Hearing Postponed for Civil Rights Leader Convicted of Incest

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Friday, July 25, 2008

A Loudoun County judge today postponed the sentencing hearing for James L. Bevel, a civil rights leader in the 1960s who in April was convicted of incest for having sex with his teenage daughter.

Bevel, 71, faces up to 15 years in prison in connection with events that took place from October 1992 to October 1994 in an apartment in Leesburg, when the daughter was 14 or 15. His court-appointed attorney requested the postponement after learning that, because of a mistake at the jail, Bevel had not been permitted earlier this week to review a psychological evaluation that had been prepared at the prosecutors’ request.

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Circuit Court Judge Burke F. McCahill rescheduled the hearing for Oct. 15.

Bevel was a confidant of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and was present when King was assassinated at a Memphis hotel in 1968.

Bevel became estranged from the civil rights movement when he came to the defense of King’s confessed killer, James Earl Ray. In 1992, he ran for vice president as the running mate of Lyndon LaRouche Jr., whose political action committee is headquartered in Leesburg.

Tagged: James L. Bevel, Leesburg, police, sex crimes

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Since when do minor children "have sex with" their fathers? where in the article do you accurately describe this crime as a sexual assault or rape? Incest is simply a word that describes "sex between two related individuals" -- it does not convey the horror that is associated with being sexually assaulted within one's own family by a trusted relative. Please, please accurately report these horrific crimes for what they are and stop softening the language. It is the least that you can do for the victims.

Posted by lana.lawrence (anonymous) on July 25, 2008 at 2:28 p.m. (Suggest removal)

Exactly. It's like running over a dog, on pupose, and claim it was euthanization.

Posted by birdgirl39 (anonymous) on July 25, 2008 at 3:59 p.m. (Suggest removal)

He gets until October to review a psych exam???? Surely he can read faster than that! The man is a convicted rapist.....so sentence him and get it over with. Nothing in the exam is going to change anything! Dragging this out accomplishes nothing but continued torment for the victim.

Posted by buzzsaw1 (anonymous) on July 25, 2008 at 7:10 p.m. (Suggest removal)

October is actually pretty good rescheduling, given that it's already the end of July. Postponements of any kind wreak havoc on the court's calendar and those of the attorneys. All necessary persons - judge, prosecutor, and defense counsel, must reschedule to a date that fits everyone's calendar - not easy. In the small western MD county in which I practice law, we're already backed up into December for trials at the lower district court level.

Posted by wrigleywrat (anonymous) on July 25, 2008 at 8:26 p.m. (Suggest removal)

It seems that if justic is served then Bevel may find out first hand how it feels to be taken advantage of sexually against his will .Civil Rights leader ?Lock him up and throw away the key !

Posted by superchicken911 (anonymous) on July 27, 2008 at 10:21 a.m. (Suggest removal)

If there is a section of our population that deserves to be locked up and forgotten it is the perverted, cruel, utterly repugnant, sneaky, controlling, wretch who will commit this sort of crime against our young. How ironic that his life would be recognized as that of a civil rights leader when his crime required the dehumanization of his daughter to serve a lower function of his brain. I hope her future is set free and filled with happiness when he is locked up, knowing his sickness can never happen again. God love her.

Posted by fair1 (anonymous) on August 6, 2008 at 9:37 p.m. (Suggest removal)

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