20 THE QUEENS COURIER • JANUARY 16, 2014 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT www.queenscourier.com Sheehan petitions to serve prison time at home BY MAGGIE HAYES mhayes@queenscourier.com Six months ago Barbara Sheehan began her fi ve-year sentence after shooting and killing her husband. Today, she is seeking an exception to her prison stay, and wants to serve her time for weapons possession at home. The 52-year-old Howard Beach resident fatally shot her husband, retired NYPD Sergeant Raymond Sheehan, 11 times with two different guns in February 2008. She said she suffered nearly two decades of abuse at her husband’s hands and he would have killed her had she not pulled the trigger. “When you’re in a domestic violence situation, it’s not as black and white as it appears to be,” Sheehan told The Courier. “Just looking at his face, his eyes told me this was it. He was getting up and he was going to kill me.” A prison support group created an online petition to call on Governor Andrew Cuomo to grant Sheehan clemency. So far, about 2,000 people have signed and pledged their support. Sheehan was acquitted of murder, but convicted of weapons possession for the second gun she used that day. She is serving her time at the Albion A support group has begun a petition for Governor Andrew Cuomo to grant Howard Beach’s Barbara Sheehan executive clemency. Sheehan is currently serving fi ve years in prison for weapons possession after shooting her husband. Correctional Facility, a medium security women’s prison upstate. After starting her sentence in 2013, she reached out to the New York State Prisoner Assistance Center (PAC) to address an “administrative issue” in the prison, said PAC Executive Director Mario Vredenburg. He then started to look into Sheehan’s case and is helping her apply for executive clemency. If the order is granted, Sheehan will be able to serve the remainder of her sentence at home. The toughest part about prison, she said, is being far from her family and two children. Vredenburg said prisoners can apply for clemency in exceptional circumstances, namely if something was legally wrong with the conviction. He said there was no criminal intent when Sheehan used the two guns in self defense, and that they were not her weapons. Sheehan was charged because when she fi red the second gun, her husband no longer posed a threat. However, she said he didn’t die immediately. “He was still trying to come after me,” she said. Vredenburg said the former cop was reaching for the second fi rearm and Sheehan’s “life was in imminent danger.” Additionally, Sheehan said the jury was “forbidden” to PHOTOS COURTESY NYSPAC hear her psychiatrist’s testimony, which would have detailed her “state of mind” at the time of the shooting. “I was not able to defend myself properly,” she said. PAC will fi le on Sheehan’s behalf with the governor’s offi ce in March. “We’re not asking for the governor to say it was legal for her to use that gun. We’re asking him to forgive her conviction,” Vredenburg said. st of the 2013 THE QUEENS QueensCourier.com Place
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