Photo: The Canadian Press
Judge Elizabeth Leonard hears defense attorney Meredith Lugo approaching the bench with Deputy Attorney General Benjamin Agati and Deputy Attorney General Scott Chase, not in the photo, after objecting during the closing statement of state at Armando Barron’s murder trial on Thursday, May 26, 2022, in Keene, NH A jury on Thursday convicted Barron of first-degree murder of killing his wife’s co-worker after he discovered that they were texting and then forcing her to behead him.
A jury on Thursday convicted a New Hampshire man of first-degree murder for killing his wife’s co-worker after he found out they were texting and then forcing her to behead him.
Armando Barron, 32, faces life in prison without parole. He was also convicted of assaulting his wife, Britany Barron, the night he discovered he had been texting his co-worker, 25-year-old Jonathan Amerault. Prosecutors said he used his cell phone to lure him to a park north of the Massachusetts state line in September 2020. Barron was also convicted of hitting and kicking Amerault, forcing him to to get in his own car and shoot him.
Amerault’s mother was in the room and began to cry as the verdict was read. The jury had the case a little less than two hours.
“The accused had every reason to kill Jonathan, because for him, Jonathan was a man who had just started seeing his wife,” prosecutor Benjamin Agati said during the final discussions. “A man his wife thought looked like an Abercrombie model, a man in his workplace who now knew he was talking to his wife behind his back. The man he immediately saw as a rival “.
In the final arguments, Barron’s lawyer said Britany’s testimony was contradicted by physical evidence and she had reason to lie, while a prosecutor said she told the truth and feared for her life.
Barron had pleaded not guilty to the charges. His lawyers argue that his wife shot Amerault, which she denies.
Her lawyer, Meredith Lugo, said the “main example” of Britany’s testimony, which was not supported by the evidence, was her description of how Armando fired the last bullet with the hatchback vehicle. He said he was turned in the passenger seat, with Amerault on his back and up against the laptop door.
Lugo said the shooting could not have been done in this way, noting that the forensic doctor in charge of the state stated that the bullet was fired at close range.
“If Britany isn’t honest with you about this, what else is she telling you?” said Lugo.
Agati said Amerault died trying to save himself, advancing toward Armando as the shot was fired. He had tried to protect himself when a previous bullet pierced his arm and had other defensive wounds to his arms and hands. His feet were near a machete on the ground and the car door handles.
“Believing that during the shooting in which Jonathan sat there is unreasonable,” Agati said.
Britany, 33, said that after Amerault was shot, she was forced to drive 200 miles (322 kilometers) north to a remote campsite, with Armando driving right behind her and talking to her. she on the phone most of the way. There, she said, she was forced to behead Amerault. Her husband finally left her at the scene, telling her to discard the body, she said.
Lugo said Britany is “very capable of lying when she wants to”, and noted that when state agents from the Department of Fish and Hunting approached her at the campsite, she told them she was there “clearing her head” afterwards. from a fight with a girlfriend to a party.
Eventually, officers noticed something covered in a tarp that turned out to be Amerault’s car. She was arrested and taken to police.
“But of course he cooperated at the time,” Lugo said. “He had a story that he was selling and he needed to be believed,” he framed himself as a victim.
Agati said the balance Britain had to strike, “believing that her own life had been lost, juxtaposed with her need to return home with the girls from whom she had almost literally been dragged, the relationship with which had been for 14 years. years of marriage “, should be considered by the jurors.
Britany Barron pleaded guilty last year to three counts of falsifying evidence and was released on parole last month.
The Associated Press had not named the couple for failing to identify Britany Barron, who said she was abused. Through his lawyer, he recently agreed to use his name.