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牧师杀妻并冷冻她的尸体,而且乱伦,兽奸4 r% h U& ^ \8 M1 _6 J6 `# D) E
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100 ... /us_body_in_freezer
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Preacher convicted of killing wife, freezing body
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By MELISSA NELSON, Associated Press Writer Melissa Nelson, Associated
- ~, J7 z# K/ t# g+ q( N& FPress Writer – Fri Apr 9, 11:02 pm ET
$ M/ k& A# O4 e3 ]MOBILE, Ala. – An Alabama evangelist who terrorized his family while
; ]& q. U% s0 A9 d6 jimpressing audiences at revivals was convicted Friday of murdering his , E6 T7 Z5 W0 h" @( w
wife and storing her body in a freezer for years.1 }, k0 ^3 _0 C
( Z; K( x; ^' |2 _6 @6 o5 E$ E$ jPeople who heard Anthony Hopkins' sermons in rural towns around the
9 \" R$ L8 j) p# X3 \- @0 H' mSouth sometimes called him a psychic or even a prophet. Yet a prosecutor
" t2 z1 K- v3 itold jurors that Anthony Hopkins terrorized his wife and young children,
1 @7 q, X( i* g) G$ q9 a" `9 iisolated them and used the Bible to manipulate them.4 y! X& s9 Q; E* ]8 j6 h
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"He was the supreme commander of his own little army," said Assistant 7 o, i# L k8 d! L7 Y1 {! ^
District Attorney Jill Phillips.7 }" o, M4 b; ]5 ]5 c
/ c9 c/ @$ ^ GAfter deliberating for 1 1/2 hours, the jury in Mobile also found 39-( w( X+ L; a4 `% R) ]
year-old Anthony Hopkins guilty of rape, sodomy, incest and sexual abuse
: U$ u5 b- h& ^3 fof a child between the ages of 12 and 16.2 l/ I9 n( t* x8 E% E4 ^" {. q* q
/ g. ~" R2 N9 Q0 U! C2 E! ]Hopkins was arrested in 2008 while preaching at a revival on charges
! Y v+ t0 D: \8 \6 p2 v8 \that he killed 36-year-old Arletha Hopkins. Authorities said they were
" L' d$ ^* C) x9 m5 G: s/ Fled to the body of his wife by a teenage relative that Hopkins had # V6 g H* B4 K
abused and impregnated.
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& ] G! T- n; B3 W6 p- Q% [* aInvestigators say Hopkins killed his wife in a violent fight in 2004
$ M6 o0 Z; A, n9 f9 D5 U2 o* k" aafter she caught him having sex with the teenager. They said he then
/ @( n; L( p* _5 Nstuffed the wife's body into a freezer at the Mobile home he shared with
# i$ ^! Q1 j9 u/ R$ R: n0 j, q4 Wher, the couple's six children and two of her children from a previous
5 C7 O$ i9 R$ [, A# b' E9 arelationship.& [ } H, j, F+ X+ C. e; ?
' Y( x$ s5 \5 s( L4 h% kHopkins showed no reaction on Friday as deputies handcuffed him and led ) [& K- D7 c# q4 a
him from the court.! I* Z9 s$ c" r/ p: T, H7 C
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Children who grew up in his home and who had testified against him stood . u8 ?9 v# g1 J, e/ y
in front row and hugged each other and cried as the verdict was read.! `9 f5 ^- n- V
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"There is nothing pleasing about any of this, it is all very 5 X9 y2 V/ v8 U }1 E1 K6 y
disturbing," Ashley Rich, the prosecuting attorney, said afterwards. "A 3 p( x' l1 w* f1 h: ]' ~! H
number of children have been harmed and the chances of them fully u6 l# i# ]2 b1 p
recovering are slim."! m3 t# u4 v0 R7 V" ~# \5 E# f
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Defense attorneys left court without answering questions.
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Hopkins told jurors Friday that he came home on a December evening in F0 R1 `+ H* S: X' C$ x* h8 ~
2004 and found his wife dead on the floor, with the youngest of her
3 X# _" ?' Y& N9 {eight children, an month-old infant, beside her. v9 E! ]9 u( ~) ]2 L, J" v$ h
% D! T! Y% [3 Q. V8 d/ N x"I was shocked and I began to shake her, and I was like 'Letha, Letha 9 c9 w4 M: q. w) E- p6 m; e
are you alright?' I began to shake her, tilt her head back and do CPR," ) Z- M$ u4 D; f/ V
Hopkins testified.
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5 M. o9 |% U" O" DHopkins served in the U.S. Army in Kazakhstan in the late 1990s and 0 H' ^+ E5 _. ]1 z
earned a medal for his service. Hopkins was arrested in Saraland, near
: ]( T8 H1 J" h3 X9 }+ T7 M( PMobile, in 1998 for being absent without leave from the U.S. Army in 9 K) V/ e( y$ S5 Z1 W; J4 \$ h
Fort Bragg, N.C., from June 15, 1995, until April 6, 1998.
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' ~- z2 ~- f; R$ m) r [; n+ XHe testified Friday that he decided to leave the Army after he got / ]2 N: L8 X/ b# p0 h5 |- f3 ]
orders to serve in Korea and could not take his family with him.
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: o. b' | {6 k; L3 ]3 TIt was then he said that he had a calling to become an evangelist and
) `( I8 v1 Z$ ebegan preaching at churches and revivals around the rural South. He
6 u5 m8 s" T& B' H( z0 T& ?developed a following because many who heard him preach considered him a % k1 c3 H5 y+ L4 w! A; c. Y
prophet who could see the future.0 ~$ G3 n: b) C
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Six of the children who lived with the couple have been sent to live
9 S: o; D3 }, B% Y! l1 Bwith in Georgia with Arletha Hopkins' stepmother Mary Best, who 6 o% w8 G" T1 g1 O- a) C8 f
commended the jury.
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/ ^. Z1 e' v- `1 j5 y% H4 _# }, x"They saw the same thing I did because it didn't take them long to
1 j7 }! Q$ S9 C# I6 T( Wconvict him," she said after the verdict. |
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