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牧师杀妻并冷冻她的尸体,而且乱伦,兽奸
/ H5 e4 @2 G2 [1 Yhttp://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100 ... /us_body_in_freezer
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" b- k# m! U: Z5 \, `+ V' g& S* A- PPreacher convicted of killing wife, freezing body
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) B; g) ?3 n, o" G% Z( HBy MELISSA NELSON, Associated Press Writer Melissa Nelson, Associated
; ~# C. u1 k! ^: M& z! x) r& jPress Writer – Fri Apr 9, 11:02 pm ET* c5 q3 v' g& }& X
MOBILE, Ala. – An Alabama evangelist who terrorized his family while
# j; \& V# A! `; [impressing audiences at revivals was convicted Friday of murdering his
, d* C& C. Z! m; U/ ~" z6 Lwife and storing her body in a freezer for years.
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9 ]0 g" Y& [7 _7 s/ U; `4 j) Y* MPeople who heard Anthony Hopkins' sermons in rural towns around the 3 S! B7 z6 H* s ^' h
South sometimes called him a psychic or even a prophet. Yet a prosecutor - h. C! t5 m2 k4 ~5 ~
told jurors that Anthony Hopkins terrorized his wife and young children, 2 ]: A. i7 S1 J \
isolated them and used the Bible to manipulate them.
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- T1 X7 `1 z2 v6 y7 u _- p C"He was the supreme commander of his own little army," said Assistant
5 O3 r! m4 V0 z6 X; c) p- g( x/ IDistrict Attorney Jill Phillips.
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9 c9 m9 J f6 k" [$ JAfter deliberating for 1 1/2 hours, the jury in Mobile also found 39-6 @( P5 V+ z% A6 L* d
year-old Anthony Hopkins guilty of rape, sodomy, incest and sexual abuse 8 v" D9 o1 Q& y8 d
of a child between the ages of 12 and 16.
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1 E5 I: }% e& I6 j2 A9 c: L' |! UHopkins was arrested in 2008 while preaching at a revival on charges & j+ k& F# y3 V, s, L% j
that he killed 36-year-old Arletha Hopkins. Authorities said they were ) C" P! y# f i) [+ O
led to the body of his wife by a teenage relative that Hopkins had 3 m' T/ B8 u; b1 ]
abused and impregnated.
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7 y! A* {( @6 u0 jInvestigators say Hopkins killed his wife in a violent fight in 2004
1 F2 A# w" b; ?6 `+ Oafter she caught him having sex with the teenager. They said he then
l ^. |/ H9 Z8 I8 `* ^3 O8 Y0 kstuffed the wife's body into a freezer at the Mobile home he shared with
) P8 R n, i4 b. C* d/ bher, the couple's six children and two of her children from a previous + o2 q( @8 a# _( ^
relationship.
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Hopkins showed no reaction on Friday as deputies handcuffed him and led
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Children who grew up in his home and who had testified against him stood : R) }& g q" c$ b
in front row and hugged each other and cried as the verdict was read.
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"There is nothing pleasing about any of this, it is all very
3 n0 j6 X4 P Ydisturbing," Ashley Rich, the prosecuting attorney, said afterwards. "A K+ I' c4 ]. p' l( S; O9 A: }
number of children have been harmed and the chances of them fully 1 T2 ]4 B% \+ T5 G4 x- x
recovering are slim."
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7 O" P' F1 ~8 K+ |$ dDefense attorneys left court without answering questions./ }7 ]! P) e8 G' Y4 J5 \; `6 [
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Hopkins told jurors Friday that he came home on a December evening in ; | F! s, K0 a+ n! O: b7 i5 @) `" M
2004 and found his wife dead on the floor, with the youngest of her 0 ?" c& i9 l5 s5 K
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
/ {2 [- @2 v [- v J* Jare you alright?' I began to shake her, tilt her head back and do CPR,"
+ A/ O# x* f5 ]) X& n" MHopkins testified.
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Hopkins served in the U.S. Army in Kazakhstan in the late 1990s and
$ `: ~1 ]$ T9 i8 B7 Searned a medal for his service. Hopkins was arrested in Saraland, near 3 }, `0 |% S* |* @
Mobile, in 1998 for being absent without leave from the U.S. Army in
3 C9 N( P1 U' |7 h& l0 D r2 wFort 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 k7 D" K6 k8 q2 I4 _$ Borders to serve in Korea and could not take his family with him.( _9 F# H+ a# N1 _& H& U; T
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It was then he said that he had a calling to become an evangelist and
0 @" u# s f( v* x3 Nbegan preaching at churches and revivals around the rural South. He
& i! N! A% ?( ~5 x% u0 Gdeveloped a following because many who heard him preach considered him a $ q2 w" ~. A$ N$ @* y6 X3 y% x1 g
prophet who could see the future.+ T7 l+ T; {8 @" A* `- k+ l; k0 D
! p- J8 e" ?. [* [2 ?9 A( GSix of the children who lived with the couple have been sent to live " B% u. ]9 i% i7 S' L; r" M
with in Georgia with Arletha Hopkins' stepmother Mary Best, who / B# Q J" I# u L( F
commended the jury.
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6 p$ E$ y( h5 \" q! h4 B2 r* F"They saw the same thing I did because it didn't take them long to 7 Z/ O3 c6 ~5 o! A/ v+ |% e: b
convict him," she said after the verdict. |
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