Jun 11, 9:38 PM (ET)
MyWay
MURRIETA, Calif.
(AP) - A Muslim polygamist was convicted Wednesday of charges that he starved,
tortured and abused two of his wives and many of his 19 children and stepchildren.
A
Muhummed, 55, shook his head as the verdict was read, prosecutor Julie
Baldwin said.
Muhummed could spend the rest of his life in prison. His wives and
children were not present in court for the verdict but they plan to attend
sentencing, which is scheduled for Aug. 1,
Muhummed, whose birth name was Richard Boddie,
told authorities that his Muslim faith gave him the right to take multiple
wives. He was arrested in 1999 after one of his wives, Laura Cowan, slipped
a 13-page letter to a postal service worker describing the abuse.
His trial started last month after
nine years of legal wrangling in which he changed lawyers four times and represented
himself for more than two years.
Several
of his children and stepchildren, now adults, took the stand, telling the
jury that they had been beaten, starved, strung up by their feet and forced
to eat vomit and feces.
Muhummed testified in his own defense. In sometimes tearful testimony,
he denied the charges and blamed one of his wives for the alleged abuse.
He said his children and stepchildren
ate three regular meals a day except during the holy month of Ramadan, when
the older children ate two meals - one before dawn and one after sunset.
Doctors
said the children were extremely malnourished. A 19-year-old daughter was
4-foot-1 and weighed 56 pounds.
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20080612/D9187TJG0.html