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牧师杀妻并冷冻她的尸体,而且乱伦,兽奸' [! x5 _9 j' {- W( h
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100 ... /us_body_in_freezer( l, A4 `, R$ o2 Y+ ~4 w1 v
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+ ~6 T$ R! u3 g9 F& MPreacher convicted of killing wife, freezing body6 ~ Z' b! n. [
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By MELISSA NELSON, Associated Press Writer Melissa Nelson, Associated $ [) d: Q, w T. d! ~9 {4 P
Press Writer – Fri Apr 9, 11:02 pm ET/ ?% n5 K7 y, ^! [) s1 C1 W }
MOBILE, Ala. – An Alabama evangelist who terrorized his family while % k7 w" O8 A! V
impressing audiences at revivals was convicted Friday of murdering his - N' ~" m5 M8 W# `0 J! k$ n
wife and storing her body in a freezer for years.
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People who heard Anthony Hopkins' sermons in rural towns around the 1 _ P# E/ L. z% J5 g, `
South sometimes called him a psychic or even a prophet. Yet a prosecutor 6 \ {* x' t7 |. T
told jurors that Anthony Hopkins terrorized his wife and young children, ) }$ U; e7 u; B7 f
isolated them and used the Bible to manipulate them.' x$ p& H0 w+ j8 ~
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"He was the supreme commander of his own little army," said Assistant
0 b6 G: y: C% H/ o: MDistrict Attorney Jill Phillips.0 e5 H7 l1 J" \- l: i% m( Z
( i# }- h% |1 aAfter deliberating for 1 1/2 hours, the jury in Mobile also found 39-
& h; V/ V/ [6 }( Yyear-old Anthony Hopkins guilty of rape, sodomy, incest and sexual abuse / Q' U1 Q6 o: ?$ W; C
of a child between the ages of 12 and 16.
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Hopkins was arrested in 2008 while preaching at a revival on charges
- o, q: F5 ?! C* r. e2 Dthat he killed 36-year-old Arletha Hopkins. Authorities said they were ' R7 \3 n" _7 C0 m
led to the body of his wife by a teenage relative that Hopkins had
5 Y: l. z8 x) L0 m: n/ l- fabused and impregnated.
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Investigators say Hopkins killed his wife in a violent fight in 2004 & m8 J+ m+ t! p; {, N" n
after she caught him having sex with the teenager. They said he then
: R9 D. b9 E8 h% j$ [stuffed the wife's body into a freezer at the Mobile home he shared with
1 y0 u7 Q; ~. |' lher, the couple's six children and two of her children from a previous
4 Q* v+ R; f9 @3 D8 k6 Xrelationship.7 k1 G9 i# l6 _# Z* l
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Hopkins showed no reaction on Friday as deputies handcuffed him and led ) w2 T% F/ p2 f
him from the court.+ K( D3 n7 P& O
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Children who grew up in his home and who had testified against him stood 4 q$ H6 L: z- f5 Z9 v& G
in front row and hugged each other and cried as the verdict was read.9 ?9 f" @, p# t( I
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"There is nothing pleasing about any of this, it is all very
: I; Y1 s! _% K4 n7 ~: Udisturbing," Ashley Rich, the prosecuting attorney, said afterwards. "A
6 f/ U2 `/ v5 pnumber of children have been harmed and the chances of them fully
" t3 e. z& m5 urecovering are slim."4 v7 r z) a) c& z
+ x) d0 I* }3 ]7 g2 a! ]Defense attorneys left court without answering questions.
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& i8 O7 ~: B$ Y, ~, H3 H$ E$ BHopkins told jurors Friday that he came home on a December evening in 9 N& O6 Z' G3 }
2004 and found his wife dead on the floor, with the youngest of her
% V9 i N$ O3 n5 |eight children, an month-old infant, beside her.; S* `5 [5 y4 Z$ {
7 _3 o& H! U0 ^6 r+ B$ R: C# Q- E"I was shocked and I began to shake her, and I was like 'Letha, Letha # {7 K+ ]( r" B- @+ e
are you alright?' I began to shake her, tilt her head back and do CPR,"
3 U0 Q2 L/ ]9 q2 sHopkins testified./ j2 M8 L* r( r U0 X) L& ?
8 h" W1 P5 y4 V7 v7 a6 e JHopkins served in the U.S. Army in Kazakhstan in the late 1990s and
: i" Q7 q9 K3 e4 f$ P e4 B' |earned a medal for his service. Hopkins was arrested in Saraland, near $ J& e$ \9 `: ~" S
Mobile, in 1998 for being absent without leave from the U.S. Army in u5 l$ @( Z! Q% @2 G
Fort Bragg, N.C., from June 15, 1995, until April 6, 1998.( h0 w. b0 n6 w' l6 ~' [! }
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He testified Friday that he decided to leave the Army after he got
. K% l) M0 W7 Y7 [" D9 G1 W( horders to serve in Korea and could not take his family with him.5 E/ C) G: k" l! l7 L2 z0 L0 S6 a0 `
; F" i5 o) }( u6 c2 OIt was then he said that he had a calling to become an evangelist and
' _7 D \: h& ~began preaching at churches and revivals around the rural South. He
5 R9 H4 B3 |' z6 f: Rdeveloped a following because many who heard him preach considered him a * U( ]! [9 B, |
prophet who could see the future.' f% L2 m6 P% M' K. z4 f" \
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Six of the children who lived with the couple have been sent to live
, i9 S/ ?4 R1 }4 |with in Georgia with Arletha Hopkins' stepmother Mary Best, who
" E) T, m( e4 W4 m& n; Acommended the jury.& B) L" ~* q K5 q
* r: r6 a( [, t! C$ ^2 G$ Y"They saw the same thing I did because it didn't take them long to
2 ?6 N+ r5 O. x) n, m5 [& Dconvict him," she said after the verdict. |
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