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Highlands Today

Branham Editorial Was An Unfair Portrayal

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Lloyd Jones

Published: September 23, 2007

Concerning your opinion in the editorial of Thursday, Sept. 13, about the Branham trial, you seem to be giving credence to hearsay. You say Michael's major contribution to his family's income was suing people.

Just a couple of years before the shooting, Michael had a serious accident while riding a motorcycle. Along with other severe bodily injuries, he suffered a traumatic brain injury. After a long hospital stay, he came home to spend many days and weeks recuperating. If he sued, he was probably entitled to do so and if he received anything, it was undoubtedly an insurance company's money.

You refer to "his long reign of bullying." Only someone who had known Michael a long time could make that assessment. How long have you know Michael? You also say, "Michael Branham has always thought he was smarter than everybody else."

I have known Michael since he was 8 years old and the Michael I have known for all those years was neither a smart ass or a bully. It's not a crime to think you are smarter than others, we all think that at times, including yourself.

While confined at home recuperating, he let his hair grow long so that he could donate it to the children who had lost theirs due to cancer. He didn't mind that it gave him a disheveled appearance, he was concerned about unfortunate children. That surely doesn't sound like the ogre you try to make him out to be.

For years, as an Avon Park policeman, Michael's partner was Blackie, a black Labrador, trained to find concealed drugs. The city constructed a wire mesh pen in Michael's back yard for Blackie. The dog never spent one night in the enclosure. Michael loved him too much to let him live in an outdoor wire pen and Blackie lived out his life in Michael's home.

According to your editorial, "his superiors often disciplined him and wrote him up, but his deeds were never quite enough to get him fired." And, "he was just sharp enough to never get nailed." From what I have read through the years, it seems to me like his superiors wasted a lot of time on a lot of trivial matters.

I don't condone what Michael did. The taking of a human life is beyond my comprehension. There are many alternatives for solving marital problems other than the one he chose. We will probably never know his motive but he is going to pay a heavy price for the pain and grief he has caused.

As for prosecutor Steve Houchin doing such a great job, the outcome was cut and dried. I doubt that anyone could honestly think Michael was innocent. The trial was a legal formality and the verdict would undoubtedly have been the same had the prosecutor been fresh out of law school.

I know the grief the Seaman's family is feeling and I sympathize with them. I have lost two daughters. Both left us too early in life. One died of vascular disease, the other one, a 17 year old senior in high school, died in a horrendous head-on auto accident with a drunken driver.

There is nothing more devastating than losing a child. I sincerely hope the Seaman's family finds peace and solace in remembering the good times in their daughter's life.

Lloyd Jones lives in Sebring.

Editor's note: The information in the editorial was gathered from some of his former co-workers, colleagues and people with first-hand knowledge of his personal and professional life. We stand by the statements made in the editorial.

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