It hurts my heart to learn that Megan Williams lied about the torture she experienced at the hands of seven hillbillies from West Virginia. This blog took up her cause in a major way two years ago.
Villagers will recall that Williams told authorities in 2007 that she had been beaten, raped, forced to eat animal feces and taunted with racial slurs for days. She was supported in the process by her mom ... who has since passed away.
Seven white men and women were convicted in the case, and most are serving long prison terms.
We learned this week from Williams' attorney that his client fabricated the story to get back at a boyfriend who had beaten her up. The attorney, Byron Potts, said that Williams came forward because she no longer wants to live a lie. I guess Megan wanted to get out in front of the story in light of the backlash coming down on Balloon Boy's family for his hoax.
Potts encouraged West Virginia authorities to re-evaluate the case. Prosecutors in West Virginia have dismissed Williams' new claim, and lawyers for the defendants aren't discussing their plans.
This story is depressing for me. What are your thoughts?
15 comments:
~smh~ I am at a loss for words...
the woman clearly has mental issues, the world knew that when we first saw her on TV, but this...???
Unbelievable. Is she saying that her mother made her do it? I was not aware that her mother had passed away, How did her mom die?
Lastly, please explain why did 7 people all plead guilty if they in fact were not?? I'm guessing there is so much more to this story that we will NEVER know. ~smh~
Regina - I don't know about the specifics on the Mom's death. Megan moved away from West Virginia. She now lives in Columbus OH.
re: 7 hillbillies. I figure that they pleaded guilty because of evidence ... not Megan's testimony. Then again, they are poor people. Poor people often get screwed by the justice system. I imagine that there is a chance that these 7 hillbillies got screwed as well.
Like you, on my old forum and blog I made a conscious effort to garner support for Ms. Williams. I could remember being upset that the hate crime indictment was not pursued even though it was with good reason.
This is truly disheartening. And I say that in knowing that back them I downplayed my suspicions after hearing that she was in trouble for check fraud around the very same time.
@Regina: Why did they plead guilty? Well, poor people often do that faced with no hope of a fair trial and or no true representation. That's the judicial system for you on that one.
With the convicted defendants being white. Hopefully this situation shines some light on how the system works. And hopefully in doing so it can be beneficial for people of color who are over-represented in the prison industrial complex.
@RiPPa - I had no clue that there was anything amiss. In fact, I blasted the local sheriff for dealing with the check-kiting charges in the weeks following her attack. Time will tell us if the 7 hillbillies were abused in the charges or guilty pleas... I suspect that they knew they were guilty to some level...
I'm inclined to agree with Regina. I mean, I'm highly skeptical of this new "admission" on the part of Megan Williams. While I don't discount anything entirely any more (the world does, indeed, often seem to me to have gone utterly mad), I'm more inclined to believe there's a reeeeally interesting backstory here. For example (and I have no idea whether this could be true or not, but...), what if the White folks pled guilty because they did what they were first accused of (let's face it, folks, there was physical evidence, as well, after all -- it wasn't just her word against theirs). And then what if some money magically appeared to pay Megan Williams off to "admit" that she lied. She's already demonstrated less than stellar judgment in the past in a whole raft of ways. But who knows?
I was born in the mountains of Kentucky, by the way. There's a reason I stay far, far away from there, though I now live where the Justice of the Peace wouldn't marry the bi-racial couple. I must have some hellified karma to work out for some reason, huh?
I rarely blog about these kinds of issues for this very reason--I am unable to keep up with all the changes and updates that eventually come out.
I would be cautious about believing this new admission. From what I recall, thhis woman has developmental disabilities. She may be being manipulated for someone else's gain, her special lneeds making her an easy target.
I don't know what to believe, but what I am sure of is that there is something they're not telling us.
Our justice system leaves much to be desired, and maybe these poor white folks got the short end of the stick a la "Black in America" but my understanding now is that the prosecutor is basically ignoring the recant saying they prosecuted based on evidence, not the victim's statement.
Whatever is happening, it's a mess, that's for sure.
PPR_Scribe - Megan's closest relative ...her Mom ... passed away. I'm not sure who she is relying on now that she moved to Columbus OH. However, her attorney is respected in Ohio. Hard for me to beleive that he would let her get out in front of this type of story if he didn't believe it to be true.
A. Smith - I agree ... it is a mess. I'm still waiting to hear from the attorneys representing the 7 hillbillies. You have to believe that they are looking for an appeal of the guilty pleas.
Hi Villager,
I didn't think that her story was bogus when I first heard the reports.
I don't think that you did anything unseemly by taking up the cause. Remember that Rosewood was burned to the ground based on ONE white woman stating that she was raped by a black man and the white men in the neighboring town sprung into action to defend her and seek retaliation.
Black men have no reason to feel that it was wrong to take up this woman's case.
When a black woman says she is raped by white men, there is always, always suspicion cast on her story. When a white woman says she is raped by a black man, she is deemed credible (even when none of the facts check out). This has happened repeatedly.
So now we see that Megan Williams has said she lied about it. That doesn't mean that the thousands upon thousands of black women who were raped by white men were all mentally-ill and lying. Let's not forget that.
I also agree with PPR_Scribe, if she was mentally-ill THEN how do we know that her "confession" is not the result of mental illness as well. There are plenty of women who come forward about a crime and later recant (even though the crime occurred).
Peace, blessings and DUNAMIS!
Lisa
Lisa - Asante sana for your feedback. I must admit that I didn't feel any problem with blowing the trumpet on behalf of this sista when I first became aware of her situation. I'll also admit that I'm glad that she is clearing her soul if anything that she said ... or allowed to be said on her behalf ... wasn't true. The young lady definitely went through a traumatic experience ... even if it was embellished. The 7 hillbillies must have known as much, otherwise they would not have pleaded guilty.
Anyhow, I hope that the young sister is able to get her life together after this admission.
To say this is sickening doesn't even begin to express how upsetting this is. That's all we need is someone like this loaning FOX and Friends a great big stick to beat us with (some more)...
I mean, it's bad enough to fend off all the lies from the 'other side', but now we have to watch out for lies perpetrated by our own? Jesus.
Villager I'm inclined to think that Ms. Williams latest claim is unreliable. She didn't take the stand against the supposed perps. They were convicted on evidence after pleading guilty.
I do think that her "confession" shines a poor light on the work that was done on her behalf a couple of years ago. We are too often our own worst enemies. This story has been sad from the front because of Ms. Williams' mental disabilities. The person who would be able to shine the most light on the subject is apparently no longer here to do so. Sad.
Keith and Shawn - There is so much injustice taking place around the nation ... at times it is hard to keep up. One of the things I'm glad of is that I joined a weekly meme called Good News Tuesday. It forces me to seek out positive and upbeat stories about our culture. It keeps me from getting depressed about stories about Megan Williams...
ChangeSeeker -- Thinking on your karma with where you live. Methinks our karma would improve if we garnered enough wealth to move to our own private tropical islands. What say u? :)
peace, Villager
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