Barbara Sheehan To Remain Behind Bars After Surrendering On Gun Charge
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- A Queens woman who was acquitted of murdering her husband is behind bars after surrendering Wednesday morning, six days after a jury convicted her of a weapons charge.
AUDIO EXTRA: 911 Call In Sheehan Case
Barbara Sheehan, 50, will stay in jail for now after the judge reserved a decision on her release request. He will give the prosecution a chance to respond by Monday, 1010 WINS' Mona Rivera reported.
Sheehan's lawyers wanted an Appellate Court judge in Brooklyn to let her out on bail until her formal sentencing -- which is scheduled for Nov. 10. However, the judges deferred the decision to next Friday.
1010 WINS' Mona Rivera reports Sheehan was sent to Rikers Island
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Sheehan was teary-eyed as she arrived at court Wednesday with her daughter, Jennifer Joyce. She tried talking to one or two reporters, but when a swarm of cameras moved in, it was too much and her family and friends formed a protective barrier around her.
"I have absolutely nothing to say right now," Sheehan told reporters.
Joyce cried out in court as her mother was led away in handcuffs. On Wednesday night a more composed Joyce told CBS 2's Hazel Sanchez, "I just told her I loved her, and with all hope she'll be out later tonight. It's just very confusing, the verdict, because she was defending herself and she shouldn't have to be in jail."
Her brother, Ray Sheehan, was even more adamant. As far as he's concerned, his mother should be honored, not incarcerated.
"I'm very scared for her. I'm scared for what she has to go through and I'm worried about her … that she's in there right now," Ray Sheehan told Sanchez.
"She saved my life and she saved her own. Because my father was a monster and what she did … I believe he would have killed her and he probably would have killed us, me and my sister as well. I seen everything that she went through. I know what she went through and I know she's my hero for what she did."
Vincent Sheehan, twin brother of Raymond Sheehan, the husband Barbara Sheehan killed, was also in the courtroom.
"I believe that the original verdict was not supported by the evidence and that she got away with murder," he told CBS 2's Pablo Guzman.
Sheehan testified she acted in self-defense when she shot her husband 11 times using two guns -- a revolver and Glock -- in their Howard Beach home in 2008.
A jury found the shooting was justified because Sheehan's husband, a retired police sergeant, was abusive and had threatened to kill her.
WCBS 880's Irene Cornell: She Was Popping Pills As She Surrendered
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The jury convicted Sheehan on one charge of criminal possession of a weapon for picking up and using the Glock; apparently agreeing with Sheehan's claim she fired the first gun in self-defense.
She faces up to 15 years in prison.
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