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牧师杀妻并冷冻她的尸体,而且乱伦,兽奸
$ W; U+ G% D$ }- O$ x1 i" o+ _http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100 ... /us_body_in_freezer
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q) b# { f1 K9 ?* oPreacher convicted of killing wife, freezing body3 C" x7 ~( s4 D% K4 [# X
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By MELISSA NELSON, Associated Press Writer Melissa Nelson, Associated
5 `: ~8 X: L0 \! u5 y& d; RPress Writer – Fri Apr 9, 11:02 pm ET3 `! t( t' f6 H; }6 F; g1 e+ |
MOBILE, Ala. – An Alabama evangelist who terrorized his family while
/ X; a, }' @1 }0 w- V7 vimpressing audiences at revivals was convicted Friday of murdering his
$ G0 B5 H0 p; P( y" d6 Vwife and storing her body in a freezer for years.
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People who heard Anthony Hopkins' sermons in rural towns around the
+ q: g; s$ G4 e5 h: `+ Z2 }! f$ O$ FSouth sometimes called him a psychic or even a prophet. Yet a prosecutor 5 f( J4 R1 Z( g# c4 @7 K/ ~
told jurors that Anthony Hopkins terrorized his wife and young children,
5 r2 i, c; |9 \0 b2 E0 `4 lisolated them and used the Bible to manipulate them.
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& A5 \2 t7 K/ F"He was the supreme commander of his own little army," said Assistant + ?" f N; N% s r; H
District Attorney Jill Phillips.0 I/ z H0 t! A8 j/ L
; ~9 E6 o$ ]6 t1 B% b) iAfter deliberating for 1 1/2 hours, the jury in Mobile also found 39-
( W' q4 B1 E" J( N0 I2 }. uyear-old Anthony Hopkins guilty of rape, sodomy, incest and sexual abuse
2 ^- v* N# R k8 V( Sof a child between the ages of 12 and 16.
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9 }: m6 N( \1 R+ e" o3 AHopkins was arrested in 2008 while preaching at a revival on charges
( |4 \7 [: {2 z/ Mthat he killed 36-year-old Arletha Hopkins. Authorities said they were
( ]2 f. g1 @7 [: y$ v; H: p+ Gled to the body of his wife by a teenage relative that Hopkins had
" ^: F q: w: n4 {9 cabused and impregnated.
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0 Q$ l( l" B; z* QInvestigators say Hopkins killed his wife in a violent fight in 2004
7 O2 I2 P7 H& k* z) f9 a5 K% Cafter she caught him having sex with the teenager. They said he then
5 x# \; ~% ?4 Bstuffed the wife's body into a freezer at the Mobile home he shared with
* Q+ w: v1 D* dher, the couple's six children and two of her children from a previous 0 C/ `- n, j# E; p) ]
relationship.$ j6 K$ S4 W. ]) K+ n
. M8 k6 j7 r, SHopkins showed no reaction on Friday as deputies handcuffed him and led
/ }6 R$ d" g) g( ~him from the court.% f; h) O; _* A1 w5 F! P
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Children who grew up in his home and who had testified against him stood ' q3 F7 w0 b% `6 E U) r5 q
in front row and hugged each other and cried as the verdict was read.+ u+ u2 j& B+ P) E" |
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"There is nothing pleasing about any of this, it is all very
& i6 F. n& S2 y+ q+ edisturbing," Ashley Rich, the prosecuting attorney, said afterwards. "A 6 S7 K/ F$ s* x
number of children have been harmed and the chances of them fully ! K& L9 ^4 f+ T7 B& G4 `) Z8 {
recovering are slim."
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Defense attorneys left court without answering questions.3 X% @( K$ b) v& e) E, j% {
2 ^; R i& Y9 n! e! S, _4 T1 x3 D7 aHopkins told jurors Friday that he came home on a December evening in ! y! ^3 |; k+ O G, c
2004 and found his wife dead on the floor, with the youngest of her " ^5 R5 h1 f: Y! d/ {1 }0 |
eight children, an month-old infant, beside her.
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"I was shocked and I began to shake her, and I was like 'Letha, Letha
8 L8 L9 k% Q+ q9 l" V) K5 fare you alright?' I began to shake her, tilt her head back and do CPR," % k; s7 T8 ~# H. A4 h
Hopkins testified.# e/ s. J2 X/ M$ ?5 V' X/ J4 ~
1 g3 h6 b T$ ^$ B- g( {Hopkins served in the U.S. Army in Kazakhstan in the late 1990s and o) S C# Y$ C* D9 N9 G
earned a medal for his service. Hopkins was arrested in Saraland, near
$ U0 ^5 L5 t/ c1 N# h. N; XMobile, in 1998 for being absent without leave from the U.S. Army in
q4 l# B# G) O2 fFort Bragg, N.C., from June 15, 1995, until April 6, 1998.
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He testified Friday that he decided to leave the Army after he got
1 x# L5 k; J2 q* g# P& c7 Y2 Forders to serve in Korea and could not take his family with him.
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It was then he said that he had a calling to become an evangelist and . G" e* ~# d0 q; Y9 ^" b
began preaching at churches and revivals around the rural South. He
% O" d9 x1 n( Z% \. n4 mdeveloped a following because many who heard him preach considered him a
$ y0 T; E0 d9 V+ sprophet who could see the future.
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Six of the children who lived with the couple have been sent to live
$ \; [/ T! `# D9 h; z1 Cwith in Georgia with Arletha Hopkins' stepmother Mary Best, who
- e8 X# E3 z. p- q5 ~commended the jury.
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9 ~ L; n$ f1 i9 T% v"They saw the same thing I did because it didn't take them long to 5 G9 \* p) R/ m7 p/ D
convict him," she said after the verdict. |
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