'Hopelessly Deadlocked' Sheehan Jury Ends Day Two Without Verdict
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Jurors ended the second day of deliberations without a verdict in the murder trial of Barbara Sheehan, the Queens woman accused of gunning down her retired police officer husband in their Howard Beach home in February 2008.
Jurors told the judge earlier Wednesday that they were hopelessly deadlocked, but the judge said it hadn't been that long and that the jury should keep working, 1010 WINS' Mona Rivera and WCBS 880's Irene Cornell reported.
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The judge told the jurors it shouldn't be a personality struggle and that it's a matter of reviewing what they've heard and deciding what is and is not fact and then coming to a verdict, Cornell reported.
Sheehan is charged with shooting her husband to death. She claims her husband Raymond abused her during their 17-year marriage and that she shot him in self-defense.
The jury is trying to decide whether Sheehan was a battered and fearful wife who killed her husband in self-defense or was an executioner, as the prosecutor has argued.
Also Wednesday, about a dozen photos were released by the court, including photos of the guns used in the killing. Other photos featured the victim with his family.
The jury of 9 women and three men is focusing on her testimony about the day she said her husbanded pointed a gun at her head and she shot him dead.
The jury listened again to a 911 call by the defendant's sister, in which Sheehan is heard shrieking in the background. The prosecutors argued that what she is saying is "he laughed at me and then boom, boom, boom."
Sheehan's sister said the comment in the background is "because last night he broke my nose." Barbara Sheehan herself testified it is not her voice on the tape.
Three alternate jurors were released Tuesday. As one of the alternates left the State Supreme Court in Kew Gardens, she said she would have voted "not guilty."
"I hope they all see it the same way," Sheehan told 1010 WINS Mona Rivera.
If found guilty, Sheehan faces 25 years to life in prison.
