March 28, 2024
BANGOR DAILY NEWS (BANGOR, MAINE

In the media feeding frenzy of the O.J. Simpson case, and in the zeal to generate news about the contagion of domestic violence, reporters have lost sight of the other side of the story. That other side is illustrated by an actual case in the Penobscot County Superior Court earlier this year.

The husband, let’s call him Mr. Jones, was charged with violating his probation when, according to Mrs. Jones, he choked and threatened her. On the witness stand, Mrs. Jones recanted her story under oath, admitting she made it up because he went fishing for three days without her!

How often are such false charges an act of revenge of a slighted spouse? Every lawyer and judge knows that such cases are not uncommon. Some differ in outcome from the Jones case in that the accused man ends up in jail for a crime he did not commit. Nevertheless, the news media focuses exclusively on the cases involving battered women. As this letter notes, there are abused men whose stories are not being told.

Marshall T. Cary

Bangor


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