Woman recants story of West Virginia abuse

[jdog]

RE: http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/10/21/ass ... index.html

(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."

This is disturbing how often this happens. I think it is frequent enough and harmful enough to the man that is accused that the woman should be brought up on charges and put in prison herself.

[shining2001uk]

it also does a lot of damage to women who have actually been raped & the abysmal rate of conviction

[AYHJA]

Wow, this is bizarre as FUCK...

"Last year, all six defendants pleaded guilty and were given terms of up to 40 years in prison."

"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."

Something's not right about this story...

[trashtalkr]

Something definitely is not right about this story. Why would they all plead guilty if it was made up?

[jdog]

Something definitely is not right about this story. Why would they all plead guilty if it was made up?

Usually a person will only plead guilty if there is a plea deal (ie less time in prison).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megan_Williams_case

When you look at the details of the charges, kidnapping faces a penalty of up to life in prison. Only one of them, the alleged boyfriend of the woman, was sentenced to 13-40 years in prison. The rest got between 10 years and 20 years.

[trashtalkr]

Yeah, but if they really didn't kidnap her, then there should be proof or a convincing alibi that they can rely on. That would mean they wouldn't have to spend anytime in jail

[Drew]

Dude this was HUGE news when it came out back in 2007...I remember talking about it in classes a ton....

I'm definitely in the boat with you guys....something just does not seem right about this..

[jdog]

Yeah, but if they really didn't kidnap her, then there should be proof or a convincing alibi that they can rely on. That would mean they wouldn't have to spend anytime in jail

How many times have you read about people in jail for crimes that they did not commit and DNA proves it 20 years later?

Here's one for example: http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent ... 59d58.html

The disturbing part of that article?

He is the 15th former convict from Dallas County to make that same walk to freedom based on DNA testing since 2001.

[Drew]

Yeah, but if they really didn't kidnap her, then there should be proof or a convincing alibi that they can rely on. That would mean they wouldn't have to spend anytime in jail

In a perfect, just world.....

Unfortunately, we do not live in one of those.