Megan Williams tortured by 6 people for at least a week

CHARLESTON, W.Va. - Authorities said Tuesday they are considering hate crime charges in the case of a woman who was tortured while being held captive for at least a week, and they are investigating the possibility that she was lured by a man she met on the Internet.

The victim was repeatedly called a racial slur while her captors sexually abused, beat and stabbed her, her mother said.

Six people, all white, including a mother and son and a mother and daughter, were arrested in connection with the alleged abduction of the 20-year-old black woman.

“I don’t understand a human being doing another human being the way they did my daughter,” Carmen Williams said Tuesday from her daughter’s room at Charleston Area Medical Center General Hospital. “I didn’t know there were people like that out here.”

Megan Williams, with a cast on her arm, spoke barely above a whisper.

“I’m better,” she said.

The Associated Press generally does not identify suspected victims of sexual assault, but Williams and her mother agreed to release her name.

'Out of a horror movie'

A prosecutor said police are investigating the possibility that the victim was lured to the house where she was attacked by a man she met on the internet, but Carmen Williams insisted that wasn’t the case. “This wasn’t from the Internet,” she said.

Deputies also interviewed the victim Tuesday morning. State, local and federal officials planned to meet later in the day to decide whether to file hate crime charges, Logan County sheriff’s Sgt. Sonya Porter said. An FBI spokesman in Pittsburgh, Bill Crowley, confirmed that the agency is looking into possible civil rights violations.

The woman’s abductors called her the N-word “every time they stabbed her,” Carmen Williams told The Charleston Gazette earlier.

Authorities were still looking for two people they believe drove the woman to the house where she was abused, said Logan County Chief Deputy V.K. Dingess.

The case is “something that would have come out of a horror movie,” Logan County Sheriff W.E. Hunter said.

Deputies found Williams on Saturday when they went to the house in Big Creek, about 35 miles southwest of Charleston, to investigate an anonymous tip from someone who had witnessed the abuse, Porter said Tuesday.

One of the suspects, Frankie Brewster, was sitting on the front porch and told deputies she was alone, but moments later the woman limped toward the door, her arms outstretched, saying “Help me,” the sheriff’s department said in a news release.

Alleged victim may leave hospital soon

Carmen Williams said doctors told her daughter she may be well enough to leave the hospital within a few days, although a nurse said the young woman’s condition was listed as “under evaluation.”

“I just want my daughter to be well and recover,” Carmen Williams said. “I know the Lord can do anything.”

Besides being sexually assaulted, the woman was stabbed four times in the left leg and beaten, Porter said. Her eyes were black and blue. The wounds were inflicted at least a week ago, deputies said.

The woman was forced to eat rat and dog feces and drink from a toilet, according to the criminal complaint filed in magistrate court. She also had been choked with a cord, it alleges.

One of those arrested, Karen Burton, is accused of cutting the woman’s ankle with a knife. She used the N-word in telling the woman she was victimized because she is black, according to the criminal complaint.

Six suspects charged

The six suspects were arrested Saturday and Sunday. Deputies were still trying to determine whether the woman knew her assailants, Porter said.

Brewster, the 49-year-old who owns the home where the alleged attacks occurred, is charged with kidnapping, sexual assault, malicious wounding and giving false information during a felony investigation.

Her son, Bobby R. Brewster, 24, also of Big Creek, is charged with kidnapping, sexual assault, malicious wounding and assault during the commission of a felony.

Burton, 46, of Chapmanville, is charged with malicious wounding, battery and assault during the commission of a felony.

Her daughter Alisha Burton, 23, of Chapmanville, and George A. Messer, 27, of Chapmanville, are charged with assault during the commission of a felony and battery.

Danny J. Combs, 20, of Harts, is charged with sexual assault and malicious wounding.

All six remained in custody Tuesday in lieu of $100,000 bail each, and all have asked for court-appointed attorneys.

[Source]








Other articles/updates

Woman tortured for at least a week, officials say

Alleged torture suspects may face hate crime charges

6 arrested, charged in woman's weeklong torture

Deputies: Woman Was Tortured, 6 Charged

Torture victim may have visited before

Across Big Creek Road from the Brewster residence, 17-year-old Krysti Sumpter and her mother live in a mobile home decorated in fall colors, with leaves and scarecrows in the yard.

Krysti Sumpter said that Williams has been to the Brewster residence before. She said Tuesday that about a month ago, Williams ran down the hill from the mobile home about 10 p.m. Williams said she had been threatened with a gun, and asked Sumpter for help.

“She said she needed to go to Kentucky. I said I couldn’t drive her that far but I offered to take her to the police. She said she needed to get her stuff,” Sumpter said.

Williams went back to the house and gathered her things, Sumpter said, and she took her to the Logan detachment of the State Police.

Sumpter said she told police about the incident when they found Williams on Saturday. Logan County sheriff’s deputies could not be reached late Tuesday to confirm that.

Sumpter said she is sure it was Williams whom she helped out that night. There aren’t a lot of black people in the area, she said.

Neighbors say Logan abuse victim was 'very trusting'

Torture Case Could Be Hate Crime, Police Say

Report: Torture suspects familiar to prosecutors

Tortured Woman Had Told of Abuse by One Suspect

A 20-year-old woman who the authorities say was tortured and sexually assaulted for more than a week at a ramshackle mobile home in Logan County, W.Va., knew at least one of her assailants and had accused him of abuse before, the police said yesterday.

That suspect, Bobby R. Brewster, one of six arrested in the torture case, had a previous relationship with the victim and was charged in July with domestic battery and assault after a dispute between them, Sheriff Eddie Hunter said.

Court documents show that on July 18, officers responded to a 911 call concerning a domestic disturbance at the mobile home, where Mr. Brewster, 24, lives with his mother in far southwestern West Virginia. The documents do not make clear who called the police, but when they arrived, the papers say, they asked Mr. Brewster about the young woman, and he said he had not seen her in several days.

Upon searching the premises, though, the officers found her behind the trailer, and she told them she was hiding from Mr. Brewster and his mother. The complaint says the police determined that he had “verbally threatened and physically hit” her.

On Saturday the police were called to the home again, after an anonymous tip that a woman was being held there against her will. Officers arrived to find the victim with signs of having been sexually assaulted, stabbed, beaten and burned.

Mother's interview

The mother of a Charleston woman who was held captive, beaten and sexually assaulted says her daughter will be scarred for a long time.

Carmen Williams says that family members are angry. She says they've been praying and asking God to help them through the ordeal. Carmen says it's important to tell her daughter's story to make sure this never happens again.

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The Brewster Family History

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.

[Source]

The shed and house Megan was kept inside of:





BREAKING NEWS: Six Logan residents won't face federal hate crime charges

U.S. Attorney Charles Miller today said his office will not bring federal hate crime charges against the six suspects involved in the Logan County torture of a 20-year-old Charleston woman.
Logan authorities have said Megan Williams, who is black, was kidnapped, sexually assaulted and forced to eat rat and dog feces by at least six persons, all white. Criminal complaints state that her captors told her she was being tormented for being black and called her "nigger" while assaulting her.

Miller, attorney for the southern district of West Virginia, said his office would defer to the Logan County prosecutor, who is pursuing state charges against the six. Logan officials have not determined whether they will charge the six under the state hate crime law.

"We've concluded it's probably best to let the state prosecutor go forward with the charges," he said.

Frankie Brewster and her son Bobby Brewster, both of Big Creek, are each charged with kidnapping, sexual assault and malicious wounding. The mother is also charged with giving false information during a felony investigation while her son is also charged with assault during the commission of a felony.

Conviction of those charges could be enough to put the suspects away for life, Miller said.

Federal charges tend to carry a more severe penalty, he said. But hate crimes charges are usually filed against those who intend to prevent their victim from exercising a federally protected right, such as voting, gaining employment or housing, according to a federal hate crimes law passed in 1968.

"The fact that a crime is motivated by racial animosity doesn't always make it a federal crime," Miller said. "Because of the seriousness of this case and the state statutes, the penalties are still severe."

In his 24 years with the U.S. attorney's office, Miller said, he has prosecuted several civil rights violations including cross burnings and police brutality.

Miller said his office would still make itself available to officials investigating the case.

The others charged in the Williams case are:

Danny Combs, 20, of Harts, is charged with sexual assault and malicious wounding.

Karen Burton, 46, of Chapmanville, is charged with malicious wounding, battery and assault during the commission of a felony.

Burton's daughter, Alisha Burton, 23, and George Messer, 27, both of Chapmanville, are charged with assault during the commission of a felony and battery.

All six remained in custody Wednesday with bond set at $100,000 bail each.

[Source]


UPDATE: Fund for Megan Williams:

I set up a fund in Megan's name to help her and her family pay for hospital and court costs as well as the costs of counseling. To donate, click the donate button on the left side of the blog under "Megan Williams Fund".


UPDATE: Hate crimes prove tricky to prosecute

Although it's uncertain whether Logan County officials will pursue state hate crime charges against the six white suspects arrested for the weeklong rape and torture of a black woman, the charges they already face carry stiffer penalties.
The state's hate crime statute carries a penalty of 10 years in prison and a $5,000 fine.

In the Logan County case, Frankie Brewster and her son Bobby Brewster, both of Big Creek, are each charged with kidnapping, sexual assault and malicious wounding. The mother is also charged with giving false information during a felony investigation while her son is also charged with assault during the commission of a felony.

Conviction on those charges would be enough to put the suspects away for life, said U.S. Attorney Charles Miller, who has decided not to pursue hate crime charges on the federal level.

"If you go to jail for life, that's as much as they can do to you," Miller said.

According to West Virginia Code, several elements must be proven to successfully prosecute someone accused of a hate crime.

The victim must have suffered from violence or intimidation because of their race, color, religion, ancestry, national origin, political affiliation or gender.

Investigators have said Megan Williams, who is black, was kidnapped, sexually assaulted and forced to eat rat and dog feces by at least six persons, who are white. Criminal complaints state that her captors told her she was being tormented for being black and called her "nigger" while assaulting her.

On Wednesday the Logan County prosecutor said it now has come to light that Williams was acquainted with one of the suspects, Bobby Brewster, before last week. State Police charged Brewster in July with domestic battery and assault after a domestic dispute involving Williams.

"She obviously had some sort of social relationship," Logan County Prosecutor Brian Abraham told The Associated Press. "That is based on the fact that she was present at his residence on a prior date."

Abraham told the AP that his office is still considering the possibility of pursuing state hate crime charges but wants to concentrate first on the other charges.

West Virginia Deputy Attorney General Paul Sheridan, who heads the civil rights division, said it's sometimes complicated to prosecute a hate crime, or a bias crime. The West Virginia statute dealing with these topics does not contain the words "hate crime." Instead it is titled, "Prohibiting violations of an individual's civil rights."

Sheridan's office is not directly involved with the ongoing investigation nor does it have any criminal jurisdiction. But Sheridan is considered a hate crimes expert and helped create his division's Hate Crimes Task Force in 1992.

"The federal government has limited jurisdiction, while state law jurisdiction is much broader," Sheridan said, discussing the U.S. Attorney's decision not to pursue federal charges. "In order for him to go after a crime, he has to fit it into more criteria than a prosecutor in the state. That can be a tricky thing."

But it could be just as tough prosecuting a person under the state law, Sheridan said.

These are other elements that must be proven in a state hate crimes case: A person must conspire with another person to willfully injure, oppress, threaten, intimidate or interfere with the victim and his or her free rights, such as voting, gaining employment or housing. Such actions can include property damage or bodily harm.

Prosecutors also must show that a suspect acted willingly and not in self-defense.

"You still have to ask the question, ‘Will 10 years (in prison) help bring a person to justice?' " Sheridan said. "It may be more complicated than a kidnapping charge."

Sheridan, however, believes the Logan case could be generally classified as a bias crime.

"What's been reported suggests that race is a factor," he said. "To an extent, that's an accurate picture. It sounds like a bias crime."

Sheridan believes calling a bias crime a "hate crime"' muddies the point.

A racially motivated incident, such as scratching a swastika onto the side of a car, may be considered a bias crime but it can't be prosecuted under the state hate crimes statute, Sheridan said.

Also, "it doesn't have to do with how much hate is there; it's about whether the crime was motivated by race."

West Virginia law enforcement agencies are required to report bias crimes quarterly for the FBI's Uniform Crime Report.

Police in West Virginia reported 47 hate crime incidents in 2005, the latest data available. Thirty-four of those incidents were motivated by race, seven by religion, five by sexual orientation and one by ethnicity.

Charleston and Huntington each reported seven bias crimes while Raleigh County officials reported nine, the most of any other area of West Virginia. However, that doesn't mean that bias-motivated crimes only occur in those areas. It indicates that those places are more serious about reporting those types of crimes, Sheridan said.

Several agencies do not know how to define a hate crime and turn in their reports with all zeros, he said.

Police in Milton recently said an incident "was not a bias crime because the victims and the perpetrators knew each other."

"That's not the right analysis," Sheridan says. "That's not the point at all."

West Virginia's population is 95 percent white and just 3 percent black, and the state records fewer bias crimes than comparable states. Arkansas, which has 1.7 million residents and is 81 percent white, reported 134 hate crimes in the same period. Nebraska, where 92 percent of the 1.4 million residents are white, reported 71 hate crimes.

Federal charges tend to carry a more severe penalty, Miller said. But hate crimes charges are usually filed against those who intend to prevent their victim from exercising a federally protected right, such as voting, gaining employment or housing, according to a federal hate crimes law passed in 1968.

"The fact that a crime is motivated by racial animosity doesn't always make it a federal crime," Miller said. "Because of the seriousness of this case and the state statutes, the penalties are still severe."

In his 24 years with the U.S. attorney's office, Miller said he has prosecuted several civil rights violations including cross burnings and police brutality.

Miller said his office would still make itself available to officials investigating the case.

[Source]


Update: Decision in Torture Case Upsets Churches

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — Representatives of several black churches appealed to prosecutors Thursday to pursue hate-crime or civil-rights charges against six white people accused of torturing a black woman over several days.

Logan County prosecutors say they have not ruled out hate-crimes charges but are focusing on the counts already filed, including some such as kidnapping and sexual assault that have tougher maximum sentences. Federal prosecutors, meanwhile, have not sought civil-rights charges.

"The family is aghast and totally devastated by the findings of the Logan prosecutor that this barbaric, heinous, despicable (crime) is not one of racial hatred," said the Rev. Emanuel Heyliger of the Ferguson Memorial Baptist Church in Dunbar.

Logan County Prosecutor Brian Abraham urged patience.

"We're still working the case even today," he said. "I'll make that determination when the investigation is concluded, but I want to focus on the most serious crimes that carry the stiffest penalties."

Authorities also said the fact that Megan Williams knew one of her alleged attackers played a role in their decision not to pursue hate-crime or civil-rights charges at this time. Heyliger, speaking at a news conference outside the Charleston hospital where Williams is being treated, rejected that explanation Thursday.

"Whether she was known by or known to any one of these perpetrators, that is no reason why this case should not be treated as it should, and that is as a hate crime," said Heyliger, who was joined by representatives of another Dunbar church and an association of black churches in Charleston.

Williams, 20, of Charleston, was held captive for more than a week at a ramshackle trailer in Logan County, where she was tortured, sexually assaulted and forced to eat animal droppings, according to criminal complaints.

Her captors choked her with a cable cord, stabbed her in the leg while calling her a racial epithet, poured hot water over her, made her drink from a toilet and beat her, according to the complaints.

West Virginia's hate-crime statute carries a penalty of up to 10 years prison.

Three of the six suspects have been charged with kidnapping, which carries a maximum life sentence, sexual assault, with a 35-year maximum, or both. The most serious crime the other three suspects are charged with, assault during the commission of a felony, carries the same 10-year maximum as a hate crime, but prosecutors say the charges will probably change.

"How can you not charge them with a hate crime and pursue it when it appears to be racially motivated?" asked Bishop Richard Cox, a member of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.

"Every black preacher in that city and every concerned, fair-minded white person in that city ought to get together," Cox said in telephone interview from Ohio, where he is based. "We need to march and protest."

U.S. Attorney Charles T. Miller said in a telephone interview he was not surprised by the criticism.

"Most people, when they see the allegations in this particular case, think, 'Well that's obviously a hate crime. Where are the feds?'" Miller said. "It's very difficult to explain to the general public the nuances of statutes like the civil rights statutes."

The federal code commonly used in hate crimes prosecutions prohibits the use of force or the threat of force in abridging the civil rights of an individual. Those specified rights include voting, enrollment in school, travel between states and the use of establishments serving the public like restaurants.

"There is no federal statute that makes it a crime to hate someone," Miller said. "Nor is there a federal statute that criminalizes conduct that doesn't relate to one of those federally protected activities."

Miller said state charges carry the stiffest penalties possible — life in prison — and state court provides the "best chance of successful prosecution."

Bobby Brewster, 24, and his mother, Frankie Brewster, 49, are charged with kidnapping, and they and Danny J. Combs, 20, are charged with sexual assault, among other counts.

Also charged in the case are Karen Burton, 46, of Chapmanville, her daughter Alisha Burton, 23, and George A. Messer, 27.

All six remained in custody Thursday in lieu of $100,000 bail each. Their defense attorneys either declined to comment or could not be reached on Thursday.

Williams did not attend Thursday's news conference. Her parents did, but they declined to comment on the investigation.

Megan Williams is expected to remain in the hospital for a few more days. Her mother said her daughter has not talked about her ordeal in detail yet.

"Mentally, she still wakes up at night crying and making sure I'm near her," Carmen Williams said. "She still hollers, 'Ma, what they did to me was bad.' So the only thing I can do, me and her dad, is just be there for her, to comfort her. We can do nothing more."

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

[Source]

UPDATE: WV Lawmakers React to Torture Case

On Wednesday, United States Senator Jay Rockfeller's officed issued the following statement in the torture of Megan Williams in a home in Logan County for the past week.

"I was angry to hear about the unspeakable violence and hatred that occurred in Logan County. My heart and prayers go out to Ms. Williams and her entire family. No one should ever have to endure what she was put through, and I know that all West Virginians share in my sense of outrage and sadness.


"Those who did these things deserve to be punished. We must send a message to the world that these types of heinous crimes have no place in our society. In West Virginia, we will join together as a community to help begin the healing process and to take action so this can never happen again."

--Jay Rockefeller

Then, late Thursday, Senator Rockefeller issued a new and updated statement to reporters.

“As additional details emerge about this horrific case, I am even angrier and more disgusted that this terrible crime could happen to anyone in our state. It hurts me to my soul that a young West Virginian has suffered this appalling and awful sequence of events.

“Even as our thoughts and prayers go first to the victim, I know the West Virginia way is to reach out in our communities and protect each other, and this will help to heal the wounds left by this vicious attack.”

--Jay Rockefeller

Thursday, United States Senator Robert Byrd issued his own statement.

“Make no mistake about it. What happened in Logan County to Megan Williams is a despicable outrage. There is simply no place in our society for this kind of inhuman violence and hatred against any man, woman, or child. Those responsible for causing such terrible pain and suffering, both physical and emotional, should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law and be severely punished. No human being should ever be treated with such cruelty and disrespect. My heartfelt thoughts and prayers go out to Megan Williams.”

--Robert Byrd

[Source]



UPDATE: Previous charges dismissed: Parents of torture victim say she filed bogus charges against them in 2004

Megan Williams, the torture and rape victim taken from a Logan County home last weekend, filed domestic battery charges against her parents in 2004 — charges that her father said Thursday were made up.

But both her father and the Logan County prosecutor said there is no question that the charges against six people who allegedly abused her earlier this month are accurate.

“The proof is in the print,” said Matthew Williams, Megan Williams’ father, referring to published photographs of his daughter’s injuries. “Look at her and see. There is a difference between night and day.”

Still, he said there have been other instances where Megan Williams, now 20, made up things because she didn’t get her way.

The complaints by Megan Williams against her parents were dismissed.

The complaint against Matthew Williams states that on May 27, 2004 he hit his adopted daughter in the head with a CD case, causing her to go to Thomas Memorial Hospital to get stitches to close the wound.

On the same day, a separate complaint was made against Carmen Williams alleging that she hit Megan Williams on the nose with her fist.

Matthew Williams’ complaint was dismissed in April 2005 and Carmen Williams’ complaint was dismissed in October 2006.

“The police looked into it and the whole nine yards,” Matthew Williams said. “Nothing happened at all.”

B.W. Jones, a Charleston Police Department detective who filed the complaints, said he could not comment because Megan Williams was a juvenile when the charges were filed.

Matthew Williams said there had been other instances where Megan Williams and her sister had not gotten their way and made things up.

“They tried to pin some stuff on us. They fabricated a lot of stuff on us. There wasn’t anything in there because it was all lies,” Matthew Williams said.

“Some kids don’t get their way and you get these things,” he said.

Read rest of article here

My first thought? "What was the reason for her father telling the police about this again?"

More Articles

Two mothers refused to hide kids' torture

It took a lot of courage for Carmen Williams to reveal the identity of her 20-year-old daughter.
Williams is the mother of Megan Williams, the black West Virginia woman who was tortured, stabbed, sexually assaulted and treated like an animal by six white offenders during a weeklong captivity.

You never get used to the lurid details of a man's inhumanity.

Just as it was hard to bear the horrible things that were done to Channon Christian and Christopher Newsom, the white Knoxville, Tenn., couple brutally killed in January, I'm sickened by the cruelty Megan Williams suffered.

I'm also struck by the similarity between how Carmen Williams chose to handle her daughter's ordeal at the hands of whites and how Mamie Till-Mobley handled the brutal murder of her son, Emmett Till, in 1955.

Although the news media usually doesn't identify rape victims, Williams told an Associated Press reporter "she wanted people to know what her daughter endured."

It's the same reason Till-Mobley gave when she allowed the beaten, disfigured body of her son to be viewed in an open casket. Till had been killed in Mississippi, and his body brought back to Chicago for the funeral.

Her decision not to hide the horrible way her son died was a pivotal moment in the civil rights movement because it drew city folk into the civil rights battle. Until then, the burden of the battle -- the lynchings and killings -- was being carried by their country cousins.

Smoking Gun: Copies of 6 criminal complaints from torture case

Despite state's whiteness, torture case not typical

Federal statistics show the rural state -- 95 percent white, 3 percent black -- records fewer bias crimes than comparable states. And from one region to another, residents say that where racism lurks, it is restrained, not raging.

"I work with black churches and black people. We just love one another,'' says Johnny Meade, a white pastor in the Big Creek community where six white men and women have been charged in the case.

"This goes beyond prejudice,'' says the Rev. Audie Murphy Sr., president of the Logan County branch of the NAACP. "It's actually evil in its heightened form.

"I feel it's not a direct indication of the community in its entirety,'' he says, "because there are great people here, such as the one who notified the authorities that the girl was being held captive.''

Only 3 percent of West Virginia's 1.8 million residents are black, compared with 12.8 percent nationally.

Hate crime statistics in the FBI's Uniform Crime Report show West Virginia law enforcement agencies reported 47 incidents in 2005. Arkansas, which has 1.7 million residents and is 81 percent white, reported 134 hate crimes in the same period. Nebraska, where 92 percent of the 1.4 million residents are white, reported 71 hate crimes.

But Deputy Attorney General Paul Sheridan says numbers may not tell the whole story because "we still see a very large number of zeros coming back, even from places where we know something has occurred.''

Communities like Huntington are either more serious about reporting bias crimes or are using different procedures to identify them, Sheridan says. Conversely, police in Milton recently said an incident "was not a bias crime because the victims and the perpetrators knew each other.''

"That's not the right analysis,'' Sheridan says. "That's not the point at all.''

West Virginia, which split from Confederate sister Virginia during the Civil War, has some strong but little-known roots in the nation's civil rights history.

In 1859, abolitionist John Brown led 21 men on a failed raid of an arsenal at Harpers Ferry, planning to arm slaves with seized weapons.

The Niagara Movement, founded in Canada, had a landmark 1906 meeting in West Virginia, where W.E.B. DuBois and about 45 black leaders discussed how to secure civil rights. DuBois later described it as "one of the greatest meetings that American Negroes ever held.''

UPDATE: Family Calls For Hate Crime Charges in Rape and Torture Case

During a press conference Thursday at Charleston Area Medical Center's General Hospital, the family of 20-year-old Megan Williams asked the Logan County Prosecuting Attorney to pursue hate crimes charges.

According to court records, Williams was stabbed, sexually assaulted, beaten and choked. Police said one of the suspects cut her and said “that’s what we do to niggers around here.”

"If it looks like a duck, quacks like a duck, acts like a duck and walks like a duck, it has to be a duck," said Rev. Emanuel Heyliger, who represented the family during the press conference. He said if Logan County officials don't file hate crimes charges, federal government officials should intervene.

[Source]


MORE UPDATES HERE