Enemies of (womankind)

(Original Post 3-23-08)
In international law, hosti humani generis, enemies of mankind, is the term given to those that torture, commit war crimes, genocide, piracy, and a host of other actions which violate jus cogens, or peremptory norms.

What happened to this 29 year old woman is nothing short of horrendous. It rivals the worst cases of child abuse and torture, including a case where the stepfather of a 7 year old girl was convicted of her murder. I'm reprinting this AP story in its entirety.

ALTON, Ill. - Banished to the basement, the 29-year-old mother with a childlike mind and another baby on the way had little more than a thin rug and a mattress to call her own on the chilly concrete floor.

Dorothy Dixon ate what she could forage from the refrigerator upstairs, where prosecutors say housemates used her for target practice with BBs, burned her with a glue gun and doused her with scalding liquid that peeled away her skin.

They torched what few clothes she had, authorities say, so she walked around naked. They often pummeled her with an aluminum bat or metal handle.

Dixon — six months pregnant — died after weeks of abuse. Police have charged two adults, three teenagers and a 12-year-old boy with murder in the case that has repulsed many in this Mississippi River town.

"This is heartbreaking," police Lt. David Hayes said. "It was almost as though they were making fun of the abuse they were administering. This woman was almost like living in a prison."

Investigators put much of the blame on Michelle Riley, 35, who they said befriended Dixon but pocketed monthly Social Security checks she got because of her developmental delays.
Dixon saw little, if any, of the money, Hayes said. For months she weathered the torment to keep a roof over her head and that of her year-old son, who weighed just 15 pounds when taken into state custody after his mom's death.

"I've never seen an almost conspiratorial effort by a group of people to continuously torture someone until she finally died, then not really show any remorse," Hayes said. "It was just a slow, torturous, tragic way to die. I highly doubt Dorothy Dixon even knew she was dying."

Riley, 43-year-old Judy Woods and three teenagers, including Riley's 15-year-old daughter, LeShelle McBride, are charged with first-degree murder, aggravated and heinous battery, intentional homicide of an unborn child, and unlawful restraint. Riley's 12-year-old son is charged as a juvenile.

Riley, her daughter, Woods and 16-year-old Benny Wilson have public defenders who did not immediately return messages for comment. An 18-year-old defendant, Michael Elliott, planned to get his own attorney, court records show. All remain in jail on $1 million bond.

Messages left with a Chicago-area sister of Dixon went unreturned, but neighbors, Hayes and newspaper accounts offer a mosaic of the months leading to Dixon's demise inside the small, white, blue-shuttered house.

Riley and Dixon, police said, had lived in Quincy, a Mississippi River town about 100 miles north of St. Louis, Mo. Quincy is where Riley worked as a coordinator for a regional center that helps the developmentally disabled with housing and other services. Dixon was a client.

For years, an impoverished Riley struggled raising her children. Her use of methamphetamine and cocaine brought drug convictions in 2002 and 2004. But with treatment and housing help from the Quincy YWCA, Riley put her life in order — so much that in February of last year, the Quincy Herald-Whig did a story on her comeback.

Last summer, Dixon and Riley moved into the $800-a-month, three-bedroom rental in Alton about 15 miles north of St. Louis. From the start, neighbors Chad Hudson and Terri Brandt considered Riley trouble.

"Michelle was evil, vindictive. Manipulative," said Hudson, convinced the teenagers were Riley's powerless minions. "She was angry, vicious," added Brandt.

Riley considered Dixon her slave, making her rub Riley's feet until Riley fell asleep and forcing her to run naked around the house when she got in trouble, the neighbors said. "Being in their house was like being in a prison day room," Hudson said. "They just sat around the kitchen table and fought." There was little question that Riley ruled the roost.

While doing fix-ups on the home last fall, landlord Steve Atkins saw Riley "barking orders" at the children and everyone else. Atkins joked to her whether he needed to call the Army and see if they wanted their drill sergeant back.
"She didn't laugh about it at all," Atkins said. "Obviously, I hit a nerve."
Atkins said Dixon generally kept to herself "but was always nice when she spoke to you." He saw no hints she'd been suffering or tortured.  "I would have never, ever suspected something like this," he said. "It's definitely shocking."

Police said Dixon was allowed out of the house but didn't say under what conditions. Hayes didn't know who the father of Dixon's fetus is.

Hayes said things apparently came to a head Jan. 30, when investigators believe that Woods, during a dispute, beat Dixon on the head with an object Hayes wouldn't identify. The next day Woods found her dead.

Hayes watched the autopsy and found her injuries disturbing. X-rays revealed roughly 30 BBs lodged in her. Deep-tissue burns covered about one-third of her body — her face, her chest, her arms and feet — and left her severely dehydrated. Her face and body showed signs of prolonged abuse. Many of her wounds were infected.

None of the injuries, Hayes said, proved singly fatal to Dixon. Her system already was taxed by her unborn baby. "The autopsy sort of indicates her immune system just shut down," he said. "It was not capable of fending off any more."

In the rental home's basement, Atkins said, he found spots of blood in a shower and tiny smears on the concrete floor, washer and dryer. "It's disgraceful the way this girl died, as kind and as sweet as this girl was," he said. "She didn't deserve to die the way she did. It's just terrible, senseless. It's just a total shame."

(Update 2-7-10) The ringleader of the torture, Michelle Riley, was sentenced to 45 years in prison for 1st degree murder Friday, February 5. This was the maximum sentence possible in a plea agreement made by Michelle Riley, 37 and Assistant State's Attorney Mike Stewart. Stewart believed that "I don't think 45 years is enough, but that's what we agreed to."

Riley, said in front of presiding Madison County Circuit Judge Charles Romani Jr, "I'm sorry that I can't take it back," but Romain said that that statement, along with Riley's history of substance abuse, was no excuse. "There were things done to this woman that you don't see done to animals, let alone human beings. This lady was tortured."

Riley will serve her sentence without parole, as she pled guilty to 1st degree murder. Her lawyer, Jon Delaney, said she took the plea deal to spare her daughter, 17 year old LeShelle, 1st degree murder charges in exchange for 2nd degree murder. The daughter and three others are scheduled to go on trial for 1st degree murder. 

(Update 7-13-10) LeShelle McBride was spared a trial and 1st degree murder charges by pleading guilty to 2nd degree murder. WIth credit for time served, she could be out in 2 to 8 months. A 12 year old boy was found deliquent for 2nd degree murder and sentenced to juvenile detention. Others are either awaiting trial for or sentencing on 1st degree murder charges.

(Update 4-19-11) Benny Wilson, the last defendant in this case, was sentenced to 30 years imprisonment for 1st degree murder. According to authorities, it was Wilson who repeatedly shot Dixon in the head with a BB gun. Assistant State's Attorney Jennifer Vucich asked for 45 years while defense attorney Rand Hale asked for 20 years. Vucich said that "Clearly what he did to Dorothy Dixon was despicable. I don't think anyone in the room can imagine the suffering she endured." Madison County Associate Judge James Hackett imposed sentence and presided over the guilty plea Friday, April 15.

Prosecutors have said that some of the other defendants received better deals because they were less culpable. Michelle Riley got a sentence of 45 years because she was believed to be the ringleader in the murder.

Michael Elliot and LeShelle McBride both pled to second degree murder and received sentences of eight years and six years respective; Judy Woods pled to aggravated battery and was sentenced to 18 months' periodic imprisonment.

Judge Hackett said that testimony was"some of the most horrific that could come before this court."
"It is stunning. It is at least remarkable, at most, overwhelming." However, Judge Hackett took into account the lack of previous criminal history, young age, and multiple perpetrators when sentencing WIlson.

Houston man held without bond for sexually mutilating wife

A career criminal was charged with the torture of his 33 year old "wife" and held without bond. Gregory Longoria Jr, 39, was charged with aggravated assault of a family member for holding his estranged wife against her will and torturing her between noon Wednesday, February 16 and 7 AM February 17. 

The 33 year old victim left Longoria and moved back to her parents' house along with her four children to escape the abusive relationship and allegations of cheating. Wednesday, Longoria went to the victim's parnets' house and threatened her with violence if she did not bring the one year old girl she had with him. She left with him and went back to Longoria's apartment.

The victim told investigators Longoria threatened to kill her elderly, disabled parents if she didn’t comply with his demands.The victim said once they arrived at Longoria’s apartment, he told her to undress and took sexually explicit and obscene photos of her.

When he was finished with the camera, the victim told investigators Longoria tied her to the bed and beat her. She said he then used a can of hairspray and a lighter to burn her nipples and vagina. After he burned her, the victim said he ripped one of her nipples off her body.

The victim said Longoria also choked her with a belt and smothered her with a pillow, causing her to lose consciousness. Longoria kept her there from noon Wednesday until 7 a.m. Thursday, deputies said. He then dropped her and the baby off at her parents’ house.

Longoria let her go after she convinced him that she had to go to a job interview that Thursday and that they needed the money. Longoria told her to take a shower and dropped her off at her parents house. Longoria took his daughter and drove around Houston until he was stopped Thursday evening. The victim was driven to Kingwood Medical Center.

Investigators observed burns to the woman's body consistent with her description of what happened. A doctor at Kingwood Medical Center told investigators that the woman will require reconstructive surgery and will suffer permanent disfigurement as a result of the attack, court records show.

During a press conference, Longoria was likened to a mad dog by Harris County Sheriff Adrian Garcia. "There are rabid dogs in our society — animals. These dogs that think they can get away with dehumanizing any person, but in particular women, will be dealt with. We are proving today that we will hunt those dogs down and put them in their kennels and try to show them the same dignity that they failed to show for a fellow human being...God help me if such an animal were ever to introduce himself to my family."

While the baby was physically unharmed, Lt. Ruben Diaz of the Houston sex crimes unit said "He had the baby asleep on the couch in the next room, probably listening to her own mother's screams for help." After Longoria's arrest Thursday afternoon, Diaz said  "He didn’t even care that we picked him up. When we picked him up, he had a curt attitude. He had a smirk on his face like he didn’t care." The reason the situation lasted so long was because "She was protecting her family more so even than herself - she was tolerating the abuse."

The victim's mother told reporters "At times, I saw her she would just look teary-eyed. I would advise couples not to be quiet but be up front because that’s how a lot of women die."

The emergency protective order prohibits all contact with his victim, including indirect contact or showing up at her workplace. The same no contact conditions were imposed regarding the victim's four children and her parents. Prosecutor Donna Hawkins with the Harris County District Attorney's Office said the order "precludes the defendant from having any contact with the complainant in this case, not going by her residence and not attending her work place either." 

Longoria is charged with a first degree felony "because of three elements: he assaulted a member of his family causing serious bodily injury and utilizing a deadly weapon, which in this case is fire," according to Hawkins.

According to a family member, the victim, who was released from Kingwood Medical Center Monday,  is actually comforting her family members. "We have all been crying, when we come up to her, she just looks at us and says, ‘why are you crying? I am fine, I am strong, if I’m not crying you should not be crying...She is very hopeful about the future. She trusts a lot in God...She's not going to let this person take her down - she's way stronger than that."
 
Longoria has a history of arrests in Harris County dating back to 1989, including convictions for shooting two men, court files show.

In 2005, Longoria was charged with misdemeanor assault of a family member after he was accused of choking another woman identified as his wife with his hands, court records show. A court issued an emergency protection order, and Longoria pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 160 days in jail.

In 1992, he pleaded guilty to an attempted murder, two charges of aggravated assault and felony theft. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison on the aggravated assault and theft convictions and granted 10 years probation and deferred adjudication for the attempted murder conviction, court records show.

In September 1991, when Longoria was 20 years old, Bellaire police arrested him for shooting a 21-year-old man four times. Longoria was a passenger in a moving vehicle when he fired the shots, court records show. That man survived, and the incident led to Longoria's conviction for attempted murder.

A month later, Longoria was arrested again, this time for shooting a 20-year-old community college student. That victim also survived.

Longoria has not been formally arraigned yet because arraignment requires a public defender. Numerous public defenders have refused to take him on as a client due to the nature of the charges and allegetions against him. A lawyer is scheduled to be appointed later today.

New Zealand man gets 7 1/2 years for torture of wife

The Dominion Post Wellington, New Zealand Last updated 11:09 13/07/2010

A Wellington man who poured boiling water on his partner after stuffing a sponge in her mouth to stifle her screams has been jailed for seven and a half years.  Wellington District Court judge Stephen Harrop told Dean Carl Griffiths, 41, there was an element of torture to the offending, which was ''like a reign of terror''. In August last year, Griffiths put a blue sponge in her mouth while pouring boiling water over her abdomen and legs.

Her recovery would take a year, the judge said.  Griffiths had pleaded guilty to wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm, three charges of male assaults female, assault with a weapon and breaching a protection order.

Harrop said the offending took place over several days. ''It was gross, barbaric and degrading.''
Griffiths also hit the woman with a broomstick, and later broke her eye socket when he punched her.

"Girlfriend" gets at least 32 years for torture death of man in Northern England

Life sentences for Chilton torture murderers
12:07pm Friday 22nd January 2010
Neil Hunter The Northern Echo

TWO people are today starting life sentences after being found guilty of the brutal torture murder of a man at the home they shared in County Durham. Clare Nicholls, 28, will serve a minimum 32 years for the torture and murder of her patrner Andrew Gardner and her brother, Simon Nicholls, 24, will serve a minimum 25 years. Her on-off lover Steven Martin, 44, is also facing a life term. He will be sentenced in February following the results of tests by a psychiatrist.

Mr Gardner’s battered and burnt body had more than 120 injuries on it when paramedics found him in his living room on March 13 last year. The 35-year-old had been starved, whipped, scalded, slashed, kicked and punched before he died in agony from a catalogue of horrific injuries.

Doctors found he had suffered 21 rib fractures and associated tissue damage as well as a fractured skull, bleeding on the brain and blood poisoning. Crude abuse had been scrawled on his back in nail varnish, and marks on his torso were described in court as “a grotesque game of noughts and crosses”.

His girlfriend, her brother and her former lover denied murder but were this afternoon convicted by a jury at the end of a harrowing three-week trial.  Nicholls shook her head, laid it on a glass barrier in the dock and wept when the verdict was announced, but the two men showed no reaction.

The court heard how Clare Nicholls ruled the home in Arthur Street, Chilton, and how the men of the household were terrified of her temper. She repeatedly attacked Mr Gardner – the father of her youngest child – for what she saw as him being lazy or “stealing” food from the cupboards.

Some jurors wept during the trial as they heard how children saw the punishment beatings and, at times, were encouraged to join in. Nicholls’ brother and Martin – an ex-lover who moved into the house three weeks before Mr Gardner’s death and reignited an affair – also helped.

They later told police that Nicholls was the instigator and they were too frightened to stop the attacks in case she turned her violence towards them. On March 13 last year, Simon Nicholls made a 999 call, saying Mr Gardner had returned home half-an-hour earlier and collapsed unconscious.

He told paramedics that Mr Gardner said he had been beaten up by a gang while out for a walk, and was complaining about severe back pain. The story quickly raised doubts and police were called in, and a lengthy investigation followed – which resulted in the three being arrested.

A series of medical examinations showed that many of Mr Gardner’s injuries had been inflicted days – if not weeks or months – before he died. The suspects were released on bail, but were re-arrested and charged with murder in July when the results of the tests were received by police.

Clare Nicholls pleaded guilty to manslaughter at the end of the prosecution case, but the plea was not accepted and she was forced into the witness box. She confessed to inflicting “the best part” of Mr Gardner’s injuries, but also blamed her brother for some of the rib fractures and other beatings.

Martin was accused of “branding” Mr Gardner with a white-hot cigarette lighter, and scalding his feet and leg with boiling water from a kettle. He also owned up to repeatedly holding his lover’s boyfriend against a piping hot radiator for up to 20 seconds, causing three separate burns.

The court heard how the rib fractures were probably caused when former charity shop worker Nicholls jumped on her partner with her knees. A pathologist told the jury that the injuries were the kind usually associated with victims of car crashes or falls from “considerable” heights.

Prosecutors are seeking a 30-year starting point for the killers, but defence teams will argue this afternoon that the tariff should not be as high as that. The jurors who heard the harrowing details of Andrew Gardner's death will be spared jury service for the next 20 years.

Judge Peter Fox, QC, told the seven men and five women: "This has been a case of particular responsibility and heavy responsibility in its discharge.

"What I can decide and, indeed, pronounce my decision about, is to say as a reflection of my appreciation of the responisbility you have carried out, you are excused jury service for at least 20 years, with my thanks."

"Caretaker" sentenced to life for torture death of mentally disabled woman

By TRACY MCLAUGHLIN, SPECIAL TO SUN MEDIA
Last Updated: 3rd October 2009, 3:34am

BARRIE, Ont. -- In calm voice, a brave mother whose daughter was brutally murdered with a blowtorch stood at the front of the courtroom yesterday and said she is afraid that she will be eaten alive by her pain.

"My daughter would have forgiven with her great big heart, but I am not Katlin and forgiveness is not here with me today," said Deborah Laramay. Then turning to face the man in the prisoner's box, she told him how she lives each day with the haunting memories.

"Not only is my daughter gone, but she was taken in such a cruel, horrible way by those she thought were her friends."

She was speaking to Paul Bradey, 45, who sat without emotion as he looked back at her. Yesterday he was sentenced to life in prison with no parole for 25 years for torturing Katlin Cousineau to death with a blowtorch in the basement of his home on Nov. 13, 2007.

Throughout the trial the jury, who showed up for the sentencing yesterday, never heard any explanation as to why the 23-year-old mentally handicapped woman was routinely beaten and abused when she lived at Bradey's Midland, Ont., home with three other adults.

One witness who admitted to participating in handcuffing and beating Katlin testified it was a "possessed" house and told how he poured gasoline over her dead and tortured body in the form of a pentacle before he set her and the entire house on fire to destroy the evidence.

Woman killed wheelchair bound man for "snitching"

A Phoenix, AZ woman admitted to killing a wheelchair-bound man after promising him sex and drugs because "he told on a righteous person years ago."

"I don't want my children or the people I consider family to be in a place where there are snitches," 33 year old Angela Simpson said. The killing is thought to have taken place August 2, after 8 PM, when the victim was last seen alive leaving his assisted living facility.

Once there, Simpson said she beat [46 year old Terry Neely] with a tire iron, hammered a nail into his head, pulled his teeth and strangled him with a television cord.

"You made him watch it through a mirror?" Wingate asked.

"Yes, I did," Simpson replied calmly. "He needed to see what he deserved."

After the killing, Simpson dismembered Neely's body and placed it in a trash can. She drove to a church where the can and its contents were set on fire. The trash can was set ablaze August 5, and Simpson was arrested August 19. After the murder, Simpson allegedly committed robbery with Edward "Cracker" McFarland. McFarland told his apartment manager about the murder, and threatened to kill the manager if he "snitched."

Autopsy results confirmed that a nail was either driven or hammered into the victim's brain. Before the dismemberment, which forced police to rely on fingerprints, Neely was stabbed approximately 50 times, including once in the throat.

The woman, already in jail when arrested, stated that she had killed before, and "I believe informants and child molesters should be killed ... period." Simpson was musing about the medication she took for mental illness, stating that "I think something's wrong with the world that I live in, but, according to other people, yes, something is wrong with me."

Police - Merrillville, IN man rapes, kidnaps, tortures girlfriend during 8 hour ordeal

MERRILLVILLE, Ind. (AP) — A man attacked his girlfriend with a hatchet, struck her with a car when she tried to flee and then raped her during an eight-hour ordeal, police said.

Marlon Dandre Stringfellow, 40, of Merrillville was being held without bond Wednesday night in Lake County Jail on charges of attempted murder, rape, criminal confinement, battery, intimidation and sexual battery.

According to a probable cause affidavit, the woman left the home she shared with Stringfellow Monday night after he became agitated and when she returned, he ordered her out of her car and began hitting her. He then told her to get back into the car and drove to a church, where he ordered her to remove her clothes.

The woman got out of the car and complied, but Stringfellow allegedly took a hatchet from the car and struck her on the arms and legs. He then forced her back into the car and began driving, threatening her life. The woman fled when Stringfellow stopped for a red light near a gas station, but Stringfellow allegedly hit her with the car while she was running, breaking four of her ribs, said Merrillville police Detective George Fields.

After dragging the woman back to the car, Stringfellow drove her home and raped her, Fields said.Fields said the ordeal began about 11:30 p.m. and ended shortly before 8 a.m. Tuesday.After Stringfellow fell asleep, the woman got help and she was taken to a hospital for treatment where she received 50 stitches for her wounds, according to the affidavit.Stringfellow could face up to 50 years in prison if convicted.

Torturer convicted of 19 hours of inflicting hell on 23 year old victim - sentenced to life

(Original Post 6-24-08)

NEW YORK (AP) -- An ex-convict was found guilty Tuesday in the rape and torture of a Columbia University graduate student who survived 19 hours of nightmarish sadism in which he scalded her with boiling water and attempted to blind her before trying to burn her to death.

Robert Williams was convicted of attempted murder, rape, kidnapping, arson and other charges in the attack, which was so prolonged and agonizing that the victim begged her tormentor to kill her and later tried to kill herself.

The verdict followed a gruesome trial that included dramatic testimony from the victim, who said Williams, 31, made her swallow fistfuls of painkillers, ordered her to gouge out her eyes with scissors, sealed her lips with super glue and gagged her with duct tape before torching her apartment.

Williams, who was found guilty of all but two of 46 counts, was not in court to hear the verdict read. The judge said that when Williams was told a verdict had been reached, he simply turned over in his courthouse cell and went back to sleep.

"He didn't have any more reaction to that than he has had to anything else," said Williams' attorney, Arnold Levine.

The victim and her relatives, in the front row of the courtroom, showed no reaction while the verdicts were read. Her father, on behalf of the family, later declined to comment.
Williams, who previously served eight years in prison for attempted murder, could get a life sentence at a hearing set for July 24.

When the trial began June 5, prosecutor Ann Prunty told jurors that Williams had violated the victim "in every way imaginable -- and in some ways unimaginable," then tried to finish her off by burning her alive.

The evidence against Williams included DNA from the victim found on a shirt he was wearing when he was arrested and DNA from him on one of the woman's T-shirts. The victim also identified him in court.

The woman told teary jurors that Williams repeatedly raped and sodomized her, scalded her with boiling water, threw bleach at her eyes in an attempt to blind her and slit her eyelids during the excruciating torture in her upper Manhattan apartment.

Tied up and left unconscious to die in a fire her attacker set in her apartment, the woman woke up and used the flames to burn through some of her restraints and escape what might have become her crematorium.Prunty credited the victim's intelligence and mental toughness with helping her survive, despite the emotional and physical pain.

The victim testified that she memorized features and scars of her torturer while trying to connect with him -- even asking about his taste in music -- and trying to convince him she wouldn't identify him to authorities.

The nearly three-week trial was unusual in that the defendant was in court just once for a few hours. He was forced to show up on the day the victim testified and pointed him out to the jury as her rapist and torturer.

(Update 7-26-08) State Supreme Court Justice Carol Berkman sentenced Williams to a minimum sentence of 422 years, stating that for the sake of public safety, she doesn't want him to ever get out again. She said about the victim,

"Everyone who witnessed (the victim's) testimony in this courtroom had to be impressed by her bravery, her intelligence and her extraordinary grace."

When the defense attorney stated that he wanted his client to be sentenced "in a way to give him hope of going home one day," Judge Berkman replied, "The defendant, by his own conduct, has forfeited any hope of liberty."

Man convicted of rape and torture of 19 year old acquaintance

(Original Post 5-18-08)

Robert Gnade, a 42 year old man from Troy, Missouri, was convicted on 2 counts of rape and felonious restraint for raping and torturing a 19 year old acquaintance last summer. He offered to give her a ride to pick up prescriptions, but took his victim to a shed owned by his parents in rural Lincoln County and raped and tortured her.

Police say Gnade had a duffel bag in his vehicle that contained handcuffs, rope, and sex toys. Instead of taking the woman to a pharmacy, he took her to a shed on his parents' rural Lincoln County property.There, he handcuffed her to the ceiling of a shed, beating her with a belt, police say.

As he beat her, he told her he would stop the beating if she would agree to have sex with him, police say. When she repeatedly refused, he raped her several times.In a released statement, Lincoln County Sheriff Dan Torres said, "This is an especially egregious crime because it is associated with unimaginable brutality that goes far beyond just a sexual assault."

The woman told family members what happened and Gnade was arrested a short time later. Prosecutors are trying Gnade for 10 other counts of sodomy involving victims between 1977 and 1989.

(Update 7-11-08)

Gnade was sentenced to 14 years in prison, a sentence which his victim, who is currently attending counseling, said wasn't enough.

"I'm scared to walk by myself," she said. I'm scared to be by myself. It's very terrifying for me."

Gnade's attorney, public defender Gary Grunick, said a pre-sentence report prepared by Probation and Parole officers recommended a sentence of 3 years in prison if there were aggravating circumstances. He asked for the three-year sentence and said his client had no prior felony or misdemeanor convictions. The first of the remaining three cases against Gnade is scheduled for trial on Oct. 28.

Woman pleads guilty in Megan Williams torture, rape case

Logan County, West Virginia prosecutor Brian Abraham dropped a kidnapping and hostage taking charge from Karen Burton, who was one of 7 people charged with crimes in the Megan Williams rape and torture case. As part of her plea bargain, she will cooperate against the four remaining defendants in the case. Abraham recommended a sentence of 14 to 30 years for all charges – 2 to 10 years for the kidnapping and hostage charges, and 10 years for the hate crime charge.

Abraham believes the plea deal for Burton carries a proper penalty, considering that the three charges combined, which are to be served consecutively, could add up to 30 years in prison.
"If I had let her have a plea deal on just the hate crime charge and she just got 10 years, that is not enough," he said, "And it would look like I was trying to pacify some special interest."

In addition to the hate crime charge, Burton pleaded guilty to assault during the commission of a felony and malicious assault. In the related indictment, prosecutors accused Burton of choking Williams with a cable.

She was charged with a hate crime for stabbing Williams in the ankle while saying, "This is what we do to niggers around here," according to the indictment.

Police discovered Williams at a trailer near Big Creek on Sept. 8, 2007. Logan County prosecutors say Williams was forced to eat animal droppings, was sexually assaulted and stabbed by six white men and women who held her captive for days last summer. Logan County sheriff's deputies, acting on an anonymous tip, found her at a Big Creek trailer on Sept. 8.

Five people were indicted Tuesday, February 5, in the case. Bobby Brewster, Frankie Brewster, Karen Burton and Danny Combs were charged with malicious assault, sexual assault, kidnapping, and holding Williams hostage.

Grand jurors indicted Linnie Burton Jr. on one count of misdemeanor battery. He was not among the original six people arrested in the case.

George Messer and Alisha Burton pleaded guilty Friday to one count of kidnapping and one count of assault during the commission of a felony. Each faces up to 10 years in prison and has agreed to testify against the other defendants.

"We are still trying to determine each individual's involvement in the acts they committed and assign the proper charges and proper punishment based on their conduct," Abraham said of the four remaining defendants.

Abraham said he has not ruled out cutting deals with the remaining defendants.

"In every criminal case, there is usually some negotiation that takes place. That is not to suggest that we have done so on this case," Abraham said. "It is not my practice to try a case just to be trying it. If I have a case that has more certainty to it by a plea and the outcome is just, then it is something we will consider. ... I am not going to cut deals just to expedite the case. We don't do that here in Logan."

Malik Shabazz, who organized rallies in Williams’ support through his group Black Lawyers For Justice, was pleased with the guilty plea.

"All of the key charges against the defendants are sticking. I have to give Mr. Abraham his day here. Justice is becoming a reality," Shabazz said. "I think the message being sent will protect others from being the victims of race hate and violence in the future."

Shabazz said he feels activism by those who rallied for Williams was vindicated through the conviction.

"Now the test is to see if Mrs. Karen Burton's sentence reflects the crime," he said.

Without the hate crime charge, Burton would be facing between 12 and 19 years in prison; with it, she faces much more, he said.

Shabazz said activists still want the maximum charges and longest penalties in the case.
"But it's up to the prosecutor's discretion to know how to come to a plea agreement," he said. "Mr. Abraham should be given the benefit of doubt in the case."

Abraham said that hate crimes are not intended to create special rights, but are intended to enhance sentences which may be otherwise plea bargained down to lesser acts.
"I have an obligation to uphold my oath and enforce the laws of West Virginia and, by extension, to represent the interests of Megan Williams," he said. "I will not base my decisions on any special interest."

Williams also made an appearance on a Montel Williams show featuring hate crimes. She will receive a new computer, six months of tutoring to help her earn her GED, and a 2 year, $40,000 scholarship to ITT Technical Institute.

(Update 3-17-08) From the Charleston(WV) Daily Mail:

Forty-six-year-old Karen Burton and 49-year-old Frankie Brewster were sentenced Thursday for their roles in the kidnapping and assault of Megan Williams. Both pleaded guilty last month.
Brewster and Burton were among seven white Logan County residents who were charged in the Willlams case.

Logan County Circuit Judge Roger Perry sentenced Burton, of Chapmanville, to three consecutive sentences. She received separate 2-10 year sentences for malicious assault and assault during the commission of a felony and 10 years for the civil rights charge.
Brewster received a 10-to-25-year sentence for second-degree sexual assault.

Williams and her parents were in the courtroom Thursday and wept as the sentences were read.
"I just believe he (prosecutor Brian Abraham) shouldn't have plea bargained with any of them,'' her mother Carmen Williams said during a press conference after the sentencing. "She (Megan Williams) wanted them to do life.''

Two other defendants had already pleaded guilty and been sentenced.

Burton's 23-year-old daughter, Alisha, and George Messer, 27, both of Chapmanville, both pleaded guilty in February to kidnapping and assault and received 10-year sentences.

Woman subjected to sexual torture at boyfriend's hands

WOLF IN BOYFRIEND'S CLOTHING

Boyfriend subjected woman to terrifying rape ordeal
ARNOT McWHINNIE

A WOMAN suffered a horrific rape ordeal after she agreed to play kinky sex games with her boyfriend, a court heard today.

Stephen Inglis, 19, bound and blindfolded the 31-year-old, before threatening her with a knife and saying she was to be his "sex slave".

He then raped her, stole her bank card and used it to withdraw £300 before attempting to strangle her with a plastic bag.

The nightmare at the woman's Edinburgh flat, on June 15, began when Inglis asked his girlfriend – who had never had a relationship before – to tie him up before massaging him and pouring hot candle wax on his back.

She then agreed to be tied up, blindfolded and massaged, although she made it clear she did not want to take part in any pain or bondage.

Dr Alastair Brown, prosecuting, told the High Court in Glasgow that Inglis then held a knife to her chin, asking her: "Tell me what this is?" When she replied it was a knife, he told her "good girl", speaking in a calm, precise and measured tone.

Dr Brown said: "He didn't sound angry, but she was uncertain and shocked because they had never done anything like this."

Inglis then stuffed tissues in her mouth and taped over them. He bit her and as she screamed in pain he told her "that's it" and she thought he was going to kill her.

He then ran a bath, forced the blindfolded woman into it before getting in himself. He then tried to burn her blouse with a cigarette and used the knife to cut it open from the front.

Just before she was forced forced to commit a sex act, she pleaded: "Don't kill me, I value my life."

After that, still blindfolded and tied, she was taken from the bath and pushed onto a living room sofa with Inglis telling her: "I think you should be my sex slave for the night."

He then raped her, biting her on the breast and shoulder and telling his victim: "I'd prefer it if you would moan a bit more, it makes it more exiciting for me."

Dr Brown said Inglis told her that his plan to kill her and then himself hadn't worked, and that he would have to leave the country.

Inglis then forced the woman to give him her bank card, PIN number and mobile phone.

Before leaving her he took off her blindfold, but he tied her to the bed, cut the phone lines, and then went to a cash machine to withdraw £300.

When he returned he tried to put a plastic bag over her head and then attempted to strangle her for several minutes.

The victim's eight-hour ordeal ended when Inglis left for a while before returning to untie her and beg for forgiveness. He then left again.

Dr Brown said that the woman feared that if she called the police Inglis would harm her parents. Eventually she phoned them and the police were called.

She was taken to hospital where she was found to have a large number of injuries all over her body including bites and an internal injury.

Dr Brown said that as a result of her ordeal the victim is now frequently tearful, suffers from nightmares, sleep disturbance and flashbacks. She also lost weight and her hair began to fall out.

Inglis, whose address was given as Edinburgh Prison, was found to be sane and not suffering from any mental illness. He denied to police he had raped her and said he considered killing her after she made the rape allegation.

He was originally charged with attempting to murder the woman, but the prosecution accepted his plea of guilty to the reduced charge of assaulting her to her injury and rape.

The judge, Lord Matthews, was told that he had a previous conviction for assaulting a woman, who was a complete stranger, at night.

The judge called for reports pending sentence on Inglis next month.

Taken From The Scotsman