Sex dungeon trial to begin

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COLUMBIA, South Carolina (AP) -- In an underground room concealed beneath a shed behind his home, Kenneth Glenn Hinson is accused of raping two teenagers after kidnapping them and keeping them bound.

Hinson, 48, was arrested in March 2006 and has been charged with criminal sexual assault, kidnapping and assault and battery with intent to kill. Jury selection in his trial was to begin Monday.

The case attracted national attention when South Carolina Attorney General Henry McMaster said during a four-day manhunt that Hinson -- convicted in 1991 for the rape of a 12-year-old girl -- could have been indefinitely committed to a state program for sexually violent predators after serving a nine-year prison sentence.

Two review committees had recommended that Hinson be placed in the program, warning he could commit a future sex crime.

But Judge Edward Cottingham rejected the plan and set Hinson free. After Hinson's arrest, McMaster argued it was that crucial mistake on Cottingham's part that paved the way for Hinson to assault the teens in the dungeon-like space beneath his home.

Cottingham, a retired but active judge, has said he does not remember the 2000 case. Last year, Hinson appeared before Cottingham as McMaster presented his notice to seek a sentence of life without parole in the new charges.

The girls were sexually assaulted and left bound inside the underground room, but managed to free themselves and get to safety, authorities have said.

The room was just 4½ feet deep and roughly the length and width of a midsize car. Its floor and walls were lined with two-by-fours. A single 75-watt bulb illuminated the space.

Jurors, who will be selected from Georgetown County because the case had received so much publicity in Darlington County, will be sequestered.

Rick Hoefer, Hinson's attorney, declined to make his client available for interviews and has refused to comment about the case before the trial.

On his own, however, Hinson has made repeated attempts to speak with media. Leaving a hearing last month, Hinson told reporters he was innocent of the charges.
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[cori]

I say Pedophiles should have their genitals surgically removed and be sentenced to life on a remote inhabitable island with big beefy sexually deprived lifers and of course abused beyond their sickest wildest imagination. And they should not be allowed to communicate with the press! Simply my opinion.

[IRiSHMaFIA]

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[IRiSHMaFIA]

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