It's the first time legal scholars can remember a hate crime being prosecuted in West Virginia. Two white suspects have admitted their roles in the alleged kidnapping and torture of a young black woman and five others have been indicted.

Prosecutors say 20-year-old Megan Williams was held captive for days at a trailer in Big Creek, where she was forced to eat animal feces, sexually assaulted and stabbed by six white men and women. The black woman was rescued September 8 after an anonymous caller alerted Logan County sheriff's deputies.

West Virginia University sociology professor Jim Nolan says the Williams case is a "winnable" test case of the state's hate crime law.

A Logan County grand jury indicted 24-year-old Bobby Brewster; his 49-year-old mother, Frankie Brewster of Big Creek; 20-year-old Danny Combs of Harts; and 46-year-old Karen Burton of Chapmanville Tuesday on kidnapping and other charges. Burton's son, Linnie Burton Jr., was charged with misdemeanor battery.

But only one of the five people indicted Tuesday in the case faces a hate crime charge. Logan County Prosecutor Brian Abraham says 46-year-old Karen Burton allegedly used a racial epithet as she stabbed Williams in the ankle.

Burton's daughter, 23-year-old Alisha Burton, and 27-year-old George A. Messer each pleaded guilty Friday to kidnapping and assault during the commission of a felony. They each received concurrent prison terms of ten years for kidnapping and two to ten years for assault.