Updated 3:48 p.m. 

A white Logan County woman has pleaded guilty to malicious wounding, assault and violating the civil rights of a black woman allegedly held captive for days last summer.

Karen Burton, 46, of Chapmanville entered her guilty plea today in Logan County Circuit Court, said her lawyer Betty Gregory.

Burton is the third in a group of seven people charged to plead guilty in the case, and the only one charged with a hate crime.

Prosecutors say 20-year-old Megan Williams was held captive at a trailer in the Big Creek area of Logan County, where she was forced to eat animal feces, sexually assaulted and stabbed. She was rescued Sept. 8 after an anonymous caller alerted Logan County sheriff's deputies.

Logan County Prosecuting Attorney Brian Abraham said Burton stabbed Williams in the ankle while saying, "This is what we do to niggers down here.''

Burton does not remember much of the abuses against Williams, but she does not deny them, Gregory said.

Burton's confusion stems from a childhood marred by physical and sexual abuse, she said. As a 7-year-old, Burton was abused and left in an open grave.

Updated 3:48 p.m. 

A white Logan County woman has pleaded guilty to malicious wounding, assault and violating the civil rights of a black woman allegedly held captive for days last summer.

Karen Burton, 46, of Chapmanville entered her guilty plea today in Logan County Circuit Court, said her lawyer Betty Gregory.

Burton is the third in a group of seven people charged to plead guilty in the case, and the only one charged with a hate crime.

Prosecutors say 20-year-old Megan Williams was held captive at a trailer in the Big Creek area of Logan County, where she was forced to eat animal feces, sexually assaulted and stabbed. She was rescued Sept. 8 after an anonymous caller alerted Logan County sheriff's deputies.

Logan County Prosecuting Attorney Brian Abraham said Burton stabbed Williams in the ankle while saying, "This is what we do to niggers down here.''

Burton does not remember much of the abuses against Williams, but she does not deny them, Gregory said.

Burton's confusion stems from a childhood marred by physical and sexual abuse, she said. As a 7-year-old, Burton was abused and left in an open grave.

"It does not excuse it,'' Gregory said. "And it's not that she didn't do the acts, but at some point she has been victimized so many times in her life, and she felt helpless and gave up and joined in.''

As part of the plea agreement, a charge of kidnapping -- which carries a possible life sentence -- was dropped.

Burton faces up to 30 years in prison during sentencing, which is scheduled for March 3.

Authorities angered many of Williams' supporters by initially refraining from charging any defendants with a hate crime. The hate crime charge against Burton came Tuesday when grand jury indictments in the case were handed up.

Abraham has said that although other defendants used the same racial slur Burton used, her use of the word while stabbing Williams made her act more clearly a hate crime.

Karen Burton's daughter, 23-year-old Alisha Burton, and 27-year-old George A. Messer pleaded guilty last week to kidnapping and assault and will serve 10 years in prison.

Felony charges including kidnapping and sexual assault are pending against Bobby Brewster, 24; his mother, Frankie Brewster, 49, of Big Creek; and Danny Combs, 20, of Harts. All have denied wrongdoing. A seventh defendant, Burton's son, Linnie Burton Jr., 21, was indicted this week on a misdemeanor battery charge.