Guilty Pleas In Hate Crime Unsealed

{London, Kentucky}...Mable Ashley Jenkins and Alexis LeeAnn Jenkins, both 19, pleaded guilty to aiding and abetting the kidnapping and hate crime assault in the April 4, 2011 attack on Kevin Pennington at Kingdom Come State Park in Harlan County. The U.S. District Court in London unsealed the guilty pleas Friday. Mable and Alexis Jenkins will be sentenced in August. David Jason Jenkins and Anthony Ray Jenkins have been indicted and have a trial date set for June 18th. They have pleaded not guilty. All four face a maximum sentence of life in prison. Federal prosecutors say this is the first federal case in the nation charging a violation of the sexual orientation section of the Matthew Shepard-James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, which was passed in 2009. The women's guilty pleas were the first convictions under that section of the law.