Widow of Brown's longtime friend testifies Brown was never violent

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- The widow of Jim Brown's closest friend told<br>jurors Friday in his domestic abuse trial that the Hall of Fame<br>football player plunged into a deep depression after the death

Friday, September 3rd 1999, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- The widow of Jim Brown's closest friend told
jurors Friday in his domestic abuse trial that the Hall of Fame
football player plunged into a deep depression after the death of
George Hughley but insisted Brown was always a nonviolent person.

"I have never seen him angry at a human being," said Shirley
Hughley, who sobbed through much of her testimony as she recalled
the 40-year friendship between Brown and Hughley, a law enforcement
officer.

She acknowledged that Brown's wife, Monique, once sought refuge
at the Hughley home after an argument with Brown, but she said it
was merely a dispute over business and the fact that "he wouldn't
pay attention to her in their argument so she took action."

She said Mrs. Brown spent the night at their home and the next
day she drove her back to the Brown home.

After George Hughley died in February, Mrs. Hughley said, Brown
retreated and she didn't see him for two or three months. But since
then, they have spent a lot of time together, "holding each other
and talking about George and crying."

During a break in the proceedings while the judge was conferring
with lawyers, Brown sat at the counsel table with his hands over
his face and shook while sobbing.

Brown, who set NFL rushing and scoring records for the Cleveland
Browns during the 1960s, faces misdemeanor charges of making a
terrorist threat and vandalism for bashing his wife's car with a
shovel. Brown was arrested June 15 after his wife called police.

During the trial, the prosecution has portrayed Brown as an
abuser and his wife as a classic battered woman who cried for help
then rescinded all claims of abuse in order to keep her marriage
together.

Mrs. Brown testified Wednesday that she had lied about her
husband's behavior and saying, among other things, she had given
him permission to smash the car.

On Friday, Mrs. Hughley was preceded to the witness stand by
Brown's housekeeper, Magdalena Monteroso, who said she never saw
any violence between the Browns, saw no signs of injury on Mrs.
Brown and said, "I see them always hugging and together and
loving."

On cross-examination, the housekeeper acknowledged she wasn't
always with them and encountered them only occasionally during her
chores.

Outside court, Brown said he has made his life's work to teach
gang members not to show their anger and feels he is a model of
peaceful behavior.

As for the charge that he smashed the windows on a car, he said,
"I was frustrated and I broke the windows. ... It's a question of
is it legal to break your own property?"

He denied that he ever threatened his wife.