Retired NYPD officer's wife, acquitted of his murder, gets 5 years for weapon conviction

(CBS/AP) NEW YORK - A woman acquitted in the shooting murder of her husband, a retired NYPD officer, was sentenced to five years in prison Thursday on a weapons charge.

Barbara Sheehan, 50, said she shot in self-defense on Feb. 18, 2008 after her husband of 24 years, retired New York Police Department Sgt. Raymond Sheehan, threatened to kill her. She grabbed his loaded revolver from the bedroom while he was in the bathroom shaving which was a loaded Glock handgun by his side on the vanity. She emptied the revolver, then picked up the Glock and fired six shots. Raymond Sheehan died in the bathroom.

Although jurors acquitted Sheehan of murder, they found her guilty of a weapons charge for using the Glock. She was found not guilty of a second weapon charge for using the revolver.

The case became a referendum on so-called battered women's syndrome and whether a woman should be capable of getting out of a nasty relationship. The not guilty verdict on the murder charge came as a surprise. Domestic violence experts say battered women accused of killing their partners in self-defense are convicted at about the same rate as others accused of murder.

Sheehan spoke of years of abuse during her monthlong trial. She also testified that she was too fearful and broken-down to leave her husband and too scared to call for help. Her children, Jennifer, 25, and Raymond, 21, also gave emotional testimony on their home life, saying they walked on eggshells around their father. They were always worried about when he would crack and take out his anger on their mother. Sgt. Raymond Sheehan was portrayed as a violent, unpredictable man who carried two loaded guns -- one on his hip and one on his ankle -- at all times.

However, prosecutors painted a different picture of the family. Assistant District Attorney Debra Pomodore, in her closing statements, said Barbara Sheehan was a manipulator and a liar, a pampered woman upset that her husband had strayed and their marriage was crumbling. She said the children's testimony was fabricated to protect their mother.

At Thursday's contentious sentencing in Queens State Supreme Court, the two sides again battled over whether Sheehan had been a battered woman or not.

"Barbara was not the victim in this case," Pomodore said. "Raymond, her husband, was the victim."

Meanwhile, Sheehan's lawyer, Michael Dowd, responded, "It became ... a question of whether or not she would live or die. And she chose to live."

Sheehan's weapons conviction carried a mandatory sentence of 3 ½ to 15 years. Dowd had pressed for a sentence of less than the minimum based on Sheehan's status as a battered woman.

He said he was "appalled" by the five-year sentence and promised to appeal the conviction. Sheehan is free pending her appeal.

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October 6, 2011 - Barbara Sheehan, NYC woman who shot ex-cop husband 11 times, acquitted of murder