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牧师杀妻并冷冻她的尸体,而且乱伦,兽奸
0 |' {+ u. A% ?) }http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100 ... /us_body_in_freezer$ Q8 @- J: d9 K$ n @( H9 m
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Preacher convicted of killing wife, freezing body# H0 w, G0 z: F5 E
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By MELISSA NELSON, Associated Press Writer Melissa Nelson, Associated
: f- l) {5 f& |6 ]4 T4 E: RPress Writer – Fri Apr 9, 11:02 pm ET( O4 x& M6 Q( s2 n
MOBILE, Ala. – An Alabama evangelist who terrorized his family while 5 ]$ K, w/ Q7 J3 p+ J8 ^ d
impressing audiences at revivals was convicted Friday of murdering his
9 T( y% y" z! h, j8 Owife and storing her body in a freezer for years.
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People who heard Anthony Hopkins' sermons in rural towns around the
( o) q* T3 c! b4 P/ o2 t0 x& WSouth sometimes called him a psychic or even a prophet. Yet a prosecutor
" |. ?, S* X( e5 Wtold jurors that Anthony Hopkins terrorized his wife and young children,
1 I8 P% }3 a. s# @5 E+ S& o4 qisolated them and used the Bible to manipulate them.
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+ U6 \ u% Y: Z"He was the supreme commander of his own little army," said Assistant
1 L* Z j# \9 a! p6 e8 hDistrict Attorney Jill Phillips.) k" o4 K5 t. v6 a1 c4 j
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After deliberating for 1 1/2 hours, the jury in Mobile also found 39-3 v) q! O) Z2 w4 J' e
year-old Anthony Hopkins guilty of rape, sodomy, incest and sexual abuse 0 H. H% ]5 B- |: G9 s* c; X
of a child between the ages of 12 and 16.
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% o2 N7 L |; W0 v$ i2 YHopkins was arrested in 2008 while preaching at a revival on charges
% o: M: p8 o, Sthat he killed 36-year-old Arletha Hopkins. Authorities said they were
" e x( M1 c# x j% Mled to the body of his wife by a teenage relative that Hopkins had
( x# Z9 z5 \6 ^abused and impregnated.
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& }( l7 v8 R! x) A; x5 |Investigators say Hopkins killed his wife in a violent fight in 2004
: v& s4 ~: O J7 X* t. i5 f5 yafter she caught him having sex with the teenager. They said he then $ y( ~' w7 X# p/ i. G( K
stuffed the wife's body into a freezer at the Mobile home he shared with ; R5 z7 f0 x& I* ~
her, the couple's six children and two of her children from a previous $ z9 m$ E' }6 G; R' m
relationship." v( C6 G( R6 k0 k0 _8 v0 M& a
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Hopkins showed no reaction on Friday as deputies handcuffed him and led % {5 v# E* C5 g O4 I5 o, M
him from the court.
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Children who grew up in his home and who had testified against him stood
! o0 s9 C) O4 S! w$ l3 D( vin front row and hugged each other and cried as the verdict was read.5 R; y5 s5 ^* n/ `+ c0 |
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"There is nothing pleasing about any of this, it is all very
6 [# J9 K* R& s6 [disturbing," Ashley Rich, the prosecuting attorney, said afterwards. "A 1 M6 f7 e* ]/ B; e( [- J# Y5 |) D$ p
number of children have been harmed and the chances of them fully
! H0 T0 r& u& ~2 [1 yrecovering are slim."' y" E1 ~$ a. ^7 ~
: E9 A! u1 _6 D: G4 k0 XDefense attorneys left court without answering questions.
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Hopkins told jurors Friday that he came home on a December evening in
8 p+ n0 _7 V: L9 v" N4 s4 d. I2004 and found his wife dead on the floor, with the youngest of her
1 K2 X: K, u# {3 c+ aeight 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
- W7 }5 p3 I/ O5 qare you alright?' I began to shake her, tilt her head back and do CPR," d7 l p& K$ m x
Hopkins testified.
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2 s/ t. S' K" _2 T( `7 r5 R# v' `" UHopkins served in the U.S. Army in Kazakhstan in the late 1990s and 4 ^2 x0 I t3 M: w2 T/ f6 X$ J
earned a medal for his service. Hopkins was arrested in Saraland, near % i0 ~/ [; ~( _
Mobile, in 1998 for being absent without leave from the U.S. Army in
- d) j3 z/ T. s) c: q8 N. ZFort Bragg, N.C., from June 15, 1995, until April 6, 1998.4 N7 @0 A! h+ U7 c& Q, Y% ^; @
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He testified Friday that he decided to leave the Army after he got ( q( n5 }. X! ]3 d$ F
orders to serve in Korea and could not take his family with him.
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9 q0 m% N K" SIt was then he said that he had a calling to become an evangelist and
! k% t4 E+ }. n1 q" L4 S# i) e3 Bbegan preaching at churches and revivals around the rural South. He * U: |+ x6 R, E$ s6 y& A. m5 j+ V
developed a following because many who heard him preach considered him a
$ j' v2 Z% \( a6 {prophet who could see the future.
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5 k6 t" u/ Y1 QSix of the children who lived with the couple have been sent to live N3 a A2 A+ n! F. F& R/ i" J
with in Georgia with Arletha Hopkins' stepmother Mary Best, who 2 Z9 V4 r [8 B" j
commended the jury. c& }" ?: p A" U. W" }* R3 ^7 C ^. y7 U3 s
1 q2 f/ H; _4 o' } N; m4 X"They saw the same thing I did because it didn't take them long to
- v! h8 T% h& o$ j; jconvict him," she said after the verdict. |
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