Barbara Sheehan
When Barbara Sheehan leaves Howard Beach for prison on Friday – which she now must do with the state Court of Appeals decision on Wednesday to deny her attorneys’ request to allow her to remain out on bail while New York’s highest court decides whether or not to review her case – she has no idea where she will end up.
Because state Court of Appeals Judge Susan Phillips Read denied Sheehan’s attorneys’ request, Sheehan, who was acquitted of a second-degree murder charge in the shooting death of her husband, former NYPD Sgt. Raymond Sheehan in 2008, must report to the Queens Supreme Courthouse in Kew Gardens Friday morning, when she will be taken to Rikers Island to begin serving time for a conviction of illegal possession of a gun.
“I’m very, very devastated,” Sheehan said Wednesday afternoon. “It’s very unfair.”
The conviction and sentencing for the gun charge has been contested by her trial attorney, Michael Dowd, and her appeals attorneys, who have asked that the state’s highest court review the case because, during Sheehan’s trial, an expert witness on battered women’s syndrome was not allowed to testify. Sheehan had been abused for nearly two decades of her 24-year marriage, and her attorneys have said it was crucial that jury members understand her psychological state at the time of the shooting, which jurors decided happened in self-defense.
“We remain hopeful that the court will take up this appeal because of the strong issues involved and the injustice to Barbara Sheehan,” said Sheehan’s attorney Nathaniel Marmur.
If the court decides to review the case, it could result in a new trial on the gun charge alone or in a new sentencing on the charge, Marmur said.
Once Sheehan is brought to Rikers, Marmu said she could spend about a month there before being transported to another facility, which he said could be the Bedford Hills Correctional Facility for Women in Westchester, New York – though that is not definite.
“Where is she going to go?” asked Barbara Sheehan’s mother, Barbara Henry. “Will we be able to see her? There are so many questions.”
By Anna Gustafson
