( CNN ) -- A 22-year-old woman whose claims that she was abused in a trailer in rural West Virginia in 2007 helped send six people to prison now says she made up the story , her lawyer said Wednesday . Attorney Byron Potts says his client is not being pressured to recant her story . `` She is recanting her entire story , '' attorney Byron Potts told reporters in Columbus , Ohio , about his client , Megan Williams , who moved there after the incident . `` She says it did not happen . She fabricated it . '' He added , `` She wanted to get back at her boyfriend . She was mad at him . '' In 2007 , police acting on a tip found the black woman in a trailer with cuts and bruises . She said she had been stabbed in the leg and beaten , sexually assaulted , forced to eat feces and subjected to a racial slur by her white captors . The suspects included a mother and son , a separate mother and daughter , and two men . All are still jailed , according to the prosecutor who handled the case . The incident , which drew extensive media coverage , stirred outrage around the country . Civil rights activist the Rev . Al Sharpton called for the incident to be investigated as a hate crime . Last year , all six defendants pleaded guilty and were given terms of up to 40 years in prison . Potts said his client was coming forward `` to right the wrong perpetrated on these six individuals . '' He added that she told him all her injuries except for the bruises on her face were self-inflicted . The bruises , he said , were from an altercation she had had with her then-boyfriend before the incident in question . Potts described Williams ' feelings as `` total remorse ; that 's why she 's coming forward . She is remorseful for having these people spend time in jail . '' Asked if she was being pressured to recant , he said , `` No , she 's not being pressured into this . '' Williams had been expected to speak herself , but Potts said she would not appear before the news media because she was afraid for her safety . He said she was `` fully aware '' that she might face criminal charges , `` but she still wanted to go forward with this . '' Brian Abraham , the former Logan County prosecutor who handled the case , defended the convictions . `` The case was n't based on her statements , '' he said , noting that Williams never testified in the case . `` The case was based on the evidence discovered by the police , including the confessions of the six defendants . '' He added , `` All six of them have been in jail without filing appeals . If they file something afterwards , the evidence was pretty overwhelming for the charges on which they were convicted . '' The current county prosecutor , John Bennett , said he could not comment on whether the case would be reopened . He said he represented one of the suspects in 2007 and so would let a judge decide how to handle the potential conflict of interest . Sharpton said , `` If they are being held under false information and she misled authorities , and if the authorities went solely on her testimony , then they should be released . '' But he added , `` If there are other circumstances around the recanting , we should know what they are . ''
6 people in prison for beating , sexual assault of Megan Williams . Williams ' lawyer says she made it up to hurt ex - boyfriend . 6 defendants pleaded guilty , were given terms of up to 10 years . Williams alleged she was forced to eat marijuana and subjected to a racial slur .