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牧师杀妻并冷冻她的尸体,而且乱伦,兽奸) S3 |4 h+ }1 j" b( O4 ^4 q+ x) e
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100 ... /us_body_in_freezer% @1 e! b4 K @5 D' Q0 O! B4 ?
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' v: N2 S8 i7 aPreacher convicted of killing wife, freezing body
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! A+ _5 \4 I- m4 iBy MELISSA NELSON, Associated Press Writer Melissa Nelson, Associated
" i3 d3 ]) p% j3 D; W) wPress Writer – Fri Apr 9, 11:02 pm ET
5 Y* Z+ |. j2 v1 kMOBILE, Ala. – An Alabama evangelist who terrorized his family while $ E! {2 A8 A' E; }1 M, L$ k0 [' B3 L
impressing audiences at revivals was convicted Friday of murdering his
3 _( O: X+ K# e" hwife and storing her body in a freezer for years.8 y; J& y/ z [3 W0 H
0 v7 ?+ g+ U( ?People who heard Anthony Hopkins' sermons in rural towns around the . y, p G) d7 a- d/ G2 Z; \5 L5 ^+ i
South sometimes called him a psychic or even a prophet. Yet a prosecutor
9 F) ]. U+ U a6 s& Gtold jurors that Anthony Hopkins terrorized his wife and young children,
0 R$ ^' g9 [( Q+ Iisolated them and used the Bible to manipulate them.1 c( L3 V, N! G7 M/ S! L
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"He was the supreme commander of his own little army," said Assistant
3 k/ [, `7 V' b E$ N% XDistrict Attorney Jill Phillips.0 C$ `. _ Q. p7 p( |* d8 d0 q/ p
- h" E8 z2 ^# CAfter deliberating for 1 1/2 hours, the jury in Mobile also found 39-$ ]1 i) c; T6 Z7 Q
year-old Anthony Hopkins guilty of rape, sodomy, incest and sexual abuse
, R Q6 {8 h: G$ {4 l7 xof a child between the ages of 12 and 16./ D3 K3 j5 S6 M8 ?
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Hopkins was arrested in 2008 while preaching at a revival on charges 3 _+ _9 V: p! H/ n4 M: ^% s! q7 O
that he killed 36-year-old Arletha Hopkins. Authorities said they were $ a. ] s6 r0 K( E
led to the body of his wife by a teenage relative that Hopkins had
* P! g# ]: Q6 B# Q! n, Vabused and impregnated." C1 u( U0 q/ m& r1 U& o) l
3 w% r: y9 G: QInvestigators say Hopkins killed his wife in a violent fight in 2004
+ P# W% s& o1 _2 `after she caught him having sex with the teenager. They said he then
+ J3 @2 t" l: e! s sstuffed the wife's body into a freezer at the Mobile home he shared with 7 A" x" r; I# w4 M
her, the couple's six children and two of her children from a previous
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: h- O8 w4 Q+ t( oHopkins showed no reaction on Friday as deputies handcuffed him and led
) ~" q& h+ f4 b9 Hhim from the court.( d) l! h# F) W; h
, H* G6 ?/ n) LChildren who grew up in his home and who had testified against him stood , O! ?8 t# S4 n& a
in front row and hugged each other and cried as the verdict was read.1 m; X/ a: k* p" D9 \8 y
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"There is nothing pleasing about any of this, it is all very & `6 b2 Q% O& x: U; F9 w( L
disturbing," Ashley Rich, the prosecuting attorney, said afterwards. "A 3 r5 W% E- ~1 f
number of children have been harmed and the chances of them fully * {) B; I, O5 A6 S" x
recovering are slim."
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Defense attorneys left court without answering questions.2 S7 N* J4 c d- S( X' u2 j9 P* ~
/ `. Y8 C1 r/ [' Q# JHopkins told jurors Friday that he came home on a December evening in 2 { Q# ~. X% F
2004 and found his wife dead on the floor, with the youngest of her
3 R* S4 t8 [. `/ y" z" Z6 jeight children, an month-old infant, beside her.) B6 x& u/ ^1 p( P
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"I was shocked and I began to shake her, and I was like 'Letha, Letha ; L O$ K' C- ~
are you alright?' I began to shake her, tilt her head back and do CPR," % Q" K' o4 M9 M0 ^. l
Hopkins testified.
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Hopkins served in the U.S. Army in Kazakhstan in the late 1990s and
5 {9 v, V' A kearned a medal for his service. Hopkins was arrested in Saraland, near
, z$ U) ?) K1 F. g& k4 eMobile, in 1998 for being absent without leave from the U.S. Army in 2 k! m; p$ Q0 ~3 H
Fort Bragg, N.C., from June 15, 1995, until April 6, 1998.% v1 e) R- \$ R3 Z
3 ^4 B5 b: ]. K+ Z( ]He testified Friday that he decided to leave the Army after he got
: k T9 b3 o L, norders 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
7 D; e' j& h1 Obegan preaching at churches and revivals around the rural South. He - Z7 D& M) T9 V; q" a1 x
developed a following because many who heard him preach considered him a
. j) H( Y: t6 @0 t3 Vprophet who could see the future.
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9 y5 w9 p8 P/ nSix of the children who lived with the couple have been sent to live ) W' ?% _8 u6 ?; J8 e
with in Georgia with Arletha Hopkins' stepmother Mary Best, who
: r6 u: q2 ~ D$ ^, s( j: d; fcommended the jury.
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"They saw the same thing I did because it didn't take them long to
9 K/ A4 x" ]2 a! |convict him," she said after the verdict. |
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