Talk:Megan Williams case

message: Nothing against Associated Content but I think a better source can be found regarding the lack of media coverage.
:I've read the article by the member from Associated Content and I'm going to concur. Part of it seems like commentary as opposed to actual facts about the case. We can remove it if necessary. Also, please sign your posts by adding four tildes (~). Keithbrooks 07:53, 8 October 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  Sources 

message: "Authorities have not filed hate crime charges in the attack, but for many residents, the issue of race is inseparable from the assault on Megan Williams, who said she was doused with hot water, forced to eat animal feces, and taunted with racial slurs."
:Is there any way we can prune this? It seems a bit heavy on the hate crimes reference. Keithbrooks 09:05, 8 October 2007 (UTC)
thread_title: Introduction

message: While many may look at this case as cut and dry, words like "allegedly", "suspects", "purported", et cetera need to remain in place until the trial has reached completion. TheWinkel 00:24, 4 November 2007 (UTC)
thread_title: Allegations

message: "Of course, tihs case received substantially more attention by the press than the Witchita Massacre, the Newsome-Christian murders, or various black serial killers, such as Coral Watts."
I don't understand the point of this. In either case, it needs verifiable references. 74.129.90.68 (talk) 08:39, 31 December 2007 (UTC)
thread_title: Newsome-Christian Murders

message: http://wvgazette.com/News/200910201215  —Preceding unsigned comment added by Peter Napkin Dance Party (talk • contribs) 13:05, 21 October 2009 (UTC)
replies: text: This turn of events may be worthy of its own section on this article, or at least more then a single sentence.--MrSeagull (talk) 15:30, 21 October 2009 (UTC)
thread_title: New sources

message: (CNN) -- A 22-year-old woman whose claims that she was abused in a trailer in rural West Virginia in 2007 helped send six people to prison now says she made up the story, her lawyer said Wednesday.
"She is recanting her entire story," attorney Byron Potts told reporters in Columbus, Ohio, about his client, Megan Williams, who moved there after the incident. "She says it did not happen. She fabricated it."
He added, "She wanted to get back at her boyfriend. She was mad at him."
In 2007, police acting on a tip found the black woman in a trailer with cuts and bruises. She said she had been stabbed in the leg and beaten, sexually assaulted, forced to eat feces and subjected to a racial slur by her white captors.
The suspects included a mother and son, a separate mother and daughter, and two men. All are still jailed, according to the prosecutor who handled the case.
The incident, which drew extensive media coverage, stirred outrage around the country. Civil rights activist the Rev. Al Sharpton called for the incident to be investigated as a hate crime.
Last year, all six defendants pleaded guilty and were given terms of up to 40 years in prison.
Potts said his client was coming forward "to right the wrong perpetrated on these six individuals." He added that she told him all her injuries except for the bruises on her face were self-inflicted. The bruises, he said, were from an altercation she had had with her then-boyfriend before the incident in question.
Potts described Williams' feelings as "total remorse; that's why she's coming forward. She is remorseful for having these people spend time in jail."
Asked if she was being pressured to recant, he said, "No, she's not being pressured into this."
Williams had been expected to speak herself, but Potts said she would not appear before the news media because she was afraid for her safety.
He said she was "fully aware" that she might face criminal charges, "but she still wanted to go forward with this."
Brian Abraham, the former Logan County prosecutor who handled the case, defended the convictions. "The case wasn't based on her statements," he said, noting that Williams never testified in the case. "The case was based on the evidence discovered by the police, including the confessions of the six defendants."
He added, "All six of them have been in jail without filing appeals. If they file something afterwards, the evidence was pretty overwhelming for the charges on which they were convicted."
The current county prosecutor, John Bennett, said he could not comment on whether the case would be reopened. He said he represented one of the suspects in 2007 and so would let a judge decide how to handle the potential conflict of interest.
Sharpton said, "If they are being held under false information and she misled authorities, and if the authorities went solely on her testimony, then they should be released." But he added, "If there are other circumstances around the recanting, we should know what they are."  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.176.157.146 (talk) 14:20, 14 November 2009 (UTC)
thread_title:  Woman recants story of West Virginia abuse (Megan Williams) 

message: This story is incomplete; last info given is dated 2010.
Do the police still think they did anything, or not? 
And if not, why are they still locked up? Or are they?
Did they plead guilty, knowing they were innocent but advised that a prejudiced court would convict them anyway? Or did the police have a case based on objective evidence and Williams' recantation is a lie?
Any information on these points would improve the article. 12.152.78.2 (talk) 18:55, 18 July 2012 (UTC)
thread_title: The Convicted Men

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thread_title:  External links modified 

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thread_title:  External links modified 

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