An Irish American woman from Queens, who has been acquitted for killing her abusive husband, turned herself in to Queens Supreme Court yesterday to begin a five-year prison sentence for a related gun charge conviction.

According to the New York Post, Barbara Sheehan, 52, has been surrounded by supportive family and friends since she day shot her retired policeman husband Raymond eleven times inside the bathroom of their Howard Beach home.

The jury ruled that Sheehan was justified shooting her husband with one gun, but found her guilty of using a second weapon to finish the job.

'If this makes the County of Queens feel like they are doing taxpayers a favor by putting me away, then put me away,' Sheehan told The Post days earlier.

Sheehan still lives in the Howard Beach home where she shot the retired policeman four days after Valentine’s Day, 2008.

'I’m not happy about it, but I’ll be there,' she said.

Sheehan reportedly lost an appeal in May to lower her five-year sentence issued by Queens Supreme Court in October.

Sheehan's attorney Niall MacGiollabhui requested for the $1 million bail to be exonerated. He asked to place her into protective custody and the presiding judge Justice Kron granted both applications.

Meanwhile MacGiollabhui has taken Sheehan's case to the Court of Appeals, which will decide if they will hear Sheehan's case.

'If the Court of Appeals grants us leave and decides the appeal is in our favor then Barbara will be released,' said MacGiollabhui. 'Where are we in our country if you can’t even defend yourself in your own home?' she complained yesterday.

Sheehan had told jurors at her trial that she was a victim of domestic violence for almost 20 years. She and her husband were about to leave for a trip to Florida where she believed he was going to kill her which is why she shot him as he shaved, she’d told jurors.

Sheehan, a mother of two children in their 20's, reportedly has ambitious plans for her prison time.

'While I’m there, I’ll get an education, my college degree, something I never got,' she said.