NEW YORK -- Barbara Sheehan, accused of shooting her husband to death with his police-issued gun, was either a battered woman and victim, or an executioner, lawyers argued Monday.
The 50-year-old school secretary was portrayed by prosecutors as a manipulator and a liar, so angry over her husband Raymond's infidelity and their crumbling marriage that she decided to shoot him to death. Defense attorneys maintained she shot in self-defense because he had threatened to kill her with his gun, and, after 17 years of marriage, she was enough of an expert on his terrorizing behavior to know he was serious.
Sheehan has pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder. Retired New York Police Department Sgt. Raymond Sheehan, who was 49 when he died, was shaving and had one of his two handguns with him on the vanity when she fired his .38-caliber revolver.
Prosecutors say she fired 11 times out of rage over his infidelities and bizarre sexual preferences, and that she stood to benefit from his two life insurance policies.
The jury is expected to begin deliberations Tuesday.
-- Associated Press
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