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Woman recants story of West Virginia abuse
Posted: Thu Oct 22, 2009 11:07 am
by 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.
Re: Woman recants story of West Virginia abuse
Posted: Thu Oct 22, 2009 12:21 pm
by shining2001uk
it also does a lot of damage to women who have actually been raped & the abysmal rate of conviction
Re: Woman recants story of West Virginia abuse
Posted: Thu Oct 22, 2009 3:39 pm
by 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...
Re: Woman recants story of West Virginia abuse
Posted: Thu Oct 22, 2009 5:01 pm
by trashtalkr
Something definitely is not right about this story. Why would they all plead guilty if it was made up?
Re: Woman recants story of West Virginia abuse
Posted: Thu Oct 22, 2009 11:19 pm
by jdog
trashtalkr wrote: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.
Re: Woman recants story of West Virginia abuse
Posted: Fri Oct 23, 2009 2:51 am
by 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
Re: Woman recants story of West Virginia abuse
Posted: Fri Oct 23, 2009 1:56 pm
by 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..
Re: Woman recants story of West Virginia abuse
Posted: Fri Oct 23, 2009 10:18 pm
by jdog
trashtalkr wrote: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.
Re: Woman recants story of West Virginia abuse
Posted: Mon Oct 26, 2009 4:02 am
by Drew
trashtalkr wrote: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.