FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT www.couriersun.com january 16, 2014 • The Courier SUN 3 Sheehan petitions to serve prison time at home BY MAGGIE HAYES mhayes@queenscourier.com Six months ago Barbara Sheehan began her five-year sentence after shooting and killing THE COURIER/Photo by Liam La Guerre The 104th Precinct is planning to increase enforcement of the 9 p.m. curfew in Highland Park. Cops: park closes after dark BY LIAM LA GUERE lguerre@queenscourier.com The 104th Precinct wants park-goers to take a hike out of Highland Park at curfew. Starting later this year, officers will make daily patrols through the park at 8:30 p.m. to tell people to leave by 9 p.m., when it closes. Residents living near Highland Park, a green space with many trails and ball fields near the Brooklyn-Queens border in Ridgewood, have been complaining about people using the park late into the night. The Precinct has heard complaints of drinking and loud music playing after hours in the park dating back to last year, and Captain Chris Manson said that the party is over. Officers will start making the rounds as soon as the weather gets warmer. If someone is spotted after the curfew, they will be issued a summons. Manson said the increased enforcement could begin around the end of March. “I want people to use the parks, but at a reasonable time,” Manson said. “I expect a major quality of life improvement.” Park enforcement has been a major issue throughout the 104th Precinct. There have been about 270 summonses issued to people in parks in the region over the last month alone, according to NYPD statistics, and 60 of those summonses were given to people for just being in parks after hours. Also, nearby Forest Park will receive NYPD cameras later this year to help improve safety, after a string of sexual assaults. 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 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 fired 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 firearm and Sheehan’s “life was in imminent danger.” Additionally, Sheehan said the jury was “forbidden” to 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 file on Sheehan’s behalf with the governor’s office 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. PHOTO COURTESY NYSPAC A support group has begun a petition for Governor Andrew Cuomo to grant Howard Beach’s Barbara Sheehan clemency. Cops bust chop shop BY MAGGIE HAYES mhayes@queenscourier.com Police stripped a South Ozone Park home of auto parts, after discovering an alleged chop shop operation at the residence. Todd Archer, 30, and his girlfriend Tiffany Evans, 21, were arrested after cops found stripped vans, vehicle parts and tools at the 134th Street home. Local resident Ian Kusinitz rents out vehicles and installed GPS monitors on each van and car. One of his vans was stolen, and he tracked it to Archer’s home. He then spotted some of his van’s parts on the side of the house, according to a police source. Kusinitz called the cops, who responded to the scene on Monday, January 13. Officers were let into the home by Evans. Inside and around the house they found a variety of auto parts, including headlights, doors, center consoles, benches and more. Cops also discovered over 100 bullets, said the source. Officials additionally recovered three old model vans with newer parts. Archer’s backyard, where he allegedly works on the vehicles, can be seen from neighboring houses, but cops never received a noise complaint or anonymous tip. After tracing the origin of auto parts, cops discovered they came from all over the borough, including the 111th, 102nd, 107th and 106th Precincts. Once vans were stripped, Archer allegedly dumped them around the neighborhood. The investigation is ongoing. Police discovered what is believed to be an illegal van chop shop in the 106th Precinct.
SC01162014
To see the actual publication please follow the link above