Convicted Woman Says W. Va. Woman was Tortured (Megan Williams case)

[struggle4progress]

Source: Associated Press

Friday, October 23, 2009

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — ...

Frankie Brewster told WCHS-TV in Charleston that multiple crimes were committed against Megan Williams during the attack in West Virginia's rural Logan County, about 50 miles south of Charleston ...

"It did happen," Brewster said during the interview at the Lakin Correctional Center, where she is serving 10 to 25 years. "All of us participated" ...

While Brewster would not detail her own actions, she acknowledged having improper contact with Williams. Brewster pleaded guilty to second-degree sexual assault in the case ...

"I just want the truth out and for people take responsibility for what they did," Brewster said ...

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,569374,00.html

---

Related LBN thread:

Woman in W.Va. torture case now says she lied
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x4113150

[Skip Intro]

1. West Virginia is one of the few states that make mine look almost sane. nt

[sicksicksick_N_tired]

3. Why? WV is as complex as,...any state, especially one with "natural" resources being,...

,...as oppressed as the horn of Africa!

It's citizens are becoming less vulnerable in spite of corporate control.

There is no sanity, in WV, though. It's a tough life,...

[hollowdweller]

15. That's not very nice

I'm from WV and most people are no difft from anywhere else in the areas where there are jobs.

However in the areas where all the coal was there are pockets of people like this because when the mining jobs played out everyone with anything on the ball left and that left the people who survive on disability and other things like that.

I call those areas "survival of the unfittest" areas because the only people who can live there are people who qualify for disability or SSI or who do something illegal.

Sort of a sad legacy of the coal economy but there are ghettos like that in the city too, so it's a bit unfair to rap West By God for it alone.

[bertman]

2. The plot thickens.

[struggle4progress]

4. I suspect this story may be played out

[troubledamerican]

5. Please clarify how. Victim now says she lied, but convicted disagrees.

How is that "played out"? The plot is now twice as complicated.

Unless you mean "played out" in a corrupt sense, as in "America doesn't give a fuck about Abu Ghraib, let's have another Republican presidency".

[struggle4progress]

6. Frankie Brewster, having pleaded guilty, still says she was guilty. Megan Williams,

the special ed victim, still can't keep her story straight. Presumably the physical evidence hasn't changed

My first impression is that it doesn't sound complicated

[troubledamerican]

7. At minimum, the bizarre novelty of victim reversing but criminal not reversing warrants a 2nd look

especially at the circumstances surrounding the victim, whether she is being pressured, or what is prompting her to recant.

The mystery deepens here on a dozen levels.

[struggle4progress]

8. That could be. But the victim could never keep her story straight. And the supposed

recantation comes, not through her mouth, but vaguely and second-hand through the mouth of her lawyer. He may simply be protecting himself against a possible future attack, that might result if he said nothing when her latest change-in-story was known to him. The only immediate obvious issue that I see are the current death threats against the victim; some media coverage suggests these result from the latest publicity:

... Williams was due to recant in person at the press conference but failed to appear, citing death threats ... http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/oct/22/race-sexual-assault-west-virginia

... Potts said Williams has received anonymous death threats over the last several days and encouraged West Virginia authorities to re-evaluate the case ... http://www.10tv.com/live/content/local/stories/2009/10/21/story_meganwilliams.html?sid=102

... Her attorney, Byron Potts, says Williams received death threats after the story broke that she lied about being kidnapped and attacked. Potts says Williams feared for her life and did not want to show her face ... http://www.wsaz.com/home/headlines/65164732.html

[Judi Lynn]

16. Thanks for the info. I wondered if she hadn't been intimdated as soon as I saw the bogus story.

Glad one of the guilty parties had the character to reiterate the truth. Surprising to see she did this, considering the kind of people they'd have to be to do things like this to a human being.

[truthisfreedom]

9. What a clusterfuck.

I'd hate to be involved in that case.

[quakerboy]

10. +1

[struggle4progress]

13. I'm reposting here part of my #134 from the other thread; you can decide what first impression

you get from it; supporting links for the assertion are in that thread

Police were familiar with the Brewster residence. Bobby Brewster had killed his father there when a juvenile and had served juvenile time for it. His mother, several years later, killed her 84 year old mother in law there and served time for it. There was a third murder on their property in 2005 and a nonfatal slashing there earlier in 2007

Responding to tips, police rescued Megan Williams from the Brewster trailer twice within a month in 2007. Both times, a Brewster told police that Megan Williams was not there. Both times, police found her there. The first time, Bobby Brewster was arrested for domestic battery on her person; he was out on bail at the time of the second incident. In the second incident, Megan Williams approached police saying "Help me." Her face was battered, she had several stab wounds, and some of her hair had been pulled out. Frankie Brewster admitted confining the woman against her will and beating her. Megan Williams spent time in the hospital recovering from her injuries

Megan Williams graduated high school but had taken special education classes there. A number of people have described her as a sweet but somewhat slow person who can be manipulated. From the beginning, her descriptions of events changed unreliably with time, and prosecutors regarded her unsuitable as a witness. On the other hand, they found a disposable camera which, when the film was developed, documented some of the abuse. Bobby Brewster apparently gave a complete statement. The various other accused mutually and consistently accused each other. All pleaded guilty in plea bargains. To date, apparently none have claimed they were railroaded

[Better Today]

11. Unrec for foxnews source. They don't post news. We should all wait till we read things at

reputable outlets with no reference to fox. Geez.

[struggle4progress]

12. I posted an AP story that happened to be hosted on a Fox site. But here's the WCHS tv link:

Frankie Brewster
Megan Williams Defendant Says Williams Was Tortured
Reported by: Send eMail Bob Aaron
Videographer: Bob Aaron
Web Producer: Bob Aaron
Also Contributing: Teresa Higginbotham
Reported: Oct. 23, 2009 5:42 PM EDT

Frankie Brewster is doing 10-to-25 years in prison for her guilty plea to sexual assault in the Megan Williams case ... Brewster and the other defendants plead guilty.

On Wednesday, an attorney for Williams held a news conference to say Williams was recanting .. but even Brewster who could benefit from that claim doesn't believe her now. While Brewster says she might take her chances at trial if she had it to do over again, she says that Megan Williams is not telling the truth now -- that the crimes did happen. Brewster says: "It did happen." "All of us participated." "There was a crime committed or a multitude of crimes committed."

... She was cautious about her own part saying: "I don`t want to say no and I don`t want to say yes." But she admitted improper contact with the victim.

Brian Abraham, former Logan County prosecutor says: " These people are entitled to a fair review of their case, but I have no doubt it will remain as it is." Brewster says not all the crime happened at her trailer. She says " I just want the truth out and for people take responsibility for what they did." Bob Aaron, Eyewitness News, Mason County.

WCHS-TV Frankie Brewster

[struggle4progress]

17. Oops. Here's the link for #12:

http://www.wchstv.com/newsroom/eyewitness/091023_115.shtml

[struggle4progress]

18. the same AP story at The Charleston Daily Mail:

Saturday October 24, 2009
Frankie Brewster says W.Va. torture case was real
'It did happen," convicted woman says. 'We all participated.'
by The Associated Press
http://www.dailymail.com/News/200910240289

[bertman]

14. The Brewsters sound like a family from my home town. Simple and callous, uneducated

for the most part, belligerent at the drop of a hat and violent in the extreme when a fight was involved. The family was always involved in something illegal--drug sales, bootleg liquor, theft. They were involved in bar brawls, dance-hall dustups, fistfights, car chases, knife fights, and gunfights.

Not only did they fight anybody they came in contact with, they fought with each other. One of the brothers was shot dead in a confrontation with some other local badasses. At the funeral home during the visitation of the family, the mother, one daughter and two other sons were present. Two of the sons got into a major brawl and one of them was thrown through the window of the funeral home.

I know it's hard for some of us who live sheltered, peaceful lives to believe that these types of families exist, but they do. Sounds like the Brewsters are one of them.

This is one messed up situation. I feel for the victim. Having to live in that town must be hell.