Barbara Sheehan Analysis

each moment while telling her stories. This can often influence the jury to immediately feel bad for the woman on the stand. In response they often make up their minds based on how they feel emotionally about her tales. I believe that the woman should receive comfort for all that she has endured, however it is not the judge’s or jury’s job to do so. The jury must maintain a strict composure of their emotions and not allow them to inflict the outcome of their final decision. I believe that juries are inclined to this and as a result are not fairly taking into account all the other factors of the case and the seriousness of the murder at hand.
In the case Peaople vs. Sheehan (2011), Barbara Sheehan’s testimony spoke about the night of the murder, “I knew he was positively going to kill me eventually. He always carried a gun on him. He would always chase me and catch me and beat me. He would throw scalding pasta sauce at me. So I knew he would catch me soon and do worse things to me. So when he was in the bathroom I went and shot the gun. I don’t know how many times I shot. I just fired. I stopped firing when I didn’t feel threatened anymore. I grabbed his gun from his pocket, closed the door and ran downstairs. I didn’t intend to kill him, I just wanted the pain to stop.” (Colb & Goldman). After hearing her testimony I wish to ask you the reader, how do you feel? Do you empathize with the defendant? Do you feel bad for her and the events that have taken place in her life? Nine times out of ten a jury member will answer yes to one if not all of these questions allowing him/her to be influenced by the woman’s

This reason builds upon the last. Battered Women Syndrome can often be called in this case as a “get out of jail free card” (Veinsreideris, 619) because the woman murders her abuser preemptively and in