Introduction:
According to the unknown writer from Ruths-House.org, “Three to four million women in the United States are beaten in their homes each year by their husbands, ex-husbands, or male lovers” ("Ruth's House," n.d.). One of these three or four million women could be your neighbor, a friend, or your family member. They are beaten till they get receive serious bodily harm and/or emotionally put down. What can women do to get out of this situation, can they ever get out? One of these million women, Barbara Sheehan got out of her abusive home in a way she never thought she would.
The Background Story
Barbara Sheehan was a 50 year old mother of two and the wife to ex-Sergeant Raymond Sheehan. Barbara was physically and mentally abused by …show more content…
She was facing second degree murder charged for killing her husband. The State Supreme Court in Queens acquitted Barbara of the second degree charges where it was viewed as, “A strenuous test of a battered-woman defense” (Bilefsky, 2011). Although she was acquitted of murder she was found guilty of gun possession. In an updated article from Dan Bilefsky it was reported that Barbara had to serve five years in prison on the weapons charge (Bilefsky, 2011).
Mitigating …show more content…
Tanya Brannan from the Purple Berets website reported that Raymond threatened to kill her and the children. Since he was a cop he would bring home pictures of crime scenes when threating her and was quoted saying, ‘That’s what you’ll look like if you ever try to leave me’ (Brannan, 2011). The fear grew every time Raymond said he would kill her. She couldn’t call for help or leave him because he full heartedly believed he would kill their kids as well (Brannan, 2011). Barbara knew what he was capable of and didn’t doubt he would kill her