Friday, September 14, 2007

Hate crime in West Virginia

From Jennifer Dorr
CNN
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(CNN) -- Six West Virginians charged with kidnapping, torturing and sexually assaulting a woman for at least a week may also face hate crime charges, Logan County Sheriff's officials said Tuesday.

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Danny Combs and Alisha Burton were charged in the West Virginia case.

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The victim, 20-year-old Megan Williams, is black; those charged are white.

CNN does not normally identify the victim in sexual assault cases, but in this case, Williams' family said they want the public to know what happened.

The suspects include a mother and son, a mother and daughter, and two men.

According to criminal complaints filed in the county, Williams was sexually assaulted, stabbed in the left leg, choked and beaten.

The victim said one of the suspects cut her ankle with a knife while saying, "That's what we do to [racial slur] around here," police records show.

She also allegedly was forced to eat rat and dog feces, lick up blood and drink from the toilet. The criminal complaints say the suspects threatened to kill the victim if she left the house where she was being held.

Logan County Prosecutor Brian Abraham said he planned to meet with local police, FBI and a federal attorney at 4 p.m. ET to determine whether hate crime charges should be filed.

The six are charged with kidnapping, sexual assault, malicious wounding and battery. Kidnapping is punishable by up to life in prison. The penalty for first-degree sexual assault is 15 to 35 years.

Abraham said the charges could be modified as the investigation continues.

Williams was discovered Saturday after sheriff's deputies received an anonymous tip that a woman was being held against her will at a home in Big Creek, West Virginia.

As the deputies spoke with a woman on the front porch, "a female inside the residence limped toward the door with her arms held out, saying 'Help me,' " according to a news release from the Sheriff's Department.

The woman had stab wounds on her left leg and bruises around her eyes, the statement said. Her wounds were determined to be about a week old.

"Deputies found her with two black eyes, part of her hair had been pulled out, she had lacerations on her neck and she had been physically, mentally and sexually abused," said Sheriff W.E. Hunter.

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In custody are Frankie Brewster, 49; her son Bobby, 24, both of Pecks Mill, West Virginia; Danny J. Combs, 20, of Harts, West Virginia; and George A. Messer, 27, Karen Burton, 46, and her daughter, Alisha Burton, 23, all of Chapmanville, West Virginia.

"They all have previous records and have been arrested numerous times," Hunter said. "They are familiar to law enforcement." E-mail to a friend E-mail to a friend

CNN's La Neice Collins and Joann Rizzo contributed to this report.

Wednesday, September 12, 2007

John Brown's Legacy

I was surprised by the video we watched on Monday afternoon. I had never been taught, or exposed to the portrayal that the film conveyed about John Brown. Maybe because I am a native Kansan, and he is regarded as a hero I was ignorant to his relative insignificance among society as a whole before his death. Only after he self-martyred himself did his ideas become romanticized, and consequently became relative in public discourse. In addition it seems that his becoming a martyr diverted attention away from his reckless decisions and hand in an atrocity.

I suppose my point is that it was refreshing to have a preconceived notion of a historical figure shattered. However, I now have some reservations about a murder covering almost an entire wall in our state capital. Even if his killing could be rationalized as moral and just, it leaves a bit of a sour taste in my mouth.

Just my .02 --- ben

Tuesday, September 11, 2007

Sept 10-14: John Brown & Secession

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