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牧师杀妻并冷冻她的尸体,而且乱伦,兽奸
8 W' _- o, P2 W2 O; Bhttp://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100 ... /us_body_in_freezer
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5 E. ^* D9 Y8 J8 v( nPreacher convicted of killing wife, freezing body
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By MELISSA NELSON, Associated Press Writer Melissa Nelson, Associated
+ p- Y$ B/ o g. {& i6 GPress Writer – Fri Apr 9, 11:02 pm ET
- _: f0 K9 i* C8 L) g% j& SMOBILE, Ala. – An Alabama evangelist who terrorized his family while ' X8 Z! i1 s7 u
impressing audiences at revivals was convicted Friday of murdering his / ~8 V9 r( m. ?
wife and storing her body in a freezer for years.& J( S7 c4 F3 {) [. S$ h4 Q
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People who heard Anthony Hopkins' sermons in rural towns around the
/ Q% U, D3 C3 `( |1 KSouth sometimes called him a psychic or even a prophet. Yet a prosecutor # N& G* [* r3 V+ I5 v9 L+ _9 E
told jurors that Anthony Hopkins terrorized his wife and young children,
8 K# @/ |! F2 }0 O; qisolated them and used the Bible to manipulate them. V( `/ r" B) d* @4 H% j) f" s
l" D% k @5 V c; b( j"He was the supreme commander of his own little army," said Assistant # k; P7 m; F) P. W* n
District Attorney Jill Phillips.
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After deliberating for 1 1/2 hours, the jury in Mobile also found 39-8 M# Q1 j$ }7 D* M& F/ d
year-old Anthony Hopkins guilty of rape, sodomy, incest and sexual abuse
/ P2 s8 f. K, ]* T0 e* d `, pof a child between the ages of 12 and 16.# f7 r' W4 P7 Z) S, ]* O
' }0 Z" g' P% X i. {" PHopkins was arrested in 2008 while preaching at a revival on charges * E* \- {& r5 V( a( o, T
that he killed 36-year-old Arletha Hopkins. Authorities said they were
- C9 P; K( [& M3 o6 a. Wled to the body of his wife by a teenage relative that Hopkins had ; |) P" F9 V/ U+ L' i
abused and impregnated.
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! r- l) _& }( T7 X2 UInvestigators say Hopkins killed his wife in a violent fight in 2004 / b2 O* q6 F! g* `/ b
after she caught him having sex with the teenager. They said he then
9 S5 P }3 r( W& v7 }! @& nstuffed the wife's body into a freezer at the Mobile home he shared with 0 {3 H l' x. ~; e: \
her, the couple's six children and two of her children from a previous
, e# `5 W7 e6 ?+ W9 k# v& Lrelationship.
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3 V. x7 a- _( L2 jHopkins showed no reaction on Friday as deputies handcuffed him and led 6 m1 I6 E% }5 o2 p
him from the court.
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T+ g' w$ S* H) j# J8 n. MChildren who grew up in his home and who had testified against him stood , j5 v% O. ^8 x% S9 ]
in front row and hugged each other and cried as the verdict was read." v9 _+ a: J6 Y% S3 g% v
* m- v: x3 ^9 L) ~' B"There is nothing pleasing about any of this, it is all very 0 e3 |$ b+ Z8 f% B
disturbing," Ashley Rich, the prosecuting attorney, said afterwards. "A
, @. B! S$ G3 P9 ~* [/ Ynumber of children have been harmed and the chances of them fully 2 u4 C6 s- y" P( s/ b# H
recovering are slim."
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Defense attorneys left court without answering questions.* x b2 V/ S" x" v% t5 o1 ]
+ d: u4 R0 x& A$ }8 VHopkins told jurors Friday that he came home on a December evening in
2 G7 }8 f, d$ V7 {2004 and found his wife dead on the floor, with the youngest of her & V- d! {5 `& \" t0 |) j* a8 B
eight children, an month-old infant, beside her.
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3 ?8 w! I# t4 a8 V+ s"I was shocked and I began to shake her, and I was like 'Letha, Letha
0 R! R" b! a! ~5 |4 Q2 h. R5 s0 fare you alright?' I began to shake her, tilt her head back and do CPR,"
. h4 B4 d3 H1 LHopkins testified.
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O' C5 V$ M% r/ A& rHopkins served in the U.S. Army in Kazakhstan in the late 1990s and
: `, \" \# M" h! T+ I; F7 B8 jearned a medal for his service. Hopkins was arrested in Saraland, near % c$ ~1 r. I; r8 U
Mobile, in 1998 for being absent without leave from the U.S. Army in , w+ U; o5 S' s) X. r. f9 G* s
Fort Bragg, N.C., from June 15, 1995, until April 6, 1998.; p. s0 H4 S9 u# w1 k
. B3 m7 N, |* q, j" aHe testified Friday that he decided to leave the Army after he got
2 l/ |# m/ i7 g* P# v0 `orders to serve in Korea and could not take his family with him.
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; o8 @. l# S9 nIt was then he said that he had a calling to become an evangelist and
+ J6 v1 P& |8 R7 Y+ S0 F2 bbegan preaching at churches and revivals around the rural South. He - A& d2 z* d" d5 f
developed a following because many who heard him preach considered him a
) Q% }: Z+ q3 ], R" nprophet who could see the future.
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Six of the children who lived with the couple have been sent to live 0 r: }3 x! A1 G4 Y( z* s
with in Georgia with Arletha Hopkins' stepmother Mary Best, who ) d" k6 [* g2 n% P; t3 U" x
commended the jury.
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"They saw the same thing I did because it didn't take them long to 9 P( I! o0 @) n! \/ ^3 Y0 `
convict him," she said after the verdict. |
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