W.Va. woman in torture case now says she lied

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — When a black woman told West Virginia authorities in 2007 that seven white people had raped and tortured her over several days in a racially motivated attack, minority rights groups rallied to her support.

The Rev. Al Sharpton and Black Lawyers for Justice urged prosecutors to pursue hate-crime charges. The lawyers organized a march on Megan Williams’ behalf. Sharpton addressed a rally in Charleston and donated $1,000 to Williams’ family as a Christmas gift.

More than two years later, Williams, now 22 and living in Columbus, recanted her story on Wednesday, and the groups that supported her stood at arm’s length from the woman whose mother had described her as “slow.”

Sharpton has asked a prosecutor to vindicate anyone wrongfully convicted.

The head of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People in Logan and Boone counties in West Virginia said the group didn’t rush to judgment two years ago, and won’t now.

“We did have some concerns about what was being done at the time and how it was carried out by Megan and the family, because of her mental condition,” said the Rev. Audie Murphy, president of the group.

Williams had said her captors, including boyfriend Bobby Brewster, beat her, raped her, forced her to drink urine and eat feces, poured hot wax on her and taunted her with racial slurs in the trailer of Brewster’s mother in a rural area of Logan County, about 50 miles (80 kilometers) from Charleston, W.Va. Williams was rescued after a passer-by heard cries from the shed where she was kept and an anonymous caller alerted authorities.

The suspects all confessed to their actions and pleaded guilty. All but one were sent to prison.

But Williams made up the story because she wanted to get revenge against a boyfriend who had beaten her, said her attorney, Byron L. Potts. She recanted because she no longer wants to live a lie, he said.

Potts said Williams has received several anonymous phone calls from people threatening her life.

“She is recanting the entire incident. She says it did not happen, and she’s scared,” Potts said.

Potts said Williams stabbed herself with a straight razor to help embellish the story of being tortured.

“She told me the only thing not self-inflicted were the bruises on her face,” Potts said.

Prosecutors, who knew about the relationship during the case, dismissed Williams’ new claim, and lawyers for the defendants would not discuss their plans.

Potts urged prosecutors in West Virginia to re-evaluate the case and he said that Williams wants people convicted to be released from prison.

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