"Battered-woman defense."
Her husband was abusive.
Oh, and he was a cop.
I've already seen this on Law & Order: SVU, so don't expect them to do it again, even though the case was in New York.
The evidence?
Ms. Sheehan testified that the couple had a fierce argument the day before, and she had decided to leave, carrying one of her husband’s guns for protection. When her husband saw her, she said, he reached for a gun on the bathroom vanity and aimed it at her.
Thus, she shot him. Eleven times. With two guns.
And yet, she was acquitted of murder.
Instead, the jury found her guilty of possessing the second weapon, since she had shot her husband even after he no longer posed a danger.
Um, yeah, see, so that is the thing. If he no longer posed a danger, then it was no longer self-defense.
I really hate to be on this side of the issue, because I believe the wife was battered. At what point does that give you the right to shoot someone eleven times? With two guns?
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/07/nyregion/barbara-sheehan-who-killed-husband-is-found-not-guilty-of-murder.html?hpw
You never know what a jury is going to do. Technically, she is a murderer. I guess that she convinced the jury that she was a traumatized victim, who went berserk.
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