Last fall, Lisa Biron, a New Hampshire lawyer who had done some work with the Alliance Defending Freedom (formerly the Alliance Defense Fund), was indicted on federal and state charges of exploiting her own 14-year-old daughter. Among other things, Biron filmed her daughter on several occasions while she engaged in extremely graphic sexual activity, and even took her to Canada to have sex with a guy she'd met on Craigslist. She was convicted on seven federal charges back in January. Yesterday, Biron was sentenced to 40 years in prison.
In handing down his sentence in Concord’s district court, Judge Paul Barbadoro said that Biron had used the teen as bait to lure young men to have sex with her. He described the 43-year-old’s crimes as “extraordinarily egregious” and called the damage done to the girl “incalculable.”
“That you were willing to exploit her for your own personal gratification is shocking,” he told Biron, who looked on with little emotion. “It makes your crime so serious and worthy of such a lengthy sentence.”
Under sentencing guidelines, Biron faced a minimum of 25 years if Barbadoro had chosen to sentence her to the minimums on all charges and run them concurrently, or 100 years if he'd run them consecutively. Barbadoro said he was appalled by the way Biron used her daughter and how she tried to put part of the blame on her daughter (she was overheard saying in prison that her daughter "had a frickin' part in this"). However, the only reason he decided against the 100-year sentence was a plea from the daughter.
The girl, now 15, was not present in the courtroom yesterday, but in a recorded statement played earlier, she described Biron as “not the monster she is made out to be.”
“I would love to see (her) have a second chance and not spend the rest of her life behind bars,” the girl said.
Barbadoro said he hoped his decision would help erase any sense of guilt the victim may have.
“In my view, she has been so seriously harmed by (Biron), so seriously damaged, that we need to be sensitive to do what can aid in that healing,” he said. “Over time, I hope she will come to see the truth, that (Biron) is the victimizer.”
Biron claimed that her life had gone off the rails after her husband left her. At one point, she said, she was drinking half a gallon of whiskey every day. I'd be inclined to be sympathetic if not for the evidence that prompted a federal magistrate
to order her jailed without bond when she was arraigned on the federal charges. Prosecutors revealed that she was seen having sex around children after she was arraigned on the state charges, and even went as far as to send a threatening message to the guy who reported her to police.
Although prosecutors wanted her sent away for 100 years, they were satisfied with Barbadoro's sentence, in part because 40 years is pretty draconian. She'll be in her 80s before she can even think about getting out of jail. Notwithstanding her daughter's pleas for her mom to get a second chance, it's very unlikely that Biron will ever draw a breath of free air again. And that's not even talking about the state charges, which I assume are still active. It wouldn't be double jeopardy for Biron to be tried on the state charges as well.
I said back in January that anything less than 40 years would have been a joke. I wanted her to be sentenced to a term that would assure she would have no realistic chance of ever living among us again. And this sentence does exactly that.
3:05 PM PT: Since several people have asked, at last report the daughter is in foster care at last report. I would hope that she's adopted at some point--after what she's been through, she needs some semblance of stability.