Two years ago, the nation was agog at the story of Megan Williams.  The young West Virginia woman had been kidnapped, held against her will, repeatedly beaten, tortured, burned with hot wax and raped.  In February of 2008, seven people were indicted by the Charleston, WV district attorney.  Eventually, all seven pleaded guilty to a wide range of offenses and were sentenced to up to 10 years in prison each.  Because all the defendants are white and Williams is African-American, one person was charged with a hate crime.  Read about it here (Charleston Gazette, 2/6/08).

Except now we learn that it was all a lie.  Megan Williams has announced her intention to recant it all.  She was having a consensual sexual affair with one of the men involved, and that was that.  Read about it here (Charleston Gazette, 10/20/09).

Why would people plead guilty to heinous crimes they did not commit?  The second article quotes officials who claim not to be able to figure that one out.  But I can.  They took a deal that they figured was more lenient that what they'd get if the case went to trial.

And that's doubly understandable given the nationwide attention the case received with newspapers far and wide reporting on the case, CNN devoting significant time to its coverage and Williams appearing with her mother on the Montel Williams Show.

So the defendants took a look at the mob outside and did the smart thing - they took the deal.

One sidelight, with all the media hooplah, donations poured in to help poor Megan.  She now says she's never seen a dime of that money.  And that's too bad; the defendants who hopefully will soon be released from prison, could use some of that.  So is it the prospect of civil suits that's brought about the claim that all that money vanished into thin air?

At this point I'd believe anything.

This entry was posted on Thursday, October 22nd, 2009 at 2:42 pm and is filed under False Accusations. You can trackback from your own site.