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牧师杀妻并冷冻她的尸体,而且乱伦,兽奸8 w* a% ^% l" f! q2 T) s8 x$ p. ?8 p
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100 ... /us_body_in_freezer
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Preacher convicted of killing wife, freezing body+ z7 H# G& h' N0 T! C+ P
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By MELISSA NELSON, Associated Press Writer Melissa Nelson, Associated : L" U8 }1 j/ E4 L" D
Press Writer – Fri Apr 9, 11:02 pm ET! R$ O# p6 d: k1 J+ ~) C3 E( L! o
MOBILE, Ala. – An Alabama evangelist who terrorized his family while 4 O8 n7 U- X/ Z$ O
impressing audiences at revivals was convicted Friday of murdering his + B, `. W7 z* C! C0 a7 a7 E
wife and storing her body in a freezer for years.% n7 h% V9 ~: }
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People who heard Anthony Hopkins' sermons in rural towns around the
$ C" _/ d9 l5 s! y9 S2 Y0 f% y fSouth sometimes called him a psychic or even a prophet. Yet a prosecutor
. d/ q0 r" r1 @% u* E6 T# `told jurors that Anthony Hopkins terrorized his wife and young children,
" G$ C1 k ]) Q8 e' F9 C5 a2 Gisolated them and used the Bible to manipulate them.9 q2 }- F8 }6 @, ]& }0 c( y
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"He was the supreme commander of his own little army," said Assistant $ O* }! O' V7 s6 q. S
District Attorney Jill Phillips.7 j: z$ S" z. @: r/ l" m+ R! O
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After deliberating for 1 1/2 hours, the jury in Mobile also found 39-5 `8 A' h# d q- y1 N5 F" _+ R
year-old Anthony Hopkins guilty of rape, sodomy, incest and sexual abuse 6 \& o9 w6 N( Q/ ?( X
of a child between the ages of 12 and 16.
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' z% U( m# g4 WHopkins was arrested in 2008 while preaching at a revival on charges : W ~5 g9 L) e; f2 n g
that he killed 36-year-old Arletha Hopkins. Authorities said they were
9 o( J$ P; V$ bled to the body of his wife by a teenage relative that Hopkins had
+ K% T5 g) S8 p, xabused and impregnated.
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Investigators say Hopkins killed his wife in a violent fight in 2004 ^! _5 d$ h+ w1 w) b: z
after she caught him having sex with the teenager. They said he then ' x: O5 A* V" t& s- e, W
stuffed the wife's body into a freezer at the Mobile home he shared with
2 G$ d6 V9 G, U2 J8 U9 L& Rher, the couple's six children and two of her children from a previous
$ @: [3 T; l) Orelationship.
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Hopkins showed no reaction on Friday as deputies handcuffed him and led , |9 q5 c! V8 r; z# q F" v
him from the court.
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6 B8 n( L: |+ ZChildren who grew up in his home and who had testified against him stood
& V; ]; ]' e3 B, Uin front row and hugged each other and cried as the verdict was read.3 _& |$ ~2 K" y6 |
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"There is nothing pleasing about any of this, it is all very
- i5 p' t& _; @3 b: V" mdisturbing," Ashley Rich, the prosecuting attorney, said afterwards. "A ; z3 Q# `+ d+ q
number of children have been harmed and the chances of them fully
: p9 O) K, L3 X$ {; O1 irecovering are slim."/ r" V5 r5 b _6 L4 P+ H# Q
5 X; B9 m" U( f6 w5 `Defense attorneys left court without answering questions.
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Hopkins told jurors Friday that he came home on a December evening in ) u! |7 R; \ {; l
2004 and found his wife dead on the floor, with the youngest of her
) b0 g N, G1 [) G9 N* reight children, an month-old infant, beside her./ J1 B/ k9 X( X' w
+ D7 k/ w1 v1 q3 W i8 q"I was shocked and I began to shake her, and I was like 'Letha, Letha
8 U, ~# S( a) s/ Z: E; X9 jare you alright?' I began to shake her, tilt her head back and do CPR,"
e% H! A5 n9 THopkins testified.
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( Z8 a+ V6 p- qHopkins served in the U.S. Army in Kazakhstan in the late 1990s and
4 z: n4 z; \6 [- Zearned a medal for his service. Hopkins was arrested in Saraland, near ( ?9 h. d8 I9 k5 H( I5 a, L
Mobile, in 1998 for being absent without leave from the U.S. Army in
, W, h; o4 g5 J+ B8 C5 j+ W$ GFort Bragg, N.C., from June 15, 1995, until April 6, 1998.
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& W* W b! C" \He testified Friday that he decided to leave the Army after he got
) a# y4 k+ i$ L3 O" zorders to serve in Korea and could not take his family with him.( A p2 i- j$ \5 L1 ?& R
: U/ ?/ N: w& G) m6 _! t' I, b$ a4 lIt was then he said that he had a calling to become an evangelist and
+ P$ Q; K5 b- }# rbegan preaching at churches and revivals around the rural South. He
' g( Y4 j' q" g5 mdeveloped a following because many who heard him preach considered him a ( _0 H( _6 A# M- c- \. z
prophet who could see the future., C; a; f7 w/ W) A) a; ^' y
! m, ]( G: d0 l4 S% |" x. ]) O+ [Six of the children who lived with the couple have been sent to live 1 ~2 y2 v; |2 h& Y; U
with in Georgia with Arletha Hopkins' stepmother Mary Best, who
! n+ S6 X; A k- e5 U6 R# I4 p# w% dcommended the jury.
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"They saw the same thing I did because it didn't take them long to
1 C: y* ~2 Q9 |" W; `+ A3 Lconvict him," she said after the verdict. |
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