Appellate Court Judge Grants Barbara Sheehan Bail
NEW YORK (1010 WINS) -- An appellate court judge has granted bail to Barbara Sheehan, the Queens woman who was acquitted of murdering her husband, but convicted on a weapons charge.
The decision means that Sheehan can be released on bail. Her attorney, Michael Dowd, said he is unsure if Sheehan can use the $1 million bail she already put up for the murder charge or if she must come up with another million.
WEB EXTRA: The Sheehan Decision And Order
"The worst case scenario -- that I don't think would come into play at this point -- would be that she wouldn't be able to post bail and she would remain in jail for a year or more while the appeal is pending," Dowd told 1010 WINS, adding that he believed the question was "just a matter of clarification."
Dowd says the family and children simply don't have the money to pay for the premium they would have to pay to post an additional $1 million bail.
"We're going to seek clarification from the court on that because if we were to have to post a wholly new bond, it would cost the children and their children an additional $60,000 in cash," Dowd said.
Sheehan has been at Riker's Island for the past week.
Sheehan went on trial in the shooting death of her husband, a retired police sergeant. She said that he had been abusive and threatened to kill her and testified that 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.
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.
