Published Column
Kirk Nechamkin
Ray Hughes is a columnist for a village paper in New Hampshire
from Raymond Hughes
rhu...@cyberportal.net
Everywhere I turn I find lying manipulative women--and the ever-present
advocates who support them.
"Briand Fiction"
by Raymond Hughes RR 2 Box 475, Claremont, NH 03743 (603) 542-2708
published 11/26/96 in the "News Leader" 6 Sullivan St. PO Box1358,
Claremont, NH 03743 (603) 543-1500
I assume you've all have read of the June Briand pardon hearing
last week.
Briand killed her husband James 10 years ago, plea bargained to
second degree murder (against the dead man's family's wishes) and got 15 to
life.
I'm also assuming you know a little about the domestic violence
agenda advanced by women's advocates--domestic violence is always a man's
fault, so if a woman kills her husband or children, she must have had a
reason.
That's why June petitioned the governor for a pardon--she claims
she was a battered woman, therefore, she had to kill him.
So, the NH Domestic Violence Coalition supported her. Indeed,
dozens of women's advocates attended the hearing wearing "Pardon June"
pins.
I became skeptical of June's argument of abuse when newspaper
articles never offered hard evidence of it, so I contacted the dead man's
family.
What Jimmy Briand's extended--and extensive--family told me is that
they saw no abuse and they were quite close to June and Jim, camping,
fishing, celebrating holidays together. They treated June as a daughter.
Back to the hearing, a 5 1/2-hr. nightmare. For the first 3 1/2
hours, advocate after advocate, including Barry McMichaels, co-director of
the NH Domestic Violence Commission, outlined how it is that no one,
including June's own family, realized she was being battered, that Jim
abused her so cleverly he left no marks.
Hours of testimony on battered women before the Briand family had a
chance to say word one. Yet, in all that testimony not one person testified
that they saw abuse, or were told of it by June before the murder. And the
few second hand accounts of abuse related 10 years ago were simply weak
hearsay, the worst being that Jim told someone in her family he hat hit
June once. Certainly no one suggested the systematic abuse which defines
Battered Women Syndrome.
Curious in all this is that there was one woman who did know,
June's best friend at the time she shot Jim in cold blood in his sleep four
times.
Reporters claimed they couldn't locate her. So I did.
I spoke at length with Cynthia Newell, who was actually with June
and Jim at their apartment the night of the murder. The same Cynthia that
June claimed helped plan the murder, bought the bullets, looked for a spot
to dump the gun and encouraged her to pull the trigger.
Except, June claimed at the hearing that she herself loaded the gun
because someone called and threatened Jim and he asked her to load it. And
previously, she claimed she acted alone, not to mention that the night she
herself pulled the trigger, she told the police--and Jim's family--that an
intruder had shot Jim.
But if Cynthia helped plan it, why did she run to Jim's best friend
downstairs and have him call the police?
Though police never believed Cynthia helped June and she was never
charged, when the story resurfaced in June's pardon petition, Cynthia was
devastated again by the accusation, but she fears for her life and couldn't
bring herself to face June, something she regrets. So here is her story.
"James did not abuse June," Cynthia says flatly. "He may have
picked on her, but he did not batter her."
"That night, he came home from work late, June and I went for some
pizza, he had some, watched a little TV with us and went in to bed."
Though Jim and June argued, as any married couple, they did not
fight that night. Jim did not assault June in any way that night, or ever,
according to the only eyewitness to the events leading up to the murder, a
woman who was very close to June and Jim the entire year before the murder,
during which time she often spent the night, went with them camping,
swimming, to dinner, on weekdays, weekends.
She saw June in dresses, shorts, bikinis, and even during all the
time she spent with June alone, she never once saw any evidence of
psychological or physical abuse, and June mentioned none.
In spite of the fact much of this story was told police at the
time, women's advocates at the hearing chose to ignore this and believe
June's contradictory tale of systematic abuse.
June even had the audacity to say at the hearing that all the
Briand women are abused. I have spoken with them all and this is simply
ludicrous.
Indeed, the only Briand girl to confirm abuse was Jim's oldest
daughter by a previous marriage, Mara, now 17, who said that it was June
who abused her and threatened her if she ever told her father, adding that
she fears for her life if her stepmother is pardoned.
And Mara's mother, who lived with Jim for several years like a
wife, told police Jim had never abused her.
Not to mention, the state's psychiatrist at sentencing said June's
actions were most likely the result of June's drug abuse and "chaotic
childhood."
Yet, advocates pointed to the 1500 women killed by spouses last
year (without mentioning the 700 or so men killed by women), to the "44000
women" battered last year in NH, which is simply absurdly inflated and
ignores even UNH studies, among others, which conclude women attack men at
an equal rate and instigate disturbances at a higher rate.
It was intellectually insulting listening to woman after woman
offer excuse after excuse for June, like alms at an altar.
This one took the cake--she killed him because he came home and
didn't abuse her, the premise being that the pattern of abuse had changed,
thus her life was in danger. The old calm before the storm deal.
The fact is, no one, including June, ever said he even threatened
to kill her.
And not on person stood up in that room to say that he/she had seen
James abuse June, or even that they personally knew someone who knew,
indeed, none of them even knew her then.
None of June's advocates ever knew Jim.
This all without noting the other tragedy, an abuse of almost equal
proportions--that of the two daughters, Mara and Jennifer.
After the murder, June insisted the two girls be brought to her
grandparents house before she would confess, into a home everyone has
acknowledged had a sordid history of abuse. They were later ferried from
one foster home to another, one replete with bars on the windows.
"We spent over four years and over $4000 on lawyers fighting for
custody in district court," says Jim's mother, Linda, who read a damning
family statement at the hearing.
"I can't tell you how many times I had to look at her laughing with
her state-paid lawyer while I was in tears, barely able to make ends meet.
"Is she also asking the Governor to pardon her for ruining these
two girl's childhoods? For keeping them from our home, where they were
loved and where they loved to be?
"This woman canceled and cut short court-ordered visits to the
prison by a foster mother and the two girls. She even canceled a Christmas
visit. She says she wants to reconnect with the girls, but it's just
another lie."
Certainly neither of the girls have indicated they want to
reconnect with her, the oldest even testifying she's afraid June will kill
her.
Which raises the most important question-- rehabilitation.
I am all for rehabilitating criminals, but the first step in
rehabilitation is recognizing the problem.
And the problem is, June hasn't even taken the first step--she
would have us believe it was all Jim's fault. She still even blames her
one-time best friend.
Well, Jim may have hit June, and June may have hit Jim, and
certainly Jim's sisters recall the Thanksgiving June ripped one sister's
blouse off (not to mention June had a major write up in prison for
fighting), but no one hit anyone the night of the murder--according to an
eyewitness, June's own best friend.
According to that same friend, June was off work from an accident
she faked for compensation and was high at least on Demerol that night.
The state's psychiatrist had it right--June's actions were due to
her drug abuse and abuse before she ever met James Briand. She simply took
it out on her husband.
This woman is not repentant, she is not rehabilitated.
And she is not helping the cause to address domestic violence.
Indeed, she has exposed the sexism inherent in their cause--funded by your
tax dollars. These victims advocates never even spoke with the real
victim's family, forgetting, I guess, her dead husband's family, notably
his sisters, mother, daughters, aunts. Women who do not tolerate domestic
violence from anyone.
June Briand has such a long line of lies trailing her veil of
innocence that she doesn't even know the truth herself anymore.
And women's advocates played the fool at the macabre wedding--of
liar to suckers.
She's embarrassed these all-too-receptive advocates, and they will
remain in the dark until they factor all elements into the domestic
equation.
There are plenty of battered women out there, but not all who claim
to be, are.
June once told Cynthia, "I should have been an actress."
Well, she may have gotten the Oscar from women's advocates, but it
was all scripted and rehearsed . . . fiction.
________________________________________________________________________
NCFM Electronic Network
National Coalition of Free Men
E-Mail: nc...@liii.com
World Wide Web: http://www.ncfm.org
Hot Line: (516) 794-5151
--
Patrick Tang
Kirk Nechamkin wrote:
>
> Ray Hughes is a columnist for a village paper in New Hampshire
>
> from Raymond Hughes
> rhu...@cyberportal.net
>
> Everywhere I turn I find lying manipulative women--and the ever-present
> advocates who support them.
Vow! One very courageous as well as honorable human being who dare to
call it like it is - hats off to you Hughes, wish we have more like you
around, then maybe we can change this system for the better faster.
Patrick TAng