Woman pleads guilty to hate crime

CHARLESTON,W.Va – A Logan County woman has pleaded guilty to malicious wounding, assault and violating the civil rights of a Black woman allegedly held captive for days last summer. Karen Burton, 46, of Chapmanville entered her guilty plea Thursday in Log

Prosecutors say Williams was held captive for days at a trailer in the Big Creek area of Logan County. Williams says 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. Logan County Prosecuting Attorney Brian Abraham said Burton stabbed Williams in the ankle while saying, ‘

‘This is what we do to niggers down here.” Burton does not remember much of the abuses against 20-year-old MeganWilliams, but she does not deny them, Gregory said. In exchange for her guilty plea, the state dismissed a kidnapping charge, Abraham said. Burton faces up to 30 years in prison during her sentencing, which is set for March 3.

A total of seven people have been charged in the case. Two other defendants – Karen Burton’s daughter, 23-year-old Alisha Burton, and 27-yearold George A. Messer – each pleaded guilty Friday to one count of kidnapping and one count of assault during the commission of a felony. Messer and Alisha Burton, both of Chapmanville, were each sentenced to concurrent prison terms of 10 years on the kidnapping charge and 2 to 10 years on the assault charge, Abraham said. The other defendants are Bobby Brewster, 24; his mother, Frankie Brewster, 49, of Big Creek; Danny Combs, 20, of Harts; and Burton’s son, Linnie Burton Jr., 21.

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