STF NA MÍDIA

continued to live in the Howard
Beach home where she
had shot Mr. Sheehan 11
times. The prosecutor characterized
Mr. Sheehan as a devoted
father who paid for
private education for his
children, coached his son in
baseball and bought his wife
expensive kitchen appliances
and jewelry.
Ms. Pomodore told the jury
that Ms. Sheehan continued
to shower every day in the
bathroom where she killed
her husband. Ms. Sheehan
appeared visibly shaken.
Ms. Pomodore also asked
why Ms. Sheehan had not
sought outside help, either
from family members who
lived close by or from the
police.
But Ms. Sheehan, a churchgoing
mother of two, told the
jury that seeking outside help
had not been an option. She
said her husband was a brooding
and volatile presence
who always had one gun
strapped to his ankle and
another around his waist —
even when he was just watching
television or eating
breakfast.
She said Mr. Sheehan, a former
police sergeant who had
been a crime scene investigator,
had routinely shown her
gruesome photographs of
dead bodies, warning her that
her fate would be the same if
she reported her abuse to
police. She said he taunted
her about trying to call the
police, saying he was the
police.
Ms. Sheehan said her abuse,
which began after the birth of
their son in 1989, intensified
as their marriage progressed.
Initially, she said, he would
hit her in places like her back
and legs so that the bruises
would not be publicly visible.
After a few years, she
said, he stopped trying to
conceal the abuse and would
punch her in the face and
berate her in public.
She recalled how, during a
vacation to Jamaica in August
2007, he smashed her
head against a cinder-block
wall; she said her head had
bled so badly that she had to
seek medical attention. On
another vacation, to Lake
George in 2002, she said, he
gave her two black eyes after
she urged him to hurry when
he was late for a dinner.
Sentence for Terrorist Is Too Short, Court Rules
JUSTIÇA NO EXTERIOR •
THE NEW YORK TIMES (US) • NATIONAL • 19/9/2011
By LIZETTE ALVAREZ
MIAMI — A federal appeals
court ruled on Monday that
the 17-year prison sentence
imposed on Jose Padilla, who
was convicted of terrorism
conspiracy in 2007, was too
lenient and sent the case back
to the district court here for a
new hearing.
In a 2-to-1 opinion, the United
States Court of Appeals
for the 11th Circuit, in Atlanta,
ruled that the sentence
was “substantively unreasonable”
and did not take into
account Mr. Padilla’s violent
criminal history as a former
gang member in Chicago. It
also said the lower court did
not take seriously enough
Mr. Padilla’s time at a Qaeda
camp in Afghanistan, where
he was trained to kill.
“Padilla poses a heightened
risk of future dangerousness
due to his Al Qaeda training,”
the court said. “He is
far more sophisticated than
an individual convicted of an
ordinary street crime.”
The appellate court also affirmed
Mr. Padilla’s conviction
and that of his two codefendants.
The government had appealed
Mr. Padilla’s sentence,
which was 17 years and 4
months, seeing it as too great
a departure from federal sentencing
guidelines.
S T F N A M Í D I A • 2 2 d e s e t e m b r o d e 2 0 1 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . P Á G I N A 2 1 1