NY shrink indicted on attempted murder for shooting husband

An NYPD psychologist accused of shooting her husband in the head as he slept in their Yonkers home has been indicted on attempted murder and other charges.

Emily Dearden, free on bail since her arrest in November, will plead not guilty at her arraignment next week in Westchester County Court, one of her lawyers, Kerry Lawrence, said Thursday.

Dearden allegedly shot her husband, real estate developer Kenneth Dearden, on Nov. 14, 2013, as he slept in their Pondfield Road West home. She was arrested a year later, a week after The Journal News reported that her husband had filed a lawsuit accusing her of trying to kill him so she could pursue an affair with a Texas finance company executive.

Paul Bergman, Emily Dearden's other lawyer, said she "unequivocally denies these charges and will vigorously defend herself in court."

Related: Yonkers developer's suit: Wife shot me, had lover

Related: Source: Yonkers developer shot in domestic clash; wife an NYPD psychologist

"She is confident that she will be acquitted once a jury has considered the evidence in the case," Bergman said.

Emily Dearden, 46, faces a minimum of five years and a maximum of 25 years in prison on the top two charges, attempted murder and first-degree assault. She is also charged with second-degree criminal possession of a weapon and four counts of criminal possession of a firearm.

Police recovered four handguns in the house — two .22 caliber pistols and a pair of .32 caliber revolvers. Authorities have not said what gun was used to shoot Kenneth Dearden.

Kenneth Dearden's lawsuit alleged that the bullet removed from his cheek, although badly damaged, was consistent with the caliber of the two Derringer pistols his wife's parents had given her that she kept in the basement.

Following her arrest on the attempted murder charge on Nov. 21, Emily Dearden was freed on $150,000 bail and ordered by a Yonkers city judge to stay away from her husband and two daughters. She moved into an apartment in Manhattan and was suspended from her job, which had involved screening candidates for the NYPD. She remains suspended but is being paid.

Bergman called the charge "baseless" at the time and suggested Kenneth Dearden's allegations in his lawsuit were in retaliation for Emily Dearden filing for divorce in August 2014. The divorce case was dropped a few days before her arrest, according to Westchester County court records.

A judge modified the stay away order so that Emily Dearden has been allowed to see and speak with her daughters, Bergman said.

Kenneth Dearden, 48, claimed in his lawsuit that he awoke to searing pain in his jaw and found blood on his bed. He thought he saw his wife in the bedroom doorway but when he staggered out of the room, found her lying on the floor downstairs with her eyes closed. She claimed to have been hit in the head by an intruder, according to the lawsuit.

But Kenneth Dearden said the house alarm had been deactivated from inside shortly before 4 a.m. with a code known only by him and his wife.

The bullet that hit him entered near the base of his skull, passed through an artery in his neck and lodged in his left cheek. He had three surgeries, including one to remove the bullet and the others to repair the severed artery.

Kenneth Dearden alleges that his wife never checked on the condition of their daughters — even though she claimed there was an intruder — and that when police returned to the house after taking him to the hospital, she was washing the clothes she had been wearing and asked if they had a warrant when they wanted to search the house.

Although Kenneth Dearden claimed to have confronted his wife about whether she had shot him, he initially told police there was an intruder.

The lawsuit suggested that Emily Dearden was pressured to end her marriage by her lover, Warren David Roudebush, so that they could be together. Roudebush's own divorce became final nine days after the shooting.

The Deardens agreed in December to put the lawsuit on hold until the criminal case wraps up.

Twitter: @jonbandler