CHARLESTON, W.Va. — One of several white people charged in the suspected kidnapping, torture and sexual assault of a black woman has been indicted on a hate-crime count, and two others have entered guilty pleas in the case.
Six people arrested after Megan Williams was rescued in September had been charged with counts that carry maximum life sentences, but until Tuesday’s indictments, no one had been charged with a hate crime. The issue has been a sore point among many of Williams’ supporters.
Karen Burton, 46, of Chapmanville was indicted on charges of committing a hate crime, kidnapping and malicious wounding. Indictments for three others had counts of kidnapping and sexual assault.
Prosecutors say Williams, 20, was held captive for days at a trailer, where she was forced to eat animal feces, sexually assaulted and stabbed. She was rescued Sept. 8 after an anonymous caller alerted Logan County sheriff’s deputies.
Burton was “a little surprised” by the hate-crime charge but relieved that a sexual assault count was not included in the indictment, said her attorney, Betty Gregory.
“She didn’t want her children to think anything like that about her,” Gregory said.
While noting that Burton has two biracial grandchildren whom “she dearly loves,” Gregory said part of Burton’s defense will be that she “has a significant history of child abuse from her own childhood.”
Two defendants — Burton’s daughter, Alisha Burton, 23, and George A. Messerm, 27 — pleaded guilty Friday and have agreed to testify.
