Wonder where Al, Jesse et al are now....... (interview, legal, attorney)
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COLUMBUS, Ohio – An attorney for a black woman who claimed torture by a white group in West Virginia says his client fabricated the story to get back at a boyfriend who had beaten her up.
Megan Williams' attorney, Byron Potts, said at a news conference Wednesday that Williams came forward because she no longer wants to live a lie. Potts encouraged West Virginia authorities to re-evaluate the case.
Williams told authorities in 2007 that she had been beaten, raped, forced to eat animal feces and taunted with racial slurs for days. She now lives in Columbus.
Seven white men and women were convicted in the case, and most are serving long prison terms.
Prosecutors in West Virginia have dismissed Williams' new claim, and lawyers for the defendants aren't discussing their plans.
Woman in W.Va. torture case now says she lied - Yahoo! News (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091021/ap_on_re_us/us_woman_tortured - broken link)
You know Sharpie and JJ stepping forward and decrying incidents like these would give them some credibilty, but it's too bad for them that their racist brains aren't wired to think that way.
Good article, thanks. This woman should go to jail for fraud and obstruction of justice. The seven people that were unjustly convicted should get reparations from the state of West Virginia (assuming it's not bankrupt like every other mismanaged state government in our warped contemporary nation).
Williams, 22, who now lives with a caregiver in Columbus, was in the office with Potts but she did not appear before reporters. Potts said she has received several anonymous phone calls from people threatening her life.
"She is recanting the entire incident. She says it did not happen, and she's scared," Potts said
Quote:
Brian Abraham, the former Logan County prosecutor who pursued the cases, said authorities realized early in the investigation that they could not rely on statements from Williams, who tended to embellish and exaggerate details. Instead, he said, the seven defendants were convicted on their own statements and physical evidence.
"If she's going to say that she made it all up, that's absurd," Abraham said. "This looks like another attempt to generate more publicity."
Potts said he did not know why the defendants have pleaded guilty to something they did not do.
He said Williams is aware that she could face legal consequences for fabricating the story and that he wants to have her psychologically evaluated. He said Williams told him certain people were controlling her and influencing her during the case. He did not elaborate.
In a January interview with The Call & Post, a black newspaper in Cleveland, Williams acknowledged she had been mistreated but said her mother made her embellish the story for exposure and financial gain. Williams told the newspaper that she was afraid of her mother, who knew some of the defendants.
Quote:
People who have supported Williams were guarded Wednesday.
"We did have some concerns about what was being done at the time and how it was carried out by Megan and the family, because of her mental condition," said the Rev. Audie Murphy, president of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People in Logan and Boone counties in West Virginia.
"We feel the legal system will handle it accordingly," Murphy said. "We didn't rush to judgment then, and we're not rushing to judgment now."
Quote:
Sharpton has sent a letter to Logan County prosecutor John Bennett asking him to look into the new claims.
"If Ms. Williams has, in fact, fabricated her story, then I urge your office to vindicate any wrongfully convicted individuals," Sharpton wrote.
no excuses....if she was mentally impaired in any capacity then her attorney's should have done a better job. She clearly stated that she wanted to pay her boyfriend back and then admitted she couldn't live a lie any longer.
What\'s this got to do with Al and Jesse? This is about a mentally ill girl and a jacked up justice system. Folks are fixated with Al and Jesse. They\'re two people with little to no support.
no excuses....if she was mentally impaired in any capacity then her attorney's should have done a better job. She clearly stated that she wanted to pay her boyfriend back and then admitted she couldn't live a lie any longer.
the seven defendants were convicted on their own statements and physical evidence.
What\'s this got to do with Al and Jesse? This is about a mentally ill girl and a jacked up justice system. Folks are fixated with Al and Jesse. They\'re two people with little to no support.
they should step up and speak out against this. Someone has lied and hurt others and they were vocal about supporting her. That is what they have to do with it.
the seven defendants were convicted on their own statements and physical evidence.
This girl admitted that she lied. There is much more to this story than has been told. It will good to hear from the prosecutor and what kind of lies and underhandedness he drummed up to pull this off. That is exactly what happened.
they should step up and speak out against this. Someone has lied and hurt others and they were vocal about supporting her. That is what they have to do with it.
Sharpton has sent a letter to Logan County prosecutor John Bennett asking him to look into the new claims.
"If Ms. Williams has, in fact, fabricated her story, then I urge your office to vindicate any wrongfully convicted individuals," Sharpton wrote.
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