Woman shot ex-cop husband 11 times out of fear from abusive marriage, lawyer argues

As he made his closing argument, lawyer Michael Dowd emphasized that the repeated abuse led Barbara Sheehan to believe her gun-packing husband when he threatened to kill her if she didn't take a vacation with him to Florida.

When Raymond Sheehan reached for a gun as his wife was trying to flee their Howard Beach home on Feb. 18, 2008, she reached her breaking point, Dowd argued.

"She was never able to successfully defend herself against him," Dowd charged. "The only way she was going to survive, was to act, or she'd be dead."

Dowd has argued throughout the month-long trial that Barbara Sheehan acted out of self-defense. But during his last chance to sway the jury he clearly tried to turn attention away from his client and onto her husband, a former NYPD sergeant.

"This man was depraved," Dowd told the jury in Queens Supreme Court. "He had no regard for the life of his wife, the life of others. He committed acts that were evil and wicked."

The comment prompted Justice Barry Kron to caution the jury: "The person on trial is not Raymond Sheehan. It is Barbara Sheehan," the judge said.