Refresh at 10:30 p.m. to watch the full episode.
On a cold day in Howard Beach, housewife Barbara Sheehan was arrested for gunning down her husband, a retired NYPD detective. She fired 11 shots with two of his guns while he was shaving in the bathroom.
Her defense? Sheehan claimed she had no choice — he would have killed her first. At the trial, Sheehan testified that she was the victim of her husband’s relentless physical abuse.
The central mystery: Was Sheehan in imminent danger when she pulled the trigger? Her freedom would hinge on how the jury answered that question.
The case became a window into the frightening realities of domestic violence, as the media questioned how the criminal-justice system handles the cases of battered women.
Full episode premieres Friday at 10:30 p.m.
