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WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. (AP) — A New York Police Department psychologist who is fighting an attempted murder charge told detectives she was knocked unconscious by an intruder on the night her husband was shot in the head, according to a police transcript made public Thursday.
Emily Dearden, 46, of Yonkers, pleaded not guilty to attempted murder, assault and weapons charges at her arraignment as prosecutors released accounts of several statements they say she made after the Nov. 14, 2013, shooting.
She is accused of shooting her husband, Kenneth Dearden, as he slept in their Yonkers home. He survived and has filed a lawsuit against her, alleging she was trying to get rid of him because she was having an affair and wanted to avoid a messy divorce.
Emily Dearden told police both she and her husband had had "infidelities," the transcript says. But she told detectives that on the night of the shooting, she woke up before dawn, left her husband sleeping in their bed and went downstairs. There, according to the police account, "I got hit hard on the left side of my head. ... I don't know what I got hit with. I don't know who hit me. I never saw it coming. I was knocked to the floor, unconscious."
The next thing she remembers, according to the transcript, was being shaken awake by her husband, who was bleeding from a gunshot wound.
Police also say Emily Dearden told them there were no weapons in the house. But she is charged with possessing four guns, including two .22-caliber pistols. Prosecutors say a.22-caliber bullet was removed from Kenneth Dearden's jaw.
Emily Dearden did not speak during her arraignment Thursday. Neither she nor her lawyer, Paul Bergman, would comment on the statements as they left the courthouse. Bergman said only that Dearden "is confident she will prevail."
Acting state Supreme Court Justice Susan Capeci ordered Dearden to stay away from her husband and their two daughters, She said, however, that she would consider modifying the order to allow visitation with the girls, one who is a teenager and the other a preteen.
Westchester District Attorney Janet DiFiore said one of the most troubling aspects of the case is that "whatever may have precipitated the defendant's actions against her husband, they were carried out just feet from where their children were sleeping."
Dearden, who has been suspended from her NYPD job, was allowed to remain free on a $150,000 bond. She is due back in court July 30.
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