MARSHALL CO., Ala. (WHNT) — A sentencing hearing Monday morning marks the end of a long trial that changed the lives of two young girls. All throughout the trial, helping them and their family get through it, stood a different kind of support system.
Inside courtroom number one in the Marshall County courthouse, one man sits patiently waiting for a sentencing hearing to start.
He’s used to it though. He’s spent days in courtrooms over the last few months.
In February he sat in the same courtroom for days on end while a trial was going on. That trial eventually ended with a man’s conviction of raping and sodomizing two young girls.
This man, always dressed in his biker gear, didn’t know those girls until their case came up, and they didn’t know him.
At the sentencing hearing though, the girls, their family, and this man greet each other like old friends
Meet Keith “Blind Dog” Williams, and the organization that brings him to court on a regular basis. “Bikers Against Child Abuse. BACA,” Williams says.
It’s an organization that has chapters all over the nation and is made up of bikers who want to stand with kids who have been abused, and have to face the spotlight in trials. “Basically we just empower them, and go to the court proceedings with them where they’re not afraid to tell what happened to them, tell their story,” Williams says.
The work is like a full-time job, staying with the kids throughout cases that sometimes take more than a year to end, and helping them to stay strong throughout it all.
But Williams says it’s not work. “It’s just something I enjoy doing,” Williams says, “I love kids, I love working with kids.”
There’s something bigger than even that though, that keeps Williams coming back. “It just lets me stand up for somebody who can’t stand up for themselves,” Williams says.
A thought that keeps him going, one court proceeding at a time. “There to stand with them,” Williams says, “We’ve got their back.”
The non-profit organization has a central contact person to receive calls from referring agencies and individuals when a child needs their help. Once the case is determined to be legitimate, BACA will send the chapter to ride and meet the child and start the process.
The organization has two chapters in Alabama. One is located in Huntsville and the other is in Cullman County. Other chapters are in the process of being formed in other parts of the state.
The hotline for the Cullman County chapter is (256) – 636 – 2453, or in Huntsville at (855) – 553 – 3500. For more information on the chapters or the organization follow this link.
