS

At first glance it speaks to the quality of representation in this case, not sure how they could have gotten all these convictions without her testimony... of course the regular knee jerk folks came forward and donated money to her cause.. it is a f..ing mess.

OTOH she seems pretty naive, and perhaps her recantation has to do with her limits, rather than the actual events of that period of time.. she is a woman with the mental abilities of a 10-12 year old. She is also reportedly receiving death threats in this case... so it is quite a conundrum.

The reports indicate that the conviction was based on the evidence, not her testimony... sounds like a bunch of assclowns from east bumf..ck W. Va. each told on the other.

The prosecutor does not believe it, but what prosecutor would.. after he hit 100% on the convictions in this case...

Interesting comments..

News Of Megan Williams Recant Getting Mixed Reviews - State Journal - STATEJOURNAL.com

Quote:

The prosecutor in the case Brian Abraham has moved on to private practice, but he stands behind the case of each defendant saying the evidence speaks for itself. At the time they were apprehended each gave detailed statements admitting their involvement in the case. We found physical evidence and forensic evidence that was consistent with and corroborate what they were telling us and what she said initially," says Abraham. Plus, Abraham says each defendant was telling on the other, and they did not need Williams' testimony at trial. So now the question on many minds, why is Megan Williams taking back what she said happened to her? [/QUOTE[/

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"Being the best doesn't mean you always win. It just means you win more than anyone else".. tweet from Kurt Warner to Tom Brady.

Mrs.PatsFanInVa

Thanks for that second link, Darryl. I hadn't seen anything other than the AOL article and I'm always a bit suspicious of AOL stories to begin with.

I think the girl is scared - and I know that she's emotionally fragile and seems to have little understanding of the world around her.

I'm more sad for her than I am for those accused. If it's true that they were falsely accused then I'll be sorry for them, too, but right now it just appears to me that this girl is never going to be "ok" and that something's happened in her life recently which has either frightened her or caused her to seek recognition.

I find it hard to believe that a West Virginia court would have found the 6 (men and women) guilty if there was even the slightest bit of evidence to the contrary. I fidn it even harder to believe that all 6 people would have confessed to something they hadn't done. Maybe one or two might have been coerced into it - but all six??? I sort of remember that this was not the first time for many of them that they'd been inside a courtroom, either. I believe they all (or at least many of them) had previous records. I could be wrong - I'll try to look it up somewhere.

Regardless, it's going to be a mess for a whole bunch of people for awhile - and the haters and fearmongers will crawl out of the woodwork.

maverick4

There was evidence and the people themselves even admitted to crime.

That she lied about certain things... did she make the whole thing up? Not likely.

Mrs.PatsFanInVa

I don't think she did, either.

I did look up some previous history on 2 of the accused - the man she dated and his mother, who were the owners of the trailer where she was found.

The son had just gotten out of jail for beating her (Megan) up the day before Megan disappeared and the family history is thus:

The Brewster family and their trailer has a history of violent crime, the police said.

Mr. Brewster killed his stepfather there when he was 12, the authorities said, and served time at a juvenile correction facility.

In July 1994, Mrs. Brewster shot and killed an 84-year-old woman she was looking after, also in the trailer, according to court records.

Mrs. Brewster, who was charged with first-degree murder, pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter and served six years at a state correctional facility. She was paroled in 2000.

In 2005, two men got into a fight outside the trailer, the police said, ending with a fatal stabbing.

In January, the police were again called to the trailer, where they found a man who had been slashed across his abdomen; the man survived, according to court documents, and Mr. Brewster was a witness in that case.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/12/us/12captive.html

My biggest question is, as always, what does someone have to DO to actually spend a good long time locked safely away?

DarrylS

If you are referring to the folks on this board who revel in racism, they will be up soon..

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"Being the best doesn't mean you always win. It just means you win more than anyone else".. tweet from Kurt Warner to Tom Brady.

Mrs.PatsFanInVa

Nah, I wasn't referring to anyone in specific.

I hesitate to even bring the whole thing up because of the racial under/over tones - I'd like for it to remain a conversation, not about race or sexism, but about court systems and judicial processes.

It seems as though the system in W. Va. did a really good job in keeping race out of it - the trial seemed fair and based on technology and confessions and evidence rather than on emotion. It's not an area known for doing so and I remember at the time being proud of the way the whole thing was handled both in the courts and in the news media.

Maybe it wasn't, I don't know. I'm a sucker for believing that the system works more often than it doesn't and that, in the end, things are fair.

Plus, human nature fascinates me. I am so curious as to why the girl recanted - I can only speculate and speculations are always based upon emotion - and that's the scary part, isn't it?

DarrylS

I believe she is getting death threats, that might have a bearing on the thought processes of a women with the mental age of 10-12...

__________________
"Being the best doesn't mean you always win. It just means you win more than anyone else".. tweet from Kurt Warner to Tom Brady.

Wolfpack

Based only on what you said here, I would have to know exactly what is meant by "slow". Is she like "Forrest Gump" slow or "I Am Sam" slow? She may not be competent enough to testify in her own assault and the physical evidence may be all we have to go with.